Harper Cole has a yucky cold virus. Not sure where this one came from…could be anywhere. He has a rattling cough (never had one of those before), a faucet for a little nose, and a bit of a a fever. You can tell he doesn’t feel very good…hope he feels better soon. Little sicks ones are just pitiful! Keep him in your prayers!

You may have been wondering where we’ve been since our last post from Maui! Well…good news…we’re still alive! It seems like we landed and got back to the real world and have been running nonstop ever since. To sum up the last few months:

• I started work at Shaw as the Manager of Marketing Technology for the Commercial Division
• Crystal sold her townhouse (her first home)
• We bought a beautiful house in a great neighborhood (pics of that later)
• We’ve been fixing up the new house for the past 2 months now

So I’ve been asked multiple times if I was ever going to post pictures of the wedding online. Short answer…yep! Click on the image below and you’ll find 220 pictures from the wedding & reception. Again, I can’t thank all of you enough that were a part of our big day.

Eubanks Wedding

I woke up pretty early with a case of the “Wedding Day Jitters”. I had been doing so good up until this point, but my tummy was just a fluttering! I tried to eat a little breakfast (we’ll just say that didn’t stay down where it was supposed to) and then headed out to Melissa and Company Salon. My mom, Tiffany, Natalie, Lindsay, Linda, and I were getting our hair done there. Some of the other bridesmaids came there after they’d gotten their hair done in other places. Victoria was there shooting pictures. My hair turned out absolutely perfect! It looked the way I that I’d envisioned it to look for the day of my wedding. We did make-up and attached my finger-tip veil. Tiffany and I set out for the church and when we got there, I had to remove the make-up, except for the eyes, and try again. Girls are just funny about their make-up and it didn’t look quite right. The girls helped me climb into my dress and Linda corseted me up! They all helped me get my shoes and jewelry on before the cathedral veil was finally attached. I was ready! All the bridesmaids looked gorgeous in their dresses and the flower girls were just picture perfect! My mom was a hottie in her dress of red! We waited for Victoria to finish up pictures with the guys, and then we took pictures. She did a couple cute things with us & the next thing I new, it was time to go! My uncle Tony and my dad both came to see me (they both cried) and then we went to go get ready to go into the church. Natalie and I stood outside by ourselves for a few minutes (this is when I realized that I really had to go to the bathroom, but knew that I’d just have to hold it – for what ended up being a VERY long time!) We chit-chatted for a few minutes, then she went in and my dad came out. Daddy and I stood there for a couple more minutes, then they told us to come in! Then the music began, the doors opened, and every jitter that I’d had up until this point completely went away! I was so excited! I saw Shane standing there beaming at the end of the aisle, I saw all the wonderful people that were there for our special day, and I just took off down the aisle with my daddy. We practically tripped the whole way there, but I didn’t even care. I was just overjoyed with excitement and happiness. We said our vows perfectly, we lit the unity candle, we went and gave roses to the special women in our lives (that was a surprise), we said the Lord’s Prayer and kneeled to pray, we exchanged the rings (they FIT!), I did a little dance, and then we saw the “special video presentation”. This was supposed to be set to Steven Curtis Chapman’s “I Will Be Here”, but Shane, my dad, and his dad had a different plan. It opened up with humming of Amazing Grace and a “In Loving Memory” portion ( I cried when I saw my Grandmama and Granddaddy looking down at me). It then proceeded into the Feather Song and my dad’s voice again, but with pictures of me through the years to match! It was gorgeous!!! Just when I thought it was over, it transitioned into a song that Shane’s dad had written for him and pictures of him growing up! The song was called “Crystal and Shane” and it was just wonderful! The whole video was so touching and I know I will never be able to watch it without crying, but that’s okay. Shane did a wonderful job putting it together and I will cherish it forever! The next thing I knew we were pronounced as husband and wife, we kissed, then the Hallelujah chorus was played, and we headed back down that aisle! WE WERE MARRIED! We were escorted off by ourselves for a few minutes while the guests went on over to Roselawn, then we took pictures for awhile. An old timey car took us over to Roselawn where we, along with the wedding party were introduced by the Deejay. It was so great to see all of these people there to celebrate with us! Shane and I danced our first dance (to Jim Brickman, “The Love of My Life”), I danced with my daddy (“the Feather Song” ironically I’d chosen this song before I ever knew anything about the poem), and Shane danced to the Hawaiian version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with his mom. We cut the cakes, fed each other (all of his groomsmen sang Rocky Top when we cut his cake), drank out of our glasses, then headed down to the carriage house for dancing and fun! We had SO much fun (my mom got jiggy with it on the dance floor & my dad, well he gave it his best shot), we took more pictures, threw the bouquet, flung the garter, danced our last dance (to Sara Evans and Vince Gill’s “There’s No Place That Far”),then we all gathered together to let brown and ivory balloons go before we left. We said all of our good-byes, then the old car picked us up again and we left! It was the most perfect day, I couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful time, and I am so appreciative to everyone who was a part of it!

