The season of dresses....

So you are probably wondering what the heck this blog is going to be about, the season of dresses?!?!? Well apparently all of my friends decided to get married this year. I am EXTREMELY happy for all of them, but once you receive 13 total wedding invites for the year you start to wonder if you missed some memo. This meant time for some serious dress shopping. I know all the ladies will understand this concept. Guys get out of the whole wedding season so easily with just showing up for the wedding most of the time, but we attend showers, bachelorette parties, and then the wedding itself. It is truly a great time to expand your closet. I had nothing that I could wear since I am currently down 3 dress sizes, so this meant some serious shopping time!! At many times throughout the months of March-June I felt just like Katherine Heigl in 27 dresses, but without a cute James Marsden. Oh well. :( All of the weddings made the summer truly one of the best yet!

To start off the wedding season, it was time to host a bridal shower for my very first friend in Memphis, Laura Murphy. Laura was my roommate Freshman year in the dorm and for 3 years after that. Laura and I pledged Alpha Gamma Delta at the same time, were Emerging Leaders together, and worked together on Up 'til Dawn for all 4 years. She is truly one of the funniest people I know and best friends I have ever had. I am truly thankful for her. When she asked me to be a bridesmaid I was so excited and said yes right away. We hosted a surprise engagement party for her back when DMill proposed, but all of the bridesmaids wanted to host a shower as well. We were lucky enough to host it at one of the bridesmaid's house and had great food provided by the bridal party. It was a great day and Laura got some great items for their house!

Megan & I

Shower fun with Micky!

Anna Claire, Laura & I - friends since Freshman year!

The first wedding was Lea Hay & Jacob Howard's wedding in Jackson, TN. I was an orientation guide with both Lea and Jacob during the summer of 2010. They are both hilarious individuals and are such a great match. It was such a fun wedding because it was a great reunion with a lot of college friends that I hadn't seen in a while!

My sweet friend Chase! 

Holly & I!

The bride & groom!

The next wedding was for my beautiful cousin Elise! Elise has been the "baby" cousin for so long, that I was completely shocked when I realized this young woman was now going to be a bride. She and Josh are so perfect together and I couldn't be happier for them. I will miss the little cousin following me around and our many girls's nights at Grandma's!

My baby cousin Katie. She is so beautiful! 

Elise & Josh. My Uncle John made the beautiful alter with lights attached. 

Such a beautiful bride!

Next I had a bachelorette party for one of my oldest friends at Memphis, Whitney White. When I first moved to Memphis, I quickly made friends with Laura through the Emerging Leader program. We met at the retreat and decided to be roommates for the year. After I met Laura, we were introduced to Whitney and Anna Claire Hartman. They were going to be roommates as well for the fall and were also apart of the scholarship program. The four of us instantly clicked. We did everything together freshman year from recruitment, fraternity parties, late night taco bell food runs, and even a little studying. I am so thankful for these girls and was so excited for Whitney and Laura to get married this year.Whitney's bachelorette party was planned by her amazing Maid-of-Honor, Anna Claire, and it was so much fun!!

Love my Anna C! She planned such a wonderful party! 

The beautiful bride Whitney! 

Cute cupcakes :) 

I then got to attend an Alpha Gam shower for my wonderful sister, Lauryn Caldwell. Lauryn is two years younger than me and was very close with Micky throughout their freshman year. I could not have asked for a better friend for Micky when starting at the UofM. Lauryn is one of the most positive people that I know and has the biggest heart not only for her friends, but also for complete strangers. I was thrilled getting to spend the day celebrating such a wonderful young lady.

Shelbyville girls!! Hayley, Bailie, Me, & Micky 

Precious AGD girls, Morgin & Sara. 

We adore Lauryn, it was such a wonderful shower! 

Lauryn's wedding perfectly matched her personality. It was held outside and then the reception was inside at Hillwood Davies Plantation. 

