sorry!

Man, we are really horrible at blogging. Thankfully we'll both have the week of Christmas off, so maybe we can catch up on some stuff then! It's certainly been an exciting end to 2009.

We are sending out Christmas cards with a few of our favorite pictures from the wedding, so be on the lookout! The cards also have our new address - we moved OTP on December 1st, a big step after living ITP for so long! (for you non-ATL-ers: OTP = outside the perimeter of 285, ITP = inside the perimeter). It's been an adjustment, but it's fun having "our" place now.

So, we hope you enjoy the cards, have a safe & wonderful holiday season, and we will make it our New Years resolution to finish blogging about the wedding and keeping the blog updated on our adventures as newlyweds!

Love!

Ryan & Corrie

My side of things

Long time no post for me. We've had a fun, and busy, first few months. We're moving soon, which is really exciting, and I'm sure there will be a post on that one day.

None the less, its time for me to blog about my side of things. I left the Atlanta area for Augusta a day or two after Corrie, after picking my brother up from the airport. We traveled out to North Augusta, SC, which is where our golf cottage (cabin, lodge, house...anything more manly than cottage) was, and waited there for a bunch of the other guys. It was a good time, we had 4 BR, 4 Ba house with full kitchen and living room and stuff. We also had (best thing) free access to the driving range. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures right now, as I didn't have a camera. We'll see what I can dig up.

On rehearsal dinner day, in the morning, I learned that Corrie had the flu (maybe swine) and was really...shocked. She never gets sick, so it was crazy to think that of all times, now she was. I spent the day running errands and helping her in any way that I could. We opened a few gifts, and did the rehearsal and dinner, it ended up being pretty good!

After the dinner, we all (girls and guys) went and hung out in/around downtown Augusta. It was a really good time, and was great to cut any nervousness. The guys went back to the cabin and hung out for the rest of the night, and I got some sleep.

We woke early-ish the next morning to go set up tables and chairs at our reception area, and then all had breakfast at a Waffle House in North Augusta. Then we went back to the cabin and chilled out until it was time to get ready.


Aaaaaaaaand that's all I'm going to leave everyone with for now. I'm sure we'll have a wedding post up soon with pictures, and then the honeymoon too! Thanks for reading, leave some comments!!

rehearsal dinner

Not sure if anyone is even reading any more, hehe. Since we are so slow in updating! I've tried convincing Ryan to blog about some of his events and his side of things, but haven't been too successful yet, hehe. I'll try to wrap up at least my side of things soon.

After rehearsal, we had dinner at Julian Smith BBQ pit. Ryan's parents rented out the building, and Ryan's dad cooked bbq for everyone. The sides were provided by Roux's catering, and my sister did the grooms cake. Everything was delicious!






The amazing cake! Holly should really open her own bakery. It was four layers of different flavor cake, pound cake, chocolate cake, mmmm. She did a fondant icing in the shape of GT's Bobby Dodd stadium, decorated in Tech colors and everything! Sooooo delicious!

rehearsal

I stole these from Lauren, one of my bridesmaids. I thought everything went pretty well, we had a tired ringbearer though so it took a lot of time to work with him. Note for anyone putting kids in your wedding, they may reeeeally hate rehearsal and you may spend a lot of time trying to convince them to walk down the aisle that night, and they may not do it or cry a lot...you get the picture. But don't worry! Because the day of, the kids will really surprise you and do a perfect job! Now I wish we hadn't fussed so much on rehearsal night, because our ringbearer was really perfect the next day.

pow wow with Raegan, our good friend & wedding planner


getting set up...my minnie bride hat from Lauren on!


with the maid of honor & our officiant Dr. Jon snuck his way into the background


check out my AWESOME bandaid from my shots earlier that morning


practicing the unity candle sans flame

that fateful friday

So now that we're back, we can recap all the events of wedding weekend. Let's start where I left off, that fateful Friday that started off a chain of, as a co-worker noted, movie-worthy events.

Remember, I was feeling sick with a cold all week before the wedding? Friday morning, right after I blogged, my mom suggested I go to an Urgent Care just to see what they could do for me to make me feel the best possible. I had argued all week that it was just a cold, but I finally gave in and went to the doctor. They tested me for strep and the flu. The results came back and duh duh duh!!! I had influenza A, and the doctor said most likely the swine flu, since that was the only strain of influenza A they had seen going around. THE SWINE FLU!!!! Talk about a breakdown. Commence sobbing. What could possibly be done to make this situation better, seeing as we had wedding rehearsal that night and the wedding festivities all day the next day?? Well, I got 2 shots, one in the shoulder and one in the butt (that burned like crap) and a ton of drugs. The doctor recommended lots of rest, so we went home, still sobbing. As we pulled up to the driveway, all of my relatives were standing with somber looks on their faces, like someone had died. So I sobbed some more as I went into the house, layed down, everyone tried to lift my spirits etc...the shots started to kick in and I felt better in a couple hours. My sweet Ryan went and got my medicine and also got tested for swine flu & picked up tamiflu for himself so he could avoid it if possible. After all, we had a 1 1/2 week honeymoon ahead of us, which could have been miserable if we both got the swine flu!

