Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
I have a bookmarked folder in my browser that I’ve been adding to…constantly. Since becoming engaged, I’ve been inspired by so many different types of invitation designs, and they are all sitting pretty in that folder of mine. As with most wedding decisions, I was all over the place with what I liked. But since the beginning, one thing has remained steady:
I love paper. I love thick, luxurious paper. I love letterpress. I love simple, yet beautiful designs made perfect by the perfect paper.
That was certainly more than one thing, so why not add to the list of things that have remained constant?
None of these things I love has found its way into our budget. Read more…
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Have I mentioned that my better half is a police officer? As if that weren’t enough, he’s also a captain in the US Army. And I’d like to clarify something here: when I say “my better half,” I truly mean that. Mr. Oatmeal is a kind, patient, decent, even-tempered man. I, on the other hand, am impatient about nearly everything; my emotions are more like a ping pong ball than I’d like to admit, I am the worst version of myself when I’m driving, and I am known to be quite direct, blunt, and some may say inconsiderate in situations. But Mr. Oatmeal brings out the better qualities in me and makes me want to be more like him. Seriously.
By saying yes to Mr. Oatmeal when he proposed, I also said yes to a life as a police officer’s wife. Even though we have lived through a year-long deployment to Iraq in 2007 and 2008, I didn’t quite understand what came along with my new role as a police spouse. And then I got it, I truly understood, on February 25, 2010…nine days after I said yes to Mr. Oatmeal’s big question. Two good, decent officers worked their final shift, and we all experienced tragedy that day. I now live with a fear that a lot of spouses don’t understand.
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Want to know the difference between Mr. Oatmeal and me? He has absolutely no idea why I feel it’s necessary to collect a crazy amount of Mason jars/milk glass vases/bottles for our wedding. But here’s the cool thing about it: I’ll get to make some of these little treasures a part of our home. I might be more excited about that than I am about using them in our wedding.
Here’s a peek at what I’ve collected so far, although I’m sure that’s a lie since I’ve definitely bought more since these pictures were taken.
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Um, why are cake stands so utterly expensive? Every single one I like just happens to be ridiculously priced. I understand why, of course. They’re beautiful, will turn into family heirlooms, and are just plain fun to have around the house. But when you’re talking dessert bars, well, that requires many cake stands. Multiple. More than two. Like ten.
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
This might be the first item to be added to the I have to have this list. Unfortunately for me, these earrings were found at J. Crew long ago and are not available on their website anymore. And unfortunately for reality, I still have to find them somehow.
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Remember when MOH Oatmeal and I went huntin’ for some wood? I decided it was time to do something with our findings. So, the other day we made a quick trip to Orchard Supply Hardware and walked away with these items: white paint, paint brushes, and this tool of magic:
The wood that we found at the ranch was just that…wood from a ranch. Most of it needed some cleaning and sanding, so that’s exactly what we did. On the floor of my apartment. On an old sheet. Read more…
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
I know that taking your husband’s name can be a pretty controversial topic out there in the wedding-blog world. I’ve read so much about both sides of this argument: women who feel that their name has been their identities for so long it would be next to impossible to give them up, and others who choose to honor their husbands by taking their last names to signify the start of a new family. I, for one, am of the latter group. I couldn’t be happier about officially changing my name the moment we get back from our honeymoon. That’s not to say, however, that I don’t understand and appreciate the other side of the argument. Because I totally do.
My name, the name I’ve had my entire life, is pretty awesome. Bear with me here; I’m going to tell y’all my real name. Please don’t get all crazy on me. Read more…
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
I have received a few requests to see the little piece of loveliness that has made its home on my left hand, so now I’m delivering.
Mr. Oatmeal and I went ring shopping just once at the beginning of 2010. We went to three different jewelers in town and I tried on oodles and oodles of gorgeous rings. He knew I’d be pretty picky about what I wanted, so this was just what worked best for us. I had it narrowed down to two different settings, and they couldn’t have been more different! The decision was left up to him and he knew that I’d be ecstatic with either. He, of course, chose the center diamond himself and did a lovely job!
The ring he proposed with (if we’re being honest, here) was the one I really had my heart set on. And here it is.
Isn’t it lovely? Here are a few things that I adore about it:
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
I wrote a little while back about cake toppers, and it seems that I wasn’t the only one pondering what we were going to put on top of our cake.
Let me give you some background information here. Our good friends, Bridesmaid K and Groomsman N, are both in our wedding party. They’ve been married for over five years and have two of the most precious little twins I’ve ever seen. They are truly our closest friends as a couple. We love them, spend all sorts of time with them, and we’re going to live 0.2 miles away from them when we move into our house. We couldn’t be happier about these two.
With that said, this groomsman likes to joke around quite a bit. He’d been saying (for months, mind you) that he had a gift for Mr. Oatmeal that he just couldn’t wait to give him. So the other day we were hanging out at their house, when he hands Mr. Oats a gift. Upon opening said gift, this is revealed.
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Don’t get excited…I’m not posting my dress on here. I love and appreciate you all following along with my crazy ramblings, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to show y’all my dress before the wedding. No hard feelings, right?
With that said, I’m going to touch on something almost every person told me prior to dress shopping: “Oh, I ended up choosing a dress that was completely different than the one I thought I wanted.”
Sound familiar, brides?
When I started looking online, there seemed to be a theme to nearly every dress I gravitated to: soft with flowy movement, graceful, somewhat unique. This dress I found ages ago, and it was my inspiration going into dress shopping:
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Mr. Oatmeal and I decided early on in our engagement that he would be responsible for planning our honeymoon. We figured that he didn’t have much in the way of an opinion about all the wedding details I love and talk about so much with you ladies, so we gave him something he could really get excited about. Talk about win-win-win: I get to go crazy planning this wedding to be everything I ever wanted and go on a honeymoon I didn’t have to plan a single thing for, and Mr. Oatmeal gets to do the one thing he actually cares about. Well, besides marrying Miss Oatmeal.
So you’re probably wondering where we’re going! Well, so am I. I actually want to be surprised about this. There are very few things I like not knowing, and this happens to be one of them. I’m fairly certain that we’re going to an all-inclusive resort and that it will be some place tropical = my hair will be a huge, frizzy mess the entire time. I’ll deal.
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Today I’m going to talk about something that gets me pretty excited, and I can’t be the only one out there: gift registries! Mr. Oatmeal and I have decided to do this in a pretty traditional way by registering for the things needed to start our home and lives together. Have I mentioned that we just bought a house? More details on that later!
Anyhow, we’ve narrowed down our registries to two places: Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn. I understand that these are fairly common choices, so I want to talk more about Mr. Oatmeal. He says these registries are for me, and me only. I’m the only one who will be happy to receive products from these stores, and he doesn’t think that’s very fair. And guess what? I agree. I know Mr. Oatmeal. I know him so well. And he won’t have the same warm fuzzy feeling inside when opening up, let’s say, this little gem:
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
I was thinking about something the other day when Mama Oatmeal and I were watching Four Weddings on TLC. A bride started crying while saying her vows. That’s not uncommon, but for some reason this was the first time I actually gave some thought to what a problem this is going to be for me.
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Why do I feel like so many bees have posted about cake toppers lately? Miss Hippo, I feel ya. Miss Panther, just adorable. And let’s not forget Miss Lox, whose post had me giddy with excitement to click the “Read more…” link.
When looking at the big picture of a wedding, it seems so silly to spend more than a few minutes giving this a thought. But, alas, I’ve joined the club. The Cake Toppers Are Consuming My Life Club. I’m such an exaggerator.
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Unique Wedding Favors
