Welcome Author Leigh Duncan

Please welcome my local RWA STAR chapter author and friend, Leigh Duncan! She is a great writer and such an encourager. I feel so encouraged after being with her.

Her newest release, Rodeo Daughter, was a Romantic Times Top Pick! Well, I'll let her tell you about it.


 Rodeo Daughter Summary:
Amanda Markette’s years on the professional rodeo circuit led to dreams of a home without wheels with a family-first kind of guy.  That man is definitely not her old boyfriend, Mitch Goodwin, rumored to become the county’s next District Attorney.  His demanding job has already cost Mitch one marriage. But Amanda’s plan to keep her distance falls apart when a bad-tempered judge permits the doting father only supervised visitation with his child…under the wary gaze of the one woman whose trust Mitch fears he’ll never win.Rodeo Daughter Reviews:“Readers better hold on to the tissue box.”

--- 4 ½ stars, RT Book Reviews June TOP PICK!

 “Rodeo Daughter is a nostalgic tale of two adolescents falling in love and later finding their way back to each other…I hung on every word.”  

--- Kay Quinton at Fresh Fiction.

 BLOG:  Where Did You Come From?It’s summer in Florida.  The heat index is climbing and the humidity, whew!  Let’s just say everything is soggy and let it go at that.  At our house, the air conditioner runs full time.  The cucumbers in my garden have died back; the first tomato harvest is over and I’m getting ready to start a new crop.  And tiny baby birds chirp from nests in the Chinese Ting that grows outside my office window. So, with all this new life bursting on the scene, is it any wonder that I’ve been asking, “Where did you come from?”  No, this isn’t a lecture on the birds and the bees.  It’s a question about the heroes and the heroines in the stories we write.

Where do they come from? 

For me, every new book starts with the characters.  And because I write romance, I usually “see” the hero or the heroine first.  I’ll be going about my business—shopping, cleaning, cooking, whatever—and one of them will pop into my head.  Sometimes, they wave and keep on going.  There’s a woman in an orange grove who’s been doing that lately.  But she doesn’t stop, so I wave back and let her go, knowing her story isn’t quite ready to be told yet.  When it’s time, she’ll come back and stay a while.  She’ll start talking or she’ll do something that catches my attention. 

That’s how it was with heroine in Rodeo Daughter, my third book for Harlequin American Romance.  Before I even started working on the book, I caught a mental glimpse of a young woman running the barrel race in a rodeo.  At the time, I was knee deep in edits for my second book (The Daddy Catch, June 2011), so I just gave her a nod and went back to work.  She didn’t leave, though.  She hung around.  She’d pop in at the oddest moments.  Each time she did, I got to know her better.  I learned that her name was Amanda Markette, that she and her father had problems they needed to resolve.  She’d given up the rodeo scene and turned her attention to family law.  Recently, she’d moved to Melbourne, FL where her latest client was a prodigal mom determined to win back custody of the daughter she’d abandoned four years earlier.      

All well and good, but what’s a romance without a hero?

Mitch Goodwin took his own sweet time making himself known.  But one day, as I watched Amanda prepare for a case, I noticed this tall, dark-haired man in a business suit cutting through the courthouse.  Right away, I knew my hero had arrived on the scene. Of course, Mitch didn’t think he needed a woman in his life.  He was a workaholic, and he pretty much thought he had it all.  In fact, he’d just received the nod from the outgoing District Attorney and was excited about his prospects of becoming the lead DA.  The only shadow on his bright horizon was the custody suit his ex-wife had filed.  She claimed he didn’t spend enough quality time with their daughter.  She was right, but with his focus set on his career, super-confident Mitch couldn’t see it. 

