They’ve been talking about marriage for a while. Savannah was sure that Jordan was going to propose when he went to Michigan for Thanksgiving. Well, Jordan wanted to surprise her and he wanted her family there so he knew he needed a new plan. Back in May, Jordan received his great-grandmother’s diamond ring as a gift from his aunt. She told him to use the diamond in a ring for Savannah. Such a generous gift! Jordan took that ring to the jewelers and chose a beautiful setting that he knew Savannah would love. The ring has been in his room since July!

Every fall Savannah and her family go to a fall festival at an apple orchard. Jordan decided he would surprise her there, at the end of the corn maze. He flew to Michigan on Friday and stayed at Savannah’s neighbor’s house. Saturday was the big day. Hysterically, Savannah had posted a picture on Snapchat of her, her brother, and his girlfriend in the backseat of the family car with the caption “Apple picking adventures with the cuties. #3rdwheeling”. I laughed so hard, she had no idea what was about to happen.

When they arrived at the end of the corn maze, Savannah looked ahead and saw Jordan standing there. She screamed and ran into his arms. She just kept saying, “You are the worst.” She was just totally surprised. After a little bit Jordan took a step back and started his speech. He talked about how they’ve known each other for 3 1/2 years. They traveled together as teammates with The 99 (as missionaries to the youth of America) for a 1 1/2 years. After Jordan left the team they stayed friends, texting a lot, then calling, then it grew into something more.For about a year and a half they have been in a long distance relationship, it isn’t always easy but it is worth it. Then he went down on one knee and asked her if she would marry him and she said “Yes!”.

It’s bittersweet to think that my “baby” is engaged. I am so excited for the adventure Jordan and Savannah are just beginning. The wedding will be next September in Michigan and then they will settle down here in Florida. We have an exciting year of wedding planning ahead and I am so glad Savannah and her mom have asked me to be a part of that process. I sent them a copy of the wedding planning notebook that I used to help me plan Aaron and Summer’s wedding 3 years ago. It was such a great resource then and I know it will be know as well.

The post They’re Engaged Jordan Pulled off the Surprise appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Groove Life sent us a sample pack of rings. Aaron and I both love the black/raspberry size 8 ring but since I promised it to him, I let him have it. Aaron has been wearing his Groove Life silicone ring for a few weeks and he loves it. He says it is very comfortable and it doesn’t irritate hime when he is working or drumming. He also no longer worries about losing his ring when he goes out on the boat. Aaron’s best friend Avery who is a champion water skier lost his wedding ring in the Gulf of Mexico while performing in a ski show, and he wants a Groove Life silicone ring too. When he gets back in town from his ski competition, we are going to see if one of the other rings in our sample pack fit him. There was another size 8 ring in the pack, it was orange and I’m pretty sure Jordan is going to keep that one, if Avery doesn’t choose that one!

About the Groove Life Silicone Ring

Groove Life, the purveyors of innovative silicone rings for active lifestyles, will be in over 1000 retail stores by the end of 2017.
Groove pioneered breathability in their innovative rings in 2016. Not only are Groove rings the only functionally breathable ring on the market but they are also backed by a lifetime warranty. “We stand behind our rings forever” says Groove Life founder Peter Goodwin. “No matter what you throw at them or how long you’ve had them, if they stretch, tear or you lose it, we will replace it. Once you are in the Groove family, we take care of you.”

Groove’s unique design ensures it will break free if caught on tools, rocks, trees and more, making them ideal for anyone who loves to hike, travel, or enjoy the great outdoors.

Groove Ring Benefits:

• Unlimited Lifetime Warranty – Guaranteed replacement if it breaks, stretches, tears, gets lost, or the classic “my dog ate it”
• Breathable – Patent pending inner arch and infinity loop design keeps air moving in and moisture out, allowing the finger to “breathe”
• Safe – Breakaway instantly when caught in a sticky situation—saving the finger from trauma
• Flexible – Liquid poured silicon that bends and stretches with the finger—not against it
• Durable – Resistant to most common chemicals; including: gasoline, oil, diesel, & household cleaning products
• Fresh Colors – Choose from classics like Midnight Black, Moss Green, Lilac Purple, and Storm Grey, or new hues including Snow, Glacier Blue, Blaze, and Raspberry Red

“While the original Groove Ring was created to be worn as an alternative to the traditional wedding band, roughly 30% of our customers are not married and wear Groove as an accessory,” says Goodwin. “The ring truly transcends age, gender and sport.”

