We're on the Web!

Hi Everyone!

We're happy to announce the release of our wedding website!

www.JanelleandRenard.com 

Hope you all enjoy!

Mission Accomplished

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with the wedding, but....

I am elated and excited as I have officially completed all requirements for obtaining my MBA. It feels soooooooooooo good. I seriously can’t stop smiling. God has blessed me beyond measure and I am truly thankful and appreciative for that. My 3 year long journey is officially complete, and I am now Janelle Faulkner, MBA.

Renard, your time is almost here!! I’m counting down with you!

May 2008- Study Aboard: CHINA

7 MONTHS TO GO!

7 MONTHS, 212 DAYS, 5 HOURS, 54 MINUTES, AND 06 SECONDS

GRATEFUL~

I've finally said Yes to the DRESS!! As I mentioned in earlier posts its been a long journey toward finding the perfect dress, but I have finally found it. Words can't describe the excitement and joy that I feel. I am excited to finally be able to move on to the next phase of planning.

Side note: This journey with Renard has been so fun and insightful as we are continuing to learn more about one another in preparation for our union. We are actively using this time to understand what God's word says concerning marriage so that we may be prepared for what is to come.

One of my favorite scriptures on love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Be Blessed

Thee Honeymoon..

Hello everyone!  Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and most importantly stayed fit...if not, make sure you stay on the move because the Holiday Season is just starting and holiday parties, CHRISTmas dinner(s) and New Year Brunch plans are starting to come together for everyone!  So remember to stay healthy during this season of fine eating! :-)

Well folks! I really need you're help here!--Like really, really, really...I need your help (yes YOU!!!!). I need everyone involved in this process...so I hope you're all able to follow the Blog because I will need your input/comments...The question I want to open to everyone is...

Where do you think Janelle and I should go for our Honeymoon!?!?!?

Hope everyone is able to answer...unfortunately, the only way to answer is by following the blog to the upper right corner of the page...We look forward to seeing everyone's feedback!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family. I pray that you will continue to thank and honor God for all the blessings and mercies he's bestowed upon your lives. May this day be filled with love and gratitude toward the people you love~

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1

**Engagement Pics**

You guys should know I always have a story to tell...so this one today includes the pre-release / sneak peak of our Engagement Pics. So on Sunday night the photographer provided a "Sneak Peak" of some of the pics via FB...well the pics were great and I commented on them and sent the link to Janelle (via FB). She commented too of course...so we couldn't wait to post the pics to the blog, but it was almost too late, because word got out on FB that morning and of course we had no clue how...Well it took us awhile, but we found the culprit...FB News Feed!! :-)

But you didn't come here to read a long drawn out message from me! You're here to look at the video of the pics :-) (I wonder who just started the video w/o even reading my nonsense! lol)

Hope you guys enjoy! Also, be sure to check out some of Gary Ngo's work on his FB Page! We highly recommend him!

Lastly, the setting of the pictures are in Georgetown and at Georgetown University.

Janelle & Renard from *Dada* on Vimeo.

The Girls

I am so blessed to have such wonderful sisters and friends in my life as they are testaments of real, true and loving relationships.

I am so excited to have the ladies in my bridal party supporting and guiding me on my journey of becoming Mrs. Miller. Even though I have verbally invited each of them to be a part of my wedding, I wanted to personally invite them in my own unique way. For those of you that know me know I love arts and crafts, so I decided to use that to portray my request of asking them to support me on my special day. I thought of so many different ways of portraying this to the girls and finally decided on a picture framed wedding collage for each of them. Along with their frames came a personalized note expressing my deep appreciation and love for each of them. Below are two examples.

Go DJ... that's my DJ!!!

So Renard and I met with a potential DJ last night. I absolutely loved his work. He thoroughly walked us through each detail and step of the wedding as it pertains to the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. He had great musical selections to accent each detail of the wedding that we went through. Y'all I love music, so I was just a jamming in my seat trying to keep my composure (I even got choked up on a few). I love an 'ole school flare and would love to incorporate a portion of that into the wedding. After meeting last night we also realized that we really need to start finalizing our key songs. We've thought about some but haven't finalized anything.

Hopefully, within the next couple of weeks we will be able to finalize our DJ and move on to the next item of business.


7♥9♥11

The Search Continues...

Ha… Renard beat me to it…. So today marks seven months since our engagement on April 17th, 2010. It’s amazing how time flies when you’re having fun. I love him more and more each day.

As for wedding planning, things are moving along. There is one thing however, that is moving much slower than I ever anticipated and that is finding my wedding dress. But through it all I am remaining patient. My first attempt to searching for the dress was running of the Brides DC. For those of you who don’t know what that is, Filene’s Basement hosts a yearly event in various cities around the US where brides-to-be come from all over to find their dream dress at bargain prices (for those of you who know me, know I love a deal). The event for DC was held at Mazza Gallerie. Words can’t describe the excitement and adrenalin that was pumping through the crowd as brides came far and wide for this event. Some brides began waiting in line the night before to be the first to choose from the gown selection. Our team thoroughly enjoyed the event, the people and the atmosphere but unfortunately I left ROB empty handed.

Check out the link below for Team Miller (we’re in the yellow t- shirts). Also, I want to publicly thank these ladies again for all of their love and support. ALL WE DO IS WIN!!!!

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/running-of-the-brides-the-hunt-for-the-perfect-wedding-dress-073010

After ROB, I continued my search in Philly (my hometown) and New York. Both places had great selections, but some places were either far out of my reach or just not my style. I know exactly what I want so it’s just a matter of finding it. However, there is one dress that I still have my eye on. Time is winding down so I know I need to find my dress very soon, so the search continues. Hopefully, when I continue my quest after Thanksgiving I will be able to find the one. Can’t wait for the day when I can say yes to the dress!!

