Announcing My New Blog...

I've moved!

Come follow me here at The Butterfly Cottage!

Don't forget to update your readers, too!

Keep A Close Eye

There's a lot on the way!!

I have to apologize for my apparent 2 (yikes!) weeks off blogging. Like I mentioned, even though I wasn't blogging, I was wedding planning. I also got sick, which may sound like an excuse, but it really was a major blower. I haven't been sick in ages and it was horrible!

What's on the horizon?

I'm back in my routine though! Back to work, back to the gym, and oh yes, definitely back to blogging! I have so much in store for you guys too! Everything from a complete review of area cateres and how-to (my advice) for choosing yours, deets on our fabulous planner, wedding dress shopping (Holy cow! I could write for days about that fiasco!), and a DIY fail. Yes, fail. No worries though! I'm totally not letting it get me down. It has to do with our Save the Dates and I must say, I'm actually proud of myself for tackling this project so early on. If I was a few weeks from sending these puppies out I'd be in big trouble! However, because of my persistance in the matter, I think I diverted what could have been a catastrophe! Anyway! I am sorry to yet again promise more and run off, but I do promise more!!

In the meantime, are you not totally inspired by these images I found over at My Black Book? Goldmine!! All very inspiring to our ever-evolving (and shaping up quite nicely, I must say) wedding!

Happy Monday!

We're on the hunt for dishes and lovely tea cups such as these.

They are so hard to find in bulk!

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LOVING this Easter deco.

We could do any of this stuff, especially since our big day is the weekend after!

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Perfect for a Spring garden or wedding!

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Thank you!

I just want to take a second to thank everyone for such loving words of encouragement...

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Today was one of those days. I woke up in a funk with a lot of crap on my mind, both wedding (well, marriage) related and other. I didn't feel like working, but I didn't have a choice. And I didn't feel like blogging, but luckily I posted a few things last night, including "Insecurities."

My mood didn't much improve when I got to work, but as the day went on and I recieved your comments, my spirits were lifted! It was one of those things I couldn't ignore -- you know when you're in a bad mood and you refuse to acknowledge anything good? Well, despite wanting to feel bad, I couldn't help but feel good about the love and support you showed.

It was so refreshing to hear such positive feedback and knowing it was from awesome women (I know you're awesome because I read your blogs, and your blogs are awesome), really made me feel better! When you've got so much going on in terms of planning a wedding and a marriage, it's really nice to know you're not alone. It's nice to know others have been there, want to share their experiences, and lend a shoulder.

So without making this way too sappy, I just want to thank you all for your kiind words of encouragement. I was truly encouraged. Thanks to you, I had a lot of confidence today. I thought of our wedding the way it should be thought of - as something that is for us, not for anyone else, and there is no right or wrong. Even though that should be obvious, it gets down played, like many of you pointed out, when you're looking at pictures of seriously fabulous weddings everyday.

Anywho, thank you again for all your comments about our venue, style, and ideas. You all are truly a blessing and I cannot image how a bride that doesn't blog gets through it.

Much love!!

XOXO

25 Random Facts + I Got An Award! Woo!

I love my blogger buddies...

One of my favorite blogs (ever), Beer Budget Bride's Musings just did a really cool post titled "25 Random Facts," and I got a huge kick out of it! It's fun to learn a little something about the people writing our favorite blogs. It's not like we ever get to see them or talk to them directly so seeing their picture and reading about them is pretty cool, if you ask me.

1. In college, I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. Awful, I know.

2. I'm a workout whore. I love running and lifting weights, and I go to personal training twice a week.

3. My fiance is my height. No, that's a lie. He's probably a little shorter than me. Truth is, I love him anyway and think he's perfect!

4. I secretly (really, really) wish I was one of those go-against-the-grain artsy types of chicks with lots of tatoos and a rebel attitude.

5. I listen to country music and used to go line dancing with my mom.

6. I had actually never, ever thought about what kind of wedding I wanted until my fiance told me to start thinking about it, which was a little over a year ago.

7. Okay this is really gross, but I love you so much I'm going to tell you anyway - sometimes I pick my nose! Bahaha! Seriously it's way faster and more effective than going for a tissue. Sorry. Yeah, I might go back and erase this one.

8. On a more serious note, I really want to write a novel. A best-selling novel. I feel like I'm supposed to write a book, but maybe that's wishful thinking.

9. I also really want my book to turn into a movie (wishful thinking, huh?). It could happen, right? One of my favorite books, Eat, Pray, Love is going to be on big screens soon.

10. I love my yorkshire terrier, Rocky, but I don't walk him often enough or give him treats, play with him, or rub his belly as much as I should.

11. My grandmother nicknamed me motormouth when I was young and it's seriously so true. I could talk for hhhooouurrrsss.

12. I'm really frustrated with our wedding plans. I hate to say that because I sound like such a sad, sulky bride, but I have so many ideas and yet I'm not doing anything. I have this fear it's going to be a really lame wedding :(

13. When I was a little girl my dream was to travel the world. I'm 25 and yet to leave Virginia. I've done some traveling around the States, but I've never left the country. I think I'll DIE if I don't get moving soon.

