Matthew and I are moved into the apartment! Well, all the furniture and what have you. I am on the computer in our apartment as of right now, SO cool! (huge smile! picture it, then times it by ten). I will not be joining him until after the honeymoon obviously, but  went ahead and moved my stuff in regardless. I can live out of a duffel bag, right? How exciting! I can't wait to decorate and refurbish some pieces of mine and have so many ideas running through my head. I probably shouldn't get carried away... lol!  But I want it to look cute and furnished rather than a box with a couple couches, lol! Our July is just blowing by! It's just going to be a huge whirl wind. So, we really won't experience everything as newlyweds until August I assume. But wow, what an accomplishment this Fourth of July weekend! And I LOVE our new bed! It's white iron rod and real shabby chic looking (so Vanessa at the moment). Much thanks to IKEA! It matches my current queen duvet comforter set really well. Also, Matthew's dad, Terry, was able to do some bargaining with a mattress place and got a great deal for a brand spankin' new box spring and pillow top mattress! Matthew is just off the walls happy with it, lol! Matthew, his Dad, and I moved everything in Saturday afternoon and it was pretty hassle free, for the most part. We owe a huge thanks to his sister Steph and his dad for helping us out Saturday! Especially letting us use the huge love seat! Oh my goodness, they did so much!

 Disregard our sweatiness... lol!

Story real short, Matthew and I are happy just to have a place finally and are thrilled to have been moved in and what not. Now, off to celebrate a great Independence Day! HAPPY FOURTH of JULY Everyone!

Frenemies

Gemme and her first encounter with cats, lol! We went to PetSmart to look at food, potty training stuff, Crates and all the basic dog supplies so-to-speak and she was actually really well behaved for a puppy. I am really thrilled with her! She is very courteous and pretty mellow. We never have to put her on a leash because she just follows... although we will be leash training her, no worries, lol. But anyways, I just thought this was too cute that she was so fascinated and wanted to play SO badly with the kittens! She was glued to that glass window! All my videos were apparently too long to post on Facebook and I was like, "Wait, I have a blog!" lol. 

CAKEALICIOUS

So, we still need our Wedding Cake done, I know, its crunch time, lol. Anyways, these are examples that kind've inspired what I want to do! I like the simplicity of the cake and how the focal point is the flowers since our reception center is in a garden, its very suiting. Obviously, I'll put my own twist to the feel of the cake but these kinda struck my fancy for what I'm going for. Matthew and I want buttercream. I'm not a fan of fondant perse and it just doesn't look as soft and feminine nor does it taste very good sometimes. Matthew and I really like the last example-the one that looks like it has vintage wallpaper on it! But we will see what we can do. Anyways, just thought I would post pictures as to what I might do... As far as which one I pick, you will just have to come and find out ;)

 Branchy Blossoms

 Elegance in cocoanut pearls

 Fresh and feminine 

 Simplicity

Vintage

Matthew and I will probably go through Kneaders because they have an exceptional reputation and quality product. Every time I've eaten there I have been thoroughly pleased! I just have to get back to the lady on the pictures I sent her via email since she is doing another wedding cake that day as well, so wish me luck! We will at least cater through them so here is a link to see what they offer Kneaders Catering. Matthew and I never knew they catered! And you only need to give them 24hrs in advance! Wow, sure saved our lives! :). Anyways, those are our updates for today... keep in tune for the upcoming wedding day events! We will make a post of all the times and details. 

Don't Be Shy

It's finished! Our date video is now officially posted on Lilly McDowell's blog! Just click here to check it out! Matthew and Vanessa's Video We had an absolute blast filming with her! She was enjoyable to be around and put us at ease, she knew exactly what to do. Both Matthew and I love her sense of humor as well. The shoot went by "swimmingly," as she says and we were able to get a ton of footage! Some of that footage made for some strategic positioning as Matthew had her sitting and filming on his lap while driving! At one point, shooting the video cost her a face plant in Matthew's vehicle, haha! Apparently I adjusted the seat and pushed it back just as she was bracing herself on it so she could hop on top of Matthew. Instead, she ended up toppling over him. I was laughing so hard so it's a good thing she came out A-ok, lol. 


