From Bachelorettes to Brides

Andrew and I attended several weddings this spring and summer.  I also had some very fun bachelorette parties to go to, too!

My High School Friend: Jocelyn ~ now, Mrs. Dill!

We had her bachelorette party in Nashville and the theme was a "Boot-Scootin' Bachelorette Bash."  Her wedding was April 2, and was so sweet and chic at "The South" in Jackson.  It was so Jocelyn.  

cute Nico & Lala bachelorette basket

pretty in pink

My Sorority Sister: Amy ~ now Mrs. Burns!

We had Amy's bachelorette party in New Orleans with a "Bourbon Bachelorette" theme.  It was perfect with a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street.  Her wedding was June 18 in Savannah, TN and at Pickwick Lake.  It felt like a getaway for Andrew and me!  It was lots of fun with lots of friends!

fun on bourbon!  

getting ready to walk down the aisle...

fun college friends! 

the mister and me

My Dental School Friend: Jenny ~ now, Dr. Shutt!

Unfortunately I didn't get to go to Jenny's bachelorette party in Memphis, but Andrew and I both got to be a part of her wedding.  We both read together during the ceremony.  Jenny and Spence got married July 23 in Senatobia.  We had so much fun catching up with everyone.  All of my pictures are on my camera, instead of my phone, so here are some pics of me with them a few weeks before the big day.  

Senior Awards Banquet at the end of dental school...miss these girls!

out eating crawfish with the cute couple

My Oldest Friend: Anna ~ now, Mrs. Jeffries!

Anna is my first friend ever.  We don't even really know how long we've been friends, but it's at least since 4 or 5 years old.  I can't even put in to words how much it means to still have a friend from that long ago. Anna's bachelorette party was over the 4th of July weekend at Orange Beach.  We had a "Red, White, and Blue Bachelorette Bash" theme.  It was so cute and unique.  The night we went "out," the bride-to-be wore white and the rest of us wore red and blue.  Her wedding was on July 30 in downtown Memphis.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  The groom cried. I cried. Then we partied hard at the reception at the Cadre Building, complete with Elvis sunglasses for all.    

red, white, and blue!

a break from the dance floor

the elvis shades made the night

{Evan Baines Photography}
How amazing is this??  Check out more of her pretty pics on her
photographer's blog.

Andrew and I split a room with Carley and Bobby at the Peabody.  It was a big weekend for all 3 couples because us Rosses were celebrating our 2 year anniversary {August 1st}, the Reas were celebrating their 1 year anniversary {July 31st}, and the Jeffries were officially inducted into our "anniversary club."  We are taking nominees for the next couple to join our club...who will get married on July 29, 2012??

Oh Happy Day!

Today, December 19th, has been a special day for the last few years...

ONE year ago today, our two good friends, Megan & Patrick got married!

Mrs. Werner and me

Happy Anniversary to the Werners!!

I'd also like to wish our good friends, Sarah & Joe Ulmer, a happy FOURTH anniversary from the 16th :-)

Mrs. Ulmer with the now Mrs. Blanchette and Mrs. Ross :-)

Today was also a very special day TWO years ago...Andrew asked me to be his wife!!  I can still remember every detail so vividly.  He put so much thought and love in to the proposal and entire evening - it was so special.  You can read about our proposal here.

I love him so much and love reminiscing about that night 2 years ago!

The Blanchettes!

This past weekend we had a blast in Oxford (best place in the world) for Ali and Rich's Wedding.  Ali was a college roommate and sorority sister of mine.  These two are such a fun and perfect couple.  I was so glad to see all of our college friends in Oxford all together, and I also had fun seeing Ali's Arkansas friends that I've met over the years.  Friday night, Andrew and I made it just in time for the rehearsal dinner at the Oxford Conference Center. 

reunited! the boys had a picture taken before I did. {Ulmer, Ross, Werner}

Finally our turn for a picture! Love me some Sarah :-)

Saturday, we had errands all around town but one fun one included picking up my anniversary ring/band!  We also had church directory pictures which was quite an entertaining experience to say the least.  Then I hung out with the boys before the wedding while the other wives were getting ready at the church.  The wedding was at Paris-Yates on campus at Ole Miss.  It was picture-perfect!  Ashlie, Ali's middle sister, just had a baby earlier in the week so she wasn't able to make the wedding, but they had her on Skype on the front row so it was just like being there in person :-)  After the wedding, the bridal party rode the Double Decker bus to the Square for the reception at the Lyric Theater.

everyone all aboard!

pretty bridesmaids!

Hooray! Just Married!!

on the Square

cute husband :-)

cute sister :-)

cute couple :-)

Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Blanchette!!!

Weddings Lately

Andrew and I have had fun celebrating some weddings lately!

My friend Carley got married to Bobby, and we are so happy for the Doctors Rea!  Their wedding was at St. Peter's in Oxford and the reception was at Off Square Books - soooo much fun!! 

High School Friends with the Bride

Me and cute hubby :-) please excuse the sweatiness.  it was so hot!

