A Toast for Scott and Karla!

Scott and Karla,

We are so sad we can't be with you guys on your big day tomorrow, but here is a little something from Jay he had to share!

We love you both and look forward to seeing you guys when you get back!

Many blessings!

Kelly and Jay Bryan Ingram

Our Wedding Festivities!

Our wedding festivities were kicked off 7 days before our big day... at 4am on Saturday, December 4th I receiving a phone call from my sister who told me that she was in the hospital and was going to have an emergency appendectomy that morning at 9:30am. I spent most of that day up at the hospital and Jay finished up our "to do list" at the house to get ready for the guests coming in for the wedding. I stayed with Jennifer in the hospital Saturday night and my mom stayed with her the remainder of the nights... and she was released on Wednesday and was moving very slowly, but in good spirits.

Monday and Tuesday I worked half days and took care of the last minute wedding details in the afternoon and spent time with Jennifer and my grandparents who were in town from Salisbury, MD. It was a good week, not like we had planned, but everything got done and by Thursday evening and we were ready to celebrate!

Our out of town guest gift bags!

Thursday night my wonderful friend and bridesmaid Courtney hosted a lingerie shower for me at Crescent Moon Wine Bar. It was so fun and the perfect way to kick off the weekend festivities. Then Friday my mom hosted a fabulous bridal luncheon at Hubbell & Hudson. It was so special to spend a few hours with the women who mean the world to me on the day before my big day.

The guys spent Friday morning on the golf course. As Jay would say... "It doesn't get much better than a great day on the golf course with great friends and family." It was the perfect way to start Jay's wedding weekend celebration and 11 day vacation.

Friday evening we rehearsed... arrived at the church to practice and go over all the details for the ceremony, which went flawless thanks to our wonderful coordinator at the church Renee Robinson. After the rehearsal everyone headed to dinner at The Woodlands Tournament Course. It was lovely and so wonderful to share that evening with our closest friends and family. After dinner they played our slideshow and then the toasts began. It was such a blessing to have so many friends and family members stand up and toast us on the eve of our wedding day. Afterwards it was time to head home, to my parents house, and get some beauty rest.

Surprisingly I slept really well and work up around 8 and got ready for the day... had breakfast, loaded the car to head to the resort and then the church. I arrived to the church around 10ish and spent the rest of the day getting ready and relaxing with my best girlfriends. We all had our hair and make up done at the church by a wonderful hair and make up company Your Beautiful Face. Once my hair and make up was finished it was time to put on the dress! I do have to say that I was calm as a cucumber all day... REALLY I was... surprisingly no nerves and no worries about the little details. My prayer all week was that come the day of the wedding I would not worry about anything and that I would soak in every ounce of the day and remember every second "I get to marry my best friend and the love of my life today!!!" And that prayer was answered tenfold.

Over my many experiences of being a bridesmaid I remember asking each bride... "how do you feel... what is your advice to a bride to be?" And some would replay... just relax and enjoy the day... it goes by SOOO fast and is such a blur. Others would say they didn't remember much... just walking down the aisle, seeing random faces in the crowd, and smiling so much their cheeks were score the next day and things like that. So I took everyones advice and savored every minute! Once I was all dressed and ready to go Jay and I got to exchange wedding day gifts. Jennifer took Jay's gift to him and Dan brought my gift to me. We also exchanged cards. I will admit I did get teary-eyed as I read the sweetest, most beautiful card from my groom; then I got to open my wedding day gift... We both gave each other watches... very traditional, and timeless... After that it was time for our big "first look". That is what the photographer and videographers call the time when a bride and groom see each other before the ceremony.

I remember walking to the church with my bridesmaids beside me and I said, "I can make it from here..." I wanted our moment to be ours... just us... so everyone waited inside and out of sight so Jay and I could just be us. I remember walking outside and thinking this is the moment I have been waiting for all day... the moment I get to see my groom face to face. And that moment exceeded every expectation and dream I had ever had. I can't wait to see the photos. After that we took all of our bridal party and family photos then waited for the ceremony to begin.

I remember waiting outside the church in the hallway with my dad and listening to the beautiful music. Side note... as we planned for the ceremony we put a lot of thought in to the music we choose... We wanted the music to set the tone for the entire evening and it truly did.