Clearly, Mitch had lessons he needed to learn.  That’s where my job came in.  The result was Rodeo Daughter, my third book for Harlequin American Romance, one that I hope you’ll enjoy.Bio:

Author Leigh Duncan

Leigh Duncan writes the kind of books she enjoys reading, ones where home, family and community are key to the happy endings we all deserve (The Daddy Catch, June 2011 and The Officer’s Girl, June 2010.).  Rodeo Daughter, her third book Harlequin American Romance.  Leigh is a long-time member of the Romance Writers of America.  When she isn’t busy writing or helping aspiring authors, Leigh enjoys curling up in her favorite chair with a great book. To learn more about her, visit www.leighduncan.com
             

Beautiful Brides: Author Crystal Miller

I had been teaching elementary school and coaching basketball and track for a year when I married Chris at the end of the school year, June 20, 1981. 

He was in medical school and we got married on Saturday and he had to report in to a summer internship on Monday. When we moved to Indianapolis where he started his 2^nd year of med school, he threw this country girl a map of the city of Indianapolis and said, “I don’t have time to show you around.” That was the beginning of many sad and sometimes funny adventures for me.

But, my dress! My mother didn’t have a wedding dress or even a wedding photo. She eloped to Mississippi with my dad. So, I had this grand adventure of shopping for a wedding dress. Only I was not rich and was paying for almost all of the wedding myself, including my dress. 

I tried on oodles and one dress made me feel like a princess—it was so beautiful. Sadly, it was over a $1000.00 and I couldn’t afford that! So, at last I found the dress I’m wearing in a very small shop in the shadier side of town. 

It was a size 14 and I wore a size 6. Gah. It was going to be a major workover. It was a discontinued dress and I thought it was beautiful, plus, it was antiqued-looking, and by a famous designer. The dress shop owner got on the phone and found a size 8 in New York City. And yes, they’d ship it to her. I tried it on just days before my wedding! Phew! And it was exactly the money I had allocated for a dress. Thank you, God!

It had this beautiful Juliet cap & veil, and fabric-covered round buttons all up the back, with seed pearls all over the bodice. I never thought I would have such a dress

The day before our rehearsal, my mother was helping me bring some boxes up to our 2^nd floor apartment in this old house. Across the street lived a teacher I had worked with the year before. 

I hear him calling me from the door downstairs and he says my mother has fallen and is hurt. Her arm looked wrong and her face was scraped from forehead to chin—skin gone and bleeding! 

She insisted she was ok, but Tony (his name) looked at me like, “Are you kidding me?” and I told him to help me get her into the car. (She was soooo stubborn!) 

We walked into the very ER that my husband-to-be was working. Yeah. Ok, so that afforded me a first class pass to get her in right away. While I’m standing there waiting for the doctor to call in a surgeon, every single staff member, including the nurses and doctors came by to meet me! It was a glimpse of what was to come in my marriage, little did I know!

The doctor wanted to take her to surgery to set it, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She was going to be at our wedding if it killed her. (I’m an only daughter.) 

So he loaded her up on pain pills, set it best as he could and sent her home. On my wedding day she was on pain pills and my aunts had covered her scraped face with the thickest pancake makeup ever. 

You could barely tell in the photos that she was in pain or that all the skin was gone from her face! She was so stubborn—I miss her terribly. 

She wanted so much to be at the wedding and to have all those photos of the family all dressed up.

But the best part was that our families not only got along great, but my mom and dad loved my husband as their own. The pastor said some words at the rehearsal that were poignant and loving and each person came up to me to say that he had spoken especially to them. And that made me happiest of all. 

And that dress…I have it tucked away since I have four sons and I’m not sure anyone else will wear it. But it represented something better, as my mom said and she wanted to be there to see it! 

*** 
Crystal Laine Miller spent ten years as an elementary classroom teacher, P.E. teacher and coach before turning in her meticulous lesson plans and whistle for marriage to a gritty, joyful life with an ER doc and staying home with their four sons--band mom and school board duties included.


She’s amassed over 900 published book reviews, articles and columns, was a paid acquisitions reader for agents and editors and has been a judge in the ACFW Genesis Contest for many years. 