Whitney's wedding ended up being such a wonderful wedding! I was really worried for Whitney because her entire wedding was planned outside and it had been raining all day long. However, it ended up truly being a great day. Whitney made the best of it by renting a tent and having the ceremony and reception inside. It was such a fun evening and Whitney looked absolutely beautiful! 

A few days before April 1st, one of my best friends for as long as I can remember texted me a picture of a wedding ring and said, "I'm engaged!" Naturally, I thought it was a April Fool's joke. I was quickly corrected and told that yes she was engaged and she was getting married in May! I was so happy for my friend Stephanie. Stephanie is the most independent person I know and smartest person I know. Stephanie received her bachelor's degree from Belmont in Mathematics and then graduated from Clemson with her Master's in something with engineering, it's so over my head I'm not even sure what the degree name is. We have been friends since middle school, swam together on swim team, were Student Council officers together, and got in plenty of trouble together in small town Shelbyville. Stephanie was an absolutely beautiful bride and everything came together perfectly for her special day!

Stephanie & Zack

Love this girl! 

Friends through it all... Me, Stephanie, Tiffany, & Chelsey.  

The beautiful chapel! 

So cute :)

My high school best friends,  loved growing up with these girls! 

Walking down the aisle, Stephanie's dog had to be included as well. :) 

It was now time for Laura's bachelorette party!! We had a girl's dinner out and then a fun night downtown. Let's just say we can't do it quite like we used to in college ;) ha ha 

Laura & her maid of honor, Libba

The bridesmaids! Anna Claire, Libba, Laura, Me, LuAnn, Melissa, & Bianca. 

The three amigos. 

Party girls! 

Now it was time for the big day!! I was so honored to be a part of Laura's wedding day. Laura has been such a loyal, supportive, and crazy friend and I was glad to be there to share in the day. Laura grew up in Jackson so the wedding festivities took place there. We started the weekend with the rehearsal dinner. 

The bridesmaids and bridesmen :)

Love these girls!! 

After a fun rehearsal, it was time for the big day!!! We got to spend the whole day with Laura and had a blast getting our hair and makeup done!

Aren't Laura's niece and nephew the cutest!!! 

The beautiful bride!!!

I LOVED our bridesmaid dresses. They fit so well! 

We had some down time after pictures so we decided to do some improv on the church production set. 

Love this! 

In the limo!

Photo booth fun with Steve and David!!

 Laura was a beautiful bride and the wedding ceremony was fantastic! Mom, Dad, and Micky were at the wedding, so it was fun to get to hang out with them and celebrate. It was also another great time to see a lot of friends from college and get to catch up. I am truly so happy for Laura and DMill and I'm excited for this new journey ahead of them.


Katie Bobbitt is a sorority sister of mine who also got married this summer. Katie and I served on Alpha Gam Executive Board together and she is seriously one of the smartest people I know! Katie's wedding was very elegant and the reception was a blast, (the strawberry cake was the best I have ever had)!

Katie & I, I loved her dress!!! 

I was lucky enough to be able to go home for my birthday weekend and attend Kayla & Kirk Embry's wedding. We have known the Embry family forever, so I was so glad I was able to go home to attend the wedding. The wedding was the the Belle Meade Plantation and it was so nice getting to see so many people from back home.

Chelsey and I at the wedding! 

Finally the wedding season was wrapping up and then my good friend Anna Claire called me to tell me that she was engaged! Anna Claire is marrying Blake Miller who is a great guy! They are so perfect together and I am so glad Anna Claire has finally gotten a good one. ;) October will come quickly and I can't wait for the celebrations to begin. 

Celebrating Anna Claire's engagement at Bosco's! 

 Looking back on all of these weddings, I couldn't have asked for a better summer. It was so much fun getting to see so many friends and catching up with all of them. It was such a honor to be a part of so many wonderful friends important days. And it didn't hurt having so many reasons to go dress shopping. :)

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” - Oprah Winfrey