I never thought that I wanted to include children in our wedding ceremony. I worried about them getting scared, crying, walking up and down the aisles and making extra noise. Then I met Samantha and Natalie. I babysat these sisters for about a year. Their parents became dear friends to me and to Todd and their father worked with Todd. They have relocated to Richmond and we miss them so much! I asked them to be my flower girls before they moved away and I’m so excited to have such cute little blonde haired sweeties in our wedding. The Furman chapel doesn’t allow rose petals to be thrown, tossed, scattered, etc., so we decided to have Samantha and Natalie ring little silver bells when they come down the aisle. The bells make the sweetest sound and I know the girls will do great.

So you’ve all seen my weird entries on the horrible names that I’ve come up with for our signature drink at the wedding. I’m planning on posting the recipe and using the lace design again and framing the recipe with the name of the cocktail and putting it on the bar. After Saturday’s visit to Greenville, I can now put this little issue behind us!

Last night Todd and I ate dinner at High Cotton, the restaurant where we’re having our rehearsal dinner. I had their Greenville Cocktail with my supper and decided that THIS was our signature drink. It had South Carolina Firefly vodka, Madeira, lemonade, iced tea, mint infused simple syrup, and was served over crushed ice. It was a pretty yellow color, but I think I’m going to switch it to pink lemonade to have it go with our pink theme. I thought we’d call it the Carolina Cocktail, but my dear maid of honor, Catherine, suggested the Carolina Crush– which sounds much more romantic.

Now I can put this to rest and know that we’ve decided on a really yummy drink with a really cute name!

Someone mentioned to us tonight that the wedding is 37 days away. Just typing it gives me butterflies. I don’t want this posting to turn into a copy of my to-do list, but there is seriously some stuff to do! Todd hasn’t ordered gifts for his attendants yet. I still have to make those wands and stuff the welcome bags for the guests. I’m still waiting on the music to send out to all of the musicians and singers. I have to finalize details with our florist and get all of the wedding signage designed and printed for the buffet tables, guest book, etc.

In the mean time, I have just realized that I will only be in Columbia for two more weekends until the wedding. One of those weekends will revolve around the golf tournament that I’m planning for work. That’s right. I’ve got a huge event that I’m planning for work! Did I mention that I’ve considered quitting my job to focus on the wedding? Just kidding, Todd.

With all of the stress, I’m comforted every day when I look at Todd and think about the beautiful relationship that we’ve developed over the past few years. No matter what else happens, we’ll still be married on May 3 and will spend the rest of our lives loving each other and building each other up. I’m so proud to have found the perfect man for me and I feel so lucky that God put him in my life when he did. His plan is truly perfect and I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I had taken that job in Charlotte instead of working at the law firm where I met Todd or if I had not chosen to attend graduate school at USC and never ended up in Columbia in the first place. We were both perfectly placed at that law firm in August of 2005 and everything changed. My goals, my dreams, and everything that I had expected out of my life completely changed when I met him and I knew that my place was with him.

I know that I’ll end up getting everything done for the big day, but it’s just a day. It has been extra fun finally getting to plan an event for myself, but I know that it will not compare to the event that is the rest of our lives and the little lives that we’ll bring into this world. Thanks to everyone that has supported us during this really fun engagement. I’m going to saver the next 37 days (36 days in about 10 minutes) and look forward to helping other excited brides-to-be plan their big day in order to not go through wedding planning withdrawal!