She’s served the ACFW Indiana Chapter as vice president, president and advisor and was nominated for the 2008,2009, 2010 and 2011 ACFW Mentor of the Year. Married 31 years with four sons (aged 20+ now,) she has plenty of material for the novel she currently is working on—a contemporary romance laced with humor.

Diary of a Writer: Worthy interruptions!

Goofing on iPhoto with my niece!

Yep, I'm in love.

She's a hoot.

Okay, she landed in the "weird" zone.

Auntie love. I was loosing her attention here.

Wild eyes!

Diary of a Writer: Butt in Chair

Butt in chair
No distractions
Yet they beckon...

Friends, appointments, Facebook, Twitter, email, music, the sound of my own thoughts...

Butt in chair
No distractions
Dreams coming true.

Diary of a Writer: From Lips to Hips - Working Out An Idea

They were too irresistible. Publix cupcakes. So I ate one. After all, I was at a bridal shower, celebrating the upcoming nuptials of a good friend.


White cake with vanilla cream icing. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Yum is not a powerful enough word. 


It was the kind of cupcake you want to savor but after the first bit all you can do it take bite after bite. It's gone so fast you hardly feel full. You're tempted to quick, grab another cupcake and savor it too before the first cupcake calories take effect.


And I so enjoyed eating that cupcake. All five bites it took to wolf it down.


In less than sixty seconds.


I consumed, what, 250-300 calories? Just in a cupcake. And I'm trying to keep my calorie consumption around 1200 a day. Ooops.


When I came home, I decided it was time for a run. So off I go. On a hot, muggy Saturday evening around 5:00.


2 miles run. Plus a mile and a quarter walk, I was on the pavement for 50 minutes. (Hey, I'm s slow runner!)


Fifty minutes of heat and sweat to burn off that cupcake. One minute of pleasure, fifty minutes of grinding it out.


Got to wonder if it's worth it.


But writing is a lot like a really great Publix cupcake. An idea hits! It feels good. Feels right. Pieces of the story spark. You hear the heroine speak. See her move across a crowded room or through the high waving grass of a meadow.


Dialog floats across your mind. Perhaps you develop a high concept line. "Aliens from another world invade an Amish village and take them captive so they can work the land on their home planet." 


Oh, you can see this story just "writing itself." You can't wait to sit at the computer and start pounding it out. I mean, can you imagine? Aliens with no natural knowledge dealing with a people who have no technical knowledge. Move over Konrath, you're going to need room on the bestseller list! 


You sleep on it a day or two. Tell a few writer friends. Jot a few notes. Hash out a few characters. Map out the plot


Finally, emboldened you sit down to write. And what seemed like a smashing, amazing idea goes dead with the first line.


Wait, that sounded so good in my head but now that I see it on paper, it's stupid. There's two "was's" and "a could've been."


But, it's a rough draft. So you power on. But at the 2000 word mark, you're starting to have your doubts. 


Who's going to want a story about Amish and space aliens. Women who read Amish don't read sci fi! And sci fi readers don't care who the aliens capture as long as it's some other race! Oh, what a stupid idea.


But if you don't write it, you have nothing. After a day or two of posting more tweets than is natural for any writer, let alone any human, you give up on the story and wander the kitchen...


In search of a cupcake. In search of your next great idea.


Anyone can get a cupcake of a story idea. But it takes devotion to get that cupcake "off your hips." Sweat. Heat. The grind. You don't feel good. You feel tired and weary. Shaky even.


But if you give up, you'll never finish that story. If you give up, that one great idea will never even have a chance let alone a shot at any kind of success.


I never like my stories when I'm in the throws of writing. I can tell you tale after tale about Sweet Caroline and Love Starts with Elle. Oh mercy. I hit Send to my editor with Love Starts with Elle after getting up at 4:00 a.m. to finished editing the last few page and crawled back in bed, balling my eyes out.


My career was over. I just knew it. 


