bridal party intros: the brady girls

{nellie, lillian & claire may 2010}

i get a little misty writing this intro for three of the most important little ladies in my life! nellie, claire, and lillian brady (along with their parents) are the reason why i carry such fond memories of fredericksburg throughout my college years. essentially, bridesmaid lindsey’s mom worked with the girls’ aunt beth in williamsburg and made the connection between several broke child-loving college girls and the busy brady family in need of sitters. this was our freshman year at mary wash and lindsey started sitting for them on ocassion back when nellie was just a little under a year old. when lindsey and i became roomies sophomore year, the brady brood had grown to two with the addition of claire (baby churr as nellie used to call her) and they needed reinforcements! i started watching the girls in tandem with lindsey while claire was a newborn and then on my own once she got a little older. their parents, sarah and brent, opened their home and were very much my fredericksburg family for which i will be forever grateful.

{clockwise from top left: me with nellie 2003, claire & nellie (holding lillian) in nyc 2006, the brady family christmas card 2007, nellie and claire 2002}

after we graduated college, miss lillian came along as a welcome third (and final) baby girl. even after lindsey and i moved to northern virginia, we remained close with the brady’s often taking on long-term sitting jobs. it’s been ten years now that i’ve known the brady’s and they have known steve since day 1 (nellie blew our cover when he came over to visit once while i was babysitting!).

{steve with nellie, steve with claire 2002/2003}

these days, the girls are almost 9 (claire’s birthday is in august), 10 (nellie will be 11 before our wedding day!) and lillian turned 4 in march. we always stop at their house when we are driving through fredericksburg and kate even got to meet their clan in may and snapped a family photo! on 11/27, nellie and claire will be serving as junior bridesmaids, and lillian will be flanking shannon as a second flower girl. having all three girls be a part of our wedding and the entire family in tow on the big day is a total dream.

tuesday shoesday: m of h

{raffia rose suede peep toes via j.crew}

tuesday shoesday is all the range among wedding bloggers so i thought i would take a note from the industry experts and put up a perfect pair all my own! these are the pretty pumps that will be donning the dancing feet of my lovely little sister, bean. we are loving the blush rosette, neutral color, and not-too-daunting heel.

crazy eights

today marks eight years since steve and i launched a little romance over a lunch date at ruby tuesday. technically the date was a thank you from me for his help in building several pieces of target furniture for me and bridesmaid lindsey the night before (in reality we all just drank way too much wine and i don’t think any furniture was actually built) but steve paid for lunch and the rest is history. not sure either of us thought we’d be walking down the aisle in 2010!

we felt our last dating anniversary was the perfect occasion to post just a few of the pictures from our engagement session with kate. we traveled to bull run in manassas a few weeks ago for a pre-sunset photoshoot. kate made us feel so comfortable, showering us with encouragement and compliments along the way. these are some of our favorites but if you’d like to stare at us some more, you can view a bunch more on facebook or the entire gallery in all of its glory here : )

{all photos credited to the talented and fabulous kate headley}

to any and all who have supported us over these last eight years, we love and appreciate you so much. we’ll be celebrating with dinner at zengo and dessert at co co sala followed by a meet up with bridesmaid alana and her hubby jon after the dave matthew’s concert at nats stadium.

happy weekend!

just dance

{dance like nobody’s watching via snippet & ink}

the offers of free dance lessons / consultations have been literally pouring in from all over the dc/md/va area. we need to come to a decision on whether or not to capitalize on one of these enticing offers or just commit to the slow sway for our short and sweet first dance. while we contemplate that decision, we want to know what your favorite get-up-and-dance songs are so we can float them to our fabulous dj!

so, tell us in the comments:
what are the songs that get you off your seat and on the dance floor?

red, white, and …

{cocktail hour for two via the knotty bride}

happy fourth!