Prayer Request

G'Pa & G'Ma Davidson with my MIL

I just wanted to request a small favor. Please keep G'ma Davidson in your prayers! She is currently undergoing a mastectomy to help remove the evil breast cancer that has entered her body. We know she will make it through as this is the 3rd time she was diagnosed with breast cancer. We are hoping and praying that this is the final time she has to go through this.

So please keep her and G'Pa Davidson in your thoughts and prayers!

Thanks!

The Thank You Cards

The benefits about having my blog sponsored by UPrinting.com is that when I host a giveaway I have the opportunity to participate and receive the same prize. So it was a no brainer to take advantage of the 200 custom postcards that I was given.

So what do you think?

I will use these postcards as our Thank You cards for the wedding. Shame on me...I haven't even written or sent out the TY cards for the Shower yet!

Anyway, I added a black & white border and the word, "Gracias" meaning Thank You in Spanish.

I HOPE they come out OK. Worst case scenario is that I actually have to go out and purchase TY cards :P

What are you doing for your TY cards? Are you slacking like me?

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes what?

Ah yes, I remember...Then comes baby with a baby carriage!

Since my Mom and my MIL read this blog I need to clarify that there is no baby yet!

OK. Now I can start.

So this past Friday we got to spend time with our newest nephew, Ayden. OMG - he is just soo perfect in every little way. He was so soft and still had the new baby smell :). Oh and while I was holding him, he fell asleep. This was also the day when I received my only "Aw" moment from my FIL. It was when I was upstairs, I overheard him telling my hubby that I am going to be an excellent Mom and doesn't need practice at all... say it with me, AW!!

So guess what?!?!

I'm having baby fever - AGAIN!

I think it is funny how when I was growing up I didn't dream of getting married and having kids. That was the furthest from my mind. My thoughts were filled with goals of graduating college and having a career way before a family was even thought of. My thoughts weren't the norm where I was living. There were kids having kids and in my culture it is very normal to be married and start a family in your early 20's. I always wanted to be different then the norm so that is what I did.

Now that I am married, I am constantly thinking about babies. It's crazy how one's sex life has become less personal and more public after you get married. Just when all the questions about "when are you getting married?" have stopped the next question is, "when are you having a baby?" or when you you mention starting a family the next question is "OMG - are you pregnant?." I know everyone is excited for Mr. Roddy and I and so are we. We are just hoping to be blessed with a little one some day. We'd love to give baby Ayden a playmate but until that happens we just have to wait and see what's in store for us.

I am just hoping this baby fever can subside for a little while until it really happens. :)

Have any of you had a bit of baby fever before? How did you learn to control it?

The Gifts - Attendants

Because we purchased the gifts so close to the wedding and some of the attendants actually read my blog I couldn't reveal what we got for them. Sorry.

For cutting is so close, I think we did one heck of a job. OK, well my hubby found and picked out most of the gifts. I can say that I picked my parents (coming soon) and my MOH's gifts :)...

The gifts below were for the MOH, BM, Usher, FOG, MIL and her hubby. The gifts can be found at Things Remembered and Barnes and Noble.

For my MIL:

(Inscription - Thank you for giving me Life)

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For my MIL's Hubby:

(This isn't the exact replica but a similar version)

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For the FOG:

(Inscription - Thank you for giving me Life)

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For the Best Man:
(Inscription - Don't lose faith brother)

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For the Usher:

(Inscription - May love be your armor - or something like that)

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For the MOH:

(Matching Vera Bradley notebook and tote)

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What did you decide to get your attendants? Did you find something already in the store or were you crafty enough to do something DIY?

Vendor Review - The Dessert

Vendor:
Titi L
(Titi is our spanish way of saying Aunt)

Grade: A+

My aunt is in the blue dress in the pic below.

OK, so how can I not give my aunt an A+ with the kind of dessert spread that she kindly provided for our wedding?! Not only did the desserts look amazing but when we went to say our hellos to our guests the majority of them had at least two desserts at their seat. Unfortunately, I was not able to eat any of the fine desserts but just about everyone raved about them. Luckily, I was able to get a taste test at my shower so I knew they were delish!

My Auntie worked her bootie off to get this dessert table accomplished so she deserves all the credit. This may be the last dessert table she'll ever do, lol... All her efforts did not go unnoticed and was greatly appreciated by the Mister and I. If she has the strength, she can create a dessert table for us anytime :)

Some Teasers...