14.  I'm one of those people that writes a to do list all the time and there's never enough hours in the day to get everything done.

15. My mom lives in a little cottage in the country and I love it there. I wish I could live with her.

16. My hair has been all sorts of colors and styles. In all of the photos of Aaron and I over the years, I look like a different person! Here's a picture from when my hair was short and blonde. I can't wait for the PWC (post wedding chop!)

17. I'm a die-hard fan of the music artists Kelly Clarkson and Pink.

18. Even though we're spending nearly $20,000 (don't shoot me, please) on our wedding, I definitely have a hard time justifying it. All the brokeass brides are right. It's only one day.

19. My parents are split and even though it's been a tough thing to deal with, I wouldn't trade my two little step sisters for anything in the world. They are the cutest children EVER.

20. It's really hard for me to sit still and do nothing, but I absolutely love to watch movies with my fiance.

21. My favorite television programs are 48 Hours Mystery and Snapped.

22. My weight watchers screenname was addictedtogreasensugar, and I've always thought that was so perfectly fitting.

23. Most of my friends don't read my blog, but I love them anyway.

24. My wedding ring is perfect. My fiance has immaculate taste.

25. I want to run a marathon.

Hopefully you've enjoyed that little peak into my life the same I enjoyed learning more about the Beer Budget Bride! I'm sooo totally overwhelmed and excited to share that she's given me a cool new award below:

She seriously made my day with this!!!!

I am so thankful for her following and all her (and yours) awesome comments!! I'm glad that there's a few people that enjoy reading Olive Weddings, since it is my little pride and joy!! It's amazing that more people I don't know read this blog than folks I do know, like friends and family. I think it just goes to show the blogging (and especially the wedding blog) community is really there for each other.

*tear*

I'm so glad to be a part of it all! Thank you, Dancy!!!

Please note that this award was created by JEM at Aquabride and the she says: the only rule is now you pass it on. It doesn't matter to how many people.

Therefore, I'm going to pass it onto my co-worker and blogger friend, Mark over at Running With Blue Sponge. He has some really awesome Random Facts. He went so far as to do installment posts, with an extra (false) fact, which readers had to guess!

I also would like to award D. Marie at The World Around Her for being such an awesome blogger pal! I see her on all of the bride-to-be blogs leaving her two cents! She must know how much we all love comments. She just posted her own 25 Random Facts, be sure to check em out! One of which is that she just finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert's latest book - I'm dying to know how it was!!

Thanks again, Dancy!

As It Once Was, So It Is Again

On trying to be someone I'm not....

As many of you know, I've thought long and hard about changing Olive Weddings into a new, more modern and classy blog. I really wanted to change the name (see my posts about this here and here), because I was tired of the name. To be perfectly honest, I thought the name was kind of dumb. It's not as clever as the names of a lot of really cool wedding blogs out there -- blogs I admire and wish I could be called among.

My plan was to change the format and even some of the content. I searched (and I mean searched) for new premade blogger templates. I bought a few headers and even contemplated getting a full blog makeover. I came up with the new name, "From Madness to Marriage: the musings of a girl gone bridal," and planned to pay for a custom illustration and revamp. I was even going to change my dot com!

Our best ideas are our initial ideas...

There I was, ready and set to launch into a new world of blogging. A more beautiful and glamorous world. One that might come with it recognition and envy. I was ready to have a new look, the perfect name, and volia the fulfillment would settle in, but as much as I racked my brain for new ideas and searched for new templates, I couldn't come up with anything I felt I could stick with.

I mean, I like the madness to matrimony idea, but what's wrong with keeping things they way they are? There's nothing wrong with Olive Weddings and I was starting to miss my old template. I loved this blog when I first created it. I've made a lot of these changes and I tried a few new approaches. All of it, just to find that I wanted back what I started with. Nothing has looked as good as this original template, which I found over a year ago on an awesome site called Yummy Lolly. The best part is... it was free.

Why do I want to be a big time blogger anyway?

I'm so totally content with the readers that I have, there's no need to have more. I've gotten more than I ever imagined out this blog, just the way it is. You guys have no idea how awesome I feel when I get comments from you... It's so nice to know somebody is listening and watching! I think I just started to feel like I needed to be better for you guys, but nobody ever asked for that. I looked at all the amazing blogs out there and thought I needed to do something to be amazing too, when in all actuality, I'm prefect content just blogging here, the way it is, for the few of you that come by from time to time.

Bloggers and brides have a lot in common...

