Blissfully Wedded - The Engagement Photos

I am so excited to share with you our engagement photos from April. We loved spending the day together and with our photographers from About Love Inspired Photography. We wanted to make each "scene" special, and most importantly scream US. (Note: INSPIRED photography. How perfect as I'm "Rolling the Dice")

Scene 1: We have spend countless hours at Dashing's parents house, with quite a few of those in their backyard. Although located in the Arizona desert, Dashing's parents have a back yard most mid-western folk would envy. It's covered in soft green grass with trees that wrap you in shade. The outdoor fire place and cabana provide warm retreats (we really do need them in the winter!). The tile surrounded pool and rock covered pond sooth the soul with the sound of trickling water. Although serene, we've also had plenty of alcoholic beverage hosted parties including our annual Kentucky Derby Party, many graduations, and my cancer diagnosis party (yup, we had one of those. Any excuse to get a group of people we love together will work). This backyard has meant so much to us. So we had to use this as one of our stops.

Scene 2: The Mustang. Dashing has wanted a vintage Mustang pretty much his entire life. Just days after my diagnosis, Dashing's mom found a 1964 black Mustang Coupe in a random auction house under farm equipment. She to this day doesn't know why she was looking in that section - fate or is she wanting to get into farming??? Anyways, I went to a doctor's appointment, and she went and scooped up this beautiful car and Dashing handed over the check without batting an eye. Dashing and I could use the pick up me - especially him as he was in his third year of medical school, and I was getting all of the attention. The feel of the gnarly-dog growing engine in his control really turns him on makes him happy. So, enter THE MUSTANG.

Stay tuned......INSPIRED Wedding Photos are still to come. 

Blissfully Wedded - The Design

As a girl, I love to look at pretty things that exude "fairytale". Most of us girls dream of our happily ever after, and most of us love to share it. I think this is where our obsession love for wedding photos comes from. So, I'll give you all what you want, wedding photos!

The inspiration from our wedding came to me quickly. My creative mind is always seeking out ways to interpret daily sights. I saw this photo....

and immediately went to work! However, first I had to beg convince Dashing that this wouldn't turn out too frilly. He has an eye for design too - which means he has a distinct style of his own and was involved in the design and approval of everything from our invitations to our first dance to our gift registry pots and pans (that's a whole other story). I first created our engagement party invitations.... (April 24, 2010) I wanted sophisticated elegance with a personal touch to be present in everything we did.

Then, I was thrown a bridal shower in my coveted formal afternoon tea theme at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona...

Then, came the save the date cards and wedding invitations.

That's all for now....exercise patience. It is a virtue, you know!

An Engagement Story

The story: Friday, December 18th was Dashing's 25 birthday. We always do 3 birthday events - dinner with immediate family, a friends' day/night, and a couple's dinner. As you can imagine, we more or less do birthday weekends. Dashing had a Med School exam during the day on Friday, and when he finished he gave me a call to say he had made dinner reservations at the Compass Room at our downtown Phoenix Hyatt, a rooftop rotating restaurant. I wasn't surprised by the restaurant choice as we had my couple's dinner there this year too. I was surprised by one thing though....he actually made reservations and evening plans? I was impressed as he usually has me call to make reservations. We drove downtown and stopped at the Sheraton's District Bar for a quick pre-dinner birthday drink. Then on to dinner....we talked, ate, celebrated his birthday. We seamlessly got into a conversation about how our past experiences, good and bad, make us who we are today and how that has made us stronger together. He then said, these past 3 1/2 years have been the best of my life. Just then the rotating restaurant viewed our loft, his school, my work, our car (he planned this too!).....he got down on his knee and asked "Will you marry me?" and opened up the ring box.

I have no doubt that I looked like a deer in headlights. From recent conversations, I was sort of expecting something in early spring....but definitely not on his birthday. He later said he wanted to do it on his birthday for that exact reason - to make it a genuine surprise. He said it's the best birthday gift he could have.

So after all of this, the waitress came back with champagne and congratulated us. We left the restaurant hand in hand and called his and my parents. Unbeknownst to me, he had asked my dad for my hand in marriage 2 weeks ago when my dad was in town visiting AZ, and his parents have known for the last month. AND Apparently, the ring was delivered to his parent's house on Thursday while I was standing in the entry way. Dashing's dad signed for a package and mentioned it was medical records. I was clueless! We then met up with his parents for a champagne toast at the OBar at the Ocean Club.

I am loving being engaged to the man of my dreams, and I have to admit I catch myself just frequently admiring my ring. We do not have a date set, and don't plan to until Dashing gets his medical school schedule for the upcoming year. He is so excited for all of this AND he (yes, I said HE) is pumped to be involved in the decisions on everything from location to color palate - amazing! He definitely got his mom's (Glenda's) interior designer genes!

Lots of new and exciting adventures to come!

The future Mrs. Dashing

Yes, you read it right! Dashing and I are engaged! Here are some photos to feed your appetite....story to come soon!