The Herzogs - showing us how it's done.

FUN bride and groom!!

Andrew's friends, Amber and Johnny, got married, too!  Their wedding was at Brandon First United Methodist and the reception was at River Hills.  Amber is a dental hygienist and they gave toothbrushes as favors :-) 

at the reception with our friends, Alan and Kimsey!

Happy Wedding Season!  We are counting down to the next one - Ali's - at the end of August!!

Wedding Flashback

Here are some of my FAVORITE pictures from my AMAZING photographer, Karla Pound. If you stalk me on Facebook, you've already seen 'em, sorry!

Love this: the whole church during the ceremony!

The Ross guys: Andrew with his Dad and brother

right before the storm came!

Just married!

My parents' cake topper from their 1972 wedding

Love this one! It poured down rain our wedding day!

Ceremony time!

Honorary Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids

In front of the Fairview Inn where we had the reception

Getting ready!

Love him :-)

Dancing the night away!

ready to get the show on the road!

with the Fairview all pretty at night!

ONE YEAR!!

Time has been FLYING by!  Andrew and I just celebrated our FIRST anniversary on August 1, and we couldn't be happier.  I have no idea where the last year has gone, but we have had so much fun together and have grown so much closer.  I thought we had decided a few months back that we weren't going to make anniversaries a big "gifting" type of occasion, but more sentimental.  We did get some big gifts this year, but mostly sentimental.  You only have ONE first anniversary, right?

ALL Andrew wanted (and by that I mean puppy-eyed begging...) was a MITER SAW.  Yes.  A saw.  I mean how romantic and sentimental can you get??  I gave in.  He's been so "into" building things nowadays, so I knew just how excited he would be.  We went to Lowe's and I said go have fun :-)  It was like a kid in a candy store!

^ Look how happy he is!  ^

All set-up and ready to go!

^ A little sneak-preview of the latest "project" ^

I am really excited about my gift, too!  We had to order it, so I don't actually have it yet.  I wanted a new band to wear with my wedding band.  My engagement ring is a solitaire with a diamond band, and my wedding band is a solid white gold band.  I love my simple band, but I have trouble wearing my engagement ring at school sometimes, with constantly pulling gloves on and off, etc.  So I plan to wear my new band along with my wedding band whenever I cant' wear my engagement ring.  Probably sounds ridiculously silly, but I will show you what I mean when I get it!

I couldn't stand just getting Andrew a SAW for his gift, because I really wanted our anniversary gifts to be a little more sentimental.  I know his saw can be considered sentimental because before I know it, I will have a house FULL of new furniture, all hand-built by my wonderful husband and we will reminisce about how he got that saw on our first anniversary....but I still couldn't stand it.

You know that list of gifts for each anniversary year?  it's like a theme or something?  probably not, because I guess it's kind of old-school, but I LOVE the idea of having a theme for the anniversary gift each year.

1 - Paper
2 - Cotton
3 - Leather
4 - Fruit/Flowers
5 - Wood
6 - Candy/Iron
7 - Wool/Cooper
8 - Bronze/Pottery
9 - Pottery/Willow
10 - Tin/Aluminum
11 - Steel
12 - Silk/Linen
13 - Lace
14 - Ivory
15 - Crystal
20 - China
....of course they're pretty awesome from 25+ like diamonds and emeralds and all that goodness!

I'm not sure what to think about year six - candy or iron?  good thing I have some time to plan before that one.  I also think it's funny that year TEN is TIN!  easy to remember :-)

Year one is PAPER.  At first I was a little disappointed.  How fun can paper be?  womp womp.  Then I started thinking about all the things you could do:  tickets to a concert, tickets for a trip, love letters, etc.  All of those are on paper, right?  Just using a little creativity.   THEN I came up with a marvelous idea, if I may say so myself: artwork or a painting of something special.  I asked best friend since Kindergarten, Anna, to do a watercolor of the church we got married in.  SHE IS AWESOME!!  Look at this masterpiece:

Andrew had NOOOOO idea.  Which is pretty impressive because we have NEVER, ever been able to keep a secret/surprise/gift from each other.  One of us just always gets it out of the other one or we just spill it.   So it was REALLY fun to have an actual surprise.

If you're still reading and if you've had you're first anniversary, did you eat your wedding cake?  Did you freeze yours?  I love hearing these stories!  There are the most hilarious and ridiculous "methods" to preserving this frozen block of cake to eat a year later and 90% of the time it's disgusting!  haha! Our cake lady offered us a few options: add an extra layer to the cake to save and freeze, just bake an extra layer but not add it to the cake and freeze it, OR to bake a FRESH new cake a year later.  We totally opted for #3!  We did our date night last night since we were out of town this past weekend.  We had an awesome dinner at Bravo! and came home to eat our AMAZING cake!

We cut it all "officially" and everything! haha!  We only cut one slice because we were so full.  Don't worry, I totally ate a full slice with my coffee this morning.  Breakfast of champions.