I told you last week that I would share my proposal story with you, so here we go!

It was Friday, October 28 and I was preparing for a super fun client halloween party. Blair was headed to Pennsylvania for business and was going to stop though Tulsa about 11:00 to have lunch with me and the girls from the office. Needless to say I got a phone call about 9:15 to ask if I didn’t mind picking him up, his morning meeting got canceled and he got on an earlier flight.

He told me a friend of ours (that we went to college with) was on the flight to come into town for the homecoming game and that our friend got a rental car, so Blair rode with him to TU so he would be closer to my office. (We met in college, you can read that here.) Needless to say I was a little irritated that he came in to town early and didn’t give me a heads up to rearrange my plans to get him. He told me not to rush, but just to let him know when I was close to campus (one reason I love this man; he is patient with my work schedule).

As I got close to campus he told me that he ran into some Thetas, and since he had his bags they invited him in to the house so I needed to go there to get him. I told him I was almost there and asked if he could come out and get in my car, but he persuaded me to come me for a minute. (If I hadn’t been in a hurry and wasn’t thinking about the girls in the house that would want to say hi and chat I may have figured out something was fishy… but I didn’t.) I parked my car in front of the house and hurried to the door. As I knocked on the door it opened, which was odd… low and behold there was Blair – standing alone.

I think I may have given him the irritated “get your bags, let’s go” look while saying hiiiii…, but he just smiled and gave he a big hug. He told me that he loved me and he had missed me, then reminded me we were standing in the first place we ever met nearly 5 years earlier. He also said he knew then there was something about me. Before I could get my bearings the man of my dreams was on his knee asking me if I would marry him! I think I may have said “are you serious?!” He held out the ring box, wide open with a perfect ring, and said “Christina.” Stunned and shocked that he actually pulled off a surprise without me catching on (I despise surprises and am sometimes nosey to avoid them) I said, “YES!” and he put my new shiny ring on my finger! We were engaged, I had a fiance and so many questions; does my mom know you’re here, do you really have a business meeting in Pennsylvania.. oh my gosh!

Needless to say there was no early meeting that was canceled and no meeting out of town, there was no friend of ours on the plane (he caught a taxi) and he went up the the Theta house and knocked on the door by himself. Since he has the best luck my Great Grand Little, Lauren, opened the door and because she knew me didn’t question him when he said “Can I come inside to proposed to my girlfriend, she’s on her way here.”

He knew if he had a big speech I would have figured it out, and he knew to catch me off guard while I was thinking about putting on the perfect event for work. He had known he was going to propose on October 25 for an entire year! October 25, 2010 was the first time we talked about spending forever together, this guy remembers it all! He asked my mom for permission two weeks before and she didn’t say a word! He thought about everything! He even stalked my Pinterest boards for the perfect ring and Bailey Banks & Biddle helped him put the perfect setting and stone together!

Our weekend was full of fun celebrations with the girls in the Zinke office, my family, our friends and the homecoming football game at our alma mater! Yes, he even went with me to set up, and clean up, my fun client Halloween party! I am so excited to marry the most amazing man and my soul mate on September 15, 2012. God is so good and knows what He is doing every step of the way!  I can’t wait to share our wedding journey with you all; next week I go dress shopping!

As many of you know I recently got engaged! It’s so fun to personally walk though what I have walked so many of my brides through. It’s also fun to do fun things with my mom like pick out my dress, look for shoes, and much more! (I can’t share too many details with you because my future Mr. likes to read my blog, hi hunny!) So, last night I was pinning on my Pinterest page and low and behold it was like an extra ray of sunshine came from a gorgeous pair of Christian Louboutin’s! I knew I had to hunt them down and have them for my special day. To be honest I’ve never had a pair of Louboutin’s and I definitely do not want to order the wrong size so this morning I went to Twitter with sizing questions. Of course the shoe fairy failed to make every shoe fit true to size, and what really is my shoe size? So, I’ve come up with a few tips for finding shoes for your special day.

1. Get your dress first. This will allow you to see what style would go best with your attire. If your dress is satin and form fitted you may not want shoes with an obnoxious bow – it may get caught on the front of your gown when you walk.
2. Research! Do you want flats, boots, strappy heals, sling back heels, platforms? Do you want a color, texture or pattern?
3. Try your shoes on! As I said the shoe fairy did not make every shoe fit the same. While some sites like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus have size guides you want to make sure your shoes fit and are comfortable. You are the bride and you will not get to sit down for very long on your wedding day. If you will be dancing well into the night you want to make sure that beauty isn’t too much pain.
4. Take your shoes to your dress fitting. Nothing is worse than using a pair of shoes at the dress store because they “look close to your shoes” and chopping off too much of your dress.

Just like your dress, jewelry and bouquet your shoes are as much of your wedding day look as anything else. Don’t rush into a decision, order them off line to receive them just in the knick of time – all for them to fit wrong.

Happy shoe shopping!

Images via: Miles Witt Boyer, Josh McCullock, Jose Villa, Jose Villa, Ace Cuervo, Candi Coffman, Candi Coffman

With recent news of Ralph Lauren’s Daughter, Dylan, tying the knot of course we were curious about her gown. Designed by her father, who “is said to have consulted his former protegée and grande dame of bridalwear Vera Wang on the design of the dress,” I quickly fell in love. The August issue of Vogue is not yet on news stands, but I took Dylan in her dress and created a gorgeous inspiration board on how I would have styled the event. I would start with this gorgeous 16.04 carat, oval diamond ring, they are a girls best friend, right. Gold is a gorgeous staple and perfect for details on the invitation, china and votive holders. I have a new found love bow ties, they are a southern staple after all, so I would have the gentlemen wear them in pink. I would match the ruffles of the cake to the ruffles on her train, decorate the tables and create bouquets out of peonies, garden roses and soft textures. Last, but not least I would finish off Dylan’s bridal look with these beautiful Badgley Mischka heels. We will have to wait to see what the affair was really like in the next issue of Vogue, but until then what do you think?

Images via: Sweet and Saucy Shop, Betty Broccoli, eloge de l’art, the cherry blossom girl, Daily Mail, mad nicolas, weddings-decor