WPMW #7

Okay our blog-followers…it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for…the first official announcement of the bridesmaids and groomsmen! Yes, this is Justin, and I am going to announce a BRIDESMAID!!!

First of all, I need to apologize for the tardiness of this post. There was some kind of a miscommunication between Brittany and I. I thought we were taking two weeks off to really build the suspense, but apparently I was supposed to post this LAST week! Oops! My bad!

So here it is…drumroll please….Brittany Joye and Justin Shives would like to proudly announce....our first bridesmaid….BRIANNA SHIVES!!!



Brianna is one of my what seems like thousands of sisters. She actually turns 18 in a couple weeks so watch out! She is taken, however, by her 1st big-brother-approved boyfriend, Taylor.



Brianna is a die-hard Ducks fan. I’m her favorite brother, because I’m simply the best, but honestly, it’s probably because I let her use my season tickets all the time! Don’t tell Taylor, but she honestly thinks she’s going to marry Ryan Getzlaf. Brittany got close to Brianna at all these Ducks games from when Britt was a Power Player. GO DUCKS. P.S. Getzlaf and the boys need to pick it up…



I coached Brianna for two years at Tustin High School, and I made her captain of the team. I could have gotten a lot of crap for that from other players (“You just picked her, because she’s your sister!”), but they didn’t complain, because they knew she would be a great captain. That’s Brianna for you! If she puts her mind to something and dedicates herself, she can do anything. It must be those awesome Shives’ genes!



Brianna is currently taking classes at IVC as she searches for a career. Brittany and I are so excited about her being a bridesmaid in the wedding. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for next week’s WPMW!

God bless.

Justin and Brittany

Happy Holiday Kickoff!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween weekend. I personally view Halloween as the official kickoff to the holiday season (which for some reason this year makes me cringe a little). As if wedding planning, work and life in general aren't enough to think about, hellllooooo holidays. However, Halloween was fabulous and relaxing so hopefully that is a sign of what's to come. Anywho, I promise this site is for wedding planning and not for me to just run my mouth (?) without any interruptions. Although the updates have been few and far between, I swear they will pick up soon. We should have our first round of engagement pictures within the next week or two for your viewing pleasure. We are also in the final stages of honeymoon planning (woohoo!). And most importantly, I am hoping to have another kickoff of sorts this weekend with my first dress shopping experience (woohoo again!). Also, we took a short WPMW break last week before we officially kickoff the rest of the wedding party this week. Justin will be posting soon with our first bridesmaid....yes he is doing a bridesmaid and you will have to wait in suspense to see why :) In other non wedding, but VERY important news, the Save a Life Walk is this weekend in San Diego. Please sign up and join my family's team in memory of my cousin Joey. It is FREE to walk and its a wonderful cause! If you can't make it to the walk, we are also raising funds for the organization so let me know if you want to sponsor our team! Here is the website with all of the information: http://savealifewalk.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=308363
AND....(no I'm not done!) My school is in a competition to win $20,000! We are currently ranked 16th and there are only a couple more days to vote. All you have to do is go to http://santarosaacademy.org/ and click on the "vote now" at the top. Its super easy and also FREE! Ok now I'm done! If you are still reading, thank you! And if you actually ever return to this site, thank you thank you!!

Our bride and groom and Charger pumpkins!

One pregnancy away from a marriage

Today is the official nine month mark until the big day! Nine months seems like a long time, I mean a baby is made in that amount of time, but getting in to single digits is a little scary. Wedding plans have been in serious halt mode for the past couple of weeks. Life has been keeping us seriously busy, with little time to talk to each other or sleep (you know all those unimportant things)...but in hopes things don't slow down, we are going to have to start squeezing in some major planning time.

We did take time this weekend to enjoy each other, family and friends and it was awesome! Yesterday we spent the day at Disneyland with Farand and Erin. It was a blast, although the evening ended on a slight sour note thanks to the stupid yankees. Today my family celebrated my mom's birthday with a very nice brunch on the beach and our annual trip to Bates Nut Farm. Somehow despite a weekend full of fall festivities, the 90 degree heat prevented me from feeling the full autumn effect. Oh well, I still get to go to bed tonight knowing that I don't have to live in stupid butt cold New York with all those lame fans. I will take California any day of the week! Have a great week everyone and don't forget to check out Justin's post on this weeks' featured Wedding Party Member!



