The Taylor Transition

So, as you all know by now, I am planning my wedding to Taylor Daughtry.

I thought it would be funny to see the progression of me not having feelings for Taylor at all, to me being completely head over heels for him.

This first picture was taken in 2009, before we ever dated. He had the longest hair ever. I absolutely could not stand his long hair. Have a look yourself:

Taylor is on my left side in this picture, while his hair is up in a PONY TAIL :/ you  can see that it's long.

Taylor always wanted to be right beside me, but I wasn't having it. I had know interest in him at the time, and his hair was definitely something that held me back.

I knew I loved him as a friend, but I didn't realize I loved him more. His hair was just so shockingly long that it didn't attract me.

It kept growing:

I mean it was longer than my hair, and I thought I had long hair.

Over time, he decided he didn't like his long hair anymore. The next few pictures show the progression of us.

While some people may think I'm a little vain, I'm not. I think he hid behind his hair, because once he cut it, he became so much more outgoing and that's the Taylor I fell in love with.

Holy cow at the difference. He doesn't even look like the same person. Now this is who I fell in love with.

Look at that baby face. :)

He let his hair grow out a little over the past few years, but the transition of long to short hair was the best transition ever. I love him so much! Look at the big smile as opposed to the first picture I posted.

This is the most recent picture of us. We have grown so much. Especially him! He's changed so much over the past few years. I can't wait to marry him!

I hope you find the "Taylor Transition" as entertaining as I do, especially if you know us. :)

Should You Get Married In A Church??

Of course we all know by now that I’m in the middle of planning my wedding. The question of whether or not I would get married in a church was brought up several times after becoming engaged.

Now, if you know me, you know that I am very involved in church, and getting married in a church is special to me.

Well after we got engaged, I played with the idea of getting married at some different places. I found an article on the Huffington Post that said “10 Signs You Should Not Be Getting Married In A Church,” well this article was clearly someone else’s opinion, but it had some truth to it.

Now, I’m not one to spark a fire where there’s not one, but with this, I may have to.

What’s the point in getting married in a church if you want to “take Jesus out of the ceremony?” I mean, maybe you just like the building, but taking Jesus out of the ceremony, is like taking the meaning out of marriage.

One of the other points was “you and your partner have never talked about religion and don’t see yourself talking about it,” HELLO, if you haven’t even talked about religion in the slightest, then why on earth are you just assuming your spouse is wanting to be married in a church.

To me, the whole meaning behind getting married in a church is because that it God’s temple. Uniting as one, you are becoming one in the union of marriage in front of God.

The bible talks about how marriage is created from God and meant to be between one man and one woman forever. If you can’t even talk about religion in your courtship, then you have no idea who you’re really marrying.

You’re probably not marrying them for the right reasons either.

If you want to read this article, here is the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lillian-daniel/10-signs-you-should-not-be-getting-married-in-a-church_b_1661514.html

It was a very interesting read, and it made me realize why I’m getting married, but also why I’m getting married in a church.

Planning is in FULL SWING!

The Planning is in FULL swing!

I am so excited about planning my wedding, that I’ve pretty much finished the big details!

I went to a bridal show on February 19^th, and found some SUPER cute ideas to use at our wedding and our reception. Decorating for the wedding and the reception can be hard, because you have to do it so far in advance. When you’re thinking of things and ways you want to decorate you have to just imagine how it’s going to look at your venue.

For me, decorating isn’t hard at all. My mom and sisters are so very creative. I’ve been blessed with the best. All I have to say is, “this is kind of what I want” and they’re on it like hawks. It’s a little amazing.

At this bridal show I mentioned a few paragraphs up, I found some of the neatest ideas to use.

