Love Challenge 4

Lo and behold, I am late to post this week's challenge again! But here it is! This one was supposed to be all cute and on my back porch, but the video cut out at the end, so here is a bad lighting, no make-up, dirty hair one for you! lol. ;-p

Here are some books and blogs as I said I would recommend. I also threw in a couple sermon series about marriage from my fave church, Lifechurch.tv. I've watched and listened to them a couple times each and I always recommend them because Pastor Craig is truly amazing! Go ahead and watch one of the sermons this week too for this challenge. :-) A challenge bonus!


Books:
Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
Sacred Influence by Gary Thomas
The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick

Blogs:
Time-Warp Wife
Biblical Homemaking
Unveiled Wife
The Dating Divas
Be the Smart Wife

Websites:
iwantanawesomemarriage.com
marriagetoday.com

Sermon Audio/Video:
Once Upon A Marriage
The Vow

Now go to the Wedding Pickle Facebook Page and add your recommendations or comment below!

Laura & George Virginia Vineyard Wedding

This is definitely way later in the day than I usually post a feature but I found myself up 2 hours later than I planned this morning and ended up swamped with to-do's. In fact as I type this I still have a load of laundry to fold and I need to finish straightening my hair! lol.

Today's wedding comes from the lovely Laura Ashbrook Photography who I had the pleasure of meeting when we had dinner in Old Town Alexandria! She really is just a sweet lady and I am just thrilled to be featuring her work today. Also, my 7 month stint of calling Virginia "home" also makes me so in love with this wedding! Virginia had a lot of wine country and we had a blast when we visited a few wineries. I love the setting of this wedding but also all the details that makes this just a beautiful feature! Also, be sure not to miss some tips from the bride! :-)

From the Bride- Once the date and venue were set, the wedding plans snowballed. Breaux introduced me to Laura Ritchie (Events in the City) who specializes in wedding planning. For anyone who is on the fence about hiring a wedding planner, let me just say it is well worth the investment. I opted for partial planning so that I could still handle some of the wedding planning details myself. Laura Ritchie gave me recommendations for everything and took care of the critical day-of coordination, scheduling the vendors and ensuring my day went smoothly. Channeling my inner Martha. I wanted to make a lot of the wedding details myself. I was buried up to my eyeballs in do-it-yourself projects for the wedding. I blame reading one too many bridal magazines. Thankfully, I started months in advance so it kept me from feeling overwhelmed. I didn’t feel stressed (seriously!); I really enjoyed my craft time. In fact, I find it to be a great stress reliever. My apartment, however, was a disaster zone. I had cardstock everywhere! I didn’t eat at my kitchen table for months because glue and tape don't digest well. And I definitely would visit JoAnn's Fabric and Michael's more often than the grocery store. That meant my meals usually consisted of take-out, mooching at my folks’ house, or eating a particle meal of whatever I had in the pantry. I made the wedding invitations, menus, and escort cards. I made the table numbers from empty wine bottles and, with the help of my wonderful mother, I wrapped all the wedding favors. Martha Stewart makes all these DIY projects appear effortless, but don't be fooled. It's a trap! 10 minutes Martha time correlates to 50 minutes Laura Jean time. I think all of these homemade details really helped make my day special.



Photographer: Laura Ashbrook Photography via Two Bright Lights
Caterer:  R&R Catering
Event Planner:  Events In The City
Floral Designer:  JLB Floral
Reception Venue:  Breaux Vineyards
Other:  Lansdowne Resort
Cake Designer:  Victoria's Cakery
DJ:  DZ Entertainment
Equipment Rentals:  captial party rentals

Love Challenge 3

It is the middle of the week but this week's challenge shouldn't be do difficult to execute during the rest of this week. At least I hope it isn't because it is an important one as you will see!

Mila was chewing on shoes so I had to grab her to keep her from tearing the house apart! I also wanted her to make an appearance, lol. So I apologize in advance for the very horrible video, but I just had to get this done before the hubs got home!

Don't forget to Like Wedding Pickle on Facebook to have a Love Challenge conversation with me!

Marriage Monday: Selflessness

I have been quiet this past week because I had my in-laws in town and I can't even begin to tell you how much of a vacation it felt like and I didn't even leave my own home! We spent time together at the beach, eating at awesome restaurants, shopping and, of course, having some drinks while sharing some laughs. It also worked out that the hubs wasn't scheduled much for work this past week so he got to spend some quality time with his 'rents! It has been a blessing.

Now this past week's challenge had to do with thinking of doing something for your man without him having to ask. I definitely tried but his mom is always 10 steps ahead of what her son needs. The qualities of a wonderful mother! Because of that, I didn't really need to do much, but it was on my mind. To get him a koozie for the beach beer or to bring in his fast food trash left in the car. But in light of Mother's Day yesterday, I thought I'd make mention of his mother.

I learned so much from her in how she takes care of her son, my husband. It is without expectation, without demand, just automatic care. Selfless love. Everything she did for my husband this past week only made me aware of the type of woman I want to be for him. Both of his parents did so much and gave so much to us this past week that I am inspired to want to be a part of that support system that my husband can rely on.

I love his parents so much and I feel so lucky, no, blessed, to have them in my life. I get to have two sets of parents!

Anyway, I have no clue how to be the best wife, but if I can push aside my selfishness and focus on love, I may not be wife of the year, but I can strive to be what my husband deserves. :-)

I'm learning that it isn't about being the perfect housewife. It is about doing everything in selflessness. That is the best anyone can ask for.

Do any of you battle with selfishness like me? I can be a pretty selfish person. I will admit it here and now! Tell me I'm not alone!

Now for a tribute to all the crawfish who died last weekend so that my family can have a blast at the Crawfish Festival in downtown Pensacola! This little guy escaped for all of 2 seconds! :-(

Pardon the blurriness from my iphone! My in-laws and husband had a blast eating those little guys! Not me! I had to look away to not cringe from the massacre! They are too cute! This is why I can't eat crab or shrimp or any of these things! You can tell me I'm weird if you like, lol.

This week's challenge will be up soon! :-)

Love Challenge 2

I am so excited to have my in-laws in town! In just the last two days we have spent so much time in the sun that I am actually red! If you know me, I am half puerto rican and half dominican. Yeah, I can wear sunscreen and keep my skin from freckles or  wrinkles or skin cancer or whatever. But in my blood, we just get dark. Real dark. I'm not kidding. However, go figure, that I have been out of the sun for so long as an okie that I get burned. Maybe I'll still be red enough in a bit today to post a tweet for you all to see! I am burnt! Oy!

Anyway, since I wasn't home much yesterday, I am posting this week's challenge today! This is one that doesn't take any time or preparation to do. It ought to be fun!

The Challenge:

Do something for him or get something for him without him having to ask!

Be sure to follow along on the Wedding Pickle Facebook page if you aren't already so that we can connect with these challenges or just chat weddings! :-)