The Bridesmaid Dress

It's official!

The bridesmaid dress has been chosen!

After an evening road trip with a bridesmaid and a MOH, the decision is over!

I have been in love with this dress since I stumbled upon it over the Internet.

Of course I was NOT in love with the price tag.

So what did I do...i started haggling.

And I got the place where I bought my wedding dress to come down almost 40%.

That's right..sissy here can wheel and deal with the best of them.

I get it from my daddy.

There was one more little problem...... nobody in the states of Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee seemed to have this dress in their store for me to lay eyes on.

I was too skeptical to order it without seeing it in person

That all changed Tuesday night when a store in Covington, KY called to tell me that had a sample in their store.

So I immediately called my favorite bishes and we planned a road trip.

There was no comparison.

This is the dress!!!

Meet Lela Rose style number LR111

I write that because I have literally said those words a million times when I have called about this dress.

Kev even knows it's name.

It's kind of a joke at this point :-)

It's perfect!

It has that burlap color I wanted and the lace detail that makes it so romantic.

And my bridal party will be rocking their boots with it to give it more of that country girl feel I am going for.

I love that is not like every other bridesmaid dress you see.

And the girls are IN LOVE with it too.

That was so important to me.

It's gonna look sooo good in the barn.

I am ecstatic!!!

One more thing checked of the wedding list.

and if you don't agree...just keep it to yourself :-)

Final Four Baby!

That's right....they have lead us to....

N'awlins Baby!

And it's freakin awesome here in Lexington!

We are back in the final four for the 2nd year in a row.

KR and I went to church sporting our Blue on Sunday and afterwards met up with some of our favorites to cheer on our Cats!

At Harry's of course - our favorite patio in Lexington.

Me and the fabulous Megan.

Megan is my other MOH.

She has already proved to be a lifesaver :-)

I love Megs and her hubby to death.

For those of you who don't know, Meg's husband and I grew up together. We go waaaaaay back.

KR and I enjoy their company so much.

Our dear friend Ron headed to Harry's early to get us a table

Seriously, finding a table at at patio in Lexington is pretty darn difficult when then Cats are playing.

The atmosphere is awesome!

People cheer watching the TV screens as they would at an actual game.

You can guarantee they are plenty of C-A-T-S CATS CATS CATS chants on commercial breaks.

Ron is one of Kev's groomsmen...just btw.

Kev's eyes get a little sleepy when he sippy sips. Don't know what I am gonna do with him for engagement photos because I know that man is gonna want to have a drink before.

Love my hubby to be and we love our KY Wildcats!

Kev was being a party pooper and wouldn't do goggle eyes with me.

Thankfully Meg gave him a helping hand.

So the bluegrass is all up in arms because we play the University of Louisville on Saturday. One, if not, the biggest rivals of all.

They are literally talking that this is Coach Cal's biggest game to date in his career.

Including the NBA!

Don't believe me...just listen to ESPN for 10 minutes.

It's total chaos in Kentucky regarding this final four business.

I am already so nervous about Saturday....eeeeeek!!!

But this gal does have 3 out of the 4 final four teams picked correctly in our lil family bracket competition.

Dad and Kev laughed at my picks, but this girl got them right.

And Duh...I would never put Louisville in the final four (or Duke either for that matter).

Not this true blue fan!

Now Y'all better be cheering on the Cats Saturday with the rest of us here in the big blue nation!

GO BIG BLUE!!!!



My Engagement Brunch

Last Saturday, two of  my amazing gal pals (Caitlin and Angie) hosted the most thoughtful engagement brunch to kick off all my upcoming wedding festivities. It was perfect! Having been a bridesmaid a dozen plus times, the feeling to actually be the bride is still so new to me. I had the best time on Saturday and was reminded of all the amazing women I had in my life. I got so lucky in the friend department.

My lifelong bestie left her 6month old and hubby at home for the day and drove to Lexington to share the special occasion with me. Katrina is one of my two MOHs. I couldn't imagine my day without her.

Katrina picked me up early and drove us downtown Lexington to my friends Lucy and Caitlin's apartment. Miss Caitlin and Miss Angie hosted the event. Their hard work was clearly full of love and thoughtfulness and I was overwhelmed with all the little details that were so special to me.

I walked in to this adorable sign.

 Excuse the cleavage in the next photo...ahem ahem.
Note to self...do not hold elbows close to chest during photo ops.

We sipped mimosas all morning. Yum!
They knew I would want to capture some photos since I have always been the picture whore of the group, so they would not let anyone drink until I got there. They know me oh so well because you know I gots to get pics of every last detail.

Look at all the W detail on the napkins.

For those of you who didn't know my new last name begins with the letter W.

Just go ahead and call me Whitney Winchester :-) Has a nice ring to it don't ya think?

It was quite the spread and sooooo delish!
I was smiling ear to ear the entire time.

They know how much I LOVE hydrangeas and plan to have them everywhere on my big day. Just another little thoughtful detail. 

Mini waffles with  maple syrup and fruit toppings.

Favors for guests.

My favorite candy, peanut M&Ms, for all the gals to take home.

Wrapped in true country girl fashion.

Weren't they just perfect?

