Date Night Wedding

This past weekend Chase and I had the pleasure of attending some of our good friends' wedding. It was such a fun night and felt good to get out together for the evening.

First off, a big congrats to Wes and Laura! Yay!

We enjoyed a beautiful ceremony (even though we were late, yikes!), yummy food, good drinks (a few too many) and great company.

Plus a photobooth. Watch out!

Things got a little out of control. Too much fun.

And always, a big shout out to my lil brother and Mom for taking babysitting duties. You guys rock!

something old, something blue, something borrowed, something new

I realize its been awhile since I posted something about the wedding and since there are a million things I haven't shared yet I have plenty to post about.

I thought I would share with you my something old and something blue which happened to be the same thing.  Since our wedding was far from traditional I wasn't super hung up on getting all the somethings for our wedding day and just let it kind of happen.

The most special item of all the somethings was what I used at the something old/something blue.  Its a handkerchief passed down from my great grandma that also happened to have a little blue in it.  I also had on it on reserve in case I needed it if I cried.  I did cry but not enough to warrant pulling out the hanky.  Plus, since my wedding dress had pockets, yes pockets, I was able to tuck my special hanky in my pocket along with my lip gloss.



Another special item was my something borrowed.  My dress was pretty basic so I wanted a little something to add some detail and bling to it.  That is where my grandma's broach came in.  Its an old broach she has had for years and it was perfect.  It had a vintage look that went with the style of my dress and added just a touch of bling.



And I kind of cheated on my something new...my wedding dress!  ha!

Just some little details from our wedding day, things that made the day perfect and so special for us.

a quiet moment

Chase and I made the decision not to see each other prior to the wedding ceremony.  We wanted our first glances of each other on our special day to be as I turned the corner and started walking down the aisle towards him.  Because of this we really had no idea how each other were feeling or what was going on, which made it all the more fun to look through the photos afterwards.

On the last disc of our photos I came across a picture that made me smile more than all the others.  It is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding day.  Its a special quiet moment caught of Chase right before he walked out into the ceremony.



He looks so nervous but so at peace at the same time.  He told me later he was just trying to collect himself.  Which didn't work because he teared up through the entire ceremony.  One of the many reasons I love him.

til death do us part

In keeping with the non-traditional theme of our wedding Chase and I decided to write our own vows.  We really liked the idea of using our own words when committing ourselves to one another. The entire ceremony was planned and put together by Chase and I, and in the end it made it all the more special.







Chase and I had been together for seven years before we got married so being able to write our own vows and talk about our history was important to us.  I decided to share the vows we made to each other.

My vows:
Chase Logan Vincent, I love you
I love your crooked smile
I love the way my head fits perfectly under your chin
I love how you pick me up when you hug me
I love the sparkle in your eye when you have an idea
And most of all, I love the way you love me.


The greatest thing I have done in my life is to love you and be loved by you
I am so excited to walk through the rest of my life with you by my side
From this day on, I choose you to be my husband
To bring out the best in you always and be the most  I can for you
I will be here for you always and forever, for the rest of my life
This I promise you.



I teared up.

Chase's vows:
I am filled with and surrounded by so much happiness and love today that all I can is give thanks.
I am thankful for Biz, who introduced us and had the hotel party where we met.
Thankful for my best friends who dragged me out of the house that night
And especially thankful for the Mike's Hard Lemonade that broke the ice.


But what I am most appreciative of is the heavenly father seeing fit that I should be so lucky to spend the rest of my life with you.
My life changed for the better the moment you turned around and I saw those freckles and green eyes again.
You challenge and inspire me in so many ways that I am perpetually becoming a better man.
While I may never wear crimson and cream in support of OU, I will spend the rest of my life striving to make you the happiest woman on earth.
With all my love, faith, courage and respect I can give, I promise to comfort and protect you til death do us part.  
For richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, I Chase Vincent am forever blessed to take you, Hallie Moore, to be my wedded wife as long as we both shall live.


Always and Forever.



He really teared up.