The Groove Ring has even attracted the attention of NFL Quarterback Philip Rivers who wears one while at work and at play.

Mom Maven’s Thoughts

I think the idea behind the Groove Life silicone ring is brilliant. It can be hard to wear a traditional wedding band while working with your hands or living an active lifestyle. These rings allow people to still show their commitment to their spouse while wearing an affordable, safe alternative. On the Groove Life Facebook Page they just introduced Groove Life custom rings, and they are giving some away!

The post Be Active with the Groove Life Silicone Ring appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Planning the Wedding Rehearsal

• Check with the wedding party and key family members about work schedules on the day before the wedding. This will help in scheduling the rehearsal. Work these times around the times that the venue is available for the rehearsal.
• Send invitations to those you want/need at your rehearsal at least 4 weeks in advance,
• Hold the rehearsal in the ceremony space if at all possible. Sometimes this is not a possibility and if that is the case be prepared with photos and diagrams so that the wedding party understands where they will be.
• Have the rehearsal before the dinner. No one eats (or drinks) until the rehearsal is completed. This helps to guarantee attendance to the rehearsal.
• Have a coordinator who is in charge of the rehearsal, and the ceremony on the wedding day. Some churches supply this person as a part of the rental fee, often this is the pastor’s wife. It can also be a friend or family member who is not involved in the wedding party. Lastly, it could be the wedding coordinator who you hired to help you plan your wedding. It should never be a parent of the bride or groom or someone in the wedding party. Make sure the coordinator knows exactly what the bride, groom and officiant want/need for the ceremony. Meet with the couple and their families at least a week before the rehearsal to map out exactly what needs to happen when.

The Wedding Rehearsal

1. Start on time-Coordinator asks everyone to have a seat. Coordinator introduces themself and the officiant to the crowd.
2. Officiant prays over the rehearsal.
3. Coordinators speech. This sets the tone for the rehearsal. Remind everyone that they are there in love and support of the couple. This is not the time for petty arguments or comments about the way the ceremony is planned. The planning is done it is time to execute the plans that have been made. Remind them to pay attention and listen carefully so that extra run-throughs are not required.
4. Review how the rehearsal will run-out of order. Recessional, Processional, Ceremony.
5. Show the girls how to hold their flowers and remind everyone not to lock their knees.
6. Place the wedding party on stage, where they will be for the end of the ceremony. Discuss how they will process out, what their cues are etc. Rehearse the recessional at least 2 times with the music, starting with the officiant’s announcement of the couple.
7. Line everyone up wherever they will be starting from. Typical line is grandparents of the groom, grandparents of the bride, parents of the groom, mother of the bride, bridesmaids, maid of honor, ring bearer, flower girls, bride with her father. Play the music and rehearse the timing of sending people in 2-3 times as needed until everything times out properly.
8. Rehearse the ceremony up to where the father gives away the bride. This is where we did something different! We sent all of the guests, parents and other family members to the rehearsal dinner site so that only the bride, groom, wedding party, officiant, parents of the children in the wedding party and the coordinator were left. This way the unique parts of the ceremony were a delightful surprise to everyone on the wedding day.
9. Run through the rest of the ceremony 1-2 times.
10. Run through the recessional once more for good measure.
11. Everyone then heads to the rehearsal dinner.

Aaron and Summer’s wedding rehearsal lasted about 90 minutes. It went smoothly and Kim, our coordinator did a great job of keeping everything moving and answering questions along the way.

Have you been a part of a smooth or bumpy wedding rehearsal? Share your story in the comments.