Off to the Renaissance Hotel and then to Maui!!!!

November 2nd and 3rd were very busy days! On the 2nd, Shane and I both got started pretty early. He had to help my dad carve a whole bunch of pumpkins as we were using them with flowers for table centerpieces. I had to meet Brandy, Candy, and my mom at the Roselawn Carriage House to begin decorating. Shane and I both wore our “Property of the Bride/ Groom 2006” shirts…I think we were cute! The carriage house is literally that…an old carriage house/barn where the horses used to be tended to in the olden days at Roselawn. There are coachman’s quarters, a huge loft, horse stables, a concrete floor, and wooden rafters. It surely had to be looked upon with rose-colored glasses, but I knew we could do it. We wrapped white lights and fall foliage around the poles and accented with golden spirals. We draped ivory tulle from the ceiling in many places so that we could loosely throw leaves in them (you could see through) and it was really pretty. We placed large and small pumpkins everywhere….we set up tables with cloths in the stalls (along with hay bails and scarecrows). I painted the words “Life is not measured by the number of breaths that we take, but by the moments our breath is taken away…” on a large piece of brown paper and hung it from the wall. The room looked absolutely gorgeous when we finished! Outside the doors, we placed stacks of hay bails with large pumpkins and corn stalks decorated with ribbon. Over the huge doors, hung a huge beautiful bow that my Aunt Amber so graciously made… That evening, we went to the church to move all of the chairs in the choir loft…that’s a job! We had help, so it wasn’t too bad. Then, we covered the wood flooring on stage with twinkling lights and tulle. It looked beautiful! We then left to go eat some Las Palmas!

On the 3rd, we started the day off with a red trailblazer (mine) that wouldn’t crank. I had used the car lights in the garage to wrap everyone’s presents that morning, because my overhead light was out. Well, THAT was brilliant. So we had to jump-start it, then we went to the church to set up all the decorations that we’d rented (columns, pillars, candles, etc…) along with all the topiaries (aka “Shrubs on a stick”- according to Pastor Hattaway) that would go down the aisle. We also set up the pictures that would sit out front that Victoria did such a wonderful job on. Brandy, Candy, and my mom were all at her house during this time dipping lots and lots of strawberries in chocolate! Once we finished decorating the church, we all left and went separate ways. Brandy, Mick, Shane, and I went to go grab a bite to eat. Daddy went to get some pens and had a fender bender on the way! Aah! Then Brandy and I went to get our nails done. I had some sort of chemical reaction and had to keep my pinky on a block of ice most of the time! Ha! I then raced home and got ready for the rehearsal dinner!

