holy cow. holy cow. holy cow.

we are 16 days away from the big day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wedding dress ready to go--  Check!

bridal portraits taken--  Check!

grooms attire picked out and ready to go--  Check!

i can't believe that the big day is literally right around the corner. it feels like yesterday that we were engaged and just picking out our wedding date which back then seemed so very far away. as i reflect back on everything that has happened it just amazes me how times actually does fly. we have accomplished so many things that i couldn't be more proud of. this adventure we are about to embark on makes me nervous but in a make me cry i'm so happy kinda way lol.

as we were sitting on our couch eating brownies the night of our second year engagement anniversary (4/29) neither of us remembered that it was 2 years ago that we got engaged lol. it wasn't until the 30th that either of us remembered. why is this? how on earth could BOTH of us forget? hmmmmmm well there are a million wedding thoughts roaming through our heads, we have a 5 month old puppy running around, and we were putting together an offer on a FREAKIN' HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! not only did we put an offer on said house, they accepted!!! we are officially about to be newly weds and will hopefully have a new-to-us home about 2 weeks after the wedding waiting for us to move in to :)

Life is GOOD!! So it looks like after this wedding shin-dig we are going to turn this blog into a house improvement/decorating blog :)

stay tuned! love,

ashley

hotel?

are you looking for a place to stay for the wedding?!?!?!

well here is your answer :)

The Hampton Inn in Corolla we have found is the closest and most convenient to the wedding venue. although we do not have a block of rooms saved we have made an arrangement with the hotel to get you a discounted rate for atleast two nights (they have a minimum visit of 2 nights). When you call (252) 453.6565 to book your reservation mention the McCarty-Hemphill wedding and they'll know what to do :)

are you thinking about making our wedding into a week vacation?!?!?!

I also have that answer :)

Carolina Designs Realty has been unbelievable throughout the process of booking our dream wedding! If you give them a call at (800) 368.3825 and mention that you'd like to be close to the home Absolute Ambiance, and they will provide you with a list of available homes for rent the week of our wedding!

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact myself or zack <3

in shock

so here is the deal..... i'm in complete shock that there are only 80 days until our wedding. i'm excited, nervous and practically giddy over the fact! not to mention that in less than two weeks i will be celebrating my single days at my bachelorette party planned by the best maid of honor, my sister, taylor :) i couldn't be happier with her incredible planning skills and creative mind!!! oh and let's not forget the planning of my bridal shower which will be this month yayyyyy! so now on to some updates

in january mom and myself ventured down to the outerbanks to finish up all of the nitty gritty. we went through the house again (it's still perfect!), lined up all of our rental items and we got to meet with our fantastic caterer, Deb from Argyle's! We couldn't be more thrilled by all of our incredible vendors. Oh and not to forget the beautiful Ginger Harvey from GingerSnaps Photography introduced us to the most precious coffee shop for our finalizing meeting. we thank her for the newest addition to our home decor, a beautiful picture frame with one of our engagement shots already in it.

side note..... many of you know my dress is in and looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!

oh and another side note WE GOT A PUPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! many pictures to follow :)

love, ashley

decorations

while in the obx for our vacation my sister, mother, grandmother and myself met with Renee Landry, who as i've mentioned will be doing our decorations. I'm super excited for everything she has in store for our wedding. 

for the ceremony we are going to have old, refurbished church pews down on the beach :) I mean picture this, the beautiful ocean, right before sunset, the beach and our own created ocean-side church. I can't wait for the day i say I DO <3 

as for decorations and centerpieces we are sticking with burlap, clear and blue mason jars and peonies :) Of course we will be using mostly pink peonies, I wouldn't have it any other way. Here is a picture of what we are planning on doing:

Something like this without the wood plate :)

engagement session.

it's been way too long since we've blogged, and not to mention we have had our engagement photos taken!!! while we were on our family vacation in the outer banks we met up with Ginger in Corolla to take our engagement photos. We started our morning off on a tour with the Corolla Wild Horse fund. It was an incredible experience where we learned about the wild mustangs as well as got some awesome pictures :) After we finished the tour we made our way to the Corolla lighthouse and the Whalehead club. We had an incredible day of being super giggly and got to show tons of affection in public, hahaha. We loved getting to know Ginger with Gingersnaps Photography, and here are some of our favorite pictures!

www.corollawildhorses.com

my absolute favorite

this is love

look at him model!

giant ampersand :)

these are our save the dates

love this tree

awesome bridge

<3

juicy details.

So for the bread and butter of our wedding day: the venue.

We will be "wed" on the lovely beach of Duck, NC in front of the home, Absolute Ambiance. How did I come across this beauty of a home you may ask? While in the OBX for the OBXWA wedding expo weekend we knew that we wanted to visit this home during the open house hours. We pulled into the driveway and BAM, fell in love. As we walked through the main room it felt like us, our wedding theme and exactly what I had been dreaming of {not to mention there were dolphins swimming in the water behind the house.... uhmmm sign that this was IT} and on top of being esthetically pleasing this home has a beautiful caterer size kitchen and a grand room with the most magnificent ceiling that could house our wedding if.... {god forbid} there need to be a rain plan. Each room has a unique design to it making for many opportunities for wedding day pictures. Out back of the house are two lovely decks which will hold tables and chairs during the reception, a pool and hot tub which will be fun the week before the wedding and a perfect grill preparation area for our reception food. Okay, enough from me, let the pictures do the talking : 

back of the home.

 I mean look at that window!!!! did I mention the amazing ceiling

 just one of the many beautiful rooms.

 part of the great room and a view of the huge kitchen.

 rain plan.

 where we shall be wed :)

 food prep area and pool.

 front of the home.

Isn't it amazing?!?!?!?