Is Marriage the next Krispy Kreme?

If you've been online, turned on a TV, or read a newspaper lately, you'll know that the second coming of Jesus has begun. Oh wait, no, Prince William just got engaged. But the way the press is treating this story you'd think it actually was the second coming. Point being, I'm excited to see a royal wedding since I wasn't alive for the last one, but wow am I tired of hearing about where Kate will get her bridesmaid dresses, or weather or not she'll include a tribute to Diana at the reception. Apart from all the royal wedding updates, there was an article on yahoo this morning about the declining need for a couple to be married to have a family.

Someone must have screwed up big time, no one was supposed to know that two people can produce children without a marriage license! Does this really seal the nail in the coffin for marriage, is it really obsolete? For me, I've been with my man for about 5 1/2 years now and we aren't married. Granted, if we had gotten married on say, our 2nd anniversary, I would have been the ripe old age of 16. Most of the time it doesn't bother me at all that we aren't married, until this conversation comes up: Random person "So, how long have you two been together", Me "about 5 1/2 years", Random person "Oh...wow, why aren't you married yet?", Me "death glare". Do I care what another person thinks about our relationship? No, I know we're going to go the distance no matter if we're married or not. At the same time, it does annoy me that because he's my boyfriend and not my husband, that people think our relationship is any less valid. Is this a good case for validating marriage, of course not, but maybe it's a chance to look at what a marriage really is. 

There are a lot of pro's and con's to getting married, and also to living together. In today's world a lot of things that were once exclusive to married people are now available to everyone. For example; you can live together, have kids, have a joint bank account, yadda yadda yadda, without being married. For many of us who grew up with divorced parents, step parents, ect, not getting married seems like a fantastic way to avoid all the drama. If you decide to go your separate ways, there's no messy divorce! Not to mention, you can save a fortune by not getting married. What about if you have kids though? Will it be any less messy for your kids if you two aren't legally married and divorce? My big pro for marriage, is that by being married you're reminded everyday that you took a vow, oath, whatever, to say that you two are in it for the long hall. Does this mean that bad things don't happen, that people don't marry the wrong person and get divorced? No! But by being married, you have a reminder on your finger that you made a promise to another person, in front an ungodly amount of people, that you're willing to do whatever it takes to be their partner for life. Is marriage for everyone? No, but neither is it obsolete. 

Winter Freaken Wonderland

This weekend the football team is all the way in CA. Say what? Laurel has a free weekend!! To top it off I am at my favorite get-away, Sunriver, with my boyfriend and his mom. For those of you going "what the eff is Sunriver", let me explain. It's like God saw the movie Bambie and said lets make a resort out of it, except cut that part where Bambie's mother get's shot or whatever. In other words it's pretty much amazing. It's a resort community with houses or a hotel for lodging, horse back riding, a mall, restaurants, a wonderful spa, golf course, bike paths, a river, hiking trails, and white water rafting tours, not to mention skiing about 45 mins away! Right now there's snow on the ground and it's pretty much a winter wonderland here, so I was thinking wouldn't this place be an amazing site for a winter wedding? After exploring the grounds/website my answer is a resounding "uh duh".

First there's a few different places, for you to get married or have a reception at Sunriver. My favorite is the Great Hall. It's an art deco-y wooden lodge, complete with a big hearth fireplace, and ohmigawd is it pretty amazing. I stuck my head in and it was all set up for a like conference or something, it still looked like a million bucks.

Then we went outside and guess what was out there!? Horse drawn carriages! In the snow! I didn't know that happened outside of cheesy christmas movies.

The grounds are amazing. The resort is on a golf course so there's that, but the whole place is filled with natural beauty with a river, mountains in the background, big ol trees, and prairie fields!

The one thing I hate, is that nowhere on Sunriver's site are there prices on anything about weddings! So I went snooping around in true crazy person fashion, since I'm not you know, engaged or looking for a place to rent out...but I still couldn't find any information on prices. Why do venders try to hide there prices so you'll be the one to contact them. I don't want to contact anyone, let me be a hermit crab!  More like I don't want to get sold something, or contacted a bazillion times if I don't put a deposit down.    

Inspiration: Brought to you by Nature!

One of my favorite things about living in Oregon is getting to see the leaves change colors. Of course 5 months down the line when all the leaves are gone and it's still raining, I've pretty much forgotten about the stupid leaves, but I digress. I think the reason I like the color changes is because of the contrast between the yellow and red leaves. In true "me" form, the first thing that came to my mind was "hey, those would be two great colors for a wedding!". As long as you didn't go all "McDonald's style" with your red and yellow it would be a great combo for a rustic or tuscan style wedding. 

This hair piece from Etsy is what I mean about not going all McDonald's Style. The colors aren't bright and in your face, they compliment each other. Just like you and your new honey ;)!

Sexy, Sassy,and Beautifully Affordable Rings!

I know it's been like a week since I've posted anything, which in blog world is basically a millennia, but it's just been one of those weeks! Any who, one of my guilty pleasures is watching Keeping up with the Kardashian's. It is one hot mess of a show, but my god is it easy to watch 3 hours of it and not even realize it. I love the episode where Khloe gets engaged to Lamar Odom after only a few weeks of dating. Mostly because of the face Kriss (the mom) makes when she learns that her daughter is getting engaged to a guy that she's been with for two weeks, but also because the ring Lamar gets Khloe is about the size of a small child. Don't quote me though, that's just an estimate. The ring reportedly cost either 850,000 or 1,000,000 ya' know, no biggy. Now, her ring is one of a kind, huge, and fabulous. So what's your partner to do if they can't afford a cool million? fortunately there are some more affordable options that are unique, fabulous, and won't break the bank!

Yellow Diamond Rings have been gaining popularity in the past few years which means they're finally coming out of the more boutique stores and into more affordable ones! yay! I found this one somewhere on Zales website

Vintage Style Rings like this one below from Helzberg Diamonds is a little bit romantic, and sooo sparkly! Another plus, you get an actual vintage ring from an antique shop and maybe save some  money! Then be sure take it to a jewelers to have it cleaned, and checked out.

Swap a diamond for a Pearl! I saw this on an old show about proposals, and I gotta say it's pretty darn cute!

Get a ring with a pretty band add a little somethin' somthin' to your ring with a unique band like this one from McTeigeu & McClelland 

Adding Color To Your Ensemble

Its easy to get lost in the color white at your wedding. I mean the dress is white, the shoes are white, even the veil is white! It can make a bride feel a little bit like a snow princess after awhile. A new trend that's been popping up lately is adding little bits of color to your ensemble! Some of the ideas I've seen are amazing, while others are a little over the top but here are some that I love. 

Colored shoes: Add a subtle pop to your getup with 

shoes that match your wedding's colors!

A colored hair peice: You could use a hair band, flowers, or a hair accessory 

like this one from Etsy to add a little "roo to your doo" 

Colored Sash: This is one I love! Add a colored sash to your wedding dress

to add a little something extra to your dress.

 Then there is this...comes complete with a fireworks 

display at the end of the reception!