Our Location

It seems that with all the many decisions you have to make when planning your wedding the location is one of the most important. Not only do you want it to be special to you and your groom, but you want it to be impressive. Johnnie and I looked at many places on the internet, drove to a few, asked friends for recommendations, got prices, etc. We had a somewhat long list and it was becoming overwhelming. One day my mom called me at work and asked me to look up Camp Sertoma. My first thought was, "A camp? I'm not getting married at a camp!". But after she told me about it, how pretty she heard it was and how pretty the pictures were, that it was a part of Hanging Rock State Park, I thought I should give it a look. I immediately pulled up the website and loved it. It was so serene, peaceful, beautiful, different, etc. It is a location where you can have the rehearsal dinner, wedding, reception, everything in one place without people having to drive to various locations. It is a 4H camp for kids, but is a host to special events as well. I emailed Johnnie and told him to look at it as well. We called mom and said we wanted to look at it but to check on dates first. Our original wedding date that we wanted was April 21st, but they already had that booked for a spring camp dance, so we picked April 14th. And for some odd reason, I actually like that date better. Funny how things work out. We went to look at the place and fell in love. The natural surroundings are gorgeous. You drive up a dirt road to the camp. The church is a small stone church up the hill on your right, the Inn is a huge three story old building that houses campers and staff, but will be the brides location that weekend. It also is the newly renovated kitchen and cafeteria where the rehearsal dinner will take place. The huge barn (or gym as the campers call it) is where the reception will be. I love the rustic feel of this place. I am very traditional, old fashioned, and love vintage rustic things. So this place is perfect. The director is so nice and easy to work with. He will basically let you do anything, decorate anyway you want as long as you don't burn anything down!! I'm hoping with the time of year, Spring, that the leaves will be bright, the grass freshly mowed, and that it will be the vision that Johnnie and I want. I am so excited that my mom is crafty and talented as she is making all the decorations. It will be beautiful and I hope everyone that comes will take in the beauty of this place and love it as much as we do.

www.campsertoma.org

Honeymoon is set!

Johnnie and I have finalized our honeymoon and we couldn't be more excited! We are spending six nights, seven days at Disney World! We are such big kids and are so ready to spend our honeymoon being silly, riding rides, eating with characters, shopping, and having a blast! We are going to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Universal Studios, and Downtown Disney. We are eating with Donald Duck, Lilo and Stitch, Pooh and Pals, Disney Princesses, and enjoying many shows, fireworks, parades, and even an Aloha Show. I can't say it enough about how excited we are. We have our resort, our dining reservations, our events, etc all booked and just waiting on us to get there!! And since Johnnie and I both had houses before moving in together and don't need anything, we are creating a Disney Honeymoon Registry where family and friends can be a part of our memory as well!! Get ready Florida, the Moore's are coming!!!

Six Months Oh My Goodness!!

Tomorrow will officially be six months until Johnnie and I are married! It's hard to believe that when I started this blog we were at ten months and it seemed like it would be the longest ten months ever! And now we are at six months and I have so much to do!!! I am ordering our save-the-dates tomorrow and will mail them out as soon as I get them! But there is still so much to do! As excited as I am for the wedding to get here, I also feel like I'm running out of time. But I have a great fiance who wants to help and be involved. He gives me his opinion on everything that I need an opinion on. The next step is making the invitations and figuring out my hair!! I almost think that besides the dress the hair is the second biggest decision to make for the bride!! But my wonderful sister will make it beautiful I'm sure! So with that said there is work to be done! Here is to a stress free six months of planning and finishing touches, hopefully!

Biltmore House, Natalie Grant, and PROPOSAL!!!

This has to be by far my most favorite trip and event so far. It was such a perfect special day and it couldn't have been any better. Ok, it could have been cooler! It was so hot! But other than the heat it was perfect. Johnnie and I got up early and headed to Asheville. The drive was not that bad and we found our hotel and Biltmore fairly easy. We started at Antler Village, which is a small part of Biltmore but pretty cool. We saw the animals, I held a baby chick, we toured the winery and had a wine tasting that was very refreshing, and then we drove down to Deerpark Inn for lunch. It was so good and so worth the money. It is actually the best place to eat at Biltmore for the cost since it is buffet. But it was so pretty. The restaurant is in the shape of a square and has a gorgeous courtyard in the middle. The inside is very pretty and the food very good. But you sit with all the doors open so you can see the flowers, birds and what other nature that may decide to show up. After eating and taking lots of pictures, we headed to the Biltmore House. Again this was a first for Johnnie and I was so happy that we are doing a lot of firsts together. We enjoyed walking through each room and reading about the history. Again, the only negative is it was very hot and the Biltmore House is not air conditioned! After our tour we went to the shops and walked around, we got something to drink and some ice cream, and rested for a minute. The Natalie Grant concert wasn't until 8 pm so we had two hours to fill. We headed towards the gardens as we hadn't been there yet. I wish we hadn't of been so tired because we didn't get to walk the whole gardens and I'm sure there were many flowers we missed out on. But what we did get to see was beautiful. We walked around and took many pictures, rested on some benches and headed towards the conservatory. It was warm in there but they did have some fans going so it wasn't too bad. We walked around and headed towards this bench in the corner surrounded by flowers. We sat and rested and talked. Before our trip we had bought each other cards to give each other. We didn't know the card the other bought, but fate had it that we bought the exact same card. We opened our cards and read them and told each other how much we loved each other. I was already crying from reading the cards that it took me by surprise to see Johnnie moving to his knees. And then I started crying more. Our conversation is special between the both of us but he did ask and I did say yes! We called our parents, my sister, and I pretty much yelled to everyone that walked by that I just got engaged!! We are so incredibly happy and in love and I can't wait to become husband and wife. So how do you top that? An awesome faith filled concert by Natalie Grant. She is my favorite Christian artist and I was so thankful to Johnnie for taking me to see her, when he would have rather seen KISS or Alice in Chains!!! But we both really enjoyed the concert and I felt God there with me that night. She sang one of her more popular songs "The Real Me" where she talks about how you see the real me, the insecurities, being vulnerable, etc. We both held each other and cried. We have both been in dark spots in our past lives that this moment meant everything to us. God has truly been in our lives from the start and he planned out our lives before we were born that we would one day meet and be together. It was the best weekend we have had so far! Saturday we stopped by the lake house on our way home and spent time with my parents. They are both so happy for us and love Johnnie so much. They also believe God brought us together at the right time in our lives. We played in the water and had lunch and then proceeded home. On Sunday we saw Johnnie's parents, sister, aunt and cousins and were just so happy to finally be engaged. Even though we have been planning our wedding for months now, to be engaged and have that promise that you have made to each other makes it all the more special. I will never forget this weekend. And God made that possible!

