Thursday, May 19, 2016

Final Wedding Planning Part 1

          So I'm back with the back-to-back blog post!! Now I will go very very in-depth on the past, present, and future wedding planning! For those of you who like these kind of posts, you will enjoy this!!

          So on the move out day, as you can see below, Cody and I picked up his wedding band!! Doesn't it look awesome!!!! I mean it looks like it was made for his hand; I can't wait until he can wear it!!! I also can't wait for my wedding band! I have no idea what it looks like, Cody has kept it a surprise.

I liked it so I put a ring on it ;).


Throughout the end of school and now I have been getting a few gifts in the mail from our wedding registries at Target and Bed Bath and Beyond. Let me tell you, the level of excitement as you see your name on a package at the door is unreal! EEEKS! :D

We love cooking and baking and are so excited for the cake plate and of course the sheets above!! Wow they are soft and of course much needed! Especially since Cody moved into the apartment and needed a place to sleep with sheets. 

And look at this beautiful blue mixer!! Its a KitchenAid mixer!! Wow! It will look amazing in our kitchen and will help us bake delicious cookies!! 

One of my mom's friends at school monogrammed this for me!! She is so sweet! My new initials!!! YAY! I will be changing my name after the honeymoon to Kayla Nicole Raborn. That will take some getting used to. I hear the name changing process is tedious and not very fun so I look forward to getting that over with so I can just be a Raborn already!

One super exciting thing is my hair length! Those biotin supplements are AMAZING!! I have been taking multi-vitamins, biotin, drinking green tea, and have been eating coconut oil! Both create a flatter belly! I have also been rubbing coconut oil on my skin after a shower to moisturize and exfoliate. Coconut oil is supposed to be really good for you!! I have always dreamed of my hair being this long on my wedding day, and look! It's literally like a blanket.

If you can see, I thought this would be a neat schematic to show the wedding-eve schedule. It will be a crazy day especially since the wedding the next day will take place earlier in the day. It is accurate except the rehearsal starts at 5:00pm and rehearsal dinner at Calhouns on the River begins at 6:30pm.

I know you are probably tired of seeing this but here is or reception place, The Reserve at BlueBird Hill. It takes your breath away every time! (Ignore the black bars above and below the pic)

I decided to show this again because this will be a close representation of the table and chairs inside the reserve. 

        So the Sunday after my last day of classes, I spent time with mom and ordered a few things needed for the wedding such as his/her glasses to drink out of, a guest book, advice box for the reception table, and an In memory board dedicated to the ones in the family deceased and could not attend. Also every day I keep a document that keeps track of the response cards I receive in the mail letting us know who can or cannot attend the wedding. I also write thank you letters about every day to the people who send gifts for graduation and weddings. Everyone truly is so nice. 

          On Monday the 9th Cody and I changed the cake order to accommodate 150 guests instead of 90. That added extra $$ which always stinks. But we need cake, I mean come on! Won't you want cake when you get there? And maybe even two pieces!? No one will judge! And it's a wedding, MY wedding even, and let me tell you I will be eating cake and most likely 2 pieces! The cake will be amazing, not dry like most wedding cakes! It is a white champagne cake that is super super super moist. The icing is extremely sugary so beware! (get middle cuts) Cheryll McMillan is an amazing baker! She even let me implement my own design! Our grooms cake is really special, you won't want to miss it ;). Seriously. 

          On Tuesday the 10th Mom and Morgan and I met with my preacher to go over last minute details and to decide how Cody and I will be announced, and who sits where. We then met with our reception event coordinator to determine where the cake, tables, dance floor, DJ, and food will go. I also turned in my dang new computer. I have had 3 serious problems with it in the past 11 months and that makes me furious. We then went to Belk and I found and purchased my shower dresses!!! We went to Hobby Lobby next and got chalk boards to write our story on for the reception and really neat things on that I won't share yet to keep it a surprise! Next was Nana's house to organize my wedding closet. We keep all of the wedding things here because her house is 1 minute away from the church and 10 from the hair place. 

          On Wednesday the 18th of May I sat down at the kitchen table for 4 hours and created an hour-by-hour schedule for the wedding party, family, preacher, wedding coordinator, DJ, photographer, and videographer. Yep it took forever but felt so nice to be organized. That factor alone took a lot of stress off of me. Here's a sneak peak:

Schedule of Wednesday June 1st

1.      -We meet at Nana’s house and sort, organize, write on the chalkboards and make place cards for rehearsal dinner.
2.      -Bridesmaids gifts are put together 
3.      -Kayla and Cody meet with the event coordinator one last time.

Schedule of Thursday June 2nd

1.      -All Occasions Rentals arrives at the reception site, The Reserve at BlueBird Hill, anywhere from 8:00am-noon.
-The ribbons must be tied on chairs
-Decorations must be set up
-Kayla will go to the ‘sneak peak’ of the flower bouquet at her florist 3:00pm.

Schedule of Friday June 3rd

1.      Church, Ebenezer United Methodist Church is set up at 9:30am.
2.      Bridal luncheon for bridesmaids 11:30am
3.      Kayla and bridal party will have nails done at 1:00pm.
4.      The rehearsal at the church (which everyone will have to be at) starts at 5:00pm and we will do a VERY THOUROUGH rundown of the ceremony including pre-and post-ceremony.
5.      The rehearsal dinner at 6:30pm is at Calhoun’s on the River downtown Knoxville.