Christine and I. Seriously love this gal. We met at work and I don't know how I ever lived without her.She is a guaranteed good time 24/7.

Aww Katie and Angie. Soo many memories of the college days have these two gals in them.

We have been through it all and I am pretty sure my early twenties were a blast because of them.

I watched Katie marry her hubby last Spring. She is proving to be such a good resource with all this wedding planning.

And of course Miss Angie is in my wedding party.

The college group of gals at the brunch.

I can't believe how fast time flies.

I met these two fabulous ladies in the work world. While we started out as co-workers, we are truly so much more than that now. That cute little blonde on the right, Amber, is also in my wedding party. I can not imagine my life without her.

Love my bestie!

My other MOH, Miss Megan, was unable to attend due to a death in her hubby's family.

We sure missed her.

And can I just add that the fabulous hostess on the right just had shoulder surgery a mere week or two before the engagement brunch. Bless her heart! I can't believe that she pulled it off. What a trooper and what a sweetie. She has no idea how much I appreciated her hard work and thoughtfulness.

In lieu of gifts, the gals wrote letters to me to read on the big day.

Since I have no self-control, Caitlin is keeping them for me till November.

. Some of the girls who couldn't make it still sent their letters.

So sweet!

I can't wait to read every word.

The entire group compliments of the tripod ;-)

What a fabulous group of gals to spend my Saturday with.

Look at this precious gift Caitlin and Angie surprised me with.

It's a framed photo of me with my ring on the day Kev proposed.

 Angie was over at the house recently and knew that Kevin and I have been working on a memory wall in the kitchenette. This, of course, is going to make a perfect addition to the wall.

It had all the gals names on it.

I cant wait to hang it on our memory wall in progress.

After the brunch, 3 of my bridesmaids and I went and looked at dresses at a local wedding boutique downtown. No major decisions, but we got some better ideas of what I liked and didn't like on the gals. Plus they got to try on their fabulous boots I just bought for them to wear down the isle. They turned out soooooo great and they looked adorable on them.

I had the best Saturday with all of them.

Saying I am excited about this wedding and all the festivities surrounding it is the understatement of the year.

 Loving every second of it!

GO CATS!

Gimme A

C

A

T

S

CATS CATS CATS!!!

Yes, if you can't tell mine and Kev's life is resolving around wedding planning and of course UK basketball.

If there wasn't a wedding this year, I guarantee we would be in Atlanta this weekend with the rest of the big blue nation.

We will be posted up early tomorrow night at one of our favorite Lexington hot spot for all the game action.

Not gonna lie....I have been looking forward to this all week.

So help us cheer on the CATS tonight!!!!

GO BIG BLUE!!!

 

Let's Talk KY Basketball

For those of you who don't know, Kev and I are HUGE UK Basketball fans.

We love love love Coach Cal and his cats!

And unless you have been living under a rock, you know that they UK Wildcats are kind of a big deal this year in college basketball.

(like we are almost every year)

Ahem, Ahem.....7 national championships on our mission for number 8.

What? What?

UK just happened to be the overall #1 seed in the NCAA tourney this year and those games just happened to be played an hour away from Lexington.

Insert the YUM center located in Louisville, KY.

Kev surprised us with tickets to the 3rd round NCAA games to cheer on our wildcats.

We were stoked!

I may have been hoping for a UCONN re-match (they did knock us out in the final four last year), but we settled for Iowa state).

He booked us a free room via his Mariott points that was literally directly across from the arena.

Major perk!

We would then spend our St. Patrick's Day weekend in nothing other than KY BLUE!!

We dropped the doggies off at their pet hotel and headed up I-64 to the ville.

I had my game face on.

Catching Kevin Rex off guard.

We threw on some more blue for pre-gaming with some friends.

 And you know I be rocking my boots

 

We met up with our friends Ron and Erin for some Mexican and St. Patty's Day brewskis

Goggle eyes....Holla!

That's what Ky players do when we shove a 3ball in your face :-)

The YUM center was amazing.

Literally it felt like we were playing in Rupp Arena.

The crowd was electrifying and there were seas of blue everywhere you looked.

90 percent or more of the crowd were fans of the big blue nation that came to cheer on their cats in full force.

It was soooooo much fun.

We kicked some Iowa state booty and are moving on to the sweet 16 for a bitter match up with Indiana.

They are the only other team besides Vandy to beat us this season.

We are out for REVENGE.

Kev and I have been so tempted to drive to Atlanta Catlanta this weekend for another taste of March Madness.

It was mine and Kev's first NCAA tourney and it was so special because of the atmosphere.

It was basically a home UK home game on steroids.

It was so neat to see the streets of Louisville, an arch nemesis, filled with blue.

Everywhere you looked there were KY fans jacked up for the game.

It was nutso!

We are so proud of our team this season and we love that they have our city on fire for them.

Us Kentucky fans are pretty passionate about our basketball and we feel like this is our year to hang another banner in Rupp.

Fingers crossed.

If you don't have a team or your team got beat out already, cheer on our wildcats.

I promise they are super fun and exciting to watch.

:-)

Needless to say, it was a fabulous St. Catrick's Day Patrick's Day weekend.