Joint Bachelor & Bachelorette Party....in VEGAS!!!

I am extremely excited to announce that our wedding party is currently in the very early stages of planning a joint bachelor and bachelorette party in Sin City! One of Chris's groomsmen may be able to use his hotel points to put us up for free (he's racked them up from traveling for work). Then everyone would be responsible for their own travel, food, show tickets, and alcohol bills. We've been keeping an eye on airline rates and today a lot of the Atlanta airlines announced price cuts due to the economy. Their loss is our gain! We found tickets for as low as $129 each way non-stop. Thing is, we only have until March 5th to book the tickets. Does anyone know if this is as good as it gets? I haven't been on a plane since 2001 and I didn't purchase the ticket, so I have no idea what a good deal is...

We're tentatively planning to leave from Atlanta early in the morning on Friday, October 23rd. By the time we arrive in Vegas it will be roughly the same time that we left from Georgia because of the time zone change. We'll spend all of Friday doing the typical "Vegas checklist" stuff like pictures in front of the world-famous welcome sign and all the "city" hotels.

Friday night the real party gets started! The guys and girls will split off and go their separate ways so we can have our true bachelor and bachelorette parties. Then Saturday we'll end the weekend with a bang by combining the parties for one insane night out on the strip!

If anyone has been to Vegas lately, please don't hesitate to give me tips and advice on how to have the absolute most fun with the least amount of money!

In the meantime, here are some of the things on my "perfect bachelorette extravaganza wish list"!

Like my custom sign? haha

Have to go to all the "must sees" like the Fountains at Bellagio!

The main attraction during the girls' night out. The hotness that is the Thunder From Down Under! Click the pic to see more! :D

I'd love to do this class with my girls! Maybe the "workout" will keep us from feeling guilty after hitting the buffets. Not to mention, I just may learn some tricks for the honeymoon! ;) Click the pic for more!



Of course I can't forget the gambling...



...or the shopping!!!



And maybe Chris and I could stop by a 24-hour chapel for a little dress rehearsal? ;)

Btw, we had our engagement photo session and party this past weekend. Both of them went really well! I'm waiting on pictures from Lindsi and my friends so I can update fully about them. This weekend I'm heading to Savannah with my MOH, Amanda, for the Savannah Bridal Expo. We'll be staying with my future sis-in-law, Leslie. I'll be looking for several vendors and also visiting my reception site. Can't wait for Friday!

Our Honeymoon Pick!

So after getting a lot of feedback from friends & family (mostly on Facebook) and then talking it through together, Chris & I have decided that we'll be going to Charleston, South Carolina on our "mini-moon"!!!

We don't have details worked out yet, but I'm sure you'll be hearing about those soon enough! ;)

"Mini-moon" Options

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! :) I can't believe I only get one V-Day as an engaged girl. :(

Chris and I were discussing possible mini honeymoon, or "mini-moon", options today. We're forgoing a traditional honeymoon for a few reasons. The main reason is because we'd rather have Chris's mom help with wedding costs than with a honeymoon that we can pay for later (it's traditional for the groom's parents to pay for the honeymoon, btw). Chris will also be starting his physical therapy clinicals around then and I'll be finishing my last class for my broadcast news degree (I'll basically be working with the news station UGA just bought, WNEG, two days a week in the fall). So neither one of us wants to take off too much time from school for a honeymoon, especially since the holidays will be right around the corner. At a later date when we have some time and money, we will travel to Europe for our "real" honeymoon. We both have always wanted to visit places like Rome and Paris. We're figuring that we'll have the money for a two week vacation in Europe before our 5 year anniversary.

In the meantime, we do think it is important to get away and spend some time together, just the 2 of us, immediately after the wedding. So we've been brainstorming some relatively inexpensive and short honeymoons we could take. We finally narrowed it down to 2 choices and are having our friends and family now help us with the final decision. 

Option 1: Charleston, S.C.

Charleston is on our short list for places we'd love to live one day. Problem is, I've never been there! We thought it would be a fun place to go so we could not only visit such a gorgeous and historic city, but also "test-run" it for future possibilities. Another plus to this city: it's only a couple of hours away from Savannah so getting there and back would be a snap! Not to mention that it has a lot of the same features we love about Savannah, so we're sure to have a great time.

