Reception

I'm ending this lovely display of our photos with a look at the reception. After the ceremony we did a simple dinner at a local restaurant who went above and beyond while having a crazy dinner rush with only four servers! So we had pasta, kids had pizza and I got some wine in my sweet Mrs glass. After our reception was over we decided to 1. give left over cupcakes to the amazing staff at Mama Maria's and 2. hit the bars. We didn't take many pictures and my selfie stick remains in a bag somewhere in my house, shame I know! Our wedding was perfect and we focused on what was truly important; us. It's amazing how our friends and family have surrounded us with so much love and support and we couldn't be more thankful. Now to plan the honeymoon, JK we already booked a week in DC! 

Photographer: Aysha Nicole Photography

RIP to the Mr glass that I ran through the dishwasher and ruined :( 

I'm sure Kevin, in the back, was doing a harry potter house quiz. No lies.

STUCK! 

Hello Snow | Engagement Session

A few months ago I met with Brandon + Maggie for a pre-wedding consultation and during our meeting I could tell that Maggie and myself were kindred spirits. Not only are we both bubbly, outgoing and totally hilarious (uh duh) but she's also from Arizona and we could relate on so many levels!

We talked for a few months about what kind of engagement session she was looking for and when we sat down to sign the contract she said "I WANT SNOW!" and, as luck would have it, it snowed the day before her session AND it wasn't windy. This is absolute insanity because ND is known for 2 things:

1. Cold

2. Wind

So to have perfect conditions for her dream engagement session was pretty much written in the stars! We had originally planned to shoot out in Hatton by an old red barn, but Maggie was able to talk to a local shop owner and had permission to use their cattle farm! I don't think anyone besides Eric and people who've been in the car with me knows how much I love cows. I moo at them, no matter how many times we've passed the same cow and when I got to pet one? OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! Eric said I looked like a 2 year old with a kitten. So to be able to shoot on a farm with cows, tractors, horses, trees and a mini pony? Oh my little kid heart was ecstatic! 

Plus Brandon had this genius idea below:

How funny, right? I'm glad that they wanted snowy engagement pictures! 

Please feel free to pin, share and of course follow my work on Facebook! 

Photography services available in: Grand Forks, Fargo and East Grand Forks areas. Available for travel. 

Wedding Wednesday | HELLO!

This is my first link-up for Wedding Wednesday, but definitely not my last! I should probably preface this with that I've been not-so-secretly planning my dream wedding on Pinterest for the last year. Let the crazy year of wedding planning begin! 

So this is a cute picture, I happen to do photography and happened to have conned this man into a kissing picture. #score. 

First things first I am a planner. I make lists, so I went out to find the perfect planner that didn't cost a fortune. Thankfully TJ Maxx has my back in this department and I found this gorgeous 2016 planner for a fraction of the cost a day designer would cost. Best part? It's got both Whitney English AND Emily Ley esc styles involved! 

I can't complain about the quote on the front either, 2016 is gonna be the bees knees! 

The Date: 10-8-16

Second thing we figured out was the date. In our small circle of family and friends there was one or two things we had to keep in mind for picking our date: 

1. Eric's mom's birthday 

2. Harvest

Unfortunately the first date I thought would work was his moms birthday and I immediately changed it.. Harvest is either going to be just beginning or getting ready to begin on our date and since its close to home for all our farming family I think we'll be okay! 

Last thing I figured out, aside from where was the colors. I used to be all about the summer wedding, and then I realized that fall/winter held so much more for me from the fact that it was fall when I met Eric, and technically fall when we started dating, and the color schemes work better for me too. So without much further ado, our colors! 

I can't wait to share more with you guys as the planning process continues. Next week will be a glimpse into ceremony/reception ideas and decor! 

Linking up with To Travel & Beyond

Eric's Birthday Weekend

This last weekend Eric turned the big 3-1 and since we couldn't head over to the Twin Cities like originally planned, we did a little local celebrating. 

Grand Forks had its annual art festival going on downtown, so after spoiling Eric with a breakfast and spending almost 2 hours at the dealership getting his oil changed, we headed that way. I'll give Grand Forks some credit with their festivals, they do a good job! Eric was excited to break in his birthday gift of a Vivofit and get in his steps, which we definitely did.. and then some.

After walking around for a bit we went down to the Toasted Frog for dinner. An amazing restaurant that never, ever disappoints. I had the grilled fish tacos and he had a steak gorgonzola pizza. Desert was a pear pie with cinnamon ice cream. The pie was eh, but the ice cream was so so soooo good. After dinner we were definitely tuckered out so we headed home because the next day we were to take the 2 hour drive to Itasca State Park with Diane, Eric's mom, to finish up the epic birthday weekend. 

The next day we woke up incredibly early to get on the road which included lots of talking, Starbucks and of course Eric and his mom pointing out that I'm a terrible navigator. I hate to say this is true, but it's because I refused to read maps and only look out windows and now I move to ND and have to watch for deer?! But I digress, while pulling into Itasca we saw this grumpy lookin' guy! Sherman is his name and no I didn't get close enough for him to snap my fingers off. 

So a fun fact about Itasca is that it is the headwaters of the Mississippi! It's a little crazy to go into the waters of the Mississippi since I spent my early childhood playing at the banks and in a creek down the way from my grandparents.. and no, the water wasn't cold. Now for a photo dump! A few things we did: Hiking the headwaters trail, taking the Charles Chester II and had some walleye chips at the Douglas Cafe. The only thing I would not do again is the Charles Chester, we figured it was an hour long ride, nope, it was 2! Took up most of our day, but because it was raining it was okay. I like to think this was a great birthday, and I'm sure Eric would agree. 