Dining with Joy... wore me out. Took forever to find the rhythm of that story. But I'm so glad I stayed with it because all of those books have blessed me in one way or another. And blessed readers.


Books are mostly about a marathon race. You have to stick with it. Run every day. Push past the pain. Past the UNinspiration. It's eating broccoli instead of a cupcake.


But oh, you will be so glad you did when the book is finished and you type THE END.


So today, no matter where you are in your writing process, no matter where you are in your life journey, keep at it!


Maybe for you it's about another discipline, another dream you're chasing. Keep at it. Don't give up! 


Quitters never win. Winners never quit.

Diary of a Writer: Spitting out words

That's what I'm doing... spitting out words. I'm on a tight deadline and I started with a Ready! Fire! Aim!


Sometimes that's what you have to do. I'm working it out as I write, thought I've done some plotting, some planning, some character work.


While writing, I'll hit upon moments that feel very real, then write myself out of the moment and wonder what happened.


But I keep writing. It's key to finding the story. Keep writing.


Ignoring the lump in your throat-chest-stomach when the days and time tick by and even 3000 word count days feel like failure.


It's the price and privilege of writing a novel.


Ray Bradbury died today. He encouraged writers with this: “You fail only if you stop writing.”


So true! You can't change what isn't there. That's the best part to me... changing what's there! 


Summer plans are sneaking up. My sister wants to gather at my mom's at the end of the month, but my husband's family is having a get together the first of July. Neither families live near us so we have to decide what to do, when, where and how.


I'm attending the International Christian Retail Show in Orlando later in July, then heading to Portland for the Oregon Christian Writer's Conference.


And there are books to be written.


We've been in our house one year. And the Lord continues to makes adjustments and changes in our lives. Blessings. Moving us forward.


My turret tower is feeling more and more like home. As is the rest of the house. Our neighborhood is peaceful and friendly.


The Wedding Dress is doing well. Thank you all for reading and spreading the news! 

Winners of the Hunt

Hey all,


Thanks for "hunting" with us this week! Hope you all had fun. Lisa announced the winner over on her site but here are the winners from my personal giveaway...


Shelby Lauren
Tzigane Gryder Monda
Tina Meeker
Susan Stahly


Congratulations!!

Scavenger Hunt Stop 17 with Lisa T. Bergren

Welcome to the first ever Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! Make the loop to discover 23 new or upcoming novels, and write down the clue at each stop. 


When you know what the clues say, fill out the Rafflecopter form by June 4, 2012 (midnight EST) at www.LisaBergren.com, and you could be in the running for the grand prize of 23 new, autographed books (if you live in the USA; unsigned if international). 


Note: if you're the winner, you must email the complete statement within 24 hours of notification in order to claim the Grand Prize...so don't miss a stop! Be ready with your answer if you're the lucky winner! No need to email it unless you receive the good word on June 5, 2012.

*** 

Scavenger Hunt Stop 17! With Lisa T. Bergren

 As a part of this scavenger hunt, I’m hosting Lisa T. Bergren. I love Lisa because she's an amazing woman but also because she wrote one of hte first Christian Romances I ever read and I still think of it from time to time. Fifteen years later! 


So it's really cool for me to be hosting her for this Scavenger Hunt, which was her genius idea!

Want some stats on her? Lisa is the best-selling, award-winning author of over 30 books, with more than 1.5 million copies sold.  That's a "Wow!" number.

She’s married to Tim, a liturgical sculptor, graphic designer and musician. They have three kids–Olivia, Emma and Jack.

The book she's featuring here is Glamorous Illusions, which looks fabulous! Don't you love the over?

Here's a bit about the book:

When Cora Kensington learns she is the illegitimate daughter of a copper king, her life changes forever. 


Even as she explores Europe with her new family, she discovers that the most valuable journey is within. 


The first book in the Grand Tour series takes you from the farms of Montana through England and France on an adventure of forgiveness, spiritual awakening, and self-discovery.

