Notice: Semi-Permanent Blogging Freeze

Hey Y'all!

This is Bethany speaking (typing actually). Okay, well have you noticed we haven't been blogging lately? Yeah you probably have (sorry 'bout that). But, I (Bethany) have had something that God pressed upon my heart to change in my life. Weddings (and the Wedding Industry) have helped me sorta "find myself" over this past year. That's a long story in and of itself. But that's for another time. Anyhoo, weddings have become an obsession really. It may not be a huge I-have-to-spend-every-waking-moment-looking-at-weddings-in-print-or-on-the-web sorta shindig, but it's still an obsession nonetheless. If you follow the trail Obsession->Idol->A God. And the 1st & 2nd commandment state this:

1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me."

2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them."


So, I must abolish this idol before it becomes overpowering. I will be giving up weddings from January 1st, 2011 till the last day of my Sophmore year in 2012. Yeah, that long. That means no wedding blogging, no reading wedding blogs, no drawing wedding dresses, no planning future wedding businesses, looking up my favorite vendors, etc. etc. So, Elianna and I have agreed to freeze SFAB till that day in '12. I can't promise you we'll be back blogging, but there is a minimal, minimal chance. I must focus on my schoolwork now and give it my all 110% and focus on my spiritual life 1110+%. Yes, this seems like a daunting task, but to me, it sounds luxurious! I will miss the wedding world a ton! I can assure you that. But right now I just want to be completely drowned in Christ alone. Gotcha?

I'm pretty sure that is where my career will be, but right now it's all about Christ, school, family, deep friendships (not shallow ones) and the dog! Okay well the last one will be included in the family department ;) Weddings will wait. If I don't know the latest trend or the newest wedding on SMP, I'll be O.K. Really, I will.

I need clarity and depth in my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. At the end of this life nothing else will matter. That is why this time in my life when I have no bills to pay and nothing to worry about (except schoolwork deadlines), needs to be focused on HIM. Alone.

Other important things need part of my attention too: family, deep friendships, schoolwork (*cough, cough*) and the lovely dog of mine.

As I write this post, I'm already thinking about my future in the wedding industry. But that will have to wait. It will, and it can. I need to focus on God first and foremost, if He has led me to to wedding industry for some reason, I'm sure He'll bring me back there in His own way and His own timing. I have to let Him write my life story.

(P.S. Thanks to everyone who has helped me with this in one way or another, you might know who you are if we specifically talked about it; or you might not know who you are if something that you said, or something that you did impacted me in a way on this subject: Elianna {in a ton of ways}; Mom {for your wise words}; Dad; Auntie C; Choxie; JenR; Riah; SarB; TalP; EllG; CatG {S&A too}; CassE; HannB;----If you want an explanation please ask me next time I see you or call/email me.....Thank you each and every one of you!)

If you want a deeper explanation (aka megapost) on this, please visit my personal blog where I will be blogging my journey: http://damaskdreams.blogspot.com

Or follow me on Twitter (which I 'll try to update often): http://twitter.com/bethanyaleshire

Or if you feel lead email me: bloggingbethany@gmail.com I'd love to hear from you!

As I hit publish on this post, I'm hesitant. But it's got to be done. As Lara Casey says, "Feel the fear and do it anyway!" That is what I'm doing.

Publish Post.

Done.

Before the Wedding

Well, I'm back! It's been a while but that's okay. While Bethany will be taking you on the Weddings and Water journey, I'll be starting a new series called Before the Wedding, affectionately known as BTW.
So here we go...

Before your wedding there are A LOT of things you need to prep for. It can be pretty stressful if you don't know how to handle it. Below is a list of things that will be discussed in the series. We'll be taking each thing one by one to help you better know how to handle them.

1. Budget~ Know how much you want to spend on: dresses, ceremony, reception, etc.
2. People~ Know who you want to have in and at your wedding
3. Colors~ What are your colors? Have 1-3 colors. Four is just distracting.
4. Place~ Where is it going to be? At home or abroad?
5. Food~ Budget matters!!!! How many people are coming? A lot or a little? A suggestion: a little- sit down dinner, a lot- dessert and drinks only
6. Music/Dancing~ DJ or quartet? Are you going to dance?
7. Dresses~ David's Bridal or designer dress? Are you paying for wedding attendants dresses? Will they be the same dress or different? Will they be the same color of different colors?

These are all questions that you need to ask to prep for the wedding. Now, don't freak out! I know it's a lot but they are necessary things to do. They are stressful though, so make sure and have some fun time with your buddies or some quality time with your husband to be.

But wait! That's not all! On top of all the physical prep there's also emotional prep.

Marriage isn't temporary. It's permanent, eternal, forever. As you are about to get married you need to prepare for marriage mentally as well so that you can be a good spouse. Once you become man and wife, you're eternally bound together. Like Bethany said, water is a great symbol of marriage. It signifies purity and cleanliness. In some ways your marriage should be like water. Did you know that surface tension is a phenomenon that allows the molecules of a liquid to bond together and not break? Your marriage should be like that. You, your husband, and family should hold together even when things are tough. Last time I checked, the wedding vows say, "till death do us part" not "unless it doesn't work out do us part". I hope you understand the serious beauty of the gift and treasure of marriage.