Oh the Places We Will Go!

I am so happy that I have found someone that likes to travel to places and do fun things together. Whether it be a day trip, weekend trip, or even longer. Our first fun day trip was to the NC Zoo. We had so much fun and the weather couldn't have been better. We will definitely make this a yearly trip as it is cheap and local.









Our next big adventure was the beach. I had not been to the beach in 10 years so needless to say when I saw the ocean I was a kid in a candy store. I even called my mom to tell her how pretty the water was! We had the best time and enjoyed every minute of it.



One of the highlights of our trip was Broadway at the Beach and Ripley's Aquarium. Johnnie had never been and I was so excited to share this with him.









I can't wait to see where our next adventures take us. We have such a good time together that I know no matter where we go or what we do we will always laugh and enjoy spending time together!

Our Boys

I always said that whoever I fell in love with and loved me had to love my babies. Right from the start Johnnie proved to me that he would love my boys like they were his own. He loves dogs and fell in love with Jake and Charlie pretty quick. Jake is now 9 and Charlie is 2. He is going to make a great father one day. I see how much love he has for my sweet puppies and I can't wait to see that love in him with a child. I am very fortunate to have found the perfect daddy for my boys!

How We Met and Our First Date

In this day and time it is not unusual to met online. Neither Johnnie or I go to bars, clubs, etc so we weren't likely going to meet anyone that way. Personally I wouldn't date someone I work with and the church I went too was mainly elderly people. So needless to say, we met online.
I emailed Johnnie first. There was something about his eyes and smile that drew me in. I read his profile and felt we had a lot in common. So I emailed him, introduced myself, sent a picture and anxiously waited. I received a response pretty quick, but it was a thank you but no thank you. He says he was interested, but due to the distance he wanted someone closer. So I emailed him back saying I understood and we talked about our past experiences. I offered him my friendship saying I had been in the same place if he ever wanted to talk. I was disappointed that he didn't want to meet, but I had to keep trying. There was something about him that wouldn't let me give up. So we emailed a few more times and before I knew it he called me. A few days later we agreed to meet. Halfway between Winston and Snow Camp in the big city of Greensboro we met. We had already agreed to go eat at PF Changs.
Neither one of us had ever been there and had heard it was really good. We met right off 40 at Olive Garden. I was so nervous. I really wanted this to work and him to like me. I pulled up and he met me at the door of my car and gave me a hug before I even got out. My first thoughts were, "he is so cute"! I got in his truck and off we went to PF Changs. The restaurant was so pretty. We didn't know to have a reservation so we sat in the bar area. Our food was so good. The waiter was great and even gave us a free entree to try since it was our first time. We would both agree and say it was our best first date ever!

Ten Months!

Ten months from today Johnnie and I will become husband and wife. We are both so excited and happy to be sharing this voyage together. We continue to learn more about each other everyday and grow as a couple and individually. As I think about the day ten months from today, I see him standing at the end of the chapel with this huge gorgeous grin on his face. I know I will cry, because I'm an emotional person, but it will be huge tears of joy. I have waited for this day my whole life, and waited for this man. This man that loves me unconditionally, whole heartedly, through the good and the bad, the happy and the sad. I never knew men like him really existed and he has shown me what love really is. I have prayed to God to bring me someone to show me love and someone to share my life with. He has brought us both through so much that we are blessed beyond words that we found each other. I can't wait for April 14, 2012!

Our Blog

Welcome to our blog! We (or really Jessica) wanted to start a blog to update our family and friends on our life right now, our soon to be wedding, and our future. I love to write and I really enjoy blogging. Hopefully you will enjoy reading and seeing pictures of what we are up to, getting information on the wedding, and seeing what the future holds for us. We are excited to start our life together and invite you to join the ride with us!