A Scavenger Hunt Exclusive from Lisa:

The 2 Sources of Inspiration Behind the Grand Tour Series

#1 The Grand Tour: Ultimate Family Travel

I've been in love with travel for a while now, jazzed when I get to go someplace new and dream about how a place might impact the plot and people in one of my novels. So when I first heard about the Grand Tour, an epic tour that the wealthy sent their young adult children on--to experience the history, politics, culture and people of Europe--I knew it was an idea I wanted to incorporate in a series. For a long time, Tim and I had dreamed about a year away with the kids, doing nothing but touring. Sadly, we never won the lotto to fund it, nor felt we had the clearance from God to go after it, so I had to do my own "Grand Tour" in my imagination. That said, over the years, as I let this idea ruminate, we still managed to swing a few research trips--I took the girls to England and France, and we took the whole family to Italy. Close enough for me to spin my fictional world into high gear!

#2 The Copper Kings of Montana

But I also took inspiration from a place I've spent every summer of my life--Swan Lake, Montana. I wanted my heroine to be a simple girl, raised on a farm, before she was swept up into the complex world of the wealthy. And right around the corner from my folks' lake place is a grand, old estate once owned by real copper kings of Montana, Kootenai Lodge. If you want to drool over it with me, check out the new developer's multi-million-dollar "cabins" he has for sale...and catch a glimpse of the lake where Cora first meets her half-siblings, before heading out to tour Europe with them.Check out the Kootenai Lodge's site! *drool*: [http://thekootenai.com/photo_gallery.html]

Taken from her one-room house on the eastern plains of Montana, and into the sumptuous, opulent world of the Kensingtons and Morgans, Cora must grapple with where she draws her truest identity, when everything she has known disappears like dust behind her.

I hope this glimpse into the two main factors that birthed my new Grand Tour Series sparks your interest, and you'll check out Glamorous Illusions soon!



You can pick up a copy of Lisa's book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, ChristianBook.com or your local bookstore. 


Find out more about this author at www.LisaBergren.com

The Scavenger Hunt Skinny

Mosey along, Hunters, to STOP #18: Robin Lee Hatcher's blog, to pick up your next clue.

But before you go, write down this STOP #17 clue: book 

WAIT! 

It's BONUS time! Don't you love bonus time? 

Look to the right to find my Facebook Page, or scroll down to see my Twitter feed and click on one to join me on one of these social media sites. and I'll put your name in for a chance to win Love Lifted Me or The Wedding Dress. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beautiful Bride: Kim Cash Tate

Kim and Bill

So thrilled to feature author and beautiful bride, Kim Cash Tate. She's been crunching a deadline so I had to wait for her picture and story but it was well worth it.

I love Kim.


She is a women of honor and integrity, and true love and follower of Jesus. On top of being a lawyer, yeah, achiever here, and a mom of two and wife to a Ph. D professor and math book author, SHE is an accomplished author and speaker. 

Our Story

I still remember the night I connected with my husband-to-be—December 15, 1989.  I say “connected” because we’d already met, although I can’t remember when or how.  I’d simply seen him enough times around the campus of the University of Maryland that we’d automatically speak.  He’d come to U of M to get his Ph.D. my last semester there as an undergrad. 

On December 15, 1989, I was a second year law student, celebrating my birthday with college friends at a local hot spot in Washington, D.C.  In walked Bill with a friend.  I waved, “Hey,” and kept it moving.  

Seizing one of the coveted bar chairs that allowed one to see and be seen, I began munching on buffalo wings when my friend, Dawn, whispered for me to follow her into the ladies’ room. Reluctant to lose my seat, I began bargaining with one of my friends to sit there, but only until I returned. Impatient with my speed, Dawn grabbed my forearm and pulled me just inside the restroom door, exclaiming, “Girl, wait till you hear this!”

“What?”

