a personal note

So about 2 months after we got engaged, Ryan got layed off from his job. It was a shocking & difficult day, but we have total faith in God that everything will work according to His plan. And His plan is the best plan! Far better than anything we could come up with. Of course, planning a wedding, you're always wondering about the unexpected, and this certainly through us for a loop. I give thanks that God has blessed us with two sets of incredibly supportive parents, and we are moving right along to August 29th.

Which brings me to the reason for this post. We just wanted to throw Ryan's job situation out there and ask for your prayers & thoughts during this time. Ryan is going to Charlotte today for a job interview! Pray for his safety on the road and for a good experience up there tomorrow.

Another request - Ryan's grandma is coming home from Warm Springs Rehab center tomorrow! Praise the Lord! Keep her & the Duckworth family in your prayers :)

making the news

So today our engagement announcement ran in the Augusta Chronicle :) Yippee!

For those of you not in the Augusta area, you can check out our announcement online here. You have search for our names (Navarro or Duckworth). And if anyone knows anyone that works for the Fayette Citizen (Ryan's hometown newspaper), let me know. I have emailed them unsuccessfully about getting an announcement in their paper! Ryan says he's going to call them this week, so maybe he will have better success than me!

an exciting day!

I just listened to my voicemail and guess what?? My wedding dress has arrived in Augusta! :) :) :) Yippee!!! I can't wait to go home & try it on! It came so much earlier than I expected...we were estimating 5 months from when we ordered. I guess we ordered it early Feb? So definitely wasn't expecting it to arrive this month!

Wanna see it? Haha! Just kidding! You'll have to wait til August 29th.

I have to say it's been so great working with Elegant Bridals. They make you feel like family. Our first visit, I was confused because you don't see any of the dresses. They keep them all hidden, and your consultant talks to you about your dream dress. Then she pulls dresses and you try them on in rounds. It was a different process from any of the other bridal salons I went to, but I really enjoyed it. Our consultant, Sara, was also so sweet and fun. The dressing rooms are private and large, and there's also a big stage area outside the rooms where you can try on your favorite dresses in a big, big mirror. I hope the rest of the process (alterations!) goes just as smoothly and fun-ly (is that a word?) as finding the dress! I wasn't planning on having bridal portraits done before the wedding, but now that my dress is here so early, maybe I will!

What an exciting day :)

Moving right along...

So far this has been a fun, exciting, and interesting experience. It's funny how you feel that everything is moving at just the right pace, and a lot of stuff "seems" done, but I have a feeling that things will surprise us along the way.

As you can see in Corrie's last post, a lot of stuff is in fact done. I even have a place for all of the groomsmen and myself to stay, across the river in South Carolina. It's a golf cabin, and is pretty much amazing, and we get free range balls... so...yeah...

Other than that, I just have to work on tuxes and the honeymoon... which of course is very, very difficult to plan when you're unemployed... but I've got my hopes up!

Thanks for readin'!

leave tribal council immediately!

Haha, not really. Just thought I'd throw a Survivor phrase in there to get back to the blog idea :) But here is an update on the things we have "eliminated" off of our to do list! We feel like we are in a good place with the planning, but if you think of something we've left out, that we should have done 4 months out, let us know so we can get on it!

Ceremony site - First Christian Church
Reception site - Enterprise Mill
Caterer - Fat Mans
Dress - Elegant Bridals
Bridesmaid Dresses - Elegant Bridals
Engagement & wedding photographer - Lauren Wright Photography
Flowers - Ladybugs
Invitations - Hallmark/Carlson Craft
Hotel Blocks - Marriott/Staybridge Suites

And since I am so very excited about everything (Ryan too, haha), I'll try to do a blog entry on each thing :)

marriage advice

So Ryan & I went out to dinner last night with a couple from church. They are a couple years older than us and just got married a year go. We had a great time fellowshipping with them, and they gave us some good marriage advice, some of which I had never thought about. Like...Ryan & I are going to pre-marital counseling in May, which is awesome, but what about post-marital counseling? I had never heard of this concept! But it sounds like a good idea, a good way to work through things after you're actually married and walking out the things you've learned & talked about before marriage. The word "counseling" has a stigma to it these days, like you only need it if things are going wrong. But we should really approach it as "preventative maintenance", to steal David's analogy. And this concept of a Deuteronomy...in Deuteronomy 24:5, the men who had just been married were ordered to spend a year at home with their wives instead of going to war. So making sure that we take extra time to focus on the first year of marriage and not take on anything extra...life is busy enough as it is and we should really enjoy that first year! And every yr...but you get the idea.

I'm sure there are many wise couples out there that want to share their advice :) Feel free to leave us some in the comments, or make sure you find us in August!

save the dates

Yay! Our save the dates are about ready to mail. They were designed by one of my bridesmaids, Lindsay Sprung, and printed by my cousin, Joe. They have our colors - kiwi green and dark pink, my flower - the stargazer lily, and will also include a black & white photo magnet. So even if you can't save the date/make it to our wedding, you have a little memento anyway :) My sister/maid of honor, Holly, did all the addresses (again in green & pink). And even the stamps we are using are green!