Wedding Spotlight :: JoAnna

JoAnna and I grew up together, starting at First Baptist, but truly solidified our friendship in high school in the Sonic parking lot. My friendship with JoAnna is deep, accepting and fun - I think I have shared more laughs with JoAnna than anyone else.

Throughout high school we simply had fun. I think our motto was generally to hell with everyone/thing else, lets just do what makes us happy. This means we had lots of Hawaiian Punch, inside jokes, and crazy nights in Wal-Mart (Brenham is a small town).

We ventured to Mexico on our South Padre trip with Tessa, we snuck out on our girl scout trip to Cancun, went to dances every weekend and truly had a blast going through high school. Since going to different far away colleges, we unfortunately to do not see or keep in touch as much as I think we both would like. Despite that, JoAnna is a lasting, loving and understanding friend. I appreciate and love her and am thankful she will be in my wedding.

Wedding Spotlight :: Jamie H.

Jamie H. became my newest family member two years ago when she married my brother. I am really thankful to be able to call Jamie my sister.


Jamie is fun. Like really fun. So fun that I recommend you inviting her to any and all of your parties. On a more serious note, she is also really thoughtful and always cares about others. I appreciate how supportive she has been in over the years and I am really happy that Jamie has become a part of our family. By the way, she is also really witty and has a great blog, Snocones and Sunshine.

Wedding Spotlight :: Amanda

Amanda and I were freshman year roommates at A&M - Krueger fourth floor by the trash shoot. We had a blast. Although I scared Amanda on the phone the first time we talked (apparently her idea of the dream roommate did not include someone who loved the color pink, stickers, flowers etc.) we quickly became good friends and have remained great friends.

Amanda and I shared a pet hampster, an eccentrically decorated room, drinks at during our RA's mandatory meetings and matching dresses.

Amanada is the picture of the perfect friend. I love Amanda and wish we lived closer together so we could hang out more. Amanda will be a bridesmaid at my wedding.

By the way, Amanda is SUPER fun, and I highly recommend everyone become her friend.

Suprise Book Wedding Shower

Last Thursday, my book club (yes, I am in a book club and I love it), surprised me with a book wedding shower. The shower was a complete surprise and perfectly fitting for the book club.

I received some great titles including a Dave Ramsey, couples devotional, lots of advice books, questionnaire books and more. Not sure how much reading I will get done between now and March 26 but my bookshelf is full and overflowing with love. I am certain these books will not only help Joe and I grow closer but they will bring us closer to God, and in turn make us a stronger couple.

I am very blessed to have such a great group of girls in Conroe! Thanks book clubbers!


By the way, our most recent read was Water for Elephants and it was FANTASTIC - everyone liked it and that is saying a lot for our diverse group. I recommend it.

Wedding Spotlight :: Jamie M.

My cousin Jamie will be a bridesmaid in my wedding. Jamie and I are the same age so at family events we always hung out and would spend a week or two over the summer at each others houses. When we were younger, Jamie was my favorite person to play Barbies, in high school we met up at dances, and in college we were roomies our last year at A&M.

With our other roommate Cheryl after fountain hopping/elephant walk at TAMU

Needless to say, we have lots of fun memories between the two of us. To this day, I think of Jamie whenever the song "Neon Moon" comes on thanks to a game night with Joe and Adam. I am really thankful to have Jamie in the wedding, but am way more thankful she is in my life!

Something Old

At my wedding, I will have the honor of wearing my Granny's "Children's Ring" as my something old. This ring was a gift from her kids - all NINE of them - and it was something she wore everyday. The gold ring has a birthstone from each of her kids on it and is really pretty.


Because we lived in the same town, I had the privilege of visiting Granny just about every day when I was in high school, and close to that when I was younger. In between classes at high school and Blinn (college), I had about an hour break, and I would go over and eat lunch with her. We would talk about what it was like in "the good ole' days", what my mom and other aunts and uncles where like when they were growing up, and everything else under the sun. I am incredibly thankful that I had the opportunity to spend so much time with her during her last years.

Today, I am constantly reminded of my Granny. I have taken many of her hobbies as my own (gardening, sewing, having chickens, etc.) and while I do not even have a smidgen of her skill level, its nice to hold onto our connection.

My Granny passed away when I was a senior in high school and it was incredibly difficult to deal with. Since her passing, each of the women in the Borchgardt family that have gotten married have included Granny's ring as their something old. I will be honored to continue this tradition on my wedding day, holding this physical piece of my Granny with me me, all the while knowing that that our connection goes beyond a ring.

Stained Glass Project

A while back I had the brilliant idea that I should be able to make a faux stained glass that I could hang in my window and possibly use in some of the windows at the wedding. I did some searches for ways to do this and everything I found required baking, special paint, and frankly lots more work that I was interested in doing. I like projects to be cheap and easy. That being said, I also like my projects to look expensive and not like projects. I decided the faux stained glass windows were not in my immediate future and forgot about the project.

Then I stumbled upon Suzy's Sitcom thanks to my favorite thrifty/crafty blog ever, All Things Thrifty. At Suzy's Sitcom she made faux stained glass windows, with regular elmers glue, clear elmers glue, black craft paint, colorful craft paint, a sharpie and an old picture frame with glass. In essence, these are all materials that qualify for a good, cheap project for me... As long as it was easy.

I painted two glasses, each with a "W" as the center image (first letter of my future last name). I think these turned out ok but but be way better if I had more patience, chose my color scheme more selectively, and put on the coats of paint more thick evenly. Also, the individual color blocks should have been bigger. It took forever trying to paint all the tiny shapes.

Again mine did not turn out great and will not make an appearance at the wedding but I do think its nice in my window.

Anyway, I think this is a fun project - check out Suzy's Sitcom for step by step directions.