“Bill is asking about you. Sounds like he’s interested, too.” Laughing, she added, “And he said you must not have a boyfriend if you’re here celebrating your birthday with us. He got that right!”

Dawn told me how great a catch he would be and how great a couple we would make, then paused and waited for me to speak, as if I’d say, “All right, then; I’m sold. I’ll take him.”

“We’ll see,” I tossed cynically,and went back inside, fully expecting the so-called possibility to fade by night’s end.

On May 29, 2012, Bill and I celebrated nineteen years of marriage!

RH: Thanks Kim! I love hear this story. Brings back memories of my college days. Y'all visit Kim at her web site. She has a lot of good things going on there. 

Diary of a Writer: Memorial Day Writing

AMEN!

It's Memorial Day. I'm writing. There's no paid holiday in the writer's life. No one to write words for me if I'm not backside-in-chair.


I don't get additional days tacked onto my deadline for the holidays that come along. 


Yet, at the same time, there are work days I can blow off for one reason or another. Time management, I suppose, is key to the writer's life.


But there is no determining if a deadline comes at a good time. This deadline is a tight turn around so I'm working.


Won't be the first or last time.


And truly, I don't mind. I love my job that much.


If I get busy, I can knock off later this afternoon and do something with hubby. Go to, or watch a movie. I like to watch "Saving Private Ryan" every Memorial Day.


I get concerned at how our nation is beginning to take freedom's for granted. How Political Correctness has taken down our guard against enemies foreign and domestic.


Greed, desperation, naivitee is what allowed Hitler to rise to power. Let's be aware folks. Let's stand on our own and not expect the government to provide all of our solutions.


A friend said to me the other day, "If the system our forefathers put into place was working, we'd have a bunch of small, local governments, town hall meetings in every city."


I think he has a point.


Pray for our country. Pray for the Lord to have mercy on us. Pray for our fighting men and women.


Do you have any Memorial Day traditions? 


Okay, off to write. Hey, peruse past posts and read about the Beautiful Brides! 

Scavenger Hunt and Giveaway Coming 5.31.2012

Hey, I'm participating in a GREAT author Scavenger Hunt starting on May 31st! If you follow along, you have a chance to win 25 books from the participating authors.

And, from me?

A $20 Visa Gift Card or copies of my recent books. See the widget below. :) Let's have some fun!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beautiful Bride: Katie "007" Bond from Thomas Nelson

Welcome my friend an publicist at Thomas Nelson, Katie Bond. She's sharing her love story with us today! 

Bryce and I may not have experienced love at first sight, but I’d call it something pretty darn close.  

We are your online meeting success story: two busy twenty-somethings who’d both dated sitcom-worthy casts of characters and had no more excuses.  

Why not trust relationship compatibility to a computer system claiming to have it all figured out?  We surely hadn’t had any better luck trusting our own judgment.

He recalls that I batted my eyes incessantly for two straight hours on that first date, September 2007.

I recall that he pretended to appreciate the latte I ordered him, though he’d never had a sip of coffee before and thought it particularly foul then. 

We are as alike as siblings at times, finishing each other’s goofy sentences, and as different as could be—the easy-going fourth generation cattle rancher from Colorado and the buttoned-down, bookish Georgia city chick who thinks cowboy boots are a fashion statement.

 

Just a month after our meeting, I moved from Colorado Springs to Nashville to accept a new job and our relationship became long-distance. 

February 14, 2008 was my first Valentine's Day with Bryce. It's never been my favorite holiday, and I've always downplayed it. Knowing that I'd be away from my sweetheart for the evening though, Lisa, one of my girlfriends from Thomas Nelson, asked me back in January if I'd be her date for a songwriters night. 

I was delighted and we made plans to dress up and make an evening of it, just us girls. I went home on time that night to fluff my taffeta skirt and freshen my makeup. My doorbell rang just before 7:30, and when I opened the door, Lisa—wearing jeans—snapped a picture of me.

"She's surprised," Bryce said. "And speechless, too. That's definitely a first."