Matthew and I recommend this for any of you couples out there! It was truly a fun time together and created memories we really enjoyed and will be able to have forever now. Engagements are a must of course, but a candid video clip like this gets the couple into other surroundings and catches them being their lively selves. I think it is really unique and different than a lot of wedding videos and I'm glad Matthew and I chose to do this. I Love being outside of the box and it was a treasure to find Lilly because this is exactly what Matthew and I wanted! I wanted to do something like this back during Christmas and these types of videos are just now beginning to be quite popular this summer actually. He and I are going to shoot another one for our anniversary next summer along with a Love Story [how we met, what was our first kiss, how the year has been and other types of questions, etc...]. If you view her site I'm definitely sure you can see what a blast they are to film and how fun-loving all the videos are. She does a great job making them turn out so well. So, even if you guys are shy and awkward, you are not out of luck! lol. But really, I recommend doing something fun like this because it is super cute and is a neat way to catch the two of you interacting. It was nice to get away and it takes all the stresses from your wedding planning and throws it out the window. Bonus, right? lol!


Matthew chose the song "Don't Be Shy" by Shwayze and the song was really unique and different. It was nice to do something a little out of the ordinary because other people generally just use the same songs. We are the first couple to do a hip hop genre, haha! She had us play the music throughout the whole video shooting and we were able to dance, sing and goof around to it. It was a lot of fun to have the music blasted while washing the car. Matthew and I, however, will need a little break from the song...there is such a thing as overplaying something, haha! But it is just a chill summertime song to have. If you would like to see the lyrics you can go to this site for their viewing: "Don't Be Shy" Lyrics  Matthew like the parts where Shwayze kicks out a little rap, lol. You can also see Matthew lip syncing to "Do ah Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Doo."
Anyways, hope you guys like the video! I'm full of giggles in it, but I think the video is really cute. Hope you enjoy it :)

Our Gemme Girl

We have a name for the pup! Her name is Gemme [pronounced like Jenna for those of you who are confused]. Out of All the names I brainstormed, Matthew chose this one and felt it was very suiting. So, we now have a name for our little girl! We will have to work on this whole name choosing thing once we have kids because I don't think its that great to wait two days till we actually name them... haha

Matthew and Gemme the first night we brought her home! Look at what a snuggle bum she is. She is just so full of loves! He couldn't have been more excited to have a little puppy! He was just beaming when he found her on KSL and it made my heart melt. Of course I wanted to have a dog after he almost started crying, lol ;). It's like an early birthday present for him so-to-speak and he just couldn't wait. He wanted a white one really bad though and we didn't want to take the chance of her being sold to someone else...so here we are, a little bit earlier than planned, but having fun and loving every minute of her!...except when she peed on the floor that is, lol. 


I couldn't resist posting pictures of my little Gemme girl. Here is my Facebook Link:  Vanessa's Facebook

Last night was the first night just her and I, since Matthew and I are taking turns until he moves into the apartment this weekend. She was such a good little puppy! It was so hard to put her in her Kennel to train her because I just wanted to snuggle her all night, lol. But today I have had so much fun with her and she has such a stinkin cute personality! I went crazy with my phone taking videos and pictures. But hey, She is only a puppy once!!  She will definitely be a handful, but this will be a great little addition for us as newlyweds... Sorry folks, no actual kids just yet ;)

Touching base, here comes JULY! Have you received your invites?

We are happy to hear that people have started receiving their invites already! We definitely put a lot of work into them and we appreciate all the compliments we have received. If anyone is interested in the invites, you can check out her blog at:  Flash Jorgenesen Photography


We are so excited for the events we have planned over the next couple of weeks. It is definitely going to start getting busy. Tomorrow is Matthew's brother Logan's birthday. Matthew moves into our apartment on the 2nd. We have the 4th of July on Monday. Vanessa's parents and brothers will likely arrive in Utah on Wednesday the 6th. We have the Wendt Family (Vanessa's mom's family) reunion on the 8th and 9th. It is Terry's birthday on the 11th (Matthew's dad). Matthew's birthday is the 13th. We have our wedding dinner on the 15th and then the big day on the 16th. Wow! Did we mention that we are looking forward to the honeymoon?


Speaking of the honeymoon... It will definitely be nice (total understatement). Since our wedding reception is during the day, it opened up the opportunity to spend some time traveling in the car on our wedding day. A good family friend, Kevin Hagen, is letting us use his cabin Saturday night and Sunday night. So after the reception, we will be taking a short road trip to Bear Lake where we get to spend two nights at the Hagen's beautiful lakeside cabin. Monday morning is when it gets really fun. We will be coming back to Salt Lake and hopping on a plane to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We will be staying at the Worldmark resort for 5 nights! Thanks to the Kiser Family for letting us use their timeshare!