Signed,

Patient Bride-to-Be

Happy Anniversary! (well sorta!)

April 17, 2010 seems like it was such a long time ago...but today marks our 7th month of being engaged :-)...wow!  Funny thing is it feels like we have not missed a beat!  Everyday we continue to grow and learn more and more about each other...still anticipating July 9, 2011 tho(that day can't seem to come any sooner!)...to think, by that time of the wedding we would have been enaged for nearly 15 mos. (my goodness!) :-)...but in the end it will be worth the wait!

The Happenings!

Hey everyone! 2 posts in one day! I guess I'm on a roll!  Well, although this entry won't relate much to the wedding and/or the planning...it's just more of "the happenings"...the fun and amazing things Janelle and I share and enjoy in our lives!

So, as I mentioned in the previous post, a lot has been going on lately.  We're starting to get the wheel turning on the wedding planning as we're basically in the vendor analysis stage (wow, that sounds like something I would say at work!) as we plan to meet with many of our vendors for the reception. But in between that time, we've had some other great things come around...

For example, we traveled up to Philadelphia for Janelle's Dad's 70th Birthday Dinner Celebration.  It was an amazing dinner and great times as Mr. Faulkner shared a great evening with his family and friends in a reception style atmosphere that was all planned by Mrs. Faulkner.  It was so great, I had to nudge Mrs. Faulkner and tell her she could be a planner for our wedding (really! it was that good!...good times! SN: See how I tied that back to this being a wedding blog :-)

On to Part II of our adventures...this past Sunday (after our engagement pics) Janelle and I went to our first hockey game as the Washington Capitals played the Atlanta Thrashers.  Well before I go into detail on our rude awakening, I first have to mention that it was beautiful outside that day.  I believe it was in the mid-60's all day with clear skies.  So of course Janelle and I were dressed comfortably going to the game in our "Rock the Red" gear (everyone wears the Caps primary color red to the game), but upon entering the building the stewardess told us that we were going to freeze to death inside of the arena.  Quite frankly I paid no mind to what she was saying...that is until we got to our seats and I realized what she meant.  I kid you not, but the AC was on at the Verizon Center...I wish I could have told you how cold it was in there but it was brisk.  Never did I expect it to be that cold in the arena, but regardless we enjoyed ourselves and witnessed the Caps win 6-4!  Hockey definitely beats going to an NBA game!

Lastly, but certainly it wasn't supposed to be our least favorite thing to do was our 4th Annual Redskins game outing and what better game could we have gotten tix for this season than against our divisional rival and Janelle's hometown team (although she's a converted Skins fan now...bless her heart! :-) the Philadelphia Eagles!  Well folks, I'm sure many of you already know the outcome of that game, so it's no use going into detail!  But I will say this much, regardless of the score it was a great time and being the true fans that we are, we stayed until the last whistle blew...in the cold and rain! Now that's devotion! Go Skins!

My next entry will go into detail about what we learned from our 3rd marriage counseling session: Biblical Roles for Husbands & Wives!  So stay tuned, you don't want to miss out on that one!

Sneak Peak!

Hey everyone!  Please be patient with the two of us.  We have been extremely busy of late trying to get thing planned out, so we hope to share many updates over the next couple of days as lots has been going on!  But just to provide a little sneak peak into what we have been up to...we actually took engagement pics this past Sunday...and thought that we would share just 1 of our pics for now! :-)

Hope you guys enjoy!

...and don't worry, more will be posted when they're ready! :-)

First Time Bloggers Anyone?

YAY!!!! It's up and running!!!

SN: We are not bloggers... but thought this would be a great way to share our engagement journey with close friends and family... so here it goes... Enjoy!!!

See you all on 7.9.11

7.9.11

After visiting and researching various venues in the DMV and the greater Philadelphia area, we decided that the site for our wedding ceremony and reception will be on and at.... (drum roll please)...

7.9.11 @ The Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center  

Click here to view a nice slide show of past weddings that have been at the venue!

 

The Proposal *April 17, 2010*

Janelle & Renard started the morning by attending a gospel brunch on the Spirit of Washington

Afterwards, Renard was supposed to take Janelle to a co-worker’s baby shower... but instead he convinced her  that they should make a quick detour so that they could see a Venus Fly Trap (something random Renard made up) on display at the Botanic Gardens

Upon arriving at the Botanic Garden…
A table was set up near the First Ladies Water Garden w/ flowers

The garden was very special to Renard as it serves as a tribute to the First Ladies of our nation and he thought this was the perfect place to ask Janelle to be his “First Lady”!

As  they took a seat at the table which contained the flowers, Renard started by telling Janelle how special she is to him…

Renard  then asked Janelle what her favorite color was, she said purple so he told her to pick one of the purple flowers

·         first flower pick was empty...

·       2nd pick -- jackpot baby!

 Then of course was the proposal…yes, he got on one knee

·        Renard: I am ready to be your husband, will you marry me?

·        Janelle: Yes!

 

As they continued to talk, they headed to the capital for some more candid shots

Afterwards, Renard told Janelle not to talk to anyone, because he had a full day planned and he assured her that once the day was over she would be able to talk to whomever she would like.

After our walk to the capital we took a tour of the Botanic Gardens…really quite nice

Renard told Janelle that there was one thing that he forgot to pick up, so he told her we had to make a quick stop at his cousins home -- to her surprise their family and friends were there to greet  and surprise her

This was really special to her as family of her’s came from far and wide

The rest is history being shared together from this moment on…