Bryce, who was supposed to be 1200 miles away in Colorado Springs, sat there on my front porch, wearing a gaudy heart-shaped tinsel wreath on the front of his shirt. Surprised doesn't begin to describe it. "Hi," he said, as though he'd just come around the corner from Kroger, not from Denver.

Turns out they'd been working together on this Valentine's surprise for weeks.   Lisa snapped a few more pictures and left.

 Before we left for our dinner, Bryce asked if I wanted to open my gift. The card on the outside read: "I'm so proud of you and you deserve the bling that goes with the position!"

I knew immediately what it was. I'd mentioned months before, when I took the new position at Thomas Nelson, that I'd always wanted a pretty silver business card case to carry. 

Sure enough, inside the tissue paper was just such a case, engraved with my monogram. I thanked him for the beautiful gift and he passed me a handwritten letter. The end read:

 "This case is only going to be good for a short time now. Never again will you use the initials your wonderful parents gave you... Open your case, girl! It's driving me crazy!"

When I flipped open the top, inside rested an exquisite vintage diamond ring—the exact one I'd fallen for online. 

I gasped and held it in my fist, and looked up at him. In his sweet, even-tempered way, he whispered, "Will you marry me?"  

We held hands and he prayed for our marriage and for each of us as we entered this covenant. Such a precious time! 

We called our parents, but got off the phone quickly to try to make our dinner reservations. As Bryce watched me pacing and fluttering about my house though, it was clear I was in no shape to make the trip or sit through a nice meal. 

I threw on some jeans and we drove around the corner to Sonic. Our wedding album contains the receipt for our first meal as an engaged couple, $8.71: a grilled chicken wrap and Diet Coke for me and a cheeseburger for him (hold all the veggies, add ketchup).

Our wedding day was a dream. I’d always wanted an autumn morning wedding, loving the symbolism of starting a crisp new day and new life together. 

For the venue, we chose a restored Tennessee walking horse farm about an hour south of the city.  It had the Southern charm I loved and a nod to the family ranch Bryce left behind in Colorado. 

My parents surprised me by renting a vintage pickup truck from a local collector to use for our photos.  My charming inlaws wore their Stetsons and ostrich boots—swoon!

After a ceremony in front of the fireplace and our brunch reception in the barn—complete with a grits and biscuit bar—Bryce presented me with my wedding gift: a silver monogrammed business card case, identical to the one he’d used to propose, but with my brand new monogram.

RH: I've heard parts of this story before but I LOVED reading it here! Thanks for sharing with us, Mrs. Bond! 

Beautiful Brides: Author Beth K. Vogt

My good friend and debut novelist Beth K. Vogt married her hunky military husband after she promised she'd never marry a military man, or have children!


We can talk later about her four kids, especially the late-in-life birth of her youngest when Beth was 41!


Beth write's of meeting her husband: 

I met my husband, Rob, several weeks after I'd broken off an engagement. (Believe me, I had good reason to do so.) The last thing I wanted was to get involved with someone else.

At the time, I was a brown belt in karate and I was preparing for an exam to advance to the next level. I also worked at the karate studio, manning the office.

I arrived at work one day and found a ve-ery cute guy exiting the office. I didn't recognize him, so I asked if I could help him with anything. He said, "No, thanks" and left.

He came back awhile later and watched from the side of the room while I worked out with another instructor. When I went to the office to do something, the instructor set me up. He asked the guy (my future husband, Rob) to sneak attack me when I started working out again.

Soooo ... when I came back out from the office, I faced off with my instructor. (Rob was across the studio, off to my side.) The next thing I knew, this guy took a running flying leap and tackled me.

Yeah, we like to tell people he swept me off my feet.

I'll cut to the chase: We were married less than a year later -- and including my husband, there were four Black Belts in our wedding party and one very in love Brown Belt.