The rehearsal went off pretty well! Most everyone was there (except for Todd and Linda). We had fun practicing and being with all of our closest friends and family. We then went over to Grand Oaks for dinner. The food was outstanding! My grandparents wrote a little letter for me (my PaPa read it aloud) and gave my a real “six-pence” for my shoe! Shane’s dad stood up and told a couple of stories and said some wonderful things about Shane. My dad gave me a very special gift. He wrote me a beautiful poem called “My Little Girl” and had the words set to the Feather Song of the Forrest Gump soundtrack. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room and the poem was incredibly touching. He had it written with calligraphy, matted, and beautifully framed. It was on an easel and it was amazing! Wow, Daddy!! We then passed out all of the gifts, mingled a bit, then said our good-byes to go home and get things ready for the BIG day! I ran back to my house to grab a few last things so that I could go spend the night with Mama and Daddy (since I couldn’t see Shane the next day). When we got there, Tiffany tried her dress on and it was WAY too small! We had to get it to my Aunt Amber (who was also staying at my moms- she’s been a HUGE help…making the bows, the flower girl baskets, and helping with the bridesmaid dress crisis!) so that she could fix it. We were up doing that until the wee hours of the morning of my wedding day….

I wish there were words to describe Maui, but Webster just hasn’t came up with anything close yet. This place is just INCREDIBLE. The smells are amazing. That may sound weird, but there is a scent of ginger in the air along with other flowers and it just smells soooooo sweet. We got to our resort (which is amazing) around 7pm on Sunday night, which was midnight back home. We were exhausted and simply wanted some fastfood to bring back to the room. Well, Maui doesn’t seem to have too many fastfood places close that are open on Sunday nights! We finally found a little pizza place so we both got Hawaiian pizza….in Hawaii! I don’t know if we were just starving or what, but the pizza rocked.

We went back to the room and CRASHED into the “heavenly bed” as Westin calls it….I suppose cause it feels like something made by God Himself. I definitely thanked God for that bed…and for Maui, and for (*warning* cheezy, sappy, mush ahead) my wife. awwwwww

We have a bunch of pics uploaded and will be adding more throughout the week. Click here to see all of the photos.

Shane’s Wedding Experience

WOW!!!! What a ride! I can’t thank everyone enough that came to the wedding and all of those that participated in it. It was an experience that I’ll never forget. People asked me all week long if I was nervous, but I never felt the “butterflies” until the doors opened at the wedding with Crystal standing there with her Daddy…WHEW. That’s probably the one thing I’ll always remember about the ceremony.

I’m currently sitting in the Salt Lake City airport typing this up as we wait for our flight to Maui and am having trouble typing from laughing so hard. There was an announcement over the intercom that said “Party of 3 Balls, please make your way to the departure gate.” Being the goofballs that Crystal and I are, we busted out laughing. Then, just as we regained composure we hear, “Last call for 3 Balls.” I guess someone lost their Balls…

Back to the wedding…

I said this at the rehearsal dinner, but I’ve been incredibly blessed with great family and friends in my life and it became apparent in all of those that made the trip to see us get married. Mick got the award for longest distance travelled as he came from HAWAII to be a part of our big day. Even those that couldn’t make the trip took the time to give us a call or send items expressing their congratulations. I sincerely thank everyone for making our day even more special.

The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner went incredibly well. My Mom & Dad financed the wonderful meal and beautiful setting at Grand Oaks, which was great in bringing Crystal’s family together with mine as each side seemed to get along perfectly…if they didn’t, they did a good job of hiding it!! I have to admit that I got choked up when our fathers and Crystal’s grandfather stood up to say their words. I haven’t seen any of them get very emotional much in the past, but they all decided to let it out on the same night….triple whammy!

The wedding day went as well as I could ever hoped for it to go. Hanging out with my groomsmen before the show got started helped me to relax. Then I had a great talk with my dad over to the side followed by a great prayer from Dad. Having my families’ support through everything meant so much to me. It’s like I said at the rehearsal…I wouldn’t be here without my family & friends…some more literally than others!

To end the day, we took off to our hotel and I got a couple of miles down the road and realized I had no idea where the hotel was! I got so caught up in everything that I didn’t even get directions! Luckily I knew it was by the airport……and we knew where that was at least. haha

I just can’t thank everyone enough for everything. You all make our lives so much more enjoyable.

Tuesday – October 10, 2006:
Some of you may remember the “log” of events that I kept as I worked on Crystal’s proposal. It detailed everything I went through to create her special day. Well, I’ve decided to do it again leading up to her wedding day because I have a few surprises in the works that she doesn’t know about and I’m once again having to hide so many things from her! Here is a run-down on what has happened so far.