Another thing we can't wait for is our wedding video! We spent some time with Lilly McDowell, our videographer, on Monday. We had a lot of fun and she was great with us. As you could imagine, we were both a little awkward with the camera at first, but after awhile Lilly had us being goofy and having fun. At one point, both Lilly and Matthew were sitting in the front seat of his car as we drove up to Suncrest, definitely not something we recommend doing. Lol! The date video will be on display at the reception. Check out some of Lilly's other date videos here:  Picket Fence Films


We hope to see everyone at the reception! Please RSVP if you haven't already done so. Also, if you haven't received your invitation, please let us know ASAP. Unfortunately, we received some "return to senders" in the mail, but we will definitely make sure to get you one if you let us know that you haven't received yours.

Date Video

Vanessa & I are doing our wedding video today! We passed on doing the traditional slideshow of just random, awkward baby pictures of us and what not playing during the reception and also on a videographer following us around on our wedding day making a video of all our kiss scenes... lol. Instead we opted for a "date video!" We thought it would be fun and a lot more unique to show the two of us interacting and having fun on a date or activity and being real with eachother then it would just having a slide show of 'my first birthday' or her holding the cat by the neck or having those bad school pictures posted lol.  Check out the link below to see similar videos. Vanessa and I have a fun theme that nobody has done yet and is perfect for our summer wedding. Should be a good time!

Picket Fence Films - Date Videos

New Addition

Since getting our apartment, I've decided that I don't like the feeling I get when I think of Vanessa being all alone. I realize that the chances of something bad happening are slim to none, but I knew I would feel better if she had a big dog to keep her company; something that she could take with her to go pick up the mail, go running with, or take on walks when I'm not home. So I decided to start looking for a dog.


My brothers have Boxers (Moses and Coco), Vanessa's parents have Boxers (Macy and Axle), my good buddy Austin has a Boxer (Cash), my brother's buddy Cale has a Boxer (Leo), and I grew up across the street from the coolest Boxer of all, Sirk. Since growing up around Sirk, I've wanted a Boxer and have to admit that I've been pretty jealous as of late of all those around me that have Boxers.


About 5 years ago, when taking the family dog, Zeus, to the vet, my brother Logan and I ran into a white Boxer. I was blown away by how cool this dog was and decided then that if I was ever lucky enough to have my own Boxer, it would be white. Well, I'm lucky! Meet the new addition to our soon-to-be family! She is about 9 weeks old and we don't have a name for her yet.

If you have any ideas for names, go ahead and shoot Vanessa or myself a text or an e-mail.

We Have a Place!

Things are finally starting to come together! This week we sent out the first wave of invitations, found a place to live, and found a place for the ceremony.

We hope everyone enjoys the invitations! Our awesome sister, Stephanie Jorgensen, put a lot of time and effort into them.

Matthew will be moving into the new apartment on July 2nd. Now we just need to get the important stuff, like a bed and couch. Plans are in the works for a housewarming/summer party after we return from our honeymoon. We will keep you updated.

Our Reception Center

Le Jardin:

If you have ever dreamed of an enchanted magical garden wedding, the courtyard at Le Jardin offers you the most beautiful setting to make your dreams come true. One of Utah's most gorgeous reception centers is located at the foot of Wasatch Mountains, boasting some of the most beautiful views, having the mountains as a scenery backdrop. The secret garden atmosphere was something both Matthew and myself fell in love with! As soon as we walked in and were accommodated with exceptional customer service from the ladies in the Rose shop at the location, we were so pleased with this place and felt it surpassed all other reception centers we had traveled near and far to. I am so excited to share memories of our Big Day here at this place and because it feels like a fairytale wedding. I feel all the pictures will really turn out at this place and everyone will have fun perusing through the garden walkways. It is nice because the dinner tables are scattered about in the greenery, flowers and fountains, so it gives you a secluded feel but at the same time it is quite an open and relaxing atmosphere. 

It's A Click Away: (Follow the link)

If you guys would like to check out the website for the reception center it is http://www.lejardinweddings.com/ 

If you want additional information for directions etc.. or if you just want a sneak peak of where the upcoming events will be held! For any of you with upcoming weddings or needing ideas, you might want to peruse through what they offer. At night in the garden all the twinkling lights are on and it is breathtakingly magical! Something to consider...