As each of my bridesmaids walked down the aisle I remember thinking "THIS IS IT"! This is the moment I have been planning for and praying for my whole life! I am so ready for this and so excited... Let's go, and just then the doors opened and my dad and I both took a deep breath and began our walk down the aisle. I can close my eyes right now and can see Jay's standing at the alter greening from ear to ear. Once we made our way to the front of the church I remember everything about the ceremony. Our "I Do's", the beautiful solos, I even remember most of Kevin's message to us. Then when it came time for the vows. I can now say those traditional vows are so special and so sacred. Each word has so much meaning and reason behind them.

I, (name), take you (name), to be my (wife/husband),

to have and to hold from this day forward,

for better or for worse,

for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish;

from this day forward until death do us part.

After we exchanged our vows and Kevin announced us Husband and Wife we took communion and prayed together. After communion we exchanged our wedding rings and sealed it with a kiss to make it official! Now it was time to celebrate!

We took a few more photos then headed to the resort to enjoy the reception. We actually got to sneak in the room before anyone else got to see it and it was so beautiful and just like I had planned. If you are a bride and planning your big day I would totally recommend this. It gives you a chance to see the room untouched and exactly as your planned.

This was our table... "Mr. & Mrs. Jay Bryan Ingram"

Once we were introduced we went right into our first dance, then my dads toast, which was perfect by the way, then dinner and dancing! The entire night was perfect! I remember smiling so much and loving every minute! We didn't want the night to end, but when it came time to make our grand getaway we were ready. It is amazing how fast that night went by. We left in an amazing 1965 Red Mustang Convertible; the night was incredible and I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Our first dance.... "The Way You Look Tonight"

I can't wait to get the photos back and see the video! And when I get them I will post our favorite ones.

Guess who we met in Maui...

Kiptyn and Tenley from the Bachelor and Bachelorette!!!!

Saturday, Jay and I were on a morning walk and just happened to run into them on our way back to our resort. They were just as sweet and down to earth in person as they were portrayed on TV. It was a great way to end our trip.

We are home, unpacked and enjoying married life! I will get some more photos from our honeymoon posted later this week!

Aloha `oe Maui! (Farewell to you)

Aloha nui loa

Here are a few more photos from our trip... so many to choose from but here are some of our favorites so far.

This has been our favorite place... we rented these chairs and totally recommend it to EVERYONE... it is a beach front view and we had our own waiter serving us... it was wonderful.

This is us 20 Feet under the ocean! We did a snuba trip and it was amazing!

This was taken on a little adventure road trip we took on our way to dinner at Merrimans. We climbed down a cliff to this little rocky area and enjoyed the most amazing sunset views.

This was taken on our dinner cruise. It was nice and relaxing and surprisingly really good food. The weather was perfect and we even saw a shooting star!

P.S. Aloha nui loa mean "Very Much Love" in Hawaiian.

Aloha

Aloha in the Hawaiian language means affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as an English greeting to say goodbye and hello. Currently, it is mostly used in the sense of hello.

I am not adjusted to the time difference and up early this morning so I decided to post a photo or two...

Happy Thanksgiving and 12 Days to go!

Happy late Thanksgiving everyone! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday in Dallas with the Ingram family. It was wonderful... we all slept in ate way to much, enjoyed wine and great company, and had a great time. Couldn't have asked for a more relaxing holiday. It was just what I needed.

Today was back to work and tying up lose ends for wedding details... who knew there were so many details when it comes to a wedding that I have been planning for my whole life. Just kidding.. :) Anyway, I am getting so excited and can't wait to see all of our friends and family who are coming in town from far away to celebrate with us! We cannot thank each of them enough for making plans to share our day with us.

Since we are in our final days before the wedding Jay and I have reminisced on some of our memories together... I even broke out an old photo of us from before we had started dating... it is so funny to look back and remember when. We laughed and laughed and thought we will probably do this every now and then and laugh even harder at our selves and how far we have come and how young and skinny we were back then...

This is our first photo together taken the night that Jay graduated from Law School. He invited me out with his friends to celebrate and my dear friend Courtney joined me as well! It is a night I will always remember and look back on.

Until next time... happy late turkey day!

19 Days to go!

We are finally down to the teen days!!! I can't believe it! So many plans and preparation have been done and just a few more to do.

The last few weeks we have been busy... a fabulous Bridal Shower, Young Life Banquet, our 2010 Holiday Events - Lighting of The Doves, iWOW, The Ice Rink and Donoho's Jewellers Winter Wonderland, preparing for Thanksgiving, work, work and more work, and wedding plans in the middle of it all! Here are some quick photos from the last few events.

My beautiful bridesmaids... missing Kim and Jessica

My sister and I... I am one blessed girl!

The Overbeck Girls!