Honeymoon Suite:
Ok, so Crystal suggested we get a “regular” hotel room near the airport on the night of the wedding and save our money for Maui. Wellllll…that’s what she thinks I reserved…cause…well…I lied to her (SORRY). All she knows is that we are staying at the Renaissance Concourse by the Airport in Atlanta…that much is true. What she doesn’t know is that we will be staying in the Governor’s Suite! I have no idea what it looks like, but it sounded nice over the phone…ha. We’ll have chocolate covered strawberries and some sort of “honeymoon” package…and a limo ride to the airport the next morning. I could have gotten a regular room, but hey…you only have one honeymoon night. 🙂

The Wedding Slideshow:
Crystal is under the impression that I am creating a slideshow of our engagement photos that will play with Steven Curtis Chapman’s “I will Be Here” in the background. Now, that’s a beautiful song and the slideshow would be great…but our dad’s came to me with something that would be MUCH more special.

First, Crystal’s daddy approached me about a poem he has written and will give her at the rehearsal dinner. He had thought about putting it with pictures and having a slideshow done, but had heard I was doing a slideshow for the wedding. So what we came up with was for me to scrap the Steven Curtis Chapman idea and put his poem to music and play a slideshow of pictures of her growing up. Now this was an amazing idea in itself, but something else came along to add to it!

My dad calls me about a week later (I hadn’t spoken to him or told him about the poem and slideshow that was being worked on) and he tells me that he had taken a song he use to sing to me when I was a baby and rewrote it to go with my life and marriage to Crystal. It immediately became clear that I had to use his song as well to show pictures of me growing up and then finish with pictures of Crystal and me together! So this was the beginning of a slideshow that is going to be an enormous surprise to Crystal (hopefully a good one) and will definitely be more special than anything else I could have done alone. Having our fathers be a part of this is just…amazing.

So a girl is supposed to know every detail of her wedding day and have everything exactly how she wants it…right? Well, I’m sticking my neck out and going for broke on this decision. I can’t imagine her not liking the slideshow, but I KNOW it’s going to make her squall like a baby. That’s not my intention, but I know it’ll happen. She refuses to see the video before the wedding and I can’t show her anyway, because her dad doesn’t want her to know about the poem until he gives it to her at the rehearsal dinner. So she can’t even prepare herself for what will be shown!! I COULD tell her after she receives the poem that the slideshow won’t be what she was expecting and to prepare for something much more special, but then that will somewhat ruin the natural emotion that she’d have while it’s playing…decisions decisions. I just don’t want her balling and have the wedding (and her makeup) “ruined”.

Saturday – October 7, 2006:
Crystal is in Pigeon Forge this weekend visiting me and so I wake up Saturday morning and walk into the living room to find her with dozens of pictures of me growing up and she’s putting them in frames and planning on taking them back to GA with her for the wedding! I ask where she got the photos and she says that Mamaw had given them to her…well, Mamaw had been gathering up those photos for me to use in the slideshow!!! So I ask Crystal to leave it alone and that I would take care of them…cause I couldn’t let her leave with them or else I wouldn’t have any pictures to use! She made a remark about how it wouldn’t get done unless she did it and I assured her that it would. Then she made another comment about how she was already doing them so she may as well finish…the girl is stubborn! I come back with something like, “It’s your last weekend here in Pigeon Forge…let’s get ready and go do something together.” THEN she gets upset and says “Fine…but this will never get done.” HA! She has no clue what they’re going to be used for…but fortunately she left them with me…WHEW.