The post 10 Steps to a Smooth Wedding Rehearsal appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Gather Your Team

Your wedding reception requires a team of people to ensure that things run smoothly:

• A Kitchen Coordinator-This person is in charge of the volunteers who are serving the food/maintaining the buffet. For us this person also oversaw the food and beverages  at the  garden party and cleanup of the buffet and kitchen.
• Reception Host/DJ-We had a friend running the music via a Spotify playlist and another friend, who is a great people person host the reception. The host is the person who announces the wedding party when they arrive, announces each part of the reception and keeps the party moving and on schedule. Often this is the job of a professional DJ, if you hire one. We saved hundreds of dollars by creating specific Spotify playlists and having a friend host the reception.
• Photographer – We hired a friend who is an up and coming local photographer for her photography and videography services.
• The bride, groom and parents who are helping to plan the reception-These are the people who have the most input into the timeline and music selections.

Choose Your Events

Every wedding reception is different. There are a lot of events that can take place you need to decide which of these you want to happen at your reception. Here are some events to choose from:

• Announcing the Wedding Party as they arrive
• Receiving Line
• Blessing the Food
• Bride & Groom first dance
• Father/Daughter dance
• Mother/Son dance
• Wedding Party Dance
• Toasts: Best Man, Maid of Honor, Father of the Bride
• Money Dance
• Cutting the Cake
• Flower Toss
• Garter Toss
• Traditional Cultural Dances
• Send-off

Choose the Music

• This was the most difficult step for us because we are all musicians and music lovers-we also have very varied musical tastes. We spent several weeks choosing the music-don’t leave this to the last minute.
• Using Spotify playlists was the easiest way we found to organize and manage the music.
• Once the music is organized, you can share your playlists with whomever is running the music at your reception and everything is in one place.
• **WARNING** make sure your venue has fast and reliable wi-fi that you can use before choosing this option.
• We also used a Spotify playlist for the ceremony music

Get Organized

• How long do you want the reception to be/how long do you have the wedding venuefor?
• Create a Google Spread Sheet-save it in your Google Drive. That way you can share it with everyone on your team.  Please remember to use last names in your script. Here is a screenshot of the “party” portion of our reception. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, just functional.
• Make sure you bring several printed copies of the timeline to the reception so that everyone who needs one, has one.
• Don’t put the cake cutting too far into the reception. Some of your guests will have to leave early for a myriad of reasons and no one wants to miss the cake cutting.
• Buy your wedding bands early!
• To keep things moving, we started the toasts right after everyone had been through the buffet line the first time. This gave the wedding party plenty of time to eat before moving into the next part of the reception.

As you can see, creating your wedding reception timeline doesn’t have to be very involved or difficult as long as it is organized.

The post Plan your Wedding Reception Timeline in 4 Easy Steps appeared first on The Mom Maven.

If you remember they got married 2 days after Thanksgiving and that in itself could have added more stress into what can be a crazy week.

Aaron and Summer’s Wedding Week

Aaron had to work Monday and Tuesday and Summer had to work Monday-Wednesday, though she ended up only being needed in the morning on Wednesday-so the beginning of the week was a “normal” week with no additional wedding activities planned. We were blessed by the fact that we could get into the reception space at 9am on Wednesday morning and into the prep space at 1:30pm that same day. This is one time when having a holiday wedding helped us. The church we had the wedding at does not have Wednesday night activities on the day before Thanksgiving so families can be free to travel or start preparing food for Thanksgiving. Since they weren’t using the building we got to. Wednesday at 9am Ron, Aaron, Jordan and I arrived at the church and started the deconstruction phase-we had to stack all of the 120 chairs in the sanctuary, vacuum and rearrange the stage so that we could hang our backdrop and set the head table on the stage. Later Ron’s mom, my parents, Summer and Jessica arrived to help with the decorating of the sanctuary (where the reception was being held) and setting up of the prep/staging space in the fellowship hall and nursery. We had everything done by about 4pm.

