86.

86 daaayyyyysssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss......

Until I get to marry this sweet thing...

Yayyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom once wrote in a letter, "Isn't God precious? How much He loves me, and how perfectly." It's sad and hard planning a wedding without my mother. It just is. But the beautiful part is that I have felt the truth of God's perfect love more in the past 4 months than maybe ever in my life.

So here's a much needed recap of our engagement thus far...

First, there was The Proposal. And it was the most perfect thing in the world. I've always wanted to be totally and completely surprised, but I've always had this fear that it would be cheesy. And ever since my mom passed away, I have wanted my friends to be apart of my engagement night. On January 6th, I went to dinner with the only 2 of my friends in town for Winter Session. Brian was standing in the parking lot outside the Chi O house when I got home, where he got on one knee to propose. Surprise puts it mildly.

He also had 18 of my friends in town waiting to surprise me with champagne.

It was perfect.

Here were the sweet girls waiting on me...

Here is the joy they saw...

Mary Glenn and Marilyn couldn't be there, but squealing over the phone was so much fun.

Happiness.

Love.

Pure Joy.

Celebration.

Then, there was the search for the dress!!!! It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. Ever.

Here we are on our way to Jackson where we found it!!!!

Save-The-Dates went out...

I went to register with Amy...

April 24th was my engagement party in Tupelo.

I walked into the party and I was so touched by all the sweet faces I saw. I was reminded of what a sweet community I am from. Tupelo was the greatest place in the world to grow up. When I'm there, I remember how loved and embraced and cared about I am.

The party was absolutely beautiful. The flowers, the Long's house, the weather- all so beautiful. There was a 90% chance of rain; I think my mother had something to do with the sunshine that came out instead. The toast that Dr. Fred gave was one of the most embarrassing, yet one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. The whole party was wonderful! I wish I had taken pictures, but I was too busy having fun! Here are a few snapshots that people got from the party and the after party at Betsy's!

Pics with the Donalds...

Daddy.

Tupelo's Finest at the afterparty...

Wendy's run? Duh.

Meresy.

Love this face...

And this one...

We had the best time!

Today, Mrs. Diana and Randi came with me to my fitting in Jackson because my DRESS CAME IN!!!!!! It was so much fun putting on the actual dress I'm going to wear on August 14th. It was even prettier than I remembered. I love so much that Randi and Dee Dee got to be apart of today. It was so special having them there. The lady at The Bridal Path suggested I try on this beautiful bracelet with my dress. I didn't expect to like it at all, but it turns out that I LOVED it. It just made the whole outfit! Sweet Dee Dee bought and gave the bracelet to me. I will so love wearing her special gift on our special day and thinking of what a sweet presence she is in my life.

These highlights, plus a lotttt of time with The Wedding Bag, my cell phone, and my MyAgenda should give you a pretty good idea of the Engagement activities thus far! Get ready for exciting updates really soon... after all, we only have 86 days!!!!!!

Rachel