6 months out - recap

One Love Photo

Holy moley. We get married in SIX MONTHS! In 6 months I will become a wife, a partner, a companion to the one I love best. Wow. Big stuff.

Six months sounds like eons away. But I know it will fly by in the blink of an eye. These days are precious. Sure there is all of the "planning" that needs to happen...but I look forward to spending this time reflecting on the big picture of things to come: to cherish these last few months with the last name I was born with, to prepare for moving 3000 miles away from my family and friends, to enjoy being a strong and autonomous fiance, and to continue to cultivate my relationship with the coolest guy I know.

I rather enjoy being a fiance. Haven't you noticed that people get all excited and smiley when you tell them you are getting married? I am showered with congratulations and inquiries about wedding plans all while they are probably reflecting on memories of their own nuptials. It's pretty cute. I feel like handing out a card with my blog address on it - and saying, "here...this is what I'm thinking..."

This is the first list I've compiled of our accomplishments...we still have a ways to go...but it's getting there!


getting engaged - (remember our situation?)
location - Flagstaff
venue - Snow Bowl
photographer - One Love Photo
officiant - Mrs. Meg
invitations - Earthly Affair
bridal party - 5 on each side...with two maids of honor and two best men...it's how we role
bridesmaid dresses - whatever they look amazing in
bridesmaid gifts - yay!
cake - Christine the magnificent
gifts - Nature Favors

bridal portraits - A Sophisticated View
engagement pictures - Sarah Neal Designs
Save the dates - Vista Print (sent...a looooooong time ago.)

As you can see - we have a sh*t ton of stuff left to do. But the list about looks pretty good - and I'm happy with it all...this whole shin dig might just go off as planned.

love words weekend

One Love Photo

“Thank you, God, for this good life
and forgive us if we do not love it enough.”
- Garrison Keillor

quote via Metropolitan Mama

harvest table details...and giving thanks

This Thanksgiving will be spent with my future in-laws and their extended family in Rhode Island, while My Guy spends the holiday with my family in Arizona. Funny how perfect that worked out. My time in New York has rapidly come to an end. I was not expecting to fall so madly in love with it here...but it happened and I'm hooked. This place feels like home.

However, it's the holidays and I always wish I was home for the holidays. I'm so grateful for my family, for My Guy, for the air I breath, for the beauty of our world, for my freedom, and everything in between... like pumpkin pie. Have a blessed beautiful day.

Enjoy these pretty little table details...via here (thanks, yet again, to lovely Linda).

wedding wish wednesday: #20 avoid the bridezilla

Via here

Do you ever watch that show, Bridezilla? It is so disturbing. I'm sure it's meant to be funny. It never makes me laugh. If anything it makes me really really sad. Those women act like crazy b*tches. And I just wonder why? What is wrong with them? Are they intense like that in real life towards their husbands and families? How could they be so selfish, so caddy, so mean, on their wedding day? I just don't get it.

That being said....I don't want to go down that road.

I don't want to go nutty - yelling and screaming and cussing and freaking out on people and not taking others feelings into account. Or even showing my annoyance when things don't go "perfect". (This is actually a possibility - when I get annoyed, I can rarely hide it.)

Please please please...to whomever grants wedding wishes...don't let me turn into a psycho lunatic bridal beast. I appreciate it. (And so does My Guy.)

full circle streamers

Via here

One of my fave readers, Linda, sends me the greatest lil finds. I LOVE when readers send me ideas and inspiration and stories of their own life. Keep the love coming folks. It makes me day!

I like the idea of incorporating something simple like this to draw attention to different locations in our wedding venue. It has recently turned into a huge square room where our cake table, guest book table, blah blah blah will be located in the periphery. Hanging a few strands of "fun" from above would help draw attention to these attractions. Don't you think? Great idea, and o-so-chic.

decorating with firewood

a backdrop for the wedding ceremony (personally...love this)

a backdrop for the wedding band :-)

If you've got loads of logs at your fingertips...please please rock this look. Wood is so naturally stunning, and these ideas are awesome. Via here.

Thanks for sending this idea Linda!

love words weekend

Chris + Lynn

When I saw you I fell in love,
and you smiled because you knew.

Shakespeare

*fun note: My Guy is making a sortof impromptu trip to Philadelphia this weekend...so I'll be driving down from upstate NY to frolic in the city of brotherly love with him. sooooooo excited :-)

boys in suits are hot

The Brides Cafe via Discovery Street

It is so easy for a man to look damn fine. Yes yes, they look good in worn out jeans...their work out basketball shorts...and in their hoodies (or at least...I dig My Guy in all of the aforementioned situations). But really, a man in a suit is a beautiful thing.

This has been a topic of our recent wedding discussions. Groomsmen attire. I kinda figured that the guys would all wear the same suit...or different suits in the same color...or vests :-)

My Guy had the idea of his guys wearing whatever suit they had - especially since all my ladies will be wearing whatever dress they wanted. I really poo-pooed his idea. But now, I take it back. That could look awesome.

Melissa Dunstan Photography

Southern Weddings via Discovery Street

JCrew via DistrictWeddings

One Love Photo (this is a double whammy because I adore her bouquet too)

Snippet & Ink

Snippet & Ink

*ENTER TO WIN $25 from MyWeddingFavors.com HERE!*

real life: sedona

Flagstaff photographer, Melissa Dunstan, recently posted a pretty pretty Sedona wedding. I just love Sedona...it's such a spectacular place. It's where my darling boyfriend knelt down on one knee to propose *sigh*

With scenery this magical, decorations are not even needed! That's my kinda place!

men in vests

JCrew

It could be that my childhood obsession with the movie Newsies has influenced my affection for this look...or it could be that I see vest adorned grooms online more. I dunno...but I'm loving it. I keep hinting about it to My Guy...

It's a casual step down from formal...but it's a huge step up from casual and makes a man look special. Irresistible in fact.

Newsie boys :-)

100 Layer Cake

Green Wedding Shoes

Once Wed

stick my face in

Alison Conklin Photography

I wanna stick my face into this soft, full bouquet...

and inhale deeeeeeeeeeply.

They look so fragrant. And velvety.

I know I'm all obsessed with the yellows scheme I got going...
but how loverly is this sweetness?

*in unrelated news...my vacay to New York City flew by and was DAZZLING!

i wanna wake up in the city that doesn't sleep...

Taking a few days to explore New York City this week. I flipping love this place. I feel so alive here. If you are around, you can find me at the MET. (I'll actually be observing at a few hospitals this week, so it's not totally alllll play...and cross your fingers for me!) Will be back next Monday.

Love these NYC window displays, captured by Katie Riggan Photography.

what's in a name

One Love Photo

It's crazy to think that in 7 months I will have a new name. Weird.

I