Pictures Preview

Our wedding photographer is busy working away at our wedding photo album, but, until that is complete, she has put together a sneak preview of our wedding pictures (see above photo).

Her blog (www.xanga.com/mrshaase) has a few extra pictures not on the collage. I LOVE the way they have turned out and can't wait to see the rest of them!

Check back in a few weeks for the album pre-design and all of the proofs!

Officially Mrs. Stewart

I'm married!!! Words cannot describe how utterly happy and excited I was on our wedding day. God's presence was truly with us and He answered my prayer of giving us beautiful weather. There was not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was around 75 degrees. Perfect! Everyone has said how pretty and elegant everything was. My main goal with our wedding were three things:

1. Classy
2. Elegant
3. Enjoyable

With all the little details, stress-outs and melt-downs, I have to say, it was all worth it. Marrying Travis truly was the happiest day of my life!

I don't have many pictures yet (if you have some and are reading this blog, email them to me at recentlykristi@hotmail.com!), but as they trickle in, I'll be sure to post more. Enjoy!

Taking pictures in the sanctuary before the ceremony

My beautiful bridesmaids
The Kiss! I have to admit, when the Pastor told Travis he could "kiss the bride" I just about jumped out of my shoes I was so excited! My knees go weak and my stomach flutters when he holds the back of my head when he kisses me like this. :)

This is an aerial view of what the reception hall looked like all lit up before the guests arrived. It turned out just how I pictured it in my head.
This is a close up of what the flowers looked like in the reception centerpieces. There were two dozen roses in each vase. There were 3 different colors of roses! We did all the flowers (centerpieces, bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages) our self!
Cutting the cake - there were 175 roses on the cake alone!

The Countdown Begins

5 days from today, I will be a married woman! My heart is already over joyed to be Travis' wife! This past weekend, I met with the hair stylist (Kim) that will be doing my hair on Saturday. She put my veil on and I immediately had to hold back a few tears. I played the one song for Kim that will be performed and started crying even more. She smiled and told me I could cry all I wanted to! :) I'm going to be an absolute sobbing mess on Saturday! :)

Our engagement announcement was finally put in the paper this past Sunday. It can be viewed here. You should be able to access it for several weeks.

Sorry for the lack of posting as of late. My schedule has not been my own (as you can probably imagine) here lately. I'm really looking forward to seeing everything with the wedding come together. I've planned for 7 months for this weekend, and I'm eager for it to get here!

We are leaving Sunday for our honeymoon to St. Lucia. We will be there for a whole week, arriving back in Indiana around midnight on Saturday. I'm sure there will be lots of pictures after our return. See you all soon! :)

Prayer Request Update

I wanted to give all you prayer warriors an update on my Grandpa, Charlie Fields. He returned home from the hospital on Thursday, August 30th. His kidneys levels are back to where they should be (Praise the LORD!), but his body has held on to so much fluid for the past two weeks, he is struggling to get rid of it all. I spent close to four hours with him yesterday and we had a wonderful day! Thank you Jesus for giving us that time together!

Keep praying everyone! Your prayers are heard and God is honoring them! Keep praying that God touches Granpa's body and he is restored 100%! Thank you all so much (from me and Grandpa too)!

Just Because

I got a knock on the back door of my office this afternoon from a flower delivery man. I had a rough week last week, and this really brought a smile to my face this afternoon. Travis sent this beautiful bouquet of flowers to me today at work "Just Because."

Or maybe it was because he sent me flowers at work over a year ago...and I forgot. :) I definitely WILL NOT forget this time! ;)

Bridal Shower

This past Saturday, several relatives on my mom's side threw me a bridal shower. Here are some of the pictures taken.

The whole spread

The picture on the cake is from our engagement photo session.

My Mom got us a duvet cover that's just beautiful!

Clockwise starting from left: Me, Connie (Travis' mom), Rossi (my future sister-in-law), Katelynn (my future niece), Sloane (my future niece). and Mia (also my future niece)

Clockwise from top left: Cousin Mickey, Aunt Sharon, 2nd Cousin Amber, Cousin Kelli (also my Maid of Honor), and me

Aunt Kim, Kelli, and I

Aunt Anne, Cousin Tara, Cousin Amy, Kelli, and I

The entire day was so incredibly special. Even on the way down to Indianapolis before the shower, I felt so thankful and grateful that my family would even throw a shower for Travis and I. The love and support for us means so much to me. If any of you are reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You all mean so much to me and I am truly appreciative of all you did. Thank you!

