Weddingbee bios

I was born in Florida but moved around with her military family until college.  I lived on campus at UF as a child and always dreamed of being a Gator.  I recently graduated with my BS-Marketing & MA-International Business and will be starting my Doctorate of Education in the Spring.  I currently work with UF's Warrington College of Business and loves to travel (with work and for fun) and cheer on the Gators!

My Mr. Gator was also born in Florida and was raised in the Orlando metro area. Pete recently received his BA-Business Administration and is currently working on his MA-International Business.  As a child Pete loved sports, especially baseball (Go Cubs!).  Pete carried his love for sports to UF where he now works with the University Athletic Association. Go Gators!

We met last January in our final year as undergrads at UF when I returned from a study abroad in Tanzania. Getting back into the swing of things, I went out with a friend I made on exchange.  While out, she introduced me to a good friend of hers, Pete.  We hit it off talking about everything from Gator football to our obsession with food to the fact that we were in the same college.  It didn't take long until we were "accidently" running into eachother all over campus (what a surprise to see you here Pete, where you work!)... The rest is history :)

 

 

Pete and I had been talking about moving in and getting engaged for a few months but neither of us was sure which would happen first.  Although Pete knew that I would prefer to be engaged before living together, I realized that life happens at its own rate - not yours.  Pete had told me that we would probably be engaged by September and since I knew he had asked my best ladies about "the ring," I knew that he was working on it.

Well, while I was traveling for work during the last two weeks of July, Pete was getting busy. He had found a local (yay!) jeweler and picked out a stone (sapphire!) and setting.  The day he went to pick the ring up, I had called asking what he was up to.  He told a fib and told me he was getting his hair cut and since I like his hair longer, I was a little bummed.

I was heading home from my latest conference in D.C. and after almost getting stuck at National Airport, I made it to Atlanta to spend the night.  I finally arrived in Gainesville the next day.  Having no idea that he would propose, I got off the plane and flung myself into his arms.  Pete was calm, cool & collected so I knew there was nothing up and we proceded to get my luggage.  After packing the luggage in the car, I started walking towards the driver's side of the car (pure delirium) and he asked "Are you going to drive?" as I responded "No, I'm taking the long way around" I turned the corner to see Pete on one knee with a box open.  I immediately started crying as he asked, "Will you marry me?" I finally was able to say "Yes!" between the tears and kisses.

Pete had originally planned to pop the question that night but something told him to turn the car around and get the ring while he was driving to the airport. Pete's goal was to surprise me and it was a huge success!

The ring is a beautiful light blue sapphire in a white gold setting.  As I have lived in Africa, I am not a huge fan of diamonds and love the color blue.  Pete picked out the perfect ring and found the perfect way to surprise me.  He even asked both my mother and my father for their blessing beforehand which definitely sealed the deal.

I am very blessed to have found such an amazing man to spend the rest of my life with.

As we could not afford to pay for engagement pictures, we knew we had to get creative.  We asked around and found out a friend of ours Leslie had just created Photography 3L. We told he that we'd gladly be guinea pigs and promote her shamelessly if she would be willing to do a few free shots.  She was up for the challenge!

We started at Lake Alice, a lake on campus...

And then we moved to the stadium... where we'll be getting married!

When we first started talking about marriage I asked the Mr. about his bridal party. I knew that part of the big day (not that one, the engagement day) was calling your best friends and asking them to be in your wedding.  How would I know who to ask if I didn't know who he was going to ask?  At first he said that he didn't want anyone and this would have been fine if I wasn't absolutely sure that my best friend was going to be my MOH and nothing was going to stop that.  Also, since we'd both need a witness he was going to have to have someone.
(My best friend and MOH, Wong and I)

Diplomatic as he is, he couldn't just pick someone and he toyed with the idea of having his four brothers as his groomsmen.  Arguing that my only brother would definitely be in the wedding brought his side up to 5 guys, 3 of which were under 16 and 2 he wasn't really close to. In the end, this just was not going to work and we both choose our four closest friends.

Knowing that Wong was going to be in the wedding, I set forth to ask three more lovely ladies to be in the wedding.  I tried to choose my friends who I knew would be there for us during the wedding and beyond.

Jessie (far left) and I met when we were random roommates in college.  We bonded over late nights making delicious foods and drinking lots of wine.  Jessie has always been there for me and we really share our love for Gator football and still tailgate together every weekend. Jessie is also a pro at crafting and will be helping me through my DIY ideas (and saving me from some of them!).

Ana (in the orange floral dress) and I met in college when we were both accepted to the Freshman Leadership Council.  At the time, we were both pretty confused with life and love and I am very fortunate that she was there for me.  Now, she lives in Orlando and works for Disney but we get to see each other all the time and I'm so glad that she is only a short drive away.

Wong (far right) and I met freshman year of high school when she went to the "Wong Room."  We spent most of high school going to random concerts, adventuring America's Dairyland and growing up.  Wong has always been there for me and has really been an important part of my life.  Although we haven't lived near eachother in years, we have always been a phone call away.

Sara (Chev) was unable to make it for the party because she is currently living in Telluride, Colorado.  Chev and I met in college and bonded over our love to travel.  While I was studying in France, she was in Sicily and while I was in Tanzania, she was in England. I love her for her adventurous spirit and I'm so glad that she'll be able to join us for our wedding.