Monday – October 9, 2006:
I received a package from Crystal’s parents that has a CD of her daddy reading the poem and then a bunch of pictures of Crystal growing up that goes with the poem. I was talking to Crystal on the phone when I was going through it and I told her that I wanted to visit with my family and I would call her back in a bit. Well, I did visit with my family, but I got to work on putting the poem to music. Her daddy’s favorite movie is Forrest Gump, so I put the instrumental of the “Feather Song” behind his words, which turned out great! It took me about 2 hours to get the poem to fit with the music as I had to cut & loop some parts and adjust the volumes to go with each other. So I call Crystal back and she teases me about blowing her off for a couple of hours…haha…little did she know I was working on a HUGE surprise for her. During the conversation, she asks me if I wanted to have pictures of us growing up in what she thinks is going to be the slideshow at the wedding. I said “sure” and she asks me how I plan on getting the pictures of her. Hmmm….I couldn’t exactly tell her that I had a bunch sitting right in front of me!! Then if she went to her parents’ house to get these pics, she’d wonder where they were! Talk about a rock and a hard place. I told her we’d go through some on my next trip down…maybe she’ll forget by then…heh. We chatted a bit and then she went to bed…and I got back to work on scanning her baby photos and starting on the slideshow. This secret is getting harder and harder to keep.

Wednesday – October 11, 2006:
I managed to convince Crystal that I didn’t need her to find pics of her growing up to use on the slideshow…so I thought I was home free, but then she says she still needs to gather up her pictures to frame and post at the reception….grrrrrr. So I had to finish scanning all of her photos late last night, package up the pictures, and then send it back to her parents house next day air so that she wouldn’t wonder where all of her baby pictures were…thanks a lot, Crystal. 😛

Saturday – October 14, 2006:
I didn’t go to GA this weekend and Crystal didn’t travel up here, so I had all day today to work on the video. I worked for 14 hours straight on it (ok, so I took a break to watch Georgia lose to Vanderbilt) and have it about 3/4 of the way done. The intro is done that dedicates it to loved ones and then I got all of Crystal’s poem completed. I created an intro that describes my dad’s song and then got the first verse of Dad’s song put with video. I should have everything completed tomorrow and will burn it all off to a DVD. It’s 7 minutes and 20 seconds long, which hopefully won’t be too painful for some people. HA Maybe I can sneak some Kleenex into the aisles?

I have to admit…I was putting Crystal’s part together and kept seeing her baby pictures over and over. She was just way too cute! Those big blue eyes and blonde hair just get me every time. 🙂

It’s 1:25am and I’m beat. I’ve had to keep this whole project a secret and it’s exhausting! There are so many things that could slip, but so far everything has went as planned. I’ve convinced her to simply put “Special Video Presentation” on the program since she thinks it will be a short slideshow with the music of Steven Curtis Chapman. I’m not even going to mention to her that it’s completely different…this way she’ll give her true reaction. ha…at least she will have already said “I do” by then!!!! This could be our first spat as a married couple…but I think she’ll like this slideshow a LOT better…at least I hope!

Ok…bed time.

Sunday – October 15, 2006:
Not much to do? That’s what Crystal says about me and the wedding preparations. She thinks I’m simply putting photos of us on a simple 2 minute slideshow. She has no idea that I have worked with our dads to get the songs and voiceovers, scanned tons of pictures, ripped a DVD and edited the footage, used two different computers & five programs!I’m not saying I have more than her to do, but she comments about every day on why I haven’t called so and so or done such and such since I don’t have anything to do. haha I can’t say, “I’ve been working on the slideshow” because she will wonder why it is taking so long. So I just apologize and promise to do the stuff the next day.

Friday – October 27, 2006:
FINISHED! I completed the video presentation last night and got it burnt to a DVD. I had to tell Crystal that I was watching a TV show when she called and then I had to tell her I had to finish packing…which was sort of the truth! I got everything completed around 1:30 in the morning and watched it on TV to make sure it played ok…and it did! I know people will probably want copies…so that’s the next step. Now I just have to keep this thing hidden from Crystal for one more week! To view the video, simply click the box below.

If the video doesn’t play, click here to install the Flash player

Mrs. Sylvia Flanagan (a very close family friend) hosted my Bridesmaids’ Luncheon this past Saturday at a lovely little tea room in Woodstock called “Tea Leaves and Thyme”.  It was so much fun!  All of my bridesmaids and flower girls were there, along with a few family members.  I passed out a few gifts to them all as a token of appreciation for being in the wedding.  We had a sweet little lunch, tea, and wore fun hats!  Mrs. Sylvia went above and beyond with the details, gifts, and a gorgeous tea set!  It means so much to me to be surrounded by wonderful and cherished friends and family….