First of all let’s talk the cakes I saw. WOW. My colors are peach and ivory, and some of the cakes I saw were the exact colors. I was so excited! One of the cakes I saw was really interesting. The details on this cake are so exquisite. I’ve never seen one like it. I love the flower at the top, and the design throughout the cake, the only thing I’d change would be the silver to gold. Look how pretty this cake is:

Another interesting thing I saw, was a backdrop for the altar. I am getting married in a church, but I still want somewhat of a backdrop. This lace with lights and different fabrics is perfect! I can’t wait to see what mine turns out to look like. It’ll have to be a good bit bigger, because the stage I’m working with is bigger.

Here it is:

I love the details and all of the fabrics combined, with all of the lights and greenery. It's so exciting!!

Although my wedding is still 8 months away, it’s GREAT to be planning this far in advance, this way I can see what will work and what won’t work!

I can’t wait!!

How we got engaged..aw

So Taylor and I have known each other since we were in 4th and 5th grades. I'm a year older (so naturally I'm wiser, lol). He was the most annoying kid I had ever laid eyes on, I couldn't stand him. We met at our church, Hephzibah, in Troy, AL. We were in the same Sunday school class, the same Wednesday night group, and eventually the same youth group. We were in musicals together and church dramas, but that kid drove me crazy. When we got to high school, yes I'm skipping middle school, because no one wants to relive those days, we became actual friends.

I started watching Taylor grow. We started hanging out in groups almost every weekend. He still drove me crazy, but I didn't mind being around him for small amounts of time. We pretty much did everything together.

When I started driving I took him and our friends everywhere!! I was the oldest in our group, so naturally I drove everyone. He would always sit in the back and randomly say, "I love you." As we got a little older I thought it was a joke, so I'd always say, "I love you, too Taylor, as my brother in Christ." Taylor hated it, but I didn't realize it.

All of our friends talked about how were going to date one day and I was absolutely mortified at that statement, (Sorry T, I love you now). I would always say "No, we will NEVER date, Taylor is my friend, and that's it." Little did I know God had different plans.

We continued hanging out for a few years, and he even had a girlfriend at one point. I started getting this weird feeling that I liked him.

I was 21 almost 22 when all of these "I love you Kristin" messages started really creeping in my mind. I thought about how we hung out all of the time and how I would pretend to not like him.

One night we were hanging out and it just hit me like a ton of bricks. God thought it would be funny.

Taylor and I started dating on December 5, 2010. The craziest time of my life. I'll never forget it.

We dated for three years and became the best of friends.  We have the best relationship because we just like to hang out together. We have so much fun. We grow in Christ together, we love each other and we love sharing our faith with others.

When you get to stand beside the one God has chosen for you as your life partner and you get to worship God together, it's an awesome feeling.

So we began looking at rings for real, in early 2013. I found some that I liked but not the one.

On October 12, 2013, we went and looked at rings and I found one that I loved. Little did I know Mr. Daughtry would be getting a ring just like that soon.

On November 8, 2013 he took me to the first place we met, the church. He took me out to the spot where he asked me to date him, and underneath the stars and God he asked me to marry him. I of course said yes and I can't wait!! November 22nd needs to HURRY!

I said yes to the dress...and a bunch of other things!

Wedding planning is in full swing now! In the past week I've said yes to the dress, gone to my reception venue, and to a bridal expo. Whew, it has been a busy week!

One thing you want to consider when planning a wedding is how much time you're going to have. A lot of people don't realize just how much time goes into planning the wedding.

You want to make sure that you're allowing yourself enough time to find the dress, the venue, the photographer and the caterer. Those are the biggest points of planning.

You also need to realize that you're not the only bride out there, and wedding photographers and caterers book up really fast. Allowing yourself enough time to plan ahead is great!

I planned my wedding for almost exactly one year from the day I got engaged, I did this so that I could have time to enjoy it!

Let's talk about this saying yes to the dress thing. Oh my goodness!! I went to David's Bridal with my mom and sisters last sunday simply to look at dresses. Neither of my sisters live in town, so I wanted them to be able to at least see me try on some dresses.

Never in a million years did I think I would find the dress on the first day! I probably tried on 12 dresses, and out of those 12, there were three that were perfect! It was so hard making that final decision, but I put on dress number two and it was like the heavens sang.

