O-C-T-O-B-E-R

Hey Everyone! We are almost half way through with October and time keeps ticking.  I am so very grateful I have had an extended engagement! I don't know how people who get married in 6 months do it? 

I left off last time at the weekend of our engagement photo shoot.  It was so much fun to take pictures together and gave us a lot of great practice for the actual wedding.  Here are a few of my favorites so far....

So in a nutshell that is what we have been up to lately.  I spent last weekend up at Lake Toxaway (without Kevin as he had to work) celebrating my sister's 27th Birthday.  I was sick so I couldn't do much, but we had a lot of fun out on the boat. 

I will be hosting Amrita and Hrishi here in Atlanta this weekend! They are coming to visit with us and see Atlanta.  We have a few fun events scheduled for the weekend like the Roswell ghost tour on Friday night and a fun Italian restaurant in Innman Park on Saturday called Sotto Sotto.  We might even hit up the new movie Footloose, as for my 13th birthday, Amrita and I saw the play!

The invitations for our first wedding party went out this week.  It will be in Gainesville and is being hosted by some of my mother's close friends.  We couldn't be more excited about the party.  Now, I just have to find something fun to wear!

Next week will be a short week as we are headed to Athens (the first time I will have been back after getting engaged!) for my cousin's wedding.  We will be staying at the Hotel Indigo which is one of my company's hotels, which is always fun! We will be leaving on Thursday to head to Athens! We couldn't be more excited for this family wedding, the first big wedding on the Rentz side!

Hope all is well with everyone! More pics of Amrita and Hrishi's visit to come! XOXO

March Madness!

Kevin and I ended March with a bang! I am fortunately going to be married to a man who can predict his March Madness bracket better than most! Kevin got first place in a pool of ninety eight other young basketball hot shots.  Thankfully, this sports game had some monetary incentive behind it, so I gladly went along with watching hours of basketball to please my fiance.  We had previously gone to a Mexican restaurant to watch the elite eight games and then this past weekend, we went out on a double date with some friends to Taco Mac.  We had quite a bit of fun since Kentucky lost and that's what we needed to happen!  I was glad Kevin could take some time to enjoy sports during his busy season.

Saturday Night Out!

Last week I spent the majority of the week in Athens which was pretty enjoyable!  My company hosted a team building session which included a stay at our property, Hotel Indigo, a scavenger hunt all over downtown and campus, an 80's themed party complete with an 80's cover band and a photo booth.  Here is a picture of my immeadiate web marketing team from InterContinental Hotels Group.  My boss is the one in the floral tutu on the bottom right.

Working Hard for the Money

This past weekend I did a little hotel hunting for our save the dates (which I am excited to announce are in the works!)  I actually had never been to the InterContinental Hotel in Buckhead before, even though I work on it everyday on their website.  So, after hitting the gym on Saturday I ventured into Buckhead to tour some suites and rooms at the InterContinental Buckhead.  I found it quite refreshing and gorgeous!  I definitely think this will be one of our suggested hotels for out of town guests attending our wedding!

Sitting Area at the InterContinental Buckhead

Outdoor Courtyard at InterContinental Buckhead

On my way out of Buckhead back towards Vinings, I couldn't help but snap these gorgeous shots of all the blooming tulips in Atlanta.  This particular spot was near our reception location and I got very excited seeing all the blooming flowers thinking about this time next year!

The plan for this coming weekend is for my Mother and Sister to visit in order to start DRESS SHOPPING!!! I am so excited about this part of the festivities.  I have called the various boutiques and made my appointments.  The timing works out perfectly while Kevin is working all day Saturday.  Hopefully next Saturday night we will all be together having fun!