Please Pray

My dad called me around 9pm last night and said that my Grandpa Fields had been admitted into Marion General Hospital and the next 24 hrs were very critical. His kidneys are not working properly, thus, he is not able to use the restroom as he needs to. His body is holding onto all the fluid, thus making his body swell. It is also making it very difficult for him to breathe because of the weight and pressure being put on his lungs from the fluid. His blood levels are really low but they can't give him any blood because that is just adding more fluid to his body. Gramps has leukemia, so they were giving him a round of chemo last night to make the white blood cell count go down sot hey could give him blood. He has a very bad heart, too. All that said, please pray for my Grandpa - Charlie Fields - if you think about it. He is a strong Christian and one of the Godliest men I know. It would be (selfishly) devastating to see him go.

On another note, I just found out a few moments ago that one of my childhood friends, Isha, lost her father last week after a long battle with cancer. Please pray for Isha and her family as they go through this. Pray especially hard for salvation for their family. They have been through so much over the past several years and I so desparately want them to know the peace that passes all understanding.

Engagement Photos

Travis and I are a whopping 11 weeks away from our wedding day. Plans continue to be made and everything seems to be coming together nicely. All the little details are so much fun! I know...I'm weird because I actually enjoy this stuff! :)

Last Sunday, we had our engagement photo session in Marion and Fairmount. The photograher has put together a slideshow of her favorite photos. What do you think? :) http://www.gardenrose.net/stewart/index.html

Megan got married!

The last weekend in June, I traveled down to Lexington, KY, for Megan (Porter) Marcum's wedding. Megan gave me the opportunity to do all of her floral arrangements for the wedding. I was in a chilly basement with my iPod for 8 hours cutting, binding, taping, and hot-gluing 1 bride's bouquet, 1 groom's boutonniere, 6 bridesmaids bouquets, 15 corsages, 13 boutonnieres, 2 grandmother's flowers, and LOTS of gerbera daisies (too many to count). This gave me great practice on doing my own flowers in October (I know, I'm crazy!)!

The Bridesmaids bouquets

The boutonnieres

The corsages

Megan's Bouquet

Reception centerpieces

Here comes the bride! Megan's face was one of sheer terror when the doors were first opened for her to walk down the aisle. It was pretty horrific and funny all at the same time. I loved how her dad was talking to her to help her keep her sanity! Too cute! Congrats Andrew and Megan Marcum!

I'm ALIVE!!!

HELLO BLOGGERLAND!!! I know I've taken a brief hiatus from blogging (still reading other blogs and feeilng guilty all at the same time), but I've decided to come back. No, Kristen, blogging doesn't stop after getting engaged. :) I simply haven't had the time.

Here's what's been going on lately:

1. Wedding plans are moving along well.
   Church - check!
   Reception Hall - check!
   Wedding dress - check! (due in July 9th)
   Church decorations - check!
   Reception decorations - in process
   Excitement for our wedding day - CHECK!!! :)


2. My "little" brother graduated from Mississinewa High School on June 2nd. I can't believe he's old enough to be going off to college in the fall. He will be going to IWU (no big surprise there) and majoring in Christian Ministries, Economics and Finance, and minoring in communications...or so he says now. :) I'm sure that will change at least one or more times!
   




3. I took a last-minute road trip out to California the week of Memorial Day. My cousin Jonathan is living out in San Diego for the summer and he needed a road buddy to make the trek with him. When I say last-minute, here's how quick it really did happen:
   *Talked to him Sunday, May 27th, at 7:30 pm about going thinking there's no possible way I could do it
   *Ok'd it with my boss at 8:30pm Sunday night
   *Booked the one-way flight home for Thursday at 9pm
   *Departed from Gas City at 10:30am Monday, May 28th
   *1st day - traveled from Gas City to Oklahoma City (Jon lost his wallet in St. Louis - story here is worthy of another post)
   *2nd day - traveled from Oklahoma City to Flagstaff, Arizona
   *3rd day - traveled from Flagstaff up to the Grand Canyon, back to Flagstaff and then on to San Diego. Arrived in San Diego 11:30pm their time
   *4th day - Arrived at the San Diego airport at 6am for my 7:30am flight. Arrived back in Indiana at 4pm
   
   As I said, it was a QUICK trip, but definitely worth it to see the Grand Canyon! God is SO amazing!!!
   
4. Lastly, I got into a fight on Friday night. A knock-out, drag down fight...with a telephone pole. I wasn't hurt, but Dorothy (my car was). Dorothy vs. the telephone pole, and the telephone pole won. :( Completely my fault, but could have been avoided if the stupid girl parked illegally in the alley wouldn't have parked there. *Sigh* Dorothy's in the shop and it will cost a little over $1500 to fix her. At least she was still driveable! Below is the damage. :(

Good news is - no one was hurt and I'll have her back Friday!