Yesterday, I was given a shower by four ladies at church (Karen Carp, Cindy Smith, Ginger Tumlin, and Carole Scroggins). It was a sweet shower and we received some really wonderful gifts! It was a brunch (10:00 am) and the food was delicious! The cake was so cute…it looked like a toaster and it said “Let’s Toast the Bride!”. I had a wonderful time and I really appreciate everyone that came and spent time with me!

This past Friday evening we had a little “bachelorette’s night out”…we had so much fun! Natalie, Linda, Jennifer, Brandy, Candy, and I all went to Brio Tuscan Grille in Buckhead. I had to wear dress up beaded necklaces, dress up chandelier earrings, and a dress up tiara with a veil attached. I gave all the girls (wish Tiffany could have been here) a baseball cap that said “bridesmaid” (Natalie’s said “Maid of Honor”). We strolled right in to Brio and into The Cheesecake Factory with our attire on! We all had SUCH a good time together that night! They were all so sweet, paying for my meal and dessert…Yummy!

This past Saturday, we had a shower that involved both sides of our family.  It was held at my Aunt Jennifer’s lovely home and it was so much fun!  The shower was given by my Aunt Jennifer, my cousin Kristi, and my Aunt Diane.  They did a wonderful job with the food and the games!  It was really special to have both sides of our families meet and spend time together.  All of the bridesmaids were there, too.  I had a such a great time and we both really appreciate all the wonderful gifts that everyone brought for us!

Our wedding invitations were sent out last week and most people have received them by now.  The time is really dwindling down now and I can’t wait until that special day arrives!

Yesterday evening my mom, four bridesmaids (Natalie, Brandy, Candy, and Jennifer) and I had an “invitation assembly line” going on!  It took all six of us about 3 1/2 hours straight to get it done, but they are ready and will be mailed this week!  Shane–you’re stuck now, mister!  Hehe…just kidding!

I had my very first bridal shower this past Saturday! My matron of honor Natalie and her mom Vickie hosted a Southern Living at Home shower for me at the Church Street Tea Garden.
What a sweet little place!  I’d never been there but would really recommend it, especially for showers!  It was a brunch from 10:00 to 12:00. We had scones, peach tea, fruit, and chicken salad sandwiches.  We had such a great turn-out of people (around 30) and I had the most wonderful time.  It meant SO much to me to be surrounded by all these women (and Shane) that I cherish.  If you were there, thank you so much for choosing to share this blessed time with me.  I truly love all of the gifts you ordered for me from my wishlist!  It’s such a blessing to have such wonderful friends and family!

Completing the address list has been quite the job.  I had no idea what an undertaking this was going to be.  I feel like a secretary for myself!  Ha!  That and filling up my calendar with showers and other important dates has pretty much been my life lately.   My first shower is next Saturday (July 29- the day before we go see Rascal Flatts, yippeee!).  Natalie, my maitron of honor, and her mother are hosting it at the Church Street Tea Garden.  That sounds so sweet…I’ve never been, but it truly seems like a neat place to have a shower.  This is going to be my Southern Living Shower and I’ve got my wishlist all ready to go.  I’m excited about having my first shower…I think I’ll truly begin to feel like a bride!!  Mom and I are making a trip to Atlanta tomorrow to make a few more wedding purchases–busy, busy (but I’m really trying to enjoy the whole thing!)

Mom and I went to “The Velvet Box” yesterday and ordered the wedding invitations (and miscellaneous other items).  That took about 2 1/2 hours to get everthing chosen, worded correctly, written out, and ordered.  I love the invitations and I can’t wait to see how they turn out!  We also went to “Write on Main” and chose a couple of cute invitations that we are thinking about using for  the rehearsal dinner.  That is the cutest, most creative store!  I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for invitations, announcements, stationery, etc…in the future!