Push the Button, Commander!

The title of this blog post is brought to you by one of our favorite married couples: Ryan (who is one of Mr. Lion's Groomsmen) and Emily (who is one of my best friends from grad school).  We were at Disney World (as most of my great stories begin), and we were on EPCOT's Mission Space.  For those of you who have never been on Mission Space, there actually is a mission.  You have to push a button.  The problem?  The ride simulates space and all of its super fun gravitational effects.  So, when you try to push a button, it's nearly impossible to lift your arm because it feels like it weighs three tons.  Each passenger gets a different role and Emily was assigned "Commander."  When it was her turn to push the button, Ryan kept screaming "PUSH THE BUTTON, COMMANDER!" but it was too hard for her to lift her arm!  He truly believed that if she failed to complete her part of the mission, they would be doomed.  Of course, it's a ride and that's not the case.  She finally made it and accomplished the mission, but not without giving us an amazing Ryan story.

But I digress.

This post is about our first engagement gift that we received.  Sister Lioness, who is my Maid of Honor, is an incredibly generous, thoughtful, and creative human being.  She wanted to do something special not just for me, but for the entire bridal party.  She loved the idea of custom tees for bachelorette parties and pre-wedding pampering, but she wanted something that we could use over and over again, something that would be versatile enough to be used for a variety of occasions.

Hive, allow me to introduce to you The Embroidery Shoppe.

Source: The Embroidery Shoppe on Facebook

The Embroidery Shoppe is a small business based out of Gainesville, Florida, home of my Florida Gators.  I'm a huge fan of artisans who are able to turn their craft into something lucrative (more about Etsy later).  I first heard about The Embroidery Shoppe through one of my sorority sisters.  This company is a Southern sorority girl's dream.  They hand-craft totes, koozies, and buttons with the preppiest of materials in order to create one-of-a-kind accessories.  Sister Lioness had this made for me about a year ago in honor of Timmy's last season with the Gators:

 Personal photo: Is that a gameday necessity or what?

So when Sister Lioness decided that she wanted something all of the bridesmaids could wear over and over again, she knew who to contact.  I had told her that our wedding colors would be some shade of green and white, with some accent color (which later turned out to be aqua).  She collaborated with the girls at The Embroidery Shoppe and decided on fabric, font, etc.  Here's what they came up with:

Source: The Embroidery Shoppe on Facebook  Yup, they totally featured OUR buttons!  How fun is that?!

If that doesn't say Southern spring wedding, I don't know what does!  They're even cuter in person, and The Embroidery Shoppe truly did a brilliant job when making them.  The quality really is amazing!  My girls absolutely loved them, and we plan to wear them for showers, the bachelorette party, and while getting ready before the wedding.  Most of all, I just appreciated the effort Sister Lioness put forth in order to have them made.  I'm certainly a lucky bride!

What was your first gift as an engaged couple?  What was sentimentally significant about it?