...I fill you up - lets have a party!

I really don't like that song.

But Javs does - oh boy.

Happy Valentine's Day <3

It feels like wedding stuff is happening so quickly these days! (read: we're behind on our posts!) And this weekend was a particularly fun and exciting wedding weekend :) Jess and Kels threw us an engagement party!! Our VA friends mosied over to Clarendon to celebrate the fact that we're getting hitched - wooohooo :)

Javs and I had been left all but completely in the dark about the party. We had learned only that the girls decided to embrace the Valentine's theme since our available weekend ended up falling so close to V-day. The girls did such an amazing job with everything - I just have to share some of the fun details with all of you :) We walked in and were immediately greeted with a 'Congrats aud and javs' banner. It fit the casual and red/black/white theme they had going in the room just perfectly! And a spread of food that made my stomach growl :)

Probably my favorite details - they had set up two adorable stations to allow our guests to get in on the creative action. (1) A valentine making station (picture left) (2) Supplies for our guests to write me and Javs little Valentine's notes (picture right). I was so happy that so many of our guests jumped in on the fun and made some sweet Valentine's to take home :) And now Javs and I have a pile of adorable cards to read whenever wedding planning gets a bit stressful. (Okay - I'll admit that we already opened two because we were too excited to wait. I can tell already that the madlibs cards that were provided are sure to bring a resounding amount of laughter when read. Zach - yours we found particularly creative and hilarious ;)

Included in the decor were some adorable pomanders. I didn't get to hear about the full trauma that was creating these fluffy balls - but the rumors were that they were a bit of a challenge so I felt it was important to show the sucess they turned out to be :) And - so fun - the ladies had prepared a collage of pictures of me and javs. I never realized we took so many pictures togethers - but apparently we do! There were some really fun ones they included: sydney pics, the lincoln/ursula halloween, crab picking and dumbo :) Our guests (I hope) seemed to really enjoy looking at our silly shenanigans and we had a great time telling stories about what each picture was from. (The Lost party seemed to throw a lot of people off!)

In addition to all the fun decorations and activities - the food and drink were superb :) Fun Star Hill beer to get our guests excited for that Charlottesville wedding and a homemade menu to boot. While I won't make you hungry by sharing all of the delightful options - I will tell you that Kolaches made a special appearance at the party! My mom has been diligently working on her Kolache skills and was kind enough to bring a recent batch for our guests to sample. They were delish (and fit the V-day theme perfectly). Many of you recognized the treats and commented about how excited you were to try them :) It was super fun to hear some of my friends talking about a dessert that means so much to me. It made me all the more excited to give them out as a favor for all of our wedding guests :) Thanks again, Mom, for working so hard on them (and the meatballs that everyone ooo-ed and ahh-ed over)! I think the practice is really paying off :)

Javier and I both thought that it was such a wonderful party. We had a great time visiting and celebrating with friends. In the end, it really was the people that made everything come together - so a huge thank you to each of you that attended. We love you! And look forward to an equally enjoyable time at the wedding!