"I Do" to Duley

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Duley!

2010-11-16T08:56:00.000-08:00

What can I say... your wedding day is truly the most amazing day of your life. Mike and I are so blessed to have amazing friends and family. The day was absolutely perfect. The weather, the details, the people, the fun... I still sit back some times and reminisce with my mother on how everything was just so perfect. I will have to follow up with another post on all the amazing vendors and details that made the day so wonderful.

Engagement Photos

2010-06-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that Miles Witt Boyer did a FANTASTIC job on our engagement photos. He really went with all my ideas and took them to the next level. Miles, you are great, and we love them!
http://mileswittboyer.com

Invitation Stuffing Time!

2010-06-24T08:24:00.001-07:00

During my first week in Mpls, I went to a women's networking event where I met Christy Johnson. Christy is an amazing graphic designer in which I was so fortunate to have design our wedding invitations. I LOVE THEM, and she did a fabulous job.

Check her out: redshoes26design.com

THANK YOU CHRISTY!!

New Condo

2010-06-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

YAY! So, my house is rented and Mike and I were able to sublet his lease from his apartment and move into the Sexton Building in downtown Minneapolis. WE LOVE IT! It is so neat. It has such an industrial/loft feel and compared to Mike's 400 sq ft apartment, this is a mansion! Things are starting to feel normal again, and I'm so glad to be done with moving/unpacking!

Monica's Wedding

2010-06-24T08:09:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things about being engaged, was that I was engaged with one of my best friends, Monica. We had the best time planning our weddings and I can't believe hers has already been here and past. We had such a wonderful time and her wedding was absolutely perfect! Congrats Monica and Alan!!

Life in the City

2010-06-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have already lived in Minneapolis over a month! It has FLOWN by!!

Mike and I are really enjoying it and been taking the city in and meeting new people. Here are some of our adventures!

Mike and I at Art a Whirl Celebrating his birthday! We had such a great time in the Northeast area of Minneapolis and enjoyed a great meal at Erte!

Mike and I hanging out with our new friends: Lisa and Jesse and Crystal and Justin! Jesse took engagement photos of Mike and I in Minneapolis. We can't wait to see them!!

Crazy Few Months Have Passed

2010-06-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

SO, it has been WAY too long since I was able to update the blog. Since March things have been quite a whirl wind.

Long story short, in April the company that I was working for needed to eliminate one position, and they knew I was leaving in August, so they decided to let me go early. Well, this set Mike in I in panic mode, as I have a house to pay for and many wedding expenses coming up and I needed to find a new job asap! With Mike's amazing network of friends and business contacts, I was able to find a job with Mars Advertising in Minneapolis. Now, this wasn't the most ideal timing as far as the wedding was concerned, but I really believe that everything happens for a reason, and that God had much bigger plans for Mike and I.

Wedding plans are back to full swing ahead. Almost two months until wedding day! Can't wait to marry my best friend and most wonderful man in the world!

Here are some photos from the last few months!

Moving Day! Thank you Mom, Dad, Josh and Kara for all of your help! I couldn't have done it without you!!

My Going Away Party!! Thank you to everyone who helped surprise me! I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family!!

Kiss a Pig

2010-03-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

Mike came in town the weekend of Kiss a Pig to hand out the award for this year's winner. We had a great time at the event and go to hang out with Mark and Hillary too!

Valentine's Day

2010-03-07T17:33:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day weekend I went up to see Mike. Little did I know that Mike had a big surprise for us to go to Duluth for the weekend and go skiing! It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun. That night he took me to a romantic dinner at Valentinos. Thank you Mike for always being so thoughtful and sweet. I love you so much!!

Mike's Going Away Party

2010-03-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

In January, before Mike left for Minneapolis, family and friends gathered together to wish him goodbye and good luck!

Happy New Year!

2010-03-07T17:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! What a great year we have ahead!

Christmas

2010-01-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas has come and gone, and as I reflect on last year, I just cannot believe how fast and amazing of a year it was. So many things to be thankful for and I am so blessed.

This year for Christmas we celebrated a few days before at my parent's house with my sister, brother and his wife Mayci. My mom made the traditional homeade Spaghetti and Meatballs and we played Cranium WOW! We had such a great time. It was so nice to relax with my family.

