I've shared these thoughts a lot lately it seems like but I'm going to do it again. For me, it still doesn't seem strange how extensive my family is. Granted, it's hard to explain to other people. Ethan gets very confused sometimes (but that could be more of my explanation than his understanding ability). My parents are divorced and remarried. It doesn't bother me any that they are divorced. I never had any misconceptions as a child that they might one day get back together. They are happy where they are and I love my stepparents so I'm happy too. That does add two more branches to my family though. It was funny, talking to my mom the other day, she mentioned my two families (her's and dad's). I said no, I have four - four parents, four branches of family. That is just how I think about it but that doesn't make any side less "mine". I've always referred to my stepparents as "step" because that's how I grew up and I think it would make my mom and dad uncomfortable to do otherwise. But, I don't call my stepmom's parents my stepgrandparents or her sister, my stepaunt. I don't think of it that way. Just as she is a parent, they are my family. You don't have to be blood related to be family. My mom was adopted. That didn't make my grandma any less of a grandma.
Speaking of grandparents. This is what got me started thinking this evening. I copied a pictures of my grandparents (dad's side) to have at the wedding. I already had pictures for mom's side and we're working on getting some for my stepdad's side. They have all passed away and we want to have a little area at the wedding as a little memorial for our grandparents. Ethan lost two of his grandparents this year as well. That is eight pictures, eight grandparents. Isn't that crazy? I just wonder what it's like for people who have all of their grandparents. I wish I knew more about my grandfathers. They both passed away before I was 5 so I didn't get to know them. I wonder who they were, their personalities, what they would be like today, what kind of camaraderie they would have with Ethan, etc. I'm also thinking I shouldn't have looked back through my genealogy books I got back from my aunt who had been looking at them. I think, most of all, I'm missing my grandmas that passed away, both within the last few years. Tonight, I actually realized Ethan never met my dad's mom. We had been together 2 years when she died and they never met. Oh well, such is life. These are things I can't change.
We will be happy to have as much of our family as we can at the wedding and remember those that can't be there whether they are no longer with us or just weren't able to make it due to distance or prior engagements.
Thank you for listening.
Kara :)
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
-The Serenity Prayer
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Wedding Website
It isn't completely finished but it is certainly a start. This stuff takes some serious time!
www.theknot.com/ourwedding/KaraSmith&EthanManon
Let me know what you think!
www.theknot.com/ourwedding/KaraSmith&EthanManon
Let me know what you think!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Starting Over
Well, I've decided to begin our blog again. I want to keep it more about our wedding in order to keep everyone updated. That is, if anyone reads this.
So far, we have gotten A LOT done for the wedding. Although, I really think wedding planning, is overrated. I will start at the beginning. Since we got our apartment together in December 2008, we knew we would get married eventually. It was definitely a topic of conversation before then but we hadn't made any specific decisions. We sort of joked about when we would get married and one day, I said hey, let's pick a date. I was half kidding but we decided on June 12, 2010. This was over a year before then so we figured we had plenty of time. However, that was not the case and before we announced, my stepsister decided to get married that day and booked her reception. I will refrain from commenting on my disappointed but believe me, it was disheartening. So, we put off deciding when we would get married for a while. We still weren't engaged at the time but honestly, what does a ring have to do with anything? Everyone I know, knew we were together and that we wanted to eventually get married. If he had asked before then, I definitely would have said yes but not having that, didn't mean we weren't committed. Just a little explaination for anyone who might be confused by planning and NOT being engaged. :) Anyways, so November rolls around and we got engaged! I will save that story for another day. At that point, we decided on July 9, 2011 as our date. This is obviously not when we are getting married, it changed again.
Ethan was talking to his dad one day, and he suggested their church and country club for the wedding. We really hadn't found anything promising and their church is pretty and the country club has great food and sounded like it would work really well. It is a little difficult planning from a distance but it isn't too far and if forces us to get things done on quicker. So, we went to Danville, Kentucky and checked both locations for the wedding and reception. After visiting the country club, we ended changing the date. People fail to tell you how difficult it is to make decisions, especially if you have trouble evening deciding on what to have for lunch. The date, very hard to pick. The first one we had, had some significance but after that, it's just guesswork. We picked May 28, 2011 because we were in Kentucky on Memorial Day weekend and it was exactly a year away. Plus people would have an extra day for travel because of the 3 day weekend. It doesn't sound like a very special decision but the way I see it, the day may not have been special before, but it will after we get married.
So, the wedding is at St. Peter & Paul Catholic Church and the reception will be at the Danville Country Club, both in Danville, Kentucky.
Mom and I picked actually picked out my dress before we changed the date, I believe. And my dress just came in last week. Sunday was the first day I got to put on MY dress. It was amazing! I love my dress and it fits perfectly. I can't say much more than that. We also picked the bridesmaids dresses on Sunday. They are strapless and a little below the knee in length. The top (chest area) is ivory and the bottom is wine. Yes, wine is a color. It's a purple, red color.