I want to relate this topic to our wedding, because I think there are a lot of parallels. Like blogging, a lot of people get married. There's a lot of blogs out there and a lot of weddings out there. It's easy to look at the weddings on Style Me Pretty and want to have a wedding just as stunning, or read about the fabulous DIY brides on Weddingbee and want to be just like them. While it's fun to imagine these things and it's alright to strive to be better, it's not cool to think you've got to change something to meet a more mainstream standard. Of course I want a blog that is recognized and admired and of course I want a platinum wedding done up David Tuttera style, but at the end of the day I think I'm off better off sticking with what I know.

Stay true to who you are...

My point is that through this blog and through the process of planning our wedding, I'm learning to stay true to myself. I don't have to have the same type of blog as the next bride-to-be, no matter how cute hers is. I also don't have to a clever, awh-inspiring name that is going to make my pasttime my career. The only thing I have to do is enjoy blogging. That's it. The same goes for my wedding. I don't have to have all the frills or all the expensive extras. I just have to have a good time. I've just got to remember the reason I'm there and the reason I'm here.

Have you felt blog and/or wedding envy? How did you deal with it?

Did you try to transform into something your not too?

Share your stories, they are always welcome!

And... We're Back!

Please Pardon My Absence...

I haven't been motivated to blog for a number of reasons (I've been busy at work, transitions at home, etc), but mostly because I was really tired of the way this blog looked. Cute as it may have been to many of you, after seven months of the same template, I felt I needed a change. I'm the type of girl that rearranges her room every few months (sometimes weeks)... so a makeover was overdue. I wanted something fresh, new, and with three columns. Hence, the new look. What do you think?

As for the wedding plans, they are well underway! We're in the midst of finalizing engagement party details and I also took a trip over to our venue (Oxon Hill Manor) on April 9th, exactly one year and one day until our actual wedding! Everything is moving at an excellent pace and I couldn't be happier. Our venue is absolutely stunning and I have a lot to share about my visit (and new-found love for Oxon Hill in the spring)! Not to mention a few new photos!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

We've been marking things off our massive to do list and discussing the must haves (and don't needs). While we've narrowed down and decided on things like our website, our venue, and photographer, we're still in the midst of making many, many decisions on other things like our invitations, videographer, and ceremony setup, which I hope you'll help with!

When I'm Not Wedding Planning...

I'm running! I haven't shared much about my love for running on the blog, but I'm hoping that will change! Running is my favorite thing to do (besides read wedding blogs) and I just completed my first 10 mile race! On April 11th, I participated in the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in Washington, DC, and it was exhilirating! I just started running about 2 years ago and now I can't imagine life without my iPod and asic sneakers!

My New Best Friend...

Is a laptop!! Whether it was because he noticed I wasn't blogging as often or saw how frustrated I saw with  my old pc, my man surprised me with a new latptop this past weekend!! I love it, love it, love it, love it!!! I'm still in shock, but happy as ever to have a brand new place to do all my blogging and wedding planning on! It's a Toshiba and it's just perfect! Her and I are becoming fast friends...

I promise to be better and blog often. Thanks for stopping by!

Anyone Out There?

Follow my blog please...

Hey folks, if you're a blogger or a friend, or a friend of a blogger, you should know blogging is tough business. It takes a lot of effort, consistancy, and creativity.

As a blogger (a newbie blogger, I'll admit), I crave attention. It's not that I want to be famous, have a trillion followers, or profit from this in anyway. It's just that I long for comments. I want to feel like I'm talking to someone. Anyone. Not just talking to myself. You know what I mean?

So if you have any tips on promoting a blog or if you have friends that might enjoy reading this blog, please show some love and support my little universe here at Olive Weddings.

Please note that I probably won't get any comments on this post. Nobody will read it, but guess what? I'm going to blog and blog some more anyway!

Source

Thank you to the 14 followers that I do have. You guys have made my day on many occasions with your following and comments. Thank you for your continued support. If there's anything I can do to help you further a dream of yours, please let me know, because you're helping to make mine come true!

Blogging for DCNearlyWeds

I'm so excited...

Because I'm blogging for DCNearlyweds as Miss Columbia Heights!!!!!

It might sound foolish, but I'm thrilled and overjoyed about this! I'm honored actually! I discovered DCNearlyweds over a year ago, scouring the internet (as I often do) for wedding inspiration. I read post after post, unknowing that one day I'd be blogging for them!

There's so much good information on this blog! Especially for couples getting married in the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia area). There are about 25 nearly brides who vary by location, style, and everything else! The blog's archive goes all the way back to 2006, which means there is almost 5 years worth of bride batter to read and be inspired by!

The other exciting part about all this (besides the license to rant on and on about weddings) is that there's actually an audience!! DCNearlyweds has hundreds of followers (may be even thousands)! After just ONE POST with them, I've received 2 comments (sooo exciting)!!!!! I've received the same -- about 2 comments -- over here with 60 POSTS. Needless to say, I'm looking that-a-way for feedback!

I'm thrilled to have my foot in door to an amazing wedding community! I'm elated to be receiving feedback and support from other brides-to-be! There's no doubt 2010 is off to a good start! Please keep an eye out for me on DCNearlyweds and check out their other bloggers too!!!