Option 2: Disney World

Do I really have to say much about Disneyworld? It's freakin' Disneyworld! haha Because of the economic downturn, they're constantly offering discounts and we would be going during an "off-season" time right before the holiday travels start up. So we know that we could get some great deals and be able to see all the parks for a low rate. The only real problem with going to Orlando would be the drive time from Savannah to the parks then back home to Athens.

We really want some feedback from people who have gone to either of these places recently and would like to give their reasons why we should pick one over the other. I'm especially wanting to hear from anyone who's been to Charleston since I've never been. So, I now open the floor to debate! :)

The Inevitable Post About Wedding Fitness

What's wedding planning without talk of getting into shape for the big day? :D

As most of you know, I'm really into health and fitness. But since the start of the 2008-2009 school year, I've somehow managed to fall off that bandwagon. I tried to take on too many extracurriculars and ended up putting my health on the back burner. I paid for it too in the form of 10 extra pounds and 3 straight months of bronchitis that I still haven't completely shaken. Now that I have an incredibly motivating factor to get me back to my old ways, I'd decided to give it another go.

My fitness goals are probably a lot higher in standard than most girls my age/size. I don't strive to be "skinny". I strive to have a lean, muscular body that looks good in any outfit. I love walking up UGA's north campus steps without hyperventilating. I love being the girl in the gym that clearly lifts the heaviest weights. Now I want to be the girl who looks so good in her (FREE) wedding dress that everyone wonders just how I did it and comes to me for advice.

So how will I do it? With a LOT of hard work and determination. It will takes months, not weeks, to get to my goals. I would say that getting my dream body will be about 90% sheer mental willpower. I've done it before but this time I'm pushing myself harder. I'm going to eat clean (thanks to my new cookbook!), lift heavy, and dutifully perform my cardio requirements every week (I HATE CARDIO, lol) for the other 10% needed for success.

I used to keep a blog with my fitness journey, but this time around I'm keeping it to myself. I'll post updates now and again for accountability. My matron of honor is in this with me, so I have a support buddy (and I'm some of my other girls will be there for me). Not to mention the king of fitness, my very own fiance, will definitely keep me in check.

For those of you who may think I look fine now, just wait until November! I can only hide in my winter clothes for so long before this Georgia heat exposes where I've been keeping all my "hibernation fat". ;)

And just for anyone who is curious, here's my lifting split and daily nutrition macros:

1. Chest/Triceps/Abs/Cardio
2. Back/Biceps/Cardio
3. Shoulders/Calves/Abs/Cardio
4. Off Day
5. Legs
6. Cardio/Abs
7. Cardio

Lifting days:
1800 calories:
45g Fat, 160g Carbs, 190g Protein

Non-lifting days:
1600 calories:
45g F, 110g C, and 190g P

Boring post, I know. But it's a necessary evil, haha. Let me know if you ever have any questions about jumpstarting your own lifestyle change!

First BIG Purchase & Fantastic News!!!

I had a really good weekend.

My tax returns came in last week and on Friday I made my first big wedding purchase: the down payment on Savannah Station, our reception site! I originally thought it would cost $3750 to have the facility for the time we needed (our wedding/reception times overlap their day/evening rates by half an hour). But after speaking to Theresa at S.S., I found out that it would only be $2750 for 8 hours! Moreover, the facility's ballroom is 6000 sq. ft., so we'll have part of the space blocked off with a theatrical curtain to make it more intimate for our small wedding AND provide an additional space for an indoor ceremony should it happen to rain on our day! We now have a back up plan and won't have to worry about a tent rental or people braving the elements. :)

Okay, now for the even more FANTASTIC news. Remember a few posts back when I mentioned a contest for the Running of the Brides? Well....I WON THE CONTEST AND WILL GET A GOWN OF MY CHOICE FOR FREE!!! It was sponsored by Atlanta Occasions and they contacted me today to let me know I had won! I'm even more ecstatic about the event now that I know I won't need to bring any money with me to buy my gown! I was already thrilled knowing I'd get a designer gown for no more than $800, but now I'm getting a designer gown (all worth over $1,000 and up to $10,000) for FREE!

So this weekend I found out that I "saved" about $1800 on expenses I already had budgeted. I hope I can keep up with the savings throughout the wedding planning! :D