We got a lot of compliments on our vows which was nice to hear. I loved every minute of our ceremony and I wouldn't have wanted to do it any other way.

traditions spared

From the very beginning I knew I didn't want a traditional wedding.  Nothing against those that do, its just not my style.  I wanted something more simple and modern, something that was just ours and was special for our invited guests.  So when I started planning there were several things that I omitted, one being the bouquet and garter toss.

As it turns out, my soon to be husband was disappointed that he wasn't going to get to crawl under my dress, pull the garter off of my leg and then toss it to a crowd of single guys.  I was surprised he was so bummed but the thought of doing that at our reception in front of all of our guests was not something I wanted to do.  So we compromised.

After Chase and I made our grand exit from the reception we regrouped with our wedding party and other close friends at the hotel to continue celebrating our newly married status.  It was there, in the hotel lobby, that I gave in and participated in the garter toss.

Searching, locating, removing the garter.


Tossing to the crowd.


Victory dance!


It looks like Nick is next.


My Maid of Honor Patti's boyfriend Nick caught the garter.  He was so excited!

So in the end we kept this little tradition, but with a little modification.  Marriage is all about compromise right.

the all important wedding cake

A lot of things about our wedding were non-traditional, we liked doing things our own way and that didn't stop when it came to the wedding cake and the grooms cake cupcakes.

Our first priority was not how it looked but how it tasted.  Yes, surprise.  Taste was the # 1 factor.  I have been to so many weddings where the cake was beautiful but tasted like cardboard.  No thank you.  We tasted cakes at two different places to make sure we got the best cake possible.  And in the end we were very pleased.

After we got the yummy factor taken care of it was time to decide on the look.  Our overall wedding was fairly modern and simple with a small fall tree theme woven in.  That's exactly what we did with the cake.  Our wedding invitations served as inspiration and we kept a modern look with the bottom two tiers square and the top tier round.



We continued our DIY approach by making our own cake topper.  Chase and I wanted to re-create a tree trunk carving look so we dremeled our initials into a piece of wood and then torched it to make it look old and rustic.  The wooden cake stand was a butcher block my dad hand made.  Turned out perfect.



We decided on 3 flavors for our cake so to help educate the guests on their choices we made sure to display the flavors for all to see.



For the grooms cake we wanted to do something delicious and easy to eat.  Cupcakes.  Yes, I know.  Cupcakes as the grooms cake is all the rage but it fit for us.  We had red velvet and carrot cake.  To tie into our 'luckiest' clover history (our song is The Luckiest by Ben Folds and our symbol is a 4 leaf clover) we topped them off with green clovers. They were amazing.



The cake was the one thing I ended up being nervous about because I didn't have a chance to see it before the reception.  I had a nightmare that the entire cake would be completely wrong.  But it was perfect and I absolutely loved it!


Big thanks to Johnnie's Sweet Creations for making the cake and cupcakes.  You guys rocked!

the getaway car

When I was a little kid I would visit my Aunt and Uncle in Ada, Oklahoma for a couple weeks during the summer.  One of the best parts about the visit was cruising around town in their 1970's yellow Volkswagen convertible Bug named Bert.  He was so much fun to ride in and everyone always gave you envious looks because he was so damn cool.  So when we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do for our wedding exit naturally Bert came to mind.

The groomsmen did their part and dressed Bert up in Just Married decor.





We made our exit out of the reception venue amidst bubbles and hoots and hollers from our guests.



It was a chilly night in November but we wanted to ride in style with the top down, and at this point we were so giddy and high on having just been married we didn't even feel the cold.

My cousins were nice enough to stop drinking at the reception so they could safely drive us to our hotel.



It was the perfect way to ride off into our new married life together.  Thanks Bert.

jumping on this wordless wednesday thing

making it official

In order to be legit with this wedding we had to go to the courthouse, hold up our right hands and swear that we were not currently married to someone else -- among other things.  Because Chase and I both had to be present and we live in Dallas we got the license the day before our wedding.  Cutting it close.



But they were open, thank god, and we filled out our info, paid our $50 bucks and walked out with our marriage license...ready to get married.



And then, with all our friends as witnesses we signed this bad boy and made it official.





It was a little more complicated than we thought AND we probably should have done this before drinking all that wine and champagne.

kiss the bride

I wanted to share one of my favorite moments of our wedding ceremony, the kiss.

