My Timeline of Dating... or lack thereof

I don't think a lot of people realize where I have come from regarding my relationships. A lot of people get impatient and wonder why they are single, blah, blah blah. Some people may look at me and think I have never struggled or been lonely, but those closest to me know otherwise. All through college I didn't have a boyfriend. I went on dates, but nothing ever stuck. I went to a college where it almost seemed as though getting your MRS degree (mrs... get it?) was more important than getting your education. I was able to escape without one.

After college, everyone was getting married and I was single. Looking back on it, it was stupid to be worried about getting married at 23.  I am almost 30 and I think of how much I have grown as a person and changed. I am glad I got married later.  I was pursued heavily by a guy that I thought would be a good fit, but I was wrong. I was 23 and thought he was a nice guy.. he wasn't. I won't get into details, but by the end of the relationship, I was pretty sure I would never date again. I did date again. All of them weren't looking for anything serious or I just wasn't into them. I didn't have another serious relationship until nearly 4 years later when I met Chris.

During my time of singleness, I focused on spending time with my family, friends, and most importantly, God. I began to understand that I didn't have to be married by 23 or even 25. I spent that time praying for who God wanted for me, not who I wanted, because I obviously couldn't pick a good mate. Did I get lonely? Yes. Did I want to give up? YES! And I almost did.

I had been on dating sites off and on since the guy from college. I was a Governess (teacher/nanny) for a family and traveled a lot. One day while I was in Florida and I was sitting in my apartment there, I decided that I was done dating and decided to take off my dating profiles from the websites I was on. I logged on to my account on one site and noticed I had an email. I couldn't decide whether to just delete my account without checking the email, or check the email. I was sure it was another 40 year old with 3 kids and weighed 500 pounds (I'm kidding... partly). To my surprise, it was from a guy my age who had just moved to Lynchburg from Dayton. He had a nice smile and wait.... he looked kind of like Justin Timberlake (he gets it all the time he said on our first date) . I decided to meet up with him when I got back from Florida, which would be another 2 weeks, but he said he didn't mind. When I got back from Florida, I met up with him at Bdub's for lunch and then we went to a movie. Guess who was in the movie? Justin Timberlake.

After a few dates and even meeting my parents the second time we hung out, I knew that Chris was going to turn into something good. A little over a year after our first date, we celebrated his birthday by recreating our first date and that birthday ended up being the day that I said yes to becoming his wife.

I guess where I am going with this is that if you are single, who cares? Spend your time wisely- spend time with your friends, family and most importantly, God. Have fun. Prepare yourself for who you want your future spouse to be with. Spend time praying for them. Yes, you can pray for someone you've never met before. I kept a journal when I was single during college and after that I wrote notes and prayers to my future husband.  Life has so much to offer. Stop and smell the roses and then one day when God thinks you're ready, he'll send someone to smell the roses with you.

Life as Aimee Branson

So, I have not updated this blog in quite some time because life has been crazy busy. Where do I start??

Chris and I are now married. The wedding and honeymoon were amazing. We had so many friends and family show up to the wedding. It was overwhelming and we both were so happy to share it with people who support us. 

After the wedding, we went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for our honeymoon. We soaked up the sun and enjoyed our time there together as newlyweds. It was definitely hard to come back, that's for sure.

Once we came back, we came back to our new home and a new TV! My parents moved all my stuff to the new house and surprised us with a new TV to enjoy sports and movies on.

Our life has returned to normal since the wedding, but we are still busy putting our house together and running errands among other things. We haven't had a day this week where we haven't had something going on, but we do make a point of sitting together for awhile before bed and just relaxing. That is definitely a must!

Here are some pictures from the wedding and honeymoon.

                           This was taken by a friend after we were announced Mr and Mrs. Branson.

                                       The beach in Punta Cana. Sorry for the Europeans in speedos. HAHA

                            These were so hard because I had to lie down in a wedding dress. Not as easy as it looks

                                                      Side view of our cake

                         Chris's cake... our wedding day was his birthday too. The troll is from when he was a kid

                                              Dominican kids when we rode by on our safari. So cute!

                                 My grandma married us. Made my day even more special.

                                                                 Us and all of our guests.

                                                               Kissing shot.

                                            A candid shot of us laughing. One of my favorites.

                                                        A picture of my dress. I loved that dress!!

                                                  Our last night in Punta Cana

                                                     View from our room in Punta Cana. I didn't want to come back!

To Do and Already Finished

I updated our wedding page and realized there are 102 days left until the big day!! We have a lot finished so far...
- My dress, jewelry, shoes and veil
- Bridesmaids dresses
-DJ
-Flowers
-String Quartet
- Hair and makeup.... that has been an ordeal. Mom has had to find a backup plan since our original plan failed. Luckily we found a company in Cinci that specializes in bridal hair and makeup. I have my trial run in August. I am excited!
- Venue
- Pastor- of course it is my granny!
- Cake- Ele... who else? Best cake ever!
- Photobooth.. yes, a photobooth! We love photobooths, so why not have one at the wedding?
- Honeymoon- Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I cannot stress how excited I am and how much needed this is for the both of us!

Things we still need to get
-Tuxes
-His ring
-Documentation- wedding license
- Finish the registries
- Bridal gifts
-Favors
- Book a hotel room for the 5 or so hours we will be there before we have to get up and leave. Ugh.

