making the cut

You guys, I promise I'm not still obsessing over my wedding, it's just that
(1) I don't feel like anything ultra exciting is going on in my life, and
(2) Let's be honest, they're the only professional (or in other words, acceptable to be posted on the internet) pictures I have.
These pictures are not exactly professional.  Though my sister is not a photographer, she definitely developed into a professional wedding-dress-trying-on-helper.  Aside from getting slightly stressed and extremely dehydrated after every dress shop, trying on dresses was one of my favorite things about wedding prep, because I got to do so much of it with my sister!
I probably tried on about 40 dresses, and eventually ended up getting the second dress I found.  I deleted a lot of pictures we took because I was scared of Matt finding them.  I am also a huge ignoramus and had a slideshow screensaver on my computer that ran through all of my pictures, so I had to slam my computer shut more than once before Matt looked over and my dress was spoiled!
Anyway, these are the pictures that survived:

I actually noticed this dress was pretty on-track, as the detailing was similar to the dress I eventually picked. However, I just didn't love it, and that was that.

This store was a little ridiculous.  We walked in, they took down our name, and told us to go look.  No one talked to us ever again, and no one helped us at all.  I am kind of big on customer service, especially coming from the South, and HELLO it's your wedding!  So we tried on a couple dresses and left.

This dress was actually my second choice.  It was the first dress I tried on ever, and I ended up picking the second dress I tried on!  It was tough.  I just loved the lace on this one, and the champagne color!  Beautiful.

At the above mentioned store where we didn't have any service, they also had hideous bridesmaid dresses. Here's a little peek at what my bridesmaids missed out on.  :)

     

In the end, I decided on this one...

I struggled a bit with the decision, mostly because I continued to have poor customer service at the store where I found the dress.  I went to numerous locations in Austin, Salt Lake, and Orem, and finally just ordered it over the phone.  Once the dress came in, I decided to stop dealing with them, and found my own seamstress at an adorable shop in Murray thanks to a friend who was also getting married around the same time.  The seamstress was incredible, she completed the dress with a very fast turnaround as far as wedding dresses go.  She completed my friend's dress in a week!  If you are looking for a good seamstress in the Salt Lake area I can give you her information!

bon voyage

Seriously y'all, have you been to Temple Square yet this season?  It is gorgeous.  

We walked around Temple Square yesterday after church with two of our favorite people, Austin and Janessa Hatch.  Matt and I know Austin from home, back when he looked like this:

I don't like to play favorites, but that's exactly what Hatch is.  He's my favorite.  Hatch was one of my very best friends through high school.  Some of my favorite memories and scariest moments include him, like mudding off of Avery Ranch, water ballooning cars on Hairy Man, being chased by the people we water ballooned, that time I let him drive my car down Avery Ranch and he ran into a deer (the deer tried to escape, Hatch did just the opposite), numerous trips to the roadside fireworks stands, the list goes on.  Hatch is also one of the best story tellers I know.  His favorite story to tell when we're with a group is the time I checked a girl into a wall when I was fifteen (don't ask).  One time he was telling the story to a group of friends late at night at my parents' house.  The build up was so good that everyone simultaneously slammed their hand down on our glass dining room table, causing it to shatter everywhere at two in the morning, waking my parents.

Hatch has known Matt for even longer than he's known me, and they are very good friends as well.  During our "off" periods, Hatch often played the middle man between Matt and me.  He would call me telling me how that day he'd asked Matt what his girlfriend was like, and when Matt started to talk Hatch would say, "I mean, compared to Taylor, how is she?"  See?  Such a good friend.

Austin lucked out by meeting Janessa, who I now love just as much as him!  The four of us have so much fun together.  These pictures are from Matt's surprise birthday party.  

Children.  I swear we had no idea.

Anyway, we were so sad to see them off yesterday, as Janessa flew to Haiti to be there the rest of the summer as a Project Director for Sustain Haiti and Austin flew out today for military training in Chile.  They are awesome and I'm so excited for them to pursue their dreams and goals this summer, but we will miss them terribly.

Have fun Hatch's!