Next Mike and I traveled to Georgia to see his family. We stayed with his brother Rick and his family. This was the first time I got to meet Mike's brother and family, and it was so much fun. The kids were absolutely adorable and I thoroughly loved our time with them. I can't believe how many presents there were under the tree! Unbelieveable!

I guess I need to mention the fact that the week of Christmas Mike found out that he got a promotion with Kraft and is moving/moved to Minneapolis. We are thrilled, and I am sad at the same time because I am going to still live in Rogers until after the wedding (Sept). I know that this is a wonderful opportunity for the both of us, but the months ahead will definitely be challenging, but I know we will make it work!

So, on the way down to Georgia, we looked up how long it would take for us to drive from Georgia to MN... well, it wasn't a short distance (17 hours), but it was shorter than driving back to Rogers and going from there, so we decided to take our road trip up North to look for an apartment for Mike.

We did get to stay in Chicago one night with Emily and Jonah at Sara and Justin's apartment, and it was really good to see them!

Then we also got to have a wonderful visit with Pastor Bud (who is marrying us) and Dona in Morrisonville, WI. This was the first time they met Mike so it was really important to us that we stopped by.

After our two days in the car we finally arrived in Minneapolis and after a two day search, found a cute studio apartment right downtown- lets just say, Mike should be just fine :-)

After we returned from Minneapolis, we headed to Memphis to the bowl game- BRRR!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-12T12:26:00.001-08:00

Mike and I spent our first Thanksgiving together at my Grandma's house in Baxter Springs, Kansas. It is a tradition every year to go to her house where my Dad's side of the family gets together for the holiday. My Grandma spends the week preparing the food and making sure everything is perfect for the occasion. And it aways is. Delicious food and great company. Mike was able to meet other family members that he hasn't met yet. We had a great time visiting and eating great food!

wedding dress

2009-11-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

About a year or so ago my family and I were visiting my grandmother in Colorado. She pulled me aside and told me that it would mean a lot to her and my mother if I would consider wearing her wedding dress. At the time I was single, and had no thought really about marriage or a wedding... wow, what can happen in a year.

So, the day I was engaged, she still remembered telling me about her dress and that I could wear it if I so wished. The more I thought about it, the more I was so excited and honored to wear such an heirloom piece that not only my grandmother wore, but also my Godmother, and also a dress that would mean so much to the women who mean so much to me in my life!

My grandmother was able to ship it to my parents house, and my sister was coming home to visit for Thanksgiving, so we were about to have a dress "unveiling" with my mom, my sister, and my best friend, Hillary.

The dress was still kept in its original gold box which my grandmother has taken very good care of. I pull it out of this gold box and the dress is still in immaculate shape. Still pure white, and beautifully adorned in lace. It has a long, cathedral train, high neck and long lace sleeves. The bodice is a sweetheart shape and has a little bit of beading around the bust.

It really is quite stunning. We are really keeping most of the original dress, just going to remove the lace sleeves and high collar and leave the sweetheart bodice.

Going to have to wait until after the wedding to see the rest :-)

Can't wait to get it fitted and see what will become of my grandmother's dress!

photography

2009-11-30T20:30:00.000-08:00

So as a photographer myself, I knew that photography was one of the things that I was going to be the most particular about. I have followed area wedding photographers for some time now and felt that I had a good idea of what I was looking for. Unfortunately, my favorites were well out of my price range. I know, I know... you can't put a price on good photography, believe me, I definitely know. But, I also didn't want to break the bank either... I just knew there was a photographer out there that offered the quality that I was looking for at an affordable price.

After much thought and deliberation, I finally decided to go with D Coleman Photography out of Springfield, Missouri

www.dcolemanphotography.com

If you are planning a wedding and want to know other area photographers check out:

www.benefieldphotography.net
www.jeremycavness.com
www.brookerobinson.com
www.hudsonphotos.com

Planning has begun!!

2009-11-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

I have always dreamed of a wedding full of family, friends and the love of my life...
I have always dreamed of a an event filled with emotion, laughs and of course fun!
Back as far as I can remember I also dreamed of a wedding reception at my parent's home.