To further lift my spirits, my extended family wanted to do a mini shower type thing because they really wanted to be there when we opened presents. So here are some of the pictures.

We thought this was hilarious! They're so used to writing Corrie & Holly on cards, they accidentally did it for a wedding card. Oops!!


We love Calphalon! I wish we had a picture, but even their critters gave us a present - these cute little egg utensils, like a flipper, whisk and mini omelet pan with little egg characters on the handles. You can check out the whisk on Bed Bath & Beyond's website here.



They went down the aisles and bought us everything green. Too cute! Even paint chips! (Ryan is holding one of those, haha)


Thank you Aunt Debbie for taking me to Urgent Care, and thank you Aunt Debbie, Aunt Sherry, Uncle Bub, Nick and Jesse, as well as the critters, PC, Petey, Willy, Gabby, Patches, Cheyenne, Josie, Manly and Buddy Goober. You made an otherwise bleak morning a much happier memory! :)

proofs are up!

If you enjoyed the sneak peek, you'll really enjoy all the pictures that Lauren Wright took. If you're interested in seeing everything, shoot us an email or leave us a note, and we'll make sure to send you the link straightaway! Don't know if we really want to broadcast that link to the whole world :) However, when we get the digital files, I'm sure you'll see our favorites either on the blog or in a web album. Stay tuned!

we're back!

Today is our first day back in Atlanta as The Duckworths! We got in late last night.

We have SO MUCH to catch y'all up on...there will be many more blog posts to come.

To tide you over til then, check out this sneak peek from our photographer, Lauren Wright.

roses!

Probably my last post for today...the roses came on Wed!

From wedding prep

cousin shout out

This post is a thank you shout out to my cousins, Nick & Jesse, who were so helpful to my Dad yesterday in fixing up the deck & backyard.

From wedding prep

From wedding prep

groom's cake

Holly is an amazing baker! So I asked her to bake the groom's cake. Unfortunately, not everyone will get to try it, because we're having it at the rehearsal dinner instead of the wedding. But here it is in the early stages!

From wedding prep

check out all the butter! And I bought 2 more boxes after she went through these.

From wedding prep

From wedding prep

From wedding prep

programs

So it turns out that I was really, really bad at tying the bows on the programs. But thankfully, my dad, Holly, and Aunt Sherry were total pros!

The top bow is Holly's, the bottom bow is Dad's. Hehe.

From wedding prep

The great helpers:

From wedding prep

From wedding prep

From wedding prep

favors

Before I start the post...please pray for me! The zinc only worked so well...I have been battling a cold for the past 3 days :( I really hope to be healthy by wedding day! I think family drama has really worn me down, and I'm just trying to stay alive at this point. ha! Also pray for the weather. It has been cloudy and sprinkling every now and again.

My grandfather on my mom's side, Pop Pop, worked at the M&Ms factory in New Jersey. He died before I was born, so I never knew him. But my family is really big into M&Ms because of him, and my mom still has a friend who works up there and shipped us many pounds of pink & green M&Ms. They are "fresh" since they came straight from the factory and didn't sit on a grocery shelf at all. Mmm.

We bought these little translucent pockets that say "love" all over them, and we stuffed them with the M&Ms. The pockets were really cheap, but they were kind of hard to put together, and we ended up taping the ends just to make sure no M&Ms would fall out. Enjoy!

From wedding prep

From wedding prep

From wedding prep

From wedding prep

From wedding prep

closing thoughts

Well, I have about 30 more inserts to print, and then we get to flip them over and print the other side. Don't worry, I'll probably just do them tomorrow.

Just thought I'd close the night/morning with a few thoughts.

Now that it's 2 am, we are officially 3 days away from wedding day!

Even with all the craziness going on, it's important to take time out with the Lord and also with each other. I re-memorized Psalm 23 and have been thinking it a lot, especially last week when I was going through some especially tough times. Ryan and I have had some spontaneous date nights without spending too much money :) And those have been really sweet times where we didn't talk wedding, but just enjoyed each other's company.

Speaking of the Lord, if you have some time this week, please pray for us! And for these specific requests:

- traveling mercies for everyone driving & flying
- good health for everyone - I personally have been struggling with the start of a cold and have been loading up on zinc lozenges, I hope they work!
- good weather
- that our wedding day would ultimately glorify God

Thanks everyone! Good night/morning :)

today's mail

still printing programs...