Keeping Busy

I hate starting out multiple posts with apologies, but I am slacking on the blog lately and I'm sorry! I had my sister in town two weekends ago, then I got the plague and have been battling that since.  I literally stayed in bed from last Friday until today!  Kevin caught whatever cold I had (to a much lesser degree thankfully) so we were both couch potatoes all weekend long.  What little time we actually did see of each other was spent in silence this weekend as we both felt that bad that we really didn't communicate much, beyond the extent of, "it's time for more medicine" or, "can you please refill my gatorade."  I will send out kudos to Kevin for unloading my dishwasher at my house when he doesn't even know where my stuff goes!  What a sweet heart for doing that while I was completely out of it!  I am really ready for tax season to be over, as I know Kevin is.  He continues to put in the long hours.  The only thing that gets us through is knowing that the next time tax season comes, our wedding will be on the other side waiting for us! (only a few days after tax season 2012 ends!)

So, two weekends ago, my sister visited spontaneously.  I was so delighted that she came all the way to ATL so that we could select our bridesmaids dresses together for my cousin Maggie's wedding in October.  Maggie selected some GORGEOUS dresses from Amsale through Bella Bridesmaid.  I have never been a bridesmaid before, so this process was quite interesting to me and will help guide my decisions for my own girls.  Thankfully, my sister is a pro and we helped each other select the best dress for our body types.  It was really fun being able to do the "bridesmaid" thing together.  It's also nice to know that I have my dress picked out and ready to go for the wedding in October.  As much as I love dress shopping, sometimes the options seem daunting (and with all that is going on wedding wise between now and my wedding, it feels great to have one dress checked off the list!)  Maggie let each of her bridesmaids select a style, but assigned everyone a color.  My color is Vanilla and I couldn't be more excited about it! Here is the style I selected:



I don't have any wedding developments to speak of yet, other than we are counting down til 1 year out (the end of April).  Then all the pieces can start to be fit together!  Once Kevin finishes with tax season and we get our weekends back together, we will resume our to-do list of all things wedding. During the past two weeks during my lunch breaks or right after work I have been investigating rehearsal dinner options and have met with two different location's event coordinators.  I am compiling some options for my future in laws.

Next week, I am headed to Athens for a work trip for three days so this weekend will be spent preparing for that.  The attire for one of the evenings is 80's chic, so I will have to do a little thrift store digging this weekend in preparation!  I threw out the majority of my social costume closet that was used for sorority functions in college, and here I am heading back to college for work and in need of my costume closet!

On the 11th Day of December my True Love gave to me....an ENGAGEMENT RING!

Saturday December 11th, 2010 (12.11.10) is a day I will remember as the most romantic day of my life.  Kevin Golden, my boyfriend of 4.5 years got down on one knee and asked for my hand in marriage in Athens, Georgia.  I was totally blown away by this special surprise as I had thought he would wait and ask me on my birthday (January 12th).  Kevin made me the happiest little girl in the world and I am still in shock that we are actually going to get married.  I cannot imagine my life without Kevin.  He has touched my life in so many ways since I initially met him during my freshman year at The University of Georgia.  I fall more in love with him each and every day.  I am truly blessed to have such a adoring and caring man to share the rest of my life with.

Of course I said YES! and hence the reason for this blog about our wedding planning process and thrills that go along with organizing the biggest event in our lives.  I am so very grateful to have my parents to guide us through this process together.  I wanted to blog about the details so that I don't forget the emotions througout the process.

This is the first wedding in my family so I am relying on my mother and sister to keep me cool through this exciting time!  We have not officially set a date yet, but hope to have a spring wedding.  Kevin is a tax accountant so we have to be very careful about dates.  Ideally, we see ourselves having a spring wedding.  My mother has vowed that we must get through Christmas before starting on the wedding plans!

One of our first exciting experiences this past weekend as fiances was to visit Kevin's family in Ludowici, Georgia.  Kevin's grandparents host an annual Christmas gathering with his father's side.  This was the first year I was included.  It was very fun to see all of his cousins and extended relatives as well as spend time with his siblings. 

Kevin has made the decision to spend Christmas with my family this year.  This is our first official holiday together! I am beyond excited and I know my mother is as well.  Our house will be full of laughter, food, and good times! Christmas is very special to me with our family traditions and I just cannot wait for Kevin to experience a Rentz Family Christmas!


Kevin and I have two days in the office this week, then we are headed to our respective homes and he will join our family on the 23rd in Florida.



We hope you enjoy following us on our journey through the engagement right up until the wedding!