This is Home

So a few of you may remember when I was on Twitter asking about places in SC that you would recommend to live in, and what other states you might consider? Well, Eric and I had talked about moving within the next 1-2 years.. but then people were getting murdered, riots and of course extreme weather issues happened. 

We talked then, and still talk now, about the pros and cons to living in North Dakota as a long term possibility. I definitely didn’t see myself staying here long term, but the more I look at the rest of the world, the more I really don’t want to leave. 

I grew up knowing the following:

-Real friends are few and far between. 

-Most people just want you to do things for them and have a one sided friendship. 

-It is better to be a loner. 

Guess whose parents were wrong?! Mine. 

Moving here was definitely an eye opener. For starters, most of the people here are genuine. Seriously! Second, I’ve never had people offer to help me with so much before. When I had to unexpectedly move out of my first apartment here, my friend of less than 5 months was eager to help me move! That’s insane, usually I have to bribe people, but here its just something people do. I’m not saying everyone is like this, but  a lot of people are. 

Now the other good things about ND? 

-Close to Eric’s family. 

-Good school system. 

-It has jobs, lots of them, and that’s awesome. 

-The Northern plains bubble, it’s a thing. 

Not so good things? 

-Cold. I was raised in AZ and the coldest place I’d been to before this was up in the mountains of AZ or OR.. which doesn’t even compare to this place. 

-Long distances from city to city. 

-The closest Ikea, “big” Sephora and Cheese Cake Factory is 4 hours away. 

Granted some of the not-so-great things are things that are sometimes seen as a good thing. Do I like long car rides? HECK YES! In fact, I like driving in general so maybe that’s not too bad.. the whole Ikea thing? It’s a treat to go to the cities and see friends which makes it that much better. 

I guess in all, what I’m trying to say is: This is home. 

This is where we will probably get married and someday, God willing, have children. 

Where'd ya go?

So it's been awhile, again. I know this isn't very surprising, but I have made a goal to blog more and to take advantage of this being one of my creative outlets. This last year had been an interesting one where I just had to deal with a lot of stress. 
I guess I should start with what the heck has been going on the last few months. I got a seasonal promotion at work that went bust because of a lack of permanent positions. Between then and now I went home for the first time in almost 7 years, but I'll dedicate a post to that in a few weeks. When I came home my apartment was trashed. I mean there was trash, dirty dishes, clothing and just... ugh... so many things. I know you're all wondering why, well I'd asked Mike to move in repeatedly since August because he didn't have a bed or a place to live.. he also didn't really have the funds to do anything. I felt bad and I made a bad decision. I broke up with him and it was nice.. it felt like we were able to be friends. 
Around this time I started to hang out with my co-workers more, we had a weekly dinner at a local place called Rhombus Guys (delicious) where we would draw inappropriate things on the table and just hang out. It was after our first dinner that Eric and I decided to not go our separate ways and hang out for the rest of the night (11/28). After a fun night of talking and listening to music while driving all over the Grand Forks I went home where I thought about Eric, a lot. We have a lot in common and I just kind of sat around for the next week doing my hair, wearing makeup and enjoying the crush that I had discovered. I didn't realize that Eric was in the same boat -we had one thing that we didn't see eye-to-eye on- and the next weekend when we all went out to dinner our mutual friend Amy kept asking why we wouldn't just "date" among other ideas that she had for me. But when they all left for the night Eric and I went around and chatted about our wants in life, what we want to do, where to go etc... and it was around 530 in the morning that we decided that we were a "thing" now and, I quote, "this is happening, huh?" 
So on 12/6/14 Eric and I decided to date.. and for the last month + has been pretty freaking amazing. But now I'll leave you with a pretty sweet picture and the promise to post more in the very near future!

PS this is us at a UND (Sioux) game last night (1/9/15) where I actually watched, and enjoyed with my sweet hunky man. 

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 26!

So I recently turned 26.. I had this list of 26 things I wanted to do before I turned 26, but not all of it got done. The past 8/9 months have taught me a lot about myself, others and my inability to stop drinking coffee.. I have a serious problem. 
So my birthday was pretty fantastic, I was surrounded by friends who are like family and my fantastic boyfriend who went above and beyond to make me feel special. He brought me flowers at work and my dearest BFF Tresa said "awwwwww" super loud, I was a little embarrassed in a cute way. Mike loved it. 

Also I got this fantastic egg filled with wonderful things from my coworker Amy, and the story behind this is.. I give eggs filled with random things I find in the office to my managers so Amy got me one and to her it was "the best 45 minutes ever!" 

After work my wonderful group of friends went to Sakura in Grand Forks and celebrated. I love that my friends all took turns to take sake to the mouth, can we say num nuns? The chef was super funny too and I got sushi which was delicious.  
Below is a bunch of pictures for you to enjoy and possibly giggle at. Yes I am wearing a dragon hat, I did want to steal it and I did walk around the restaurant with it on. 

The only "decent" picture of us, haha.. I'm a terrible person for making so many faces.

Meet my BFF Tresa, this is a totally normal face, we both make similar faces. 

Also I want to give a shout out to my friend Laura who drew me this beautiful picture of Brutus. Honestly, this is was one of the most amazing gifts I've ever received she made me tear up! 

Aside from all of the fun I had with my friends, I was also surprised with a new MacBook Air from my amazing beau Mike.. I think this is going to be a good year, a blessed year and I'm lucky that i have such an amazing group of friends and boyfriend to spend it with.