I just have had this image in my mind of a big tent full of people, a fun band with everyone dancing, and of course plenty of beverages and yummy food.

So, when Mike and I first were engaged, our first thought of where we would have a wedding reception was no doubt going to be at my parent's house. Well, my parents had a little reservation about a house full of people preparing for the event, weather nightmares, where to park, etc, etc...

So, the task of finding a different venue was at hand. Although I was a little disappointed at first, we soon found a few other venues that still fit our tastes. Basically bringing the idea of a tent-outdoor wedding to someplace else.

After weeks of thought and deliberation, we had (thought) decided on another venue.
So when we received the contract, my parents were still going back and forth on having the reception at their house.

We went out to dinner after church one night and we started discussing the option of having it at the house further. Well... it didn't take much though to decide that yes, we would love to have the reception at the house- PERFECT!

So, without further ado... the final date is Sunday, September 5, 2010 at Peace Lutheran Church, my hometown church, and reception following at the home of Mark and Tina Smith!

YAY! SO excited... now everything will start falling in place!

wishful thinking, I know...

The Final Surprise!

2009-10-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

As the excitement of my Aunt and family started wearing off, I started to panic because I needed to get ready for people coming over for pizza and cocktails. Mike, as I was starting to clean, told me that Hillary had called (my BFF) and said she would have people over at her house instead. I was RELIEVED! Thank goodness I thought. I was "poofed" as Mike and I say. So, I started asking if we needed to pick up pizza and call everyone and Mike said that he thought Hillary had it covered...hmm...now I was getting suspicious, but didn't care, I was ready to go party anywhere!

Well, yet another surprise it was. Hillary was in on an engagement party from the beginning with all of our friends and family. It was absolutely perfect! She did such a great job and even incorporated my favorite color- Purple... I wonder what our wedding color will be...

It was such a great evening getting to share in the excitement of the day with those the closest to us. It truly was the most special day and I have everyone to thank in making it so, especially keeping it a secret for this whole time. I'm truly honored to have the family and friends that I do and I know that the wedding planning will be even more fun and meaningful.

Mike, you are a wonderful man, and I cannot wait to marry you. You really made this day one of the best days of my life, and I cannot wait to spend the rest of mine with you! I love you so much!

Hillary, thank you so much for hosting such an amazing party. You have been a fundamental part of my life as well, and I am so blessed to have you and all my friends a part of my life. Thank you thank you thank you!!
MMUUAH!

More Surprises

2009-10-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

The first person I had to call right after I got engaged, that I thought may not know, was my Aunt E. My Aunt E has always been so supportive and encouraging to me, and has always been more like an older sister or best friend than my Aunt. She is also an inspiration and she means the world to me. So, I felt that it was important that she get the first call (also, she wasn't at the actual event, so I thought she would be surprised too).

Well she was so surprised and excited, and we both teared up and then she expressed how disappointed that she didn't know ahead of time, or she would have definitely been there. Well, then that made me kind of upset because I just couldn't believe no one told her. So, I went along the rest of the day making some calls, finishing up the tour and then we finally made it back to the house.

My parents had mentioned that they were going to come over a little bit before I was going to have people over for pizza and beer-oh, did I mention that the whole time at TDC I invited everyone over to the house for an after party-even before I got engaged!

Anyways, they came over, and I was actually asking my mom why she didn't tell Aunt E when all of a sudden, I look up and THERE THEY ARE!! I couldn't believe it- I'm tearing up again as I right this. It was such a meaningful, amazing surprise, it meant so much to me that they would come all that way to give me hugs and kisses. My Aunt, her husband Dave, and my Godson Joseph all in tow. What a great day!

The BIG Surprise

2009-10-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

Mike and I were the chairs of the American Diabetes Tour de Cure festival held on October 3, 2009. I have since found out that Mike was planning our engagement from this moment when we agreed to chair...

The week before TDC Mike and I had to go out of town for work. He went to Kansas City, and I went to New York and Connecticut. On my way back, it was the most hectic day ever which started with Andrea, Shannon and I missing our 7 am flight because we got lost- that is a story all in itself...

Needless to say, the rest of the day we were paranoid about how we were getting home- especially me since I had TDC. Well, I had no idea that both Shannon and Andrea were REALLY flipping out because they knew what my day was going to entail!