I walked out of the dressing room and my mom and sisters faces lit up with excitement. They all said, "that dress is so you." I didn't know, and still don't know if that was a compliment. :) I think it was.

I was still a little unsure if that was definitely the dress, so I kept trying some on. Y'all, some of these dresses were hideous on me, beautiful on others, but hideous on me. I looked like I had babies hiding under the dress on my hips in one of them. Whew, that was not the one.

I tried on a few more and went back to this particular dress that everyone loved. I put it on and moved my hands down the sides to feel the material (I'm not giving obvious clues because my fiancé may read this) and out of nowhere my hand slid into what I thought was a hole, but ended up being a pocket.

The excitement I felt when I realized my dress had pockets was unreal! If you know me, you know that I'm not super glitz and glam, and having pockets in a wedding dress was fabulous!

I can't wait to actually share a picture of myself in this dress. Just a few more months and it will be time!

My First Wedding Post!

I am thrilled to say that I am getting married November 22, 2014. I CANNOT wait!! My blog for the next few months is going to be geared towards wedding planning. I am so excited to be talking about wedding venues, reception venues, the do's and don'ts of getting married, who do you invite, what do you wear, those are several examples of what weddings or in particular, my wedding will be like! I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts on weddings! Here's to getting married!

He won't Relent..

So over the past few years, since I haven't been blogging, a whole lot has happened. I've been dating an amazing guy for a year and 5 months, and it has been an awesome year. The reason for me coming to back to my blog, was to write out my thoughts, the thoughts that daily run through my mind.

Tonight, while sitting in the den by myself, I just happened to start listening to "You Won't Relent" by Jesus Culture, and it really spoke to me, granted all music usually speaks to me, this song just really did. I think that we take Christianity so delicately sometimes, we want to treat our "christian" lives as though God can't see every move we make, or hear every thought we have, but tonight it hit me that God is really everywhere, and he's not going to relent until he completely has all of us, all of our mistakes that we think are too big for him, all of our mind, everything. God sent his son to die for our sins, so that we could live for him. End of story..no, not really, It doesn't end there, God intends for us to have a perfect life, but we choose daily not to, because we are sinful, but that doesn't mean that God is going anywhere. He sent his SON for us, would you send your son or daughter or only child, or loved one to die on a cross for the entire world as it is and what's to come? Why don't we understand this? Why do we treat God like he's some old man that can't really hear or that can't really fix any of the problems that we have? That's exactly what he's wanting, he's wanting us to come to him, in Isaiah, he clearly says, "come, all who are thirsty, COME". There is nothing that is too big for God.

Lately, I've been feeling a lot like I was to small for God, that I was just one in a million, and that he cared about me, but not really. Well that was just Satan trying to confuse me, and make me think that I wasn't good enough for God. Well God was quick to show me in more ways than one that I am. There was a situation that was going on, that I was so angry and hurt about and I didn't understand why God would allow it, but I just stopped, prayed and told God that I knew he loved me, little ole me, and that he wants nothing more than for me to love him and trust him. He won't relent until he has my whole heart, so even through this tribulation, God didn't give up, and he didn't allow me to give up. I realized very quickly that what I wanted wasn't always what God wanted, but out of that turmoil came something so amazing, and I am so thankful that I chose to believe and have faith in him.

God never lets us down, he may not react the way that we think he should, but he always knows whats best. My biggest thing is realizing that God is bigger than anything I do, and that if I would just give him my whole heart, I wouldn't worry about the small things. We have to set our eyes towards heaven, the past is the past, our mistakes are over, but Jesus died on the cross for those, in return he just wants us to love him and live in his will the best way we know how. That's what I'm striving to do daily. It's constantly a fight to not let Satan win, but my God is greater, and my God is stronger, and my God will overcome that. My God won't relent until he has it all..meaning all of me, every single part of me. I am his. I am made in his image, born of his  blood, and I will forever be grateful that I have a God that loves me and won't relent..ever.