Beautiful Brides: Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

Meet another Belle over on Southernbelleview, Shelling Rushing Tomlinson, humorous non-fiction author and radio host over at All Things Southern. She's sincere, truth and a lover of Jesus!

Shellie writes: One of my favorites memories of our wedding ceremony came as my dad was walking me down the aisle to meet the love of my life.

After all the preparation, all the money, all the time, all the planning and with a church full of folks there to celebrate our union and Phil waiting at the altar, my dad turned to me and whispered, "You can still back out, you know."

 Granted, when I told Phil about that moment later, during our honeymoon, I had to do some fast talking before he could see it with quite the same affection.

I assured him that my dad hadn't changed his mind, that he still thought Phil was a wonderful young man and the "right" one for me. It was more about letting me know that life wasn't on auto-pilot and I still had the power of choice.

Phil understood then, but as time wore on, he and I both came to get the love behind that moment even more. The tenderness of it makes my heart well up even as I type these words tonight.

 What a gift to give your child, or anyone else for that matter. To know that yesterday's decisions do not always have to be today's.

Or as I twittered sometime this afternoon when this post was simmering in my heart, "This isn't just another day. It's your current opportunity."

Beautiful Brides: Beth Webb Hart

I love Beth Webb. I met her when we started blogging at Southernbelleview together. 

She is the classic and timeless southern woman. I love reading her books and blog posts. She's so rich in tradition, history and literature. 

Her wedding veil is no exception.

Beth Webb writes: 

According to Mama she was meandering along the winding corridors of Venice when she stumbled into a lace shop that sold old world veils at a terrific price.

She and one of her best friends both purchased a veil. It was stored in a box at the very top of my mother’s closet for much of my childhood.

I often longed to pull it down and open it up and see the beautiful, delicate lace pattern that I dreamed I would someday wear. And I often gazed at her wedding portrait in the living room of my childhood home – on rainy days when I was in a day-dreamy mood- and imagined what it must feel like to be a grown up, to be engaged to a handsome and devoted chap, to be just about to step into your future.

Well, the day came when I was twenty-six, and I did wear the veil (pictured here - look at my husband's fist- he's nervous!) I felt like a princess. My two younger sisters both wore the veil and it’s stored again in a safe place in the top of a closet in hopes that my daughter, the only girl out of six grandchildren, will also wear it someday.

(RH: Love this story, BW!)

Beautiful Brides: Lisa Wingate

Besides being a fab author, Lisa Wingate is one of my fellow Belles over on SouthernBelleView. Love blogging and associating with this woman.


About her wedding dress, Lisa writes:


One of the neatest things about our wedding was that my dress was remade from my mother's dress.  She is an incredible seamstress, and may hours of tender loving care went into creating that dress.


(RH: That's Lisa on the right in her mother's altered dress.)

Another special event at our wedding day didn't happen during the wedding, but during the reception afterwards.

Being in Texas, where old-fashioned street dances still take place, and family-friendly dance halls still exist in many small towns, we knew we wanted not just a punch and cake reception; we wanted a dance.

We were in college at the time, and so were all our friends, so we imagined that the young crowd would have a great time while the old folks lounged around in chairs and told stories from "back in the day."

We never imagined that the couple who would light up the dance floor all night long would be my grandparents, Vi and Norman Mannion.

I'd always known that my grandparents met at a dance, where my grandfather was playing in the band. During a break, he took my grandmother for a turn on the floor and fell in love at first sight (or first dance).

(RH: Lisa's mom Sharon in the original dress. I love the wide skirt!)

He went home that night and told his mother he'd found the girl he was going to marry... and he did! Fifty years later they were cutting a rug at our wedding while the young folks stood around the edges of the dance floor, clapping and looking on in awe. 

Gram and Gramps knew all the old dances, and when they danced, their bodies may have been older and slower, but they were still perfectly in step, still a young couple at heart, just as in love as that boy and girl who danced that first dance so many years ago.

(RH: Lisa, I love that story!!)