The frustrated birthday girl :) love you mom!

Missing one :(

Wedding Party Member of the Week #6

This week we are proud to announce the first member of the wedding party from the groom’s side, our third and final ring bearer…..

PATRICK!!



Patrick is my nephew, my sister Chandra and brother in-law, Zach’s son. He is in 1st grade and next month (November 18) he will turn 7. He lives with his parents and younger brother, Josh in Grand Junction, Colorado, but they’re actually moving to Wyoming on Thursday! Crazy! They will be the only cool thing in Wyoming, and make up probably half of the state’s population.

Patrick likes fast cars, motorcycles and dirtbikes (which means he’ll get along great with the boys in Britt’s family!) as well as all the “Superheroes,” like Spiderman (actually Black Spidey), Hulk, and Iron Man. He’s also taking up after his uncle and starting to play soccer! Patrick is an awesome little dude, and we are so excited about having him in our wedding. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

God Bless,

Brittany and Justin

Wedding Party Member of the Week #5

This week we are thrilled to introduce our third and final flower girl....

Chloe!!!!

Chloe is my cousin Jamie and her husband Dave's youngest daughter. Let's just say we were all ecstatic when we found out Jamie was finally having another girl. Jamie and Dave were beginning to create their own football team :). Of course Chloe has not exactly filled the girly girl role, but boy she couldn't get any more adorable if she tried. She is such a perfect addition to their beautiful family. She has so much personality and as one of my own personal subjects I know that she is also extremely photogenic...that is if you can get her to sit still, but you can't blame the girl! She has to keep up with her older brothers and sister! We are so excited to have Chloe by our side next July! Now please sit back and enjoy the adorableness of Chloe and also a bit of my sweet photography skills :)




And now a few for some of my biggest fans :)

Wedding Party Member of the Week #4

We can't wait to introduce you to the WPMW.....so without further adieu (drum roll please)

Jake!

Jake is my Uncle Michael and Aunt Marie's oldest son. He just celebrated his third birthday and boy was it a party! Complete with life-size Jake cut-outs and many musical performances by Jake with his new guitars, everyone was rockin'. I must say that I could not be prouder to call this kid my cousin. Not only does he put on shows like the best of us, but his love for anything musical is just amazing! We know he will be a wonderful ring bearer, although we may not be able to get him down the aisle without a guitar, but that doesn't bother us :) In fact we might prefer it!

I have so many darn pictures of this adorable kid so please sit back and enjoy!

Exciting Weekend!

Hello everyone! I feel like I have to again give a disclaimer for my blogging skills. They are not quite up to par with my soccer ball kicking skills, my computer hacking skills, and my golf ball putting skills...But the past three days have been very eventful, some on the wedding front, others not, and I just HAVE to write something on here about it all!

Friday started with some exciting news for Brittany (I'll let her share when she's ready...) and continued in the afternoon with the taking of our engagement pictures! Mark Frapwell met us at Balboa Park in San Diego and did some incredible work in just over an hour! He really is a wizard! If you ever need a pro photographer, this is the guy you want!

It started with a drive from Temecula to San Diego when it started raining! Brittany was really upset, but I stayed optimistic. She said to me, "Justin, I need you to make it stop raining." HAHAH I love her so much. Most of you could figure out that the conversation turned into an argument, because I was upset at her for being so upset and she was upset because I wasn't helping! Anyway, we get there and it's still raining. We walk over to meet with Mark and the rain lightens up. By the time we get to our first pose, the rain had stopped and Mark was stoked on the beautiful lighting the rain created. Our pictures turned out amazing, and all was good with the world! It was only fitting that Britt and I were bickering when we got to our engagement picture site!

That night we met up with Farand and Erin for the Brad Paisley concert (Britt and my 5th time to see him). He rocked it as usual, and our Friday finally came to a close.

Saturday was the Ducks home opener which, outside of the Ducks' extremely poor effort, was a blast. The next few weeks stand to be very busy weeks. Be sure to sign in for next week's wedding party member of the week, and God bless you all!