So now that I've given you a little (okay a lot ;-P) bit of what BTW is going to be like, I hope you'll look forward to more! I'm going to stop rhapsodizing now!

Weddings & Water-Intro

Weddings and Water are two pea's in a pod. Water covers the majority of the earth, we drink it,it cleanses us, it relieves us when we are emotional by crying tears, it drapes us and enfolds us when we dive into a pool. It is our life source, in a sense. We wouldn't be able to survive 24 hours without it. So it isn't unusual that weddings and water go hand in hand.


As a Bride & Groom you are committing yourselves to each other for eternity. It is not a small task at all, but it can be one of the, if not most, rewarding risk in your life! You are purifying yourselves and starting anew as one life. Water serves as a perfect symbolical symbol of this.


In weddings, chances to use water are pretty innumerable. You can have water blue bridal party dresses, water centerpieces, including a water mingling ceremony, get married by the water, or even get married in the water!


I absolutely love water. It is a minimalist, clear, dazzling, purifying and refreshing element of nature. The perfect theme, or accessory, for a wedding.


So I'm starting a new series called Weddings & Water or W&W for short here on Sheek Forever After.


Thank You and Enjoy!

A Yellow & Gray Burst

I know I have posted for over a month *Eeek!!!*, but hopefully an inspiration board or two will get it going again. Right? Anyways, this board is a gray and yellow themed board. Yellow and gray is a modern, elegant, and fun color combo. Think of a gray, gloomy, rainy day, until the sun peeks out from behind its sheet. That what I want this board to show.

My life was gloomy and saddening, until you came around and shone your face into my life.

-Myself

Another Week....

It's been an entire week. I know, I know, I need to get posting again. Elianna won't be back until next week, so the yoke and weight is on me till then. I'm off to classes, so I'll leave you with a picture I took yesterday and a quote.

The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path. - Jim Rohn

Purple Glitz & Glam

Hello Everyone!

Well, today was my first day of school, yep. It was great. The only sad part is now I want to do something, or read a new book I got, or blog some great posts! And I suddenly realize: I can't. I actually have a "job" (I consider school a "job" because of the extensive hours working on it and it is my main gig) now. Wow. Okay, so that will take some time to get used to, but I will still make time for blogging, reading, communicating, etc. Just not in such extensive time limits. So blogging will be slower for the first couple of weeks, so bare with us! Plus Elianna is away on vacation for two weeks. So today's inspiration board is all about the dazzling, sparking, and glamorous! Enjoy today's post!!

Black & White Simple Delight

Black and white (for me) is perection. Two opposites (more like the opposites) together on, or in the same event, fabric, room, etc. is, simply, stunning. It's down to basics with flair. I created this inspiration board on one of my favorite blogs, Style Me Pretty. Enjoy!

First Thing First...

Okay first things first. Please don't get Sheek Forever After confused with Shrek Forever After. They're TOTALLY different things! Shrek is ogres; Sheek is fashionable wedding planning. Shrek is weird; Sheek is fabulous! So if you're looking for Shrek... You're in the WRONG place! But Sheek... Now that's a different story.
Later, I'd like to mention a couple things that Sheek offers. I will write more later!

Beach Bliss Inspiration Board

I created an inspiration board @ Style Me Pretty right now. The theme: Simple Beach Bliss, Muted Color Palette, Nothing Bold. If you like the board please comment!

About Sheek Forever After-Part I

Since Sheek Forever After was started just yesterday I thought I'd give you a lowdown on how we got started. This was not a slam-bam job. Elianna and I all worked very hard together on all of the aspects of this blog in the past months. We still have more to put into writing, but school is around the bend and approaching fast. Here is how everything got started:

How We Knew Each Other

I (Bethany) have know Elianna since Fall of '09. We used to go to the same church together. We had been introduced before but nothing more than that. Until one youth group night and we found out we had so much in common (dance, homeschooling, dogs, etc.)and we couldn't stop chatting that night. It seems that hasn't changed, even today ;) We are now best friends and always talking one way or another.

(Remember this is only from my viewpoint. I'm working on getting Elianna's viewpoints)

How The Idea Got Started

Well, Elianna and I tried out a different youth group one night and I was thinking about talking about weddings once the youth group got dismissed (weddings was my newest obsession...I get hooked on a lot of things). The topic came up on its own, without me saying anything, and well, both of us loved weddings. We wanted to start a wedding planning business, but sensibility (and um...homework thoughts) got the best of us. We brainstormed and came up with starting a blog. Perfecto! Both of us love writing, weddings, wedding blogs, and it's somewhat easier and cheaper to start. It just takes hard work. That takes us to where we are now.

Part 2 coming later on.

Hey All!

Hello everyone! We are writing our first post! Sheek Forever After will walk you through ways to plan your weddings, ideas, and lots more. We will also have the links to several other wedding blogs, so that you get a wide variety of ideas. One of our bloggers, Elianna, designs wedding dresses and will be posting some of her designs. We will also have lots of photos of of different weddings and ideas! Hopefully you will be inspired through our blog, and will get lots of fashionable advice.