Chase and I had talked a little bit about the kiss and what we wanted to do, just so it wouldn't be awkward and we would bump heads or something.  We discussed a lot of different ideas...some really cheesy and some boring.  In the end we both liked the idea of Chase dipping me.  Its classic, romantic and sweet.  And so he did, and it was perfect.



This isn't the best angle to see the full on dip but you get the idea.

may we have the rings please

I knew that our wedding day wasn't going to be perfect.  Despite all the hard work and planning I had put in, its never exactly how you plan it.  But I was okay with that...the only part I didn't like was not knowing when and where something was going to go wrong.  I didn't have to wait too long to find out.

The day had been a little hectic.  Our wedding was DIY and we didn't have a wedding planner so all the decorating we did ourselves.  Luckily my Mom was kick-ass and all my bridesmaids were awesome so it wasn't too crazy.  After decorating the ceremony venue and the reception venue I had to run back home and get all of things to get ready at the hotel.  Once we all got to the hotel time flew by.  We were rushed but nothing was overlooked or forgotten.

The ceremony started and we were all in our places.  I was getting word that Chase and all the guys were in place so it was almost showtime for me.  Once I started walking down the aisle I pretty much zoned in on Chase and forgot all about everything else around me.  The ceremony was going along very smooth, we said our vows which we had written and other than a little tears it was perfect.  Then it was time to exchange the rings.  This is where things got a little off plan.



Tim, our best friend and officiant, asked the best man for the rings.  I saw Charlie step back and put his hand in Tim's to pass the rings but I noticed nothing was actually exchanged.  No rings.  Then Tim slyly pulled off his own "wrench ring" (a ring made out of a small wrench that all the guys have) and put it in his hand and handed it to Chase.  As Chase repeated after Tim he slipped this wrench ring on my finger.  My real ring was nowhere in sight.  That's right, Charlie (best man) had left the rings in the car.  WE HAVE NO WEDDING RINGS.  But, we had to just go with it.  So after Chase put the ring on my finger I had to slip it off and use it as Chase's ring as well.  Whoops.



As it turned out, nobody in attendance even noticed.  Not even the bridesmaids.  So we pulled it off.  And after the ceremony Charlie ran out to the car to get the real rings and we said the vows over again and slipped on the real things.



Makes for one hell of a story.  If something had to go wrong, this I didn't mind at all.

mrs. vincent

Forgive me, please forgive me.  I know I have not posted in quite some time but I was busy, you know, getting married.

Last time I posted it was wedding week and I had just recovered from my wild and crazy fun bachelorette party.  The rest of the week went by like a blur!  So many appointments, errands, activities, diy projects and partying I couldn't catch my breath.  And then, before I knew it the wedding was happening.  And then, just like that, it was over.

The wedding was SO perfect.  It was a little hectic, and we had a few minor hiccups but overall it was fantastic.  Just how I had imagined it.  A little bit of nerves, some tears and lots of fun!

I will be posting some more specific wedding things once I get our pictures back but for now, enjoy this picture of Chase and I, as a newly married husband and wife!

photo taken by Simon Hurst Photography, taken at Oklahoma State Capitol

Wedding Week

It's finally here, wedding week.  I have four days left until the wedding.  Can you believe it?  Four days.


There is a lot to do this week.  I arrived in Oklahoma City from Dallas on Friday morning to kick off the festivities with my girls at my bachelorette party.  It was an absolute blast!  Dinner and drinks around the city...including limo service.



The rest of the week is about the details.  Lots of DIY projects, appointments, phone calls and last minute purchases.

I can't wait for Saturday to be here.  I am so excited to walk down the aisle and say "I do" to Chase.  I knew when we first met I wanted to be with him forever, so I have been waiting seven years to make it official!

Now its just about getting through the week and hoping nothing goes wrong.

4 days!

october 31st or as some call it, halloween

Now that the Halloween holiday has passed let's take a look back at how we celebrated this year.

It was the first Halloween in our Dallas home and while we were initially excited about making our porch extra creepy and handing out delicious candy to tons of cute dressed up kids we opted to head back to OKC to attend a friend's halloween party.

But...we definitely did a little bit of decorating and carved our first pumpkin together before we left town.