We were able to relax and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday just like we normally do. It was a wonderful pause in an exciting week. Since Friday was rehearsal day, I opted not to take part in our annual Black Friday traditions, much to my father’s dismay. Friday we arrived at the church early to set up enough of the outdoor ceremony space for the rehearsal. We had a great rehearsal, more on that in another post, and then an interesting rehearsal dinner, again-another post

Saturday I did not go to the church until 90 minutes before the ceremony and it was delightful! I got my nails and hair done and had lunch with friends. Ron was at the church all day. He was there to oversee all of the deliveries and be there while the girls got their hair and make-up done.

Great tips on How to Have a Stress Free Wedding week!
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Why We Were Able to Have a Stress Free Wedding Week

In short, we planned it that way. From the beginning we planned to have all of the work and planning completed 2 weeks before the wedding date with out stress thanks to our wedding binder, we created a planning schedule that allowed us to be ready ahead of time. I have said it all along, planning is key. Our weekly wedding planning family meetings were the key to making sure everything got done well and on schedule. We also made sure to schedule in a buffer of time in case something didn’t go as planned.

IF for some reason we didn’t get the decorating done on Wednesday, we had plenty of time Friday to finish up. Thankfully we didn’t need that time so we were able to relax. The decorating went smoothly because it was planned. Everyone knew what they were in charge of getting done and they did their work and then helped the next person get their work done. All of the decorations and supplies were organized in bins so that items that went together were together. The grandmothers of the groom sat at a table and rolled the silverware in the napkins and attached the napkin rings. They also built the cupcake boxes. My mother ironed the cloth tablecloths that we decided to use for the head table while my father vacuumed. All this was happening while tables were being moved in and set up and everything else was being decorated. It worked as a well-oiled machine, for the most part, because we were organized.

This was a DIY wedding, we did most of the work ourselves. I made most of the decorations, my friend was the wedding coordinator for the rehearsal and the ceremony. Other friends worked the reception and my in-laws hosted the rehearsal dinner. We worked together, in community, and we pulled off a great event. You can do this too! Especially if you are doing the wedding yourself, please plan, plan, plan. If you have questions, please reach out to me-I’m happy to help. Don’t leave anything to the last minute, relax and enjoy your wedding.

The post How to Have a Stress Free Wedding Week appeared first on The Mom Maven.

The wedding is over, you are home from the honeymoon and settling into your home and life together. Now there are still a few more wedding related tasks to tackle before you can put the biggest event in your life behind you. One of those tasks is writing thank you notes. In our society today, handwriting thank you notes is a lost art. Growing up, I learned how to write a thank you note in penmanship class but that no longer happens in public school. In case you were not taught the art and etiquette of the thank you note fear not, I am here to help and to hopefully make this as painless as possible.

How to Write a Thank You Note

Remember: Thank You Cards should be sent within 3 months of receiving the gift, the sooner the better. They must be handwritten and personalized. They take time so if you have a spot in your home where you can leave your supplies set up so that you can work on them over a few days time, it will make this task easier. I suggest setting a goal of writing 10-15 notes a day. Writing thank you notes is a tedious process and if you write too many at one time they become a bit insincere. Break up the task into manageable bites and it will be much easier on you.

Who Gets Thank You Notes?

• Everyone who gave you a gift or cash for your engagement, bridal shower or wedding.
• Everyone in your wedding party.
• Anyone who hosted a shower or party for you.
• The wedding hosts (your parents, his parents etc).
• People who help the day of the wedding-guest book attendant, the cousin who handed out the programs, the friend who set up chairs etc.
• Any friends who jumped in and went over and above to help make your wedding day special.
• Any vendors whose services were above your expectations.

Gather your Supplies

• Your note cards-You can use formal thank you cards, photo cards or, if you’re crafty handmade cards.
• A good pen, preferably black
• Your gift list
• Your wedding invitation list-for addresses
• A wet sponge
• Stamps
• A return address stamper or labels

Writing your Thank You Notes

1. Dear (insert name here)
2. Thank you so much for the (specific name of gift) or for cash (generous gift)
3. Let them know how you will or have used their gift-We have/plan to: buy a ____ with it/display it in our___/cook a___with it. 
4. Thank them for sharing your wedding day with you and tell them how much you appreciate their friendship/love/support.
5. Close with another thank you and sign it from both you and the groom.
6. Address the envelope, put a stamp on it and seal it.
7. Mark it off of your gift list and move on to the next one.

