Sweet Moments

My amazing mom surprised us after our barbecue with this delicious cake!

Timmy and my Grampy.  So cute.

With my maid of honor.  The bridesmaid dresses are pretty close to her coral shirt.

Tim's sister, my bridesmaid, Missy.

Bella, our love muffin!

My matron of honor and sister, Tara, with Timmy!

{The photos above are all from a spring barbecue my parent's hosted at their house.  My family, Tim's family, Tara's family and my friend Jess, were all there to eat and enjoy a gorgeous day on the lake.}

I read wonderful blogs detailing wedding planning, daily.  I am impressed. And overwhelmed.  Which is pretty much why I have found myself reading blogs, but not writing posts for my own blog.  I am enjoying being engaged, but I feel like I should light a fire under my wedding planning ass.  Since I'm having a destination wedding, I don't have that much to do until I visit Florida in May and meet with vendors.  I would like to figure out my invitation suite.  I've been searching through fabulous designs on Etsy but have yet to make a decision.  I'm really looking forward to meeting with our vendors and checking some huge items off of our wedding to-do list such as:
- Meet minister, organize ceremony
- Meet with company responsible for setting up beach ceremony and decorating my rehearsal site
- Food tasting with caterer and making meal selections
- Cake tasting and making selections
- Finding a place for our welcome party, making selections
- Determining where we go to get our Florida marriage license
- Laying in the sun on the warm, white sand
- Splashing in the waves
- Riding beach cruiser around town
- Engagement photos
-Meet with Eddie, our steel drummer! Pretty excited to walk down the sandy aisle to the tunes calypso beats of Edwardo.

We need to figure out what Timmy and his men are going to be wearing, invites, programs, etc ...


Exciting stuff coming up.

~Dining Diva.

Just Beachy!

So much has happened since I started blogging and lately, I have not been participating in the blog world.  I miss it.  And you would think this would be the time that I am knee-deep in the blog community, sharing my wedding planning successes and failures and reading about yours. 

Quick update:  I have set the date and location for my wedding: October 2011 in Clearwater Beach, Florida!
Eeek! I am SO excited that I am going to have my dream beach/destination wedding!  I have been going to the Gulf Coast of Florida for the past 20 years with my family and it is near and dear to my heart.  The surf and sand and sun make me oh. so. happy!  And it's where Tim and I were engaged. Actually, if you would, please click here to vote for our proposal so that I can win a trip!  :) It's a pretty great video, too!


What have I done so far?
 - Booked reception site
- Determined bridal party
- Wedding website
- Ordered bridal gown
- Booked photographer
-Booked reception music


I guess that's it.  So I actually do have much more to do.  But I'll get to it.  I'm trying to figure out the colors that I like and I've saved all of these photos and sent them to my decorator and hopefully she can come up with some kind of inspirational layout for my reception. 

~Dining Diva

I'm Engaged!

I'm such a bad blogger, but if anyone still checks in on the Dining Diva, I wanted to let you know that Tim proposed to me on December 23 while on my family vacation in Clearwater Beach, Florida.  It happened around 11 in the morning while we were at the beach.  He hired a small plane to fly over us with a banner that said, "(My name) All I want for Christmas Is You! Will you marry me? <3 Tim."  Then he was on his knee and I was in SHOCK! My dad and our other friends and family members already knew he was going to ask me that morning, and my dad video taped the entire event. I think I may upload the video to share; it's quite special.  My mom was just as surprised as me that morning.  Tim had already asked my parents for their blessing back in October, and my mom was clueless as to when he was going to pop the big question.


Happy New Year!

Dining Diva