Schedule of Saturday June 4th
      
1.      Kayla and/or Cody (not together, I know) goes to Starbucks at 8:00am for free wedding day coffee!
2.      Kayla has her hair done at 8:30am
3.      Bride and Groom  Party gets ready for the ceremony
4.       Bride and Groom first look at Church 11:30am
5.       Bride and Groom’s ENTIRE family AND bride and groom’s parties arrive at the Church 12:00    noon for family/party PICTURES!
6.       Wedding Ceremony 2:00pm 
7.       Rush to Reception 
                A. Bride and Groom pictures
                B. Wedding Party pictures

8.       Reception begins (3:30 PM – 3:45 PM)
                A. Bride and Groom leave the reception 6:30pm

         I am going to try my best the day before, the day of, and of course the honeymoon to keep off of social media all together to keep it a special time. It will be so surreal the moment Cody and I part ways after the rehearsal dinner while I go to Nana's and he drives to the hotel.  But don't worry, I will most likely post a pic before bed the night before because I will be emotional and excited, and probably the second day of the honeymoon to show the dress and a honeymoon pic. We are going to a surprise location! I am very excited about the honeymoon especially since Cody and I have saved ourselves for each other which makes it so special. That was very important to us in our over 5 year relationship and not many people can say they did that. It wasn't easy but it was a personal decision we both made long before we even met. I also can't wait to have Cody all to myself for a whole week! I am a little selfish with our time. 5 years of long distance is waaaaay too much! I will never want to be apart from him ever again haha! I hope not even for a single night! 

         On today, Friday May 20th I have my last dress fitting!! I am pumped to bring my dress home!! I hope everything fits and is correct!! Fingers crossed!!

         On Saturday the 21st I have my second official shower!! My Gigi's sweet friends Carol and Joyce are throwing me a bridal shower luncheon!!! I am dying to get there already haha! It will be so much fun! This is a shower mainly for family where my first was for friends and the last will be for church friends. I will not have a bachelorette party, Cody and I think that and bachelor parties are a little much for our traditional taste. Besides, some of the things I hear that go down at bachelorette parties I want nothing to do with. Yikes! Also on this evening I will be getting my final hair trim before the wedding and will be fixing up our apartment a little more. Sorry I don't have more pics guys and this is a lot of writing.

         On Sunday the 22nd I will have my church bridal shower with all of the sweet ladies at my church. It will be such a bittersweet day as it is one of my last times there before I move to Chatt. I will always visit but it isn't the same. It took me forever to find this church. Oh well, God knows what the future holds and maybe we will be back in Knoxville one day soon? On this day I will also be meeting with my pianist for the wedding to get the songs down for the ceremony.

         On Monday the 23rd, I will be writing my letter to my mom for the day of the wedding along with Cody's. It will probably be a book ha. That will be so emotional to write. It is a long time coming. Over 5 years of dating is a long long time. (for us at least)

          On Tuesday the 24th I will be sorting through my diaries I will be giving Cody the night before the wedding. Since our first date, April 1st 2011, I have written to/about Cody in a diary that eventually turned into 4! (This blog has kind of taken its place for the last year). I can't wait to give Cody the diaries as he can relive our relationship as we fell in love. I will highlight my favorite two entries from all 4 books for him to read, don't worry I won't keep him up all night with that the night before the wedding lol.

          On Wednesday the 25th I will be creating my wedding program for the ceremony with Gigi. She is really good with that kind of stuff!

          On Thursday the 26th my dad comes back in again for the wedding from Texas! I can't wait to see him! He will stay all the way to June 6th!

          On Friday the 27th I have a hair appointment to get hair highlights done for the last time so my roots won't be showing in the pictures (I get very gentle highlights) Throughout my time at college and limited sunlight my hair has gotten about 2 shades darker. I also have a facial that day. I will need that. I typically enjoy facials more than massages. I will also NOT be getting any sort of tan. I am naturally a very pale pale person and I don't want people to not recognize me. The honeymoon will take care of the tan. Also on this day Cody and I will be registering for our marriage license, so exciting!! It is also Cody's last day of school (thank goodness we moved the wedding date to June 4th instead of the original May 28th last year or Cody would have not been able to even make the rehearsal dinner! I am going to drive down and surprise him and take him to see X-men apocalypse. He has no idea about any of this. It will also be a very significant and special weekend as it will be our last weekend before we become husband and wife. Man i'm excited.

          On Saturday the 28th I will be putting my name on the lease to our apartment officially so we will be all ready.

          On Sunday the 29th I will be doing a bunch of last minute things getting ready and making the honeymoon and wedding day emergency kits. According to pinterest that is vitally important. I will also take this day to pack for the honeymoon. Now that is when it gets real.

And for the rest of the days you can see the schedule in blue conveniently above:) 

I was sorting through things for the wedding and ran across this, Cody and I both at around 8 months old. Look how cute!! Especially Cody, he is precious. Our future kids will be GORGEOUS blonde haired blue-eyed beauties. :) (Cody was born with clubbed feet which had to be re-broken after birth and casted for 2 years). 

Also, my good friend Brianna and I met for lunch and a Victoria's Secret Shopping haul the other day and had an absolute blast! I can say I am very prepared for the honeymoon! Brianna is so much fun and I love spending time with her! I can't wait to come visit from Chattanooga to hang out! 

          Wedding planning part 2 will come after the rest of the planning most likely either right before the wedding or when we get back from the honeymoon. Or maybe even after we blog about the wedding/honeymoon. Who knows!?! There will be more pictures on the next blog on the events that I listed that haven't happened on this blog yet. 

          Goodness I am feeling so blessed, the Lord is so good!! I just can't wait to be able to finally call Cody my husband! Marriage is one of God's greatest gifts to us and I can't wait to live it out!!

Love,
Kayla Dyar (Raborn)
5-20-16
15 DAYS LEFT!!1


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