You have to see this!

This is a video you have to see! This is a video of our dear friends, Brad and Skyler's engagement. Skylers best friend hid in the bushes and taped the entire thing then took photos afterwards. What a friend and how special is that.

This link is to her friends website and their video is under "Proposals".

http://www.forloveofyoudesign.com/?page_id=647

Congrats Brad and Sklyer!!!

Congratulations Brad and Skyler!

This weekend two of our dear friends got engaged! Jay and Brad became friends at A&M and we met Skyler this past summer when they started dating. They are perfect for each other and we are so excited to see what the Lord has in store for them and their future together!

We celebrated their engagement with a little Halloween fun. Brad and Skyler were Braaa-Z and Sky-once! Jay and I weren't that creative... I was Audrey Hepburn and Jay was a cowboy!

Congratulation Brad and Skyler! We can't wait for next November!!!!

What we've been up to...

Where should I start....

Since we are only 45 days away from the BIG day things have been very busy around here... as I'm sure you could have guessed. Since my last post Jay and I have taken dance lessons, Jay's Sunday fall soccer league started, Jay sister Jessica got married, I had my last dress fitting and bridal portraits, volunteered at Kids in the Kitchen, sent out our wedding invitations, started getting responses (which is super exciting!), received our first wedding gift, finally finished the work on the house from the water leak of 2010, and even had time to start running. Well when I say start running I mean I have gone twice, but that is more than I have run in the past year! Huge progress in my opinion.

Tomorrow we are going to have our final taste testing at The Resort and we are very excited! Things are coming together so well and we are getting more and more excited everyday. Then this weekend we are going to put together our wedding favors, hopefully get the programs printed, and a few other odd jobs for the wedding. My goal is to have everything done before Thanksgiving so we can enjoy the last week or so without lots of little jobs to worry about. I know that seems crazy, but I think we can get it done!

Here are some photos from our last month...

Well, I need to cheer on the Rangers... they are in need of my help!

Happy Hump Day!

Weekend Celebrations!

The last two weekends I have been busy celebrating the upcoming wedding. First with my beautiful bridesmaids at my bachelorette weekend and this last weekend with our wonderful friends and family in Dallas for our couples shower. I feel so blessed and overwhelmed with everyones generous gifts and them giving up a weekend and Saturday evening to celebrate with Jay and I.

Here are a few photos and when I have more time I will post some stories from both weekends!

Happy Sunday!

St. Louie!!!

I am spending this week in St. Louis attending a conference for work. I arrived on Sunday evening and had a rough flight... it was so bumpy... It was terrible. But I survived and checked in the hotel and attended my 1st class yesterday. We did get out a little early then a big group of us headed to the Arch. If you ever travel to St. Louis this is a definite "have to do". It is very cool to stand under and know that you were just up in the top... very crazy. Here are a few photos from my adventure.

Labor Day Weekend

We spent our Labor Day weekend relaxing, shopping, enjoying live music, yard work, sleeping in, late night movies, college football, friends, family and lots of laughter.

We also celebrated my sisters birthday with the family and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Benihana's then went to Waterway Square to enjoy the Labor Day Live Music.

Then Monday Jay and I ran errands, did yard work and just relaxed. It was the perfect rainy day.

Happy Late Birthday Jennifer!!! Love you!!!

Dan and Jennifer's Engagement Party

We had a wonderful weekend full of fun, lots of laughter, great friends, amazing food and celebrating Jennifer and Dan's upcoming nuptials. On Friday Jay and I spent the day on the golf course with two of our clients. We played in the EDP Golf Outing at Woodforest Golf Club and had a blast! It was super hot, but we still had a great time. That evening we joined Dan's family for dinner at Lupe Tortilla, Jennifer's favorite!

Then Saturday morning Jennifer and my mom went to Mary's, the lady who is making both of our bridesmaids dresses for both of our weddings, and checked out the dress progress. My bridesmaids dresses are coming along wonderfully! It is really fun being apart of the full process of how the dresses are being made and designed. After Jennifer tried on her dress for my wedding she got a chance to pick the color for her bridesmaids dresses... all in all a very productive meeting with Mary!

The masterpiece in progress... I think we will have 2 more fittings.

Jennifer's dresses will be "Titan Pond"; perfect for spring!

After our very busy morning we got ready for the big PARTY! As you can see from the photos we had a great time. Dan and Jennifer were surrounded by family and friends that came from both near and far. It was the prefect evening visiting with everyone.

Everyone enjoyed a little "Polish Horseshoes"