Today I got some interesting mail! The first was an article from my sister about a historic monument in front of First Christian Church, where we are getting married. It's a monument for Emily Tubman, and she was a member of the church. Her husband Richard wanted all his slaves to be freed when he died, but the Georgia Legislature denied him. So Emily offered to fund moving them to Liberia or to have them choose to continue to work for her. A third moved to Liberia and took her last name in her honor. The others stayed with her, and later in her life she was able to free them and give them land. She was a pretty amazing, giving woman...she also became a good businesswoman and donated much of her money to her church and schools. So, when you come to the wedding, and you see this monument right outside the front door, you'll know what it's for and the story behind it. You can read more about her on First Christian's website. I think the article originally came out of the Augusta Spirit, but I don't see it on their website. The Augusta Chronicle has a cool little article though.


Another letter I got was from Macy's and Wedgwood/Royal Doulton. It was an apology letter, saying sorry for the ridiculously long shipping times for items on our registry. I know someone bought us 1 place setting of Royal Doulton, our fine china, and it's not supposed to arrive until...drum roll...November!! Yikes. So, if you too have been wondering what was up with their shipping times...I still don't have an answer for you except that they are aware of the problem and they're trying to ameliorate the situation. And that this is a Macy's/Wedgwood/Royal Doulton universal problem, not just for me & Ryan. I guess that makes me feel a little better.


This has nothing to do with mail, except for the fact that I got the mail about 3 hours after I did this:

Got my nails done! There's not really any place in Augusta I trust, so I got them done up here in Atlanta. Hopefully they'll last til Sat. Raegan told me not to wash any dishes, and I should be fine. Haha! Music to my ears. Plus I just wanted to show off my ring again. It looks a lot better on manicured hands, hehe.

pink & green invasion

Yep...still printing programs...

A couple days ago, I took some ribbon in our shades of pink & green and decorated the ringbearer pillow and flowergirl baskets. They started out plain white...which was a problem because they are whiter than my dress, and I think that looks kind of funny. But, they were on sale at...you guessed it, Michael's. My mom & sister purchased them a while back, I think altogether it was under $15.

Anyway, I don't know what the tradition is surrounding these items, but it seems everywhere I look, they're plain. And I figured, you know, these little kids should have something more fun than just plain white stuff. And ok, ok. I admit that I really wanted something more fun than just plain white stuff. Well a glue gun, ribbon, and an hour later...

your after midnight update

Hi! Betcha didn't expect an update this late. Well seeing as it's wedding week, I wanted to make sure to update more often. Tonight, I happen to be printing out the ceremony programs. Even with my printer on the highest speed, it is taking several hours to print all the inserts.

We bought the program materials back in January or February on sale at Michael's. Only $10 for 40 programs (covers, inserts, and green twine to tie it all together). You download the template online from Gartner Studios and then print at home.


They may not be as fancy as getting them done at a printers, but I think they're really cute, and they were much cheaper! We got 200 programs for $50 and then I had to buy ink cartridges for $50. Grand total = $100.


Here's a template that we printed over just to test...gives you an idea of what the finished product will look like. I'm REALLY looking forward to tying all those little green bows. I will let you know a final tally on how many man hours that takes! Haha.

my bouquet!

Holly sent me some pictures of my rehearsal bouquet! It looks so pretty and big, I can't wait to see it in person. I think it might be prettier than my real bouquet!

Here's how she started, with a paper towel tube and a plate:

Adding all the bows & ribbons:

The finished product!

experimenting...

I went by Ikea the other day to buy candles & holders for the centerpieces...I got about 60 glass votives and 100 candles for $35:


The plan is to have different vases with pink roses and kiwis in them...Ryan & I kinda played around and this is what it looked like...


Of course, we'll have full size roses and we'll cut the kiwis thinner so they fill the vase up more. Costco has 10-12 kiwis for $5, so it won't be too costly. Maybe tie some tulle around the vase? Any thoughts, suggestions?

Hey guess what? We're getting married THIS WEEK!

let's make a deal

Another task I completed last weekend was the gift buying & wrapping for my side of the wedding party. I love buying gifts for people! Shopping for these gifts was so much fun. So just because I love games & teasing...let's play Guess-What-the-Presents-Are!! If this were really Survivor, you could think of this as a Reward Challenge! I can't wait to reveal what they are after the wedding!

Hint #1: These boxes are for the bridesmaids, and they are all identical except for Holly's. They were handcrafted by a coworker.

Hint #2: These gifts are identical, and they are going to our parents. Wrapping paper from Hallmark (love that store!)

Hint #3: The green bags are gifts for my reception hosts, and the pink bags are gifts for the bridesmaids. They are all the same gift, just the hosts have reversed color scheme from the bridesmaids. Also not pictured are 2 smaller pink bags with the flowergirls gifts, which are different from all the gifts I've already mentioned. Confused yet?

Here is the monogrammed stationery I'm using to write all my final notes as a Navarro. A very good friend from college, Erika, gave this stationery to me as a gift our freshman year from a super cute gift store in Baxley. I've only used the stationery a couple times through the years, and I rediscovered it when I was putting the gifts together. It's perfect and I'll be sad when I've used it all up!