Happy New Year everyone! It’s surreal to start a new decade with 2010. It’s probably because growing up, I always thought of a decade as such a LONG time, and for the first time, I’m able to look back at the last decade and have legitimate memories. Yesterday on Twitter, there was a trending topic of #10yearsago, and mine was, “#10yearsago I had a childhood crush on my husband. I saw him at my brother’s wrestling matches and thought he was cute.”
 
I would have never thought that 10 years …

With the coming new year (which has snuck up on me super fast), I’ve been thinking about all of the wonderful things that I’ve been blessed with in 2009. I know some have had a horrible 2009, but in terms of personal life events, my year has been pretty awesome! Of course I’ve also been making plans and setting goals for 2010, but since this IS the last day of 2009, I’m going to revel in the past.
 
In case you haven’t been following the blog since the very beginning, …

I just realized that today marks 6 months since my husband, Schuyler, and I were married! It’s been a wonderful 6 months, and the time has FLOWN by! From making our house into a home, changing to the same last name, and a complete 360 change in my career path, it’s been an amazing start to our life together. I just wanted to mark this little milestone in our new life together and share a few of my favorite wedding photos!

All photos by CvB Photography
I wish we had more fun …

I felt like sharing something about myself today, I hope you all won’t mind. It’s the answer to the question, “Why do you blog?” If you had asked me at this time last year about blogging, I wouldn’t have had an answer because I had no idea about it! I knew that they existed, but I didn’t know about the vast amounts of information, ideas, and inspiration (the three I’s, how cute!) that were available through blogs.
In January (described in more detail here), I was told about Style Me Pretty. …

When you get engaged, what’s the first thing you do? Buy bridal magazines! And of course the magazines are filled with pages and pages of advertisements for wedding dresses. And you mark the pages you want, go the websites and drool, and start dreaming of your wedding dress.When choosing your dress, the number ONE rule is: DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

Look at all the different designers and styles.
Go and try some on, with NO intentions of buying at all.
Know what style and fabric you like.

Well, I made a huge mistake. I …

Last but not least: the Reception.
Since it was raining, we weren’t able to get any extra time for photos at the Country Club of Ocala, where the reception was being held. We also weren’t able to get the “preview” of the ballroom before our Grand Entrance.Therefore, I was in shock when we were announced and we walked into our Reception. (You can see it in my face in one of the pictures below) It was so much more than I expected it be, and I have Dan from Unforgettable Events …

Now for a glimpse into our very limited photo session:
Little did we know that a (then rare) Florida afternoon thunderstorm was brewing, and as we walked out of the church, it was a race to get a few pictures and then make it to Ocala’s Historic Downtown Square.
The picture from the previous post “The Story Behind Lauren & Schuyler” was the necessity, and we were able to fit in a few more before the clouds starting looming above.

We raced to where …

Moving right along…I couldn’t hold back anymore! I wanted to get the rest of the wedding posted for all to see! Just one more left….
The ceremony was beautiful. Held in the gorgeous Catholic church that I grew up in and performed by the priest that watched me grow up, it was my dream to have my wedding there.

Growing up, I always imagined walking down this incredibly long aisle toward my future husband, and as I got older I would start to tear up just thinking of it. I of course …

With both of us growing up together, there was no question as to where the wedding would be: good old Ocala, Florida, a growing town in central Florida, south of Gainesville and north of Orlando. Ocala is where I was born and raised, where we met, and where we plan on moving to start our family in the future.

The preparation process took place at my parents’ house. “The early bird gets the worm!”-or rather, gets married. That’s what I was saying when I woke up at 6:30 AM on …

Before I throw a million pictures of the two of us at you, I thought I would share the story of my husband and I.

The picture on the left is our very first actual date. Dinner before the Homecoming Dance 2001.The picture on the right is the same sidewalk…note the umbrellas.
Yes, so we’re high school sweethearts, and although we’re young, we’ve been through a lot. We started dating in 2001, and were on-again-off-again a couple times throughout the years. We did date other people, but we kept ending up …