While this is geared towards wedding Thank You Cards, the process and sentiment is the same for any kind of thank you. I hope you found this helpful and if you don’t need this information right now, you may want to pin it for future reference.

The post How to Write a Thank You Note appeared first on The Mom Maven.

It is hard for me to think that my son has already been married for a month! It feels weird not seeing him and Summer on a daily basis. I actually went almost 4 weeks without seeing or talking to Summer which was very odd for me. Aaron texts regularly and he stops by at least once a week. I’m glad he works on this side of town

#5 Our Wedding Binder

#4 How to Make Glitter Mason Jars

#3 They’re Engaged!

#2 David’s Bridal The Good, The Bad and The Disappointed

#1 Wedding Registry Do’s and Don’ts

The post that I thought would make this list and didn’t was The MomMaven’s Ultimate Printable Wedding Gift Registry Checklist.

I appreciate all of you following along on our  journey and i hope you found these posts helpful or that you pinned them for the future.

The post Top 5 Wedding Posts of 2014 appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving week, the week of the wedding. Groomsman Jordan J, was supposed to come back to Florida from Texas, where he had moved the week before. Due to weather and holiday planes being over booked, Jordan spent a lot of time in the airport waiting, hoping to get on a flight. Friday at the rehearsal we had our friend David stand in for Jordan-still hoping he would arrive before the wedding. Later that evening, during the rehearsal dinner, we got word that there was no way Jordan was going to arrive for the wedding and he was leaving the airport. We sent my son Jordan to the house to get Jordan J.’s suit for the wedding because we had a few people in mind who it might fit. Jordan arrived back at the party with the suit and we had David try it on first…it fit! David was now in the wedding instead of just a guest.

To us, both parts of this story show us how God is in the details. We didn’t have time or money to order another dress but the extra one fit. With 18 hours until the wedding we found a replacement groomsman who fit the suit and had already rehearsed his part. God is good, all the time!

The post If the Clothes Fit…A Wedding Story #schultzwed14 appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Wedding table-some of the decorations

The wedding cake

Before the cake was cut, 60 additional white frosted cupcakes were added to the table.

photo courtesy of @goodmorningbill

I LOVE this picture taken by our friend and Aaron’s co-worker, Bill Martin.

Jordan toasting his big brother and his new sister-in-law

First dance

Cutting the Cake

The bride and groom were very nice to each other while cutting the cake…this time. They practiced with the groom’s cake at the rehearsal dinner and well, let’s just say Summer had to wash her hair in the bathroom during the event because she had a lot of blue frosting in it!

I hope you enjoyed this peek into the wedding reception. Next week I’ll share a few of the stories from the wedding weekend.

The post Wedding Photos-Reception #schultzwed14 appeared first on The Mom Maven.

The Bride and her father walking down the aisle

Summer came down the aisle to the theme song from “We Bought a Zoo”

Aaron waiting for his bride

The Kiss

Sand Ceremony

Since the Sand Ceremony was new to many of our guests, it might also be new to you. Here is what was read during this part of the ceremony:

Now we shall celebrate Groom and Bride’s union as it is symbolized through the pouring of two individual containers of sand. One represents Groom (he pours a portion of her sand in vase) and all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will ever be.

The other represents Bride (she pours a portion of her sand on top Groom’s sand) and all that you were and all that you are, and all that you will ever be.

As the two vials of sand are poured into the third keepsake vase, (both Groom & Bride together pour their remaining sand in the central vase) the individual containers of sand will no longer exist, as they are now joined together as one. Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual vases, so will the love and bond between the two of you render you inseparable.

Aaron and Summer Schultz

The Wedding Party

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

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