But, we all finally made it out of the Chicago airport (we did get to Chicago, but they kept cancelling all of the NWA flights) and I made it safely back home- exhausted, but home.

Mike's parents had also made it in the previous day, so it was really nice to catch up with them as well.

So, the next morning we all woke up at 4:30 and headed to TDC. Overall, the day was going as expected. I was really out of it, but having a great time. The weather was perfect and all my family and friends were there- which I thought were there to support the event- little did I know...

Even my friend Angelica surprised me from Kansas City and I STILL didn't figure it out. Did I mention I was really out of it?

Anyways, so before the fashion show, the director of ADA said she needed to see me and that she had a special thank you presentation for Mike and I. So, I waited with her until they had everything set up. So this really threw me off if anything.

We go back towards the stage and I see a crowd of people, and I'm still thinking, "what else is going on- this can't be for Mike and I"... Then she walks me toward the stage and I see Mike on one knee and a sign that says, "will you marry me" with both of our parents holding the ends of the sign. I say, "shut up, are you kidding me," and go up to him and give him a big kiss. He gets back down on one knee and says, "before our family and friends I want to tell you that you mean the world to me, I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you marry me." and I answered, "of course." Then he put the ring on my finger and everyone came up to us and gave us hugs, and kisses and it was the most wonderful moment of my life.

Pre-engagement at Marcy Hill's Photobooth

Then the fun started

2009-10-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

Let's just say it has already been such a busy year! This isn't even half the photos I have at all of the events and fun times! Where ever we are, Mike and I always have the best time and our favorite thing to do together is be together with the ones we love. We love socializing, fundraising, throwing parties, organizing events- you name it, we both love it! I'm so glad I found my perfect match that compliments me in every way!

Sept: Kansas City to visit Angelica and Anthony

Adam and Diana's Reception

Caleb's Birthday

Paige's Wedding

July: Allisha's Birthday Party

June: Getting ready for Tour de Cure at A Loft

Memphis visiting Maggi and Brian

May: Grayson's 2nd Birthday Party

Tampa!

April: Emily and Jonah's Wedding Shower- Mike meets my "other families"

March: Easter with the Smith Family- haha- Mike fits right in!

February: Met Mike's Parents for the first time at Kiss a Pig

In the beginning...

2009-10-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

So one day I was asked if I would be interested in being featured in a Citiscape article, "Single in the City." I said, "sure, why not? At the same time, Mike Duley was asked, and low and behold we met at the photoshoot! Not many people they can say they have a photo of when they first met!

My first impressions of Mike when I met him was that he was cute, nice and FUNNY! He was supposed to be in the other group for the photo shoot and he got moved into my group. He kept kidding around that they wanted us to get closer and closer together. Every shot that we did, the photographer moved him closer to me. He thought this was quite the joke, and continued to make me laugh.

After a couple of weeks, I kept running into him because he was campaigning for Kiss a Pig, so he held many fundraisers for the event. One of the times, I was even on a blind date, and he still pursued me! Talk about persistance :-) After the magazine came out the first of February, he talked to my friend Emily Anderson who gave him my phone number. He text messaged me about two good looking people on the cover of Citiscapes and asked if I wanted to go to dinner that night. I was supposed to go to Kansas City for Angelica's birthday, but my friend Jennifer got sick, so we decided not to go. Molten Lava (Boom Kinetic) was playing at George's- which is my friend Kara and I's favorite band, so we made plans before I could get a hold of Mike to go see them play. When Mike finally got back to me, I told him that he should meet us that night.

He asked me what my favorite colors were and I said Pink and Purple- he wore a pink and purple shirt out that night, which I thought was so cute! We met up and had some fun dancing and drinking- but we ended up not getting to spend too much time together, and I felt really bad about it.

The next morning I decided to call him- which, if you know me, I would never even care about calling a guy, but for some reason, I really felt bad about not hanging out with him much, so I called. He didn't call me back until later that day, and the whole day I was bummed because I realized I kinda liked him, and thought I had ruined it.

He called and asked me to go to a fashion show fundraiser that night, so I went with him and his cousin- had the best time, and the rest is history :-)