Ramblings and tid bits of the reception:

My table colors are yellow and white to be more simplistic as that is my focal color for my wedding and their putting big fluffy bows on the backs of each chair! Our center pieces will be orchids which I feel is such an pretty floral center piece. The simplicity of the flower makes it an elegant feel. With this reception site we chose, my shabby chic theme fits perfectly with it! I'm SO excited! You know the old vintage faded rustic white furniture you find in antique stores? Well, that is the feel I am going for... rustic flower pots, the faded yellow color and 50's tiffany blue/sea foam green color, vintage picture frames, old type writers, that kind of feel. And it is in a garden so it like a little old school garden party, how cute right! [no that was not a question, I know it's to die for cute :)] Quite feminine if you ask me. I'm having the men and boys in grey. I think yellow and grey together is very fashionable and more of the soft feel i'm going for. Then Matthew and I picked out these really cool and unique ties for our brothers and fathers and they were all sold out and we had to get them at different stores. The print on them is a mix between vintage and retro to be honest. The ties are so unique and fun that it keeps everything fresh and not too matchy-matchy y'know? I kinda like more of the eclectic feel to things. Not so much "granny's garden"...more of like the damask vintage. I like combining themes because that's how I am and it expresses myself a lot more. And hey, if I can get away with it... :).  Anyways, and then as far as foods we will focus more on a dessert bar, fruits and little chicken salad sandwiches. like at a tea party or garden party you have eclairs and tarts etc... making things light and keeps people mingling with one another. Matthew and I are less formal than others... we don't want to stand in a line for 3 hours and only get a 5 second chat with everyone. [you know that awkwardness when some person you seriously don't even know spouts off "how wonderful and great you are and welcome to the family" and act like they've known you for several years? And all you can say back to them in the line up is "uh, oh, well thank you so much. I'm so happy to have you come!" Well, I want to fix that by actually engaging in a conversation with them. then maybe I actually will get to know them, lol.] We want to be in and amongst you conversing with one another! And I want to see if I can get Matthew to dance for me somewhere along the lines as well! Anyways, there are so many cool and exciting things I want to do at my reception! But it will honestly be a fun day no matter what. And I can't tell you everything right here on this blog...you will have to come and see how it turns out :)

The happenings in Vegas, Yes Folks, the Proposal!

What happens in Vegas....doesn't always stay in Vegas! I came back with a permanent accessory on my left hand :)... I had no idea this was coming, that's for sure! 

We planned a trip to Vegas for my roommate's 21st birthday. The plan was to walk the strip and sight see good ole Las Vegas, take fun crazy pictures, dine at a couple snazzy restaurants, maybe a Circe Du So Lei show, dancing the night away and shopping till we dropped. (Matthew, I might add dropped.. lol! I'm sure it was an insight on girls and their 'energizer bunny mode' when it comes to the pleasures of shopping in Vegas and more specifically, that wonderful store called Forever 21. Yes, what a great age, and yes, we definitely took.. FOREVER! Matthew was like, “gee, we have this store in Utah.” No love, we do not. lol) My vacation was already far better than amazing just by being surrounded by good company and palm trees instead of dreary snow blizzards. I loved soaking up the warm weather! Just imagine a nice little get away to the city of sun. Are you imagining that? Great, well of course, everything gets better.. lol. Onto the proposal right? So, it's towards the end of our Saturday afternoon the next day (he's getting really antsy and all worked up about shopping all Saturday morning for Sarah's birthday, like he has other plans I was unaware of. I was there to just take everything in and tag along so to speak...but Matthew was dead set on getting out of there be a certain time because he had something he wanted to do.) He suggests we should head over to the Venetian and mentions that he wants to take me on a gondola ride. Just the two of us, while they finish shopping because he just wanted to spend time and relax with me. aw, how sweet :). I secretly really love and enjoy that sentimental stuff. So we walk down the strip and make our way into the exquisite hotel. The boys take off once we get to the Venetian and go to the bathroom, talking amongst each other.. yea right, guys going to the bathroom together right? And they specifically asked to take Sarah's purse, another big flag right? What guy take’s his girlfriend’s purse to the bathroom with them?Apparently I didn’t think twice about it at the time, what does that say? lol. Even with side comments and remarks about being married and proposals throughout the day from Matthew never made me think twice. We had just barely been dating I might add. Looking back on things now, there were so many hints... like Sarah cringing when I went to grab something out of her purse like she was hiding something right after we passed Kay's Jewelers everyone got awkward and kept looking at me expectingly. Yes, everyone was in on it and I was really oblivious to every clue that was stuck in front of my nose that whole entire weekend lol. Anyways, Matthew finally gets tickets for the gondola and we split paths with our buddies. While waiting for our gondola ride we got some 'him and I time' which was really nice as we sat in the square waiting for an evening show they put on to start. He kept fidgeting with his pockets, little did I know he was probably reciting his lines and making sure the ring was still in his pocket. One thing I remember was my confession that I had been by the jewelers to try on the ring he picked out a couple days before our Vegas trip and my ring that we mutually liked had been sold. I was really sad because I knew he really liked that one specifically and the both of us were excited to have found a ring in general so quick since we perused through the selections online a little bit as well. But his response was "Im sure we can get it online or look at others. We can pick out a different ring later." So I was imagining we still had to FIND a ring, not that in a few moments I would HAVE a ring, lol.  Anyways, onto the romantic little ride... he bought out all the seats so it was just the two of us! How cute right? Everyone commented on how he was such a little romantic. That of course makes me grin from ear to ear. Every girl loves those sweet sentimental type things guys do for them. I will admit, I go weak at the knees for corny and sweet stuff :). And we had this really cool Italian singing fellow that pushes the little boat along the canal for us, giving us little facts about the Venetian city of love throughout the tour. We couldn’t have gone at a more perfect time because only once a day in the evening all the lights dim in the hotel and the courtyard gets quite romantic. It made the atmosphere so amazing and I was totally swept off my feet by this. As we are about to go under a bridge up ahead, still in the dim lighting of romance, our Italian tour guide stops talking. Just literally stops talking... It gets quiet all of a sudden and so Matt is like "We should open our fortune cookies now." (previously went to panda express and he bought a bag of fortune cookies to open up for fun on our ride as a little treat because we both like reading the little fortunes together. He said it would be like good luck or something, lol.). So i'mlol.  I was so confused. When has a fortune ever said my name and had hearts on it non the less? Then I read the whole thing a couple times trying to process it in my mind. He all of a sudden gets on one knee in front of me as I’m still perplexed on how to take my fortune.. “was it a prank? Was it really from him and was it just like a commitment question-not the real thing?” I realize he is kneeling and as he grabs my sides, pulling himself closer to me,  I am like "VANESSA, WILL YOU MARRY ME!?" reading it out-loud at this point, making it more real.  All I can get out of my mouth is "Oh my Gosh, Oh my gosssh!" He says his sweet nothings in my ear and asks the big question. I, without hesitation except of course. He then finally pulls out the ring and what was our moment under the bridge together was now a public viewing as we were riding along the canal we ended up in the middle of the entire swarm of people on all sides of us cheering, clapping and hooting as he slid the ring on my finger! I think the whole entire Venetian hotel was there to share our happy moment and put us in a huge spot light! The Italian guy was the best, In his accent he said "She said yes Erebody, Erebody she said yes!" to every passerby and every bridge we drifted past. It was such a cute proposal idea because I lived in China for a year so the fortune cookies were very fitting. Very fitting indeed. Brownie points for his creativity right? And little does he know that I've always been intrigued by Venice. It's a bucket list thing lol. My proposal was so great because it was just he an I secluded on this little gondola and it was personal.. I’ve always thought I’d want something personal to share between just the two of us. But it also ended up being public all at the same time because all of the people that crowded around looking down on the lovebirds in the canal made it even better with their approval and excitement for what's going to happen next in our lives! 

It was so hilarious to pass by couples we had befriended while waiting for the individual tours on our way back to Sarah and Mike because it was so unexpected and it just knocked their socks right off, lol. I couldn’t even help but to look down at my own hand repeatedly saying “I’m engaged? I’m engaged! I’m engaged? I’m engaged!” I was never fully aware of my surroundings the rest of that night because I was so overwhelmed. 

I do remember being given the best advice ever from that Italian gondola fellow and it was to enjoy the special night and to wait to call family members.. I’m so glad I did because the second I called my mom the next evening it felt like two hours later with questions I wasn’t even prepared for like grandchildren, lol! Apparently everyone knew, family members and all! 

But, to make this long story a little shorter, I just want to add how happy I was to have had Matthew show up in my life and decide he would like to spend the rest of his with me. I adore his proposal and it couldn’t have made me happier. :)