I bought it! I found my wedding dress, the one that is perfect for me.  Not a puff pastry, or a diva's slinky gown, but my wedding dress. (look at how happy I am)

After attending the Bridal Expo, I was in a horrible mood. I was done with the fluff and cirumstance. On a last ditch attempt to brighten my mood up, my friend and I stopped by a small store that sells J Crew and Anthropolgie catalogreturns and excess inventory.  I had seen J Crew dresses there beforeand I knew that it would be a bridal experience that I wouldn't dread. 

When I saw the dress, I knew.  This was the dress I was lookingfor.  A white, floor length, empire waist, seersucker delight.  Thefabric was so light and airy I felt like I could dance forever and thedress was the right price. $125!!!!  After trying the dress on, I knewit was definitely the one and we bought it right away.  I bought a sizelarger (hey, they didn't have my size and I wasn't leaving emptyhanded) so we have lots of room to work with and since my friend's mom isa seamstress (who worked on Broadway for 10 years) - I'm sure we'll beable to add our own personal touches.  I also tried on a sash while atthe store and am sure that we will be switching out the tiny ribbon fora thick sash. 

How did you find the dress? Did you go with a traditional dress or opt for something different?

I'm an inch shorter than Mr. Gator and very aware of the small height difference. Although Mr. Gator does not mind it when I'm taller than him in heels, I don't want to tower over him on our wedding day. I also have an immense fear of tripping on the heels, and I really hate the idea of wearing killer heels all day long. After a lot of thought, I decided to pay a tribute to my 14 years of classical ballet training and will be ordering ballet slippers.

 

These slippers (I'll be ordering split-sole and white) are not only a great price ($15+shipping) but I'll be able to dye them any color I'd like. (To match the sash!) I'm ordering next week and will let you know how it turns out.

I'm very excited to wear comfortable shoes so I can dance the night away. How did you decide which shoes you'll wear? How much did you end up spending?

I knew what I wanted for Save the Dates before we were engaged.  Pete and I were once joking about being married in the stadium (oh how little did we know) and how we could use tickets as invitations.  We loved the idea and even joked about how we could get the printed since he works in the ticket office.

Flash forward a few months and we're well into football season.  Knowing that using any of the ticket office equipment is not logical this time of year I turned to a friend and coworker, Berna.  Berna is a new addition to my office and I've enjoyed getting to know her and helping her acclimate to the college.  Berna has helped me with a few promotional ads for my program and her interest in design has taught her a lot of cool things.

Knowing that I couldn't use the ticket office I went ahead and scanned a few tickets from the Tennessee game and emailed them off to her... a few edits later this is what we came up with!

We'll be printing these ourselves, adding our hotel and website information to the back and passing them out!

When we first start dating we already knew that we were both die hard Gator fans who loved to travel for games but we didn't realize that we both had a love for world competitions. 

(Mr. Gator and I at a football game)

(Mr. Gator and I in Costa Rica)

Now, the Mr. and I love sports but we don't follow much outside the NCAA and MLB (Go Brew Crew).  When we found out we both love USA vs. the world competitions, we made a pact to go to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. I had been promising this to myself since I started watching the World Cup in 2002 (in Korea) and since I had just missed the World Cup in 2006 (I had been studying in Normandie, France right before kick-off) I was sure to make it to South Africa.  Thankfully Mr. Gator was in on the challenge and was ready to sign up.

(Picture from my days in TZ)

Before we had any idea that we'd have a late-May wedding, I had registered for the World Cup ticket lottery and got us 2 tickets to 2 matches.  We still have no idea who we'll be watching but we are more than excited to be going!

When we realized that a late-May wedding would be perfect we decided to turn the World Cup into an unforgettable honey moon.  So far we have our world cup tickets, booked a Kruger Safari, reserved our shark diving adventure and found a hotel in Cape Town.  We still have a lot to do (like buying our tres cher airline tickets) but I might just say that I'm more excited for the adventure filled honeymoon than the wedding!

The concept of a rehearsal dinner has always bothered me. The V.I.P. status of the invited guests always leaves a cool "I'm better than you" vibe in the air and it can really hurt feelings. Now don't ge tme wrong - I love the idea of personally thanking the key players and I think the intimate setting of  a rehearsal is nice. Its just not us. We thought about our options and I brought up an event that two of my cousins had the night before the wedding: a Groom's dinner...

So this is what we're pitching to his 'rents. Instead of doing $50+ plates for a close 25 people - lets do a tailgate at a cute location for about 100 people.  This way we can invite all of our out of town guests and give them another chance to get to know eachother more before the big day.  I've always gone around the hotel before a wedding asking if other unsuspecting patrons are on Team Bride or Team Groom. I think its funny that the person who you are sharing an elevator with can be attending the same wedding as you and you have noooooo idea. Seriously, its kind of creepy.

When it comes to tailgates, we're thinking of going all out.  We found a really cute space that is owned by our *hopeful* caterer, Villa East. And we thinking of setting up a tailgate in the back yard complete with beer pong, corn hole and a few footballs to toss around.

Since the tailgate E-Party was such a hit, we're sure we can pull off a great party! What do you think about this type of event? Do you think guests will enjoy getting to know eachother before the event? Any suggestions?!