There is more to add to each list, but the things to do/get is getting smaller.  I am trying not to stress too much about it, but I am sure as it gets down to the last month or so, it is going to start becoming more stressful. I am so thankful for my mother. She has gone above and beyond to make this wedding EPIC! I don't know what I would do without her. She will never know how grateful I am for all of this. I am getting teary eyed as I write this. I am so blessed not only to have her, but my family, fiancé, and his family. Every girl (at least I hope every girl) hopes that their future husband comes from a good family and hopes she fits in and I have to say I LOVE my fiancé's family as much as I love him. I am thankful God sent Chris and his family to me.

More updates to come!

 

Our song and another gift

Today I came out from work and Darla, a family friend and a co-worker of my mom's was standing in the parking lot. She brought me a gift that had not come in at the time of the luncheon. I got home and opened it and I got even more excited for the wedding.

It is a hanger that says Mrs Branson. It is for my dress. It is so cute!

 

 

She also got me stickers for the bottoms of my shoes. I see a photo op with this one :-)

 

I am so fortunate to have great friends and family who are sharing our big day with us. I can't wait to share it with everyone and I am looking forward to spending my life with Chris and having a new family too.

 

In other news... I think we've decided on our first dance. I can't share that though.. I have to leave some surprises for the wedding day :-)

 

 

 

Bridesmaid Luncheon

On Sunday my mom put together the most epic luncheon ever! I may be biased, but my mom can throw a party! She decorated the tables to go with my theme and even my cupcakes were a couple of the flavors from my cake. My mom made everything perfect. The bridesmaids got a "swag bag" with sunglasses (to wear into the reception or for cool photo ops), slippers for dancing, tervis cups with my colors, and makeup bags. They also got a rolling bag to put clothes, shoes, or other personal items in it. All of my bridesmaids and their grandmas, moms, or just themselves showed up. I also had a few other family friends that came. The whole reason we had the luncheon is because Chris's sister, Katy lives in LA and can't be here for my other showers, so we thought we would have a kick-off to the shower season.  Here are a few pictures from the shower.

The bridesmaids bags. All of them were different and we had a drawing for them.

 

The "swag bags"

The dessert table with cupcakes from Ele, where we are getting our cake.

The tables for the luncheon

Another view of the tables

Bridesmaids table for the bridesmaids and me.

The centerpieces my mom made. They are boxes with pictures of Chris and me. The sides have damask designs with sayings and different things and the front and back are pictures

She made the tops too. My mom is ridiculously talented!

Lanterns hanging from the chandelier

 

 

 





So, I thought the luncheon was purely for my bridesmaids. I was wrong. After lunch and passing out gifts and doing a couple other things, my mom tells me to sit in a chair in front of every one. She then proceeds to bring out gifts people brought me. I noticed a Victoria's Secret bag and thought, "this isn't what I think it is, is it?" I opened the Victoria's Secret bag, and it was from my grandma. How ironic. It was so awkward for me to open intimates from my grandma, let alone my grandma who is a minister! My mom also bought me some as well and a few of the other guests did as well. I got some other neat things too. Chris's mom bought us monogrammed beach towels and a monogrammed beach bag. I also got an outfit to wear on the honeymoon from my aunt. I got a manicure and pedicure from my aunt and other grandma, and some other things for the honeymoon. One gift in particular made me smile. It was from Chris's mom, nana, and sister. It was a picture of Chris when he was a baby. Of course I had to share it. He was so stinking cute. I can't wait to have stinking cute kids!

 

The luncheon/shower was a huge success and I am so grateful for all my bridesmaids and friends and family who love me and support me. I am excited for my other showers this summer!

 

Shoes, Florists, and Other Updates

On Saturday, my mom and I got a lot finished. We picked up my bridesmaids dresses, went shoes/accessory shopping, and met with the florist and got the ideas for centerpieces for the wedding. While our goal was to get this finished, we also found a dress, shoes and accessories for my "going away" dress. We decided it would be easier for me to change before the reception is over so that mom can take my dress with her when I go to the hotel after the reception. It isn't as dressy as my wedding dress, but it is really cute. There isn't too much left to do to, but there are still a few things. Our last big thing is to get the tuxes. We tried once, but that was a bad idea.... prom. I don't think I have to say anything else about that.

Besides the wedding planning, Chris and I are doing well. Chris got a new job at Addison McKee a few weeks ago and I started at Wilmington Savings a couple of months ago. Things are going well and I am excited for our wedding and honeymoon. I can't wait to share our big day with our family and friends (and most importantly, GOD! )

 

First Post

I have started (and stopped) so many blogs over the years, but since I have started working at Wilmington Savings, I have become friends with the people I work with. One woman in particular named Janis, gave me a good idea. She has been keeping a journal for her family for years. She has kept birthday party invitations, graduation invitations, she writes entries about significant things about her family, etc. I thought that it was a great idea and I want to start one now. I am looking for a perfect journal to start adding things that I have collected throughout my journey/relationship with Chris, but I thought starting a blog would be a neat idea too. This way I can share the things I want to share publicly and use more sentimental things for the paper journal.  With it only being 4 months away from my wedding, I thought it would be cool to update about the details of the wedding too. I can then transfer them to my paper journal.

Question is... does anyone even care enough to read the "Branson Family Blog"?

Thoughts...