We also spent a weekend down in Danville picking the photographer (Clay Jackson) and the cake, which is from The Twisted Sifter. It's going to be amazing. The layers are Makers Mark which is chocolate cake and chocolate frosting with bourbon (yum) and the other is peach cake and strawberry frosting. Oh and the groomscake is brownie cheesecake. I'm not kidding, people will be talking our cake for years to come.
We had also picked a florist but mom and I decided to do most of it ourselves because of the cost. It was a little much. Now that we have the bridesmaids dresses picked out, we can narrow down the flowers. I think we are doing silk and probably mostly orange, yellow, burgundy (wine) and ivory. I want to keep it simple though, nothing too crazy.
I feel like this post has gone on forever so I'm going to wrap it up. We are going to Kentucky this weekend and Sunday, we are doing our engagement pictures. It's a year after we got engaged but oh well! I'm pretty stoked about Saturday too because we are going to the UK game!! I've never been to the UK stadium and it should be pretty fun. There will be some tailgating involved too, of course. :)
Well it's past my bedtime...goooooood night!
P.S. Guest lists suck.
So far, we have gotten A LOT done for the wedding. Although, I really think wedding planning, is overrated. I will start at the beginning. Since we got our apartment together in December 2008, we knew we would get married eventually. It was definitely a topic of conversation before then but we hadn't made any specific decisions. We sort of joked about when we would get married and one day, I said hey, let's pick a date. I was half kidding but we decided on June 12, 2010. This was over a year before then so we figured we had plenty of time. However, that was not the case and before we announced, my stepsister decided to get married that day and booked her reception. I will refrain from commenting on my disappointed but believe me, it was disheartening. So, we put off deciding when we would get married for a while. We still weren't engaged at the time but honestly, what does a ring have to do with anything? Everyone I know, knew we were together and that we wanted to eventually get married. If he had asked before then, I definitely would have said yes but not having that, didn't mean we weren't committed. Just a little explaination for anyone who might be confused by planning and NOT being engaged. :) Anyways, so November rolls around and we got engaged! I will save that story for another day. At that point, we decided on July 9, 2011 as our date. This is obviously not when we are getting married, it changed again.
Ethan was talking to his dad one day, and he suggested their church and country club for the wedding. We really hadn't found anything promising and their church is pretty and the country club has great food and sounded like it would work really well. It is a little difficult planning from a distance but it isn't too far and if forces us to get things done on quicker. So, we went to Danville, Kentucky and checked both locations for the wedding and reception. After visiting the country club, we ended changing the date. People fail to tell you how difficult it is to make decisions, especially if you have trouble evening deciding on what to have for lunch. The date, very hard to pick. The first one we had, had some significance but after that, it's just guesswork. We picked May 28, 2011 because we were in Kentucky on Memorial Day weekend and it was exactly a year away. Plus people would have an extra day for travel because of the 3 day weekend. It doesn't sound like a very special decision but the way I see it, the day may not have been special before, but it will after we get married.
So, the wedding is at St. Peter & Paul Catholic Church and the reception will be at the Danville Country Club, both in Danville, Kentucky.
Mom and I picked actually picked out my dress before we changed the date, I believe. And my dress just came in last week. Sunday was the first day I got to put on MY dress. It was amazing! I love my dress and it fits perfectly. I can't say much more than that. We also picked the bridesmaids dresses on Sunday. They are strapless and a little below the knee in length. The top (chest area) is ivory and the bottom is wine. Yes, wine is a color. It's a purple, red color.
We also spent a weekend down in Danville picking the photographer (Clay Jackson) and the cake, which is from The Twisted Sifter. It's going to be amazing. The layers are Makers Mark which is chocolate cake and chocolate frosting with bourbon (yum) and the other is peach cake and strawberry frosting. Oh and the groomscake is brownie cheesecake. I'm not kidding, people will be talking our cake for years to come.
We had also picked a florist but mom and I decided to do most of it ourselves because of the cost. It was a little much. Now that we have the bridesmaids dresses picked out, we can narrow down the flowers. I think we are doing silk and probably mostly orange, yellow, burgundy (wine) and ivory. I want to keep it simple though, nothing too crazy.
I feel like this post has gone on forever so I'm going to wrap it up. We are going to Kentucky this weekend and Sunday, we are doing our engagement pictures. It's a year after we got engaged but oh well! I'm pretty stoked about Saturday too because we are going to the UK game!! I've never been to the UK stadium and it should be pretty fun. There will be some tailgating involved too, of course. :)
Well it's past my bedtime...goooooood night!
P.S. Guest lists suck.
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