My parents and I handed out candy and had drinks on the front lawn while dressed up in costume.



And Chase and I headed to our halloween party as Clark Kent and Lois Lane, complete with The Daily Planet name tags.



All in all a pretty good Halloween.

Up next...OUR WEDDING!  and Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Crazy and exciting time.

wedding to-do list

My big ol' wedding binder is my only sanity during this ridiculously long planning process.  I keep almost everything wedding planning related in the binder and I check it often.  The most important piece of content in the binder?  The To-Do List of course!

If you don't know, I am a major list maker.  I make a work to-do list, a home to-do list, a life to-do list, a weekly dinner menu list, a list for any event or major activity that I might have, and many many more.  I even write "update to-do list" on my to-do lists.  Yep, I am an organizational weirdo!  So when it came time to start planning our wedding one of the very first things I did was start making a to-do list.  And thank god for that because if I couldn't look at that list 10 times a day I would explode with stress!

So what does this binder and to-do list look like you ask?  Well, check it out.

Simple and effective.  I actually purchased several pre-made wedding organizers and found that none of them had all the components I wanted and most of them had way too much crap that was just causing clutter.  I ended up deciding to skim through each, find the things I liked and then create my own version.  Cheaper and customized just for me and my planning needs.

Now, back to crossing things off that list.  I only have 29 days to go!

filming our wedding

One of the things Chase and I decided early on in our wedding planning was that we didn't need or want a videographer to video our ceremony or anything else. We thought it was unnecessary and an expense that didn't fit into our budget. BUT, we did want some footage to document the day and catch some of the special moments, so we came up with our own DIY idea. Flip cameras.

The idea is that we will have two flip hd cameras that will be passed around to different people who will be charged with getting some good footage of whats happening. To start the wedding day off, one camera will be with all the guys and one camera with all us girls-- to catch some of the hustle and bustle of the pre-ceremony time. Then we will hand them off to a couple people to get some film of the ceremony. Lastly, we will hand them off to a couple more people at the reception to capture whatever they want.

We think the more raw nature of this way of filming will be far more entertaining than a formal wedding video and much more our style. Plus, the cost is minimal. We even got a great deal on the cameras on Woot.com.

Did you hire a videographer to capture your big day? Or did you go another route like us?

Wedding Traditions: The First Look

There are a lot of wedding traditions that Chase and I will not be doing...mostly because they just aren't our style.  One of the newer traditions that we didn't agree on skipping is the first look.  Turns out Chase is old school on this one.

I know a lot of people who said seeing each other just before the ceremony was so great because it helped calm nerves and it was also a nice intimate moment to have before being displayed in front of hundreds of people.  Some couples and wedding parties even took the group pictures before the ceremony so they wouldn't have to do it afterwards and delay getting to the reception.  I brought up all these points to Chase, they didn't phase him.

As it turns out, Chase is old school.  He doesn't want to see me until I start to walk down that aisle.  Its sweet, I know.  And romantic.  And I appreciate it, I do.  But a part of me still wishes we could have our own private moment, one last time, before we are a married couple.  But...I guess I should give him this one.  Its the only real thing he has had a strong opinion on during the entire planning process.

And because we won't have some cute first look pictures I thought I would share some of these adorable moments.

45 days and counting...

its almost october

Can you believe it?  Incredible.  The summer absolutely flew by and now its almost October.  And I LOVE October.

I absolutely adore the cool crisp October mornings.  A little bit of dew on the ground, leaves turning slightly orange, smell of fresh fall air.  They are absolutely perfect.

October is the real beginning of football season.  When teams start their conference games instead of the weak and often boring beginning of the year games.  Its also OU Texas which is one of the greatest rivalries and storied games in college football.  And now I live only a couple miles away from all the action.

Its my birthday!  Yep, October 14th.  I will be 26 years old.  Wow...only 4 years from 30. gulp.  But I still love my birthday and I love getting together with friends to celebrate.



Primetime TV is back!  If you know me at all then you know I am obsessed with my tv shows.  And now they are all shiny and new and fun again.

Its less than 2 months until my wedding day.  2 months!  Yowza!  But I can't wait.

Ahh, how I am in love with October.