In the meantime while I develop more of my vendor reviews I wanted to provide some more non-pro teasers... This time its for the dessert table and the candy station.

Below are two pictures of the dessert spread that my FABULOUS aunt L generously made for the wedding. This was a HUGE hit! Sadly, I didn't get to eat any of these delicious desserts :(

There she is...My fab Aunt L posing with her masterpieces!

Here's the candy station. This was also a HUGE hit. Apparently, the first batch of candy which you see below was devoured in 15 minutes. What's funny is that some of my adult guests didn't know that this was for them too. They assumed the candy was for the kids so they had their kids fill up a bag for them secretly, lol... but the other adults did fill up their own bag.

So if you are thinking about it...I say do it!

Here are the candy bags that I made.

The mini boxes below have Hershey Kisses in them.

Below is the candy station all ready to go.

THANKS to my bf A for helping me with the set-up.

Vendor Review - The DJ

Vendor:
Sam Perez
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
610.451.3025

Grade: A

As always, Sam delivered. He brought his years of experience and talent to bring our guests a wide variety of music to please the many ears. Was well organized and played music that matched the musical guideline we made for him.

Sam, a family friend was an apprentice to my cousin. He had been the DJ for my sister's wedding, my cousin's wedding, as well as, my Godmother's 50th birthday party. When my then FI heard his music for the first time he knew he wanted him for our wedding.

Although he didn't provide the lighting system that some entertainment companies provide, we hired him for his sound and we were more than pleased with his performance. Along with the photographer he helped to make sure we were on track with moving the night along with the many events that had to occur (intro, cutting of the cake, garter / bouquet toss, etc.)

One of the biggest challenges for a DJ is to make sure that people are entertained and are up and dancing (no wall flowers, please). The highlight of the night was when he worked with my sister and my hubby's friend to set-up a Soul Train line to a variety of Michael Jackson songs dating from the different eras. Guests of all ages (intoxicated or not) participated in it and it was a lot of fun! It will be one of the many parts of the night to be remembered.

Again, we are truly thankful to Sam being a part of our wedding and help keeping it smooth.

Changes to Come...

I apologize for not posting as often as I would have liked but there are so many things going on since the wedding that I find it hard to find the time to write meaningful posts for you all to read. I am happy to say that what's keeping us busy is great stuff for us.

There are many changes to come for the Roddy fam in the near future...

First up...The Mister got a new job! He starts this Wednesday and we are SOOO excited for him. It was a great wedding present as he was notified of his acceptance 3 days after the wedding. Talk about great timing! This is something that was truly important to him. Unfortunately, the job market wasn't playing very nice with him last year but luckily he tried again with one of the companies that denied him the first time (due to his home location) . See the problem we were having is that we have been wanting to move back to my hometown for a while now and the only thing that held us up was the Mister getting a new job in that area. Unfortunately, since we live 1.5 hours away from my hometown, he was getting denied left and right because of where we lived. With God's help he was able to convince them that he was moving to the area whether they chose him or not and at that point it was the truth...

The second change is that we are moving to my hometown. YAY!!! We decided to rent for one more year to get a nice jump on the down payment and to clean up our non-wedding debt a little bit more. Since my hubby got the job he wanted, we made the move to move up there. So October 15 is our move-in date. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. Now I will only be 5 minutes from my parents and my sister and her kiddies. Not to mention I will be surrounded again by some of my great friends which I am really looking forward to. We will also only be 1 hr from my hubby's brother's fam (my in-laws). Unfortunately this move comes with a price...my commute goes from half hour to ~1.25 hours and I will be moving away from 2 of my great friends, A and D. Also, my hubby will be away from his boys who are really like his brothers. Although we will be moving from these great people, we are lucky to only be a short distance away...

The third change is that my partner in crime at work has left the nest. We were co-workers and buds for the last 4 + years and he found an awesome opportunity for him to grow within our IT field. This is a double-edged sword for me as I am so happy that he is on to better things (surprised it didn't happen sooner) but also this increases my work load tremendously. A positive note is that this can get me to increase my skills faster but gives me a different kind of experience that I was about due for. Unfortunately, this will not last long as the reason we are shifting at work is because our IT dept will essentially be non-existent maybe in a year or so. Eventually, I too will be leaving the coop for a greater opportunity not to mention a closer commute.

Lastly, this hasn't happened yet but we are praying for an increase in our family :)... No, we are not preggy yet but we are hoping in the near future we are blessed with our first child. This would make the Mamas very happy! I think my Mom and Sister have already been talking about the baby shower, lol. No more wedding planning so they have to jump to something...Ah. gotta love them! So maybe I will have good news for you soon!

Thanks again for keeping up with me and keeping the Roddy Bride blog alive.

Much love!

-The Roddy Bride :)

Vendor Review - The Flowers

Vendor:
Forever Silks by Ginny Harwood
Walnutport, Pennsylvania
Hours by Appointment Only
http://www.foreversilks.com/
610-760-9091

Grade: A+

Let me start off by saying that Ginny was an incredible person to work with. A great personality and willing to be flexible for me as I lived nearly 2 hours away. She responded in a timely fashion, usually less than 24 hours. That was a HUGE plus for me since my favorite form of communication was through email.

Now a little background on our decision to use artificial flowers. I do love flowers but I am known by my hubby to be a "plant killer." With that being said, I was also looking for an alternative to "real" plants because of the tight budget we were on. Since I wouldn't have known where to start with DIYing our flowers I was in search of a professional silk florist. One that would make sure that the artificial flowers looked real and NOT funeral like at all.

And there it was, an email from Forever Silks...

I found Ginny's email on a Thursday and immediately called her up to schedule a visit that Saturday at 4:00PM. So my Mom and I met with her to go over what we would want. This was our first floral visit which ended up being our last. We left very pleased with what she had to offer. So much so, we decided to book her the next day without even meeting with other floral vendors.

What I failed to mention above was that my "rules" for Ginny were that I wanted a deep red flower. I also wanted her to use her imagination when it came to the design of each piece. I wanted my bouquet to be filled with many different textures to make this a funky piece. She lit up with excitement. This emotion is what helped my Mom and I make the decision to book her (besides her work of course).

Since we booked early February, we kept in contact to stay updated with her progress. Throughout the months, she sent me her mock-up of my bouquet...OMG! I loved it!! Ever since then, I was even more excited to see the rest of her work.

One of the greatest aspects of working with Ginny was that she was able to have my flowers completed nearly a month prior to the wedding. No need to stress about the flowers at all. Another HUGE plus for the bride-to-be.

My final order consisted of the following:

• 1 Bridal Bouquet
• 1 Toss Bouquet
• 1 MOH Bouquet
• 6 Bouts
• 4 Corsages
• 1 Pomander
• 7 Boxes of loose flower petals
• 1 Dozen Butterflies

Below are pictures of the finished flowers pieces prior to the wedding...

My bouquet:

My Toss Bouquet:

MOH Bouquet:

Pomander for Arch:

Sample corsage:

Sample Bouts:

(white for groomsmen, red for groom)

PS: The flowers were BEAUTIFUL! It matched perfectly with the wedding and was a great compliment to my dress :)

Latest Organic Food Obsession...

Some months ago, my hubby and I made the decision to start eating more organic foods. Yes, it can be a little more expensive but we feel better and our bodies are behaving better because of it.

Last week I started to crave yogurt (no, not preggy yet - just the monthly stuff), so as I was roaming through the organic food section at our grocery store, Giant, I found what now is my current food obsession...Brown Cow cream top yogurt!

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I hate talking in text but OMG! It was an incredible first, second and third experience. My first victim was the Strawberry. The yogurt was so smooth and creamy and I was definitely able to taste the honey. Now that was a different ingredient but a great accompaniment to the strawberry. Yesterday I had the Chocolate (yes, I said CHOCOLATE!) and today I had the Apricot - Mango... OH MY! I am in heaven!!

Have you made any changes to your eating habits? What are some of your current food obsessions?

The P.W.C

I did it! I got my Post Wedding Chop less than 24 hours after I became Mrs. Roddy!

Last year I had just about shoulder length hair and I only grew out my hair for the wedding so I was dying to get a haircut. Since the day after the wedding was the only time I was in my hometown I had to do it then...So I had it scheduled for 1:15pm.

As mentioned in previous posts, my hair was not exactly what I would call great hair. Sure the length was nice but my hair never worked the same way twice. I was always fighting limp, frizzy, thin, curly hair every day. So it was about time for the chop.

For the chop, I decided to go to the same place I went to for my wedding day make over -- TC Salon Spa in Bethlehem, PA. I also chose the perfect stylist...Nicole :). *Reviews coming soon*

Below are a few BEFORE pictures. Sorry they aren't close up but you can see what I am talking about anyway. These photos were taken at my work shower on 9/02/09

Here are the AFTER photos of the chop!

~6 -7 inches off the back!!

Don't I look so happy!

Ah me still with my wedding day makeup on... Lovely :)

The back

This is me today, rockin' it curly.

Say hello to Bessy!

(she's the printer behind me)

Wall Sticker Winners!!

The winners of my 2nd UPrinting.com giveaway are....

LAURALOU

&

SWEETTOOTH

CONGRATS, LauraLou and SweetTooth!

You have until September 14th to email me your "real" name and email address to TheRoddyBride{at}gmail{dot}com. If I have not received this information by the 14th, I will have to select another winner at random.

The Prizes will be awarded by an automated e-mail on Friday, September 18, 2009. The e-mail will contain a coupon code and directions on claiming your prize coming directly from UPrinting.com.

THANKS to all who participated in this giveaway!

We will NEVER forget!

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Today I am taking the day to remember the victims of 9/11.

This post is to all the fallen men and women of the 9/11 tragedies. I hope and pray that their family can live in peace and know that their loved ones are being taken care of and that we will NEVER forget what happened!

I also want to take the time to thank our brave men and women who are serving our country to ensure our freedom. Whether you are for or against the war, please pray for our troops. They need your support!

God Bless you and your family and God Bless America!

Happy Birthday Mello & Sam!

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I just wanted to wish my baby brother, Mello, a HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY!

Since they share the same b-day, I also want to wish my cousin, Sam, who is serving in Iraq right now a HAPPY 27th BIRTHDAY!!

We LOVE you both. Stay safe and enjoy!

<3 The Roddy's :)

Wedding Teasers!!

I finally have some pictures to reveal from our wedding. The pictures were kindly taken by my boss with his professional camera.

As he reveals more and when my photographer has her pictures ready I will "sprinkle" them out for you all to see!

Enjoy!

Standing at the arch

Our first dance

Father - Daughter dance

During the Best Man speech

Wall Sticker Giveaway Reminder

Just wanted to send out a reminder about my Wall Sticker giveaway!

All entries are due by September 11. That's this Friday, so get a move on it :)

Good luck!!

The Secrets...

Since the wedding has passed and it is now time to go back to the normal life, I can now reveal a few wedding ideas that I had to keep hidden from my now husband.

Because the then groom was a HUGE Superman fan when he was growing up, I wanted to incorporate that in the wedding. So I did.

First up...The Superman Garter by the Etsy seller, GarterLady.

Next Up...The Superman Cape created by the Etsy seller, RLSCrafts.

The garter started the whole Superman idea but it was the cape that was the most important. See when he was growing up that was his favorite super hero. He had his mom create a cape out of towels and would cry when they would unhook themselves. His parents took him to see all the Superman movies. The hubby's (hehe, still sounds weird) favorite though was his Superman PJs that had a removeable cape. Apparently, he would jump off couches and picnic tables as if he was the Superman. I can imagine all of this which makes me giggle.

Anyway, we actually got him to agree to use the cape for the garter ceremony. He finally got to pretend that he was Superman. He went running through the hall around the tables as if he was flying. It was so funny and perfect!

Take a look at my brother's reaction at the bottom, right of the pic :)

We're Married!

Can you believe it? We're MARRIED!! :)

Because we are gathering all the pictures from our guests, I wanted to post one of them taken by my cousin H.

I just wanted to say that it really was one of the best days of our lives. It was so surreal, so much so, that it felt like we were at someone else's wedding and I was wearing a big puffy dress. Just about everything was perfect. The hair, the make-up, the dress, the cake, the venue decor... All of it!

I hope and pray that the day is the same for you...

And now...I now introduce the Roddy Wife and Husband!

Tomorrow's the BIG day :)

Since today is the day before my wedding, I wanted to shout out a big THANKS to all my FABULOUS readers and followers. Without you, this blog wouldn't be what it is today. I am so thankful to know that I have friends out here in this world looking forward to what I have to write!

Today and tomorrow I will be busy with all the last minute prep and the actual wedding that I will be away from blogging possibly for a few days. Just know that I will definitely update you all and post pictures when I can!

Thanks again! I am now going to try and fall back asleep since it is 4:45am in the morning and today is a big day. I might be a little too excited to sleep :)

The next time I post...I will be The Roddy WIFE :)

Candy Station

For our wedding, we are having a candy station as an alternative to the typical wedding favor. Me and the Mister agreed that we didn't want the station to only be colors of the wedding. Since our goal was to make this wedding represent who were are we decided to go with candies that we love and loved to snack on.

So you want to know the candies, right? Well we bought ~2 bags of all of the following from BJ's Warehouse and so far Target:

• Snickers
• Mini York Peppermint Patties
• Peanut M&M's
• M&M's
• Twizzlers
• Mini Reese's Cups
• Starburst
• Jolly Ranchers
• Jelly Beans
• Mike & Ikes
• Non-Pareils
• Tootsie Rolls
• Caramel Creams
• Hershey Kisses
• Hershey Bars (With & Without Almonds)
• Double Bubble Gum
• Whirly Pops
• Pixie Sticks
• Multi-Color Goldfish crackers

Months ago, I had created the candy bags for the station but this weekend, me, Mama A with help from my G'ma Z, attempted to conquer the candy station. We cleaned all the jars and started to determine which candy will go in what container and created the decorations for the jars.

To continue on with our color scheme, I glued different black and white patterned ribbon on each container. I also created labels using black and white cardstock making squares. I then used my trusty white marker to write the candy that will occupy each jar.

I even added black and white ribbon to the scoops and tongs to be used for the candy. I really do think this will all come together and look so cute. Best of all, most of my guests have never seen this at awedding before so it will be a first for many...I like that!

So what do you think about my gumball decor? I was really trying to follow a pattern but after a few lines I honestly didn't care anymore as long as it was colorful and didn't look too bad. BTW - this took FOREVER!

Before...

After...

So did you do anything that might not have been different in the wedding world but something that really has never been seen where you are hosting the wedding?

Wall Sticker Giveaway!

I have another awesome opportunity for two of my lucky readers!

UPrinting is hosting another giveaway but this time it is for a new product that OnlinePosterPrinting.com is rolling out called a Wall Sticker!

These multi-surface, peel and stick Wall Stickers can be used in so many ways to creatively display your...

• Favorite wedding photo
• Favorite digital artwork
• Wedding monogram
• Child's sport picture
• Family Photo

...and so much more!

I would use these Wall Stickers to display our favorite wedding photo. It beats having to get the picture framed!

Here's the details:

Two (2) of my FABULOUS readers will win a 24" x 24" high quality Wall Sticker**.

** Winner must pay for shipping. Open to US residents only.

All entries must be received by September 11, 2009. Winners will be selected at random using Random.org.

Here's how to enter:

(1) entry - Leave a comment on how you would use these Wall Stickers.
(2) entries -If you become a follower of my blog (or are already a follower).
(3) entries - If you post about this giveaway on your blog or on your sidebar. Be sure to leave a comment noting your blog posting.

That's a total of 6 possible entries!!

Don't miss out on this opportunity! Good luck everyone!

3 Days To Go...Until I am a Mrs!

ONLY 3 Days to go!!

I am in HEAVEN right now! :)

The Family Wedding Tree

In the beginning of the wedding process I was all into the wish / prayer box as my alternative to a guestbook. It was something I have not seen at a wedding yet and I thought it would have been a cool keepsake. So, I bought the wishbox from The Wedding Outlet and loved it.

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That is until I saw this posted on the Classic Bride's blog...

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Oh my, oh my! The Wedding Tree was probably one of the coolest "guestbooks" that I have seen. So of course, I decided to "borrow" the idea for our own guestbook. Instead of a poster like paper I came up with the idea of using a canvas. I thought it would be easier to preserve but it also brought in our art theme. Mr. Roddy will be in charge of painting the tree stump and branches and I will paint the wording. For the wedding tree, I purchased two different green ink pads for the thumbprint leaves, fine point sharpies for the guests to write their name as well as wet wipes for the guests to wash the ink off their thumbs.

I am so excited for this. Although I have changed my mind on the guestbook, I still haven't given up on using the wishbox elsewhere in the wedding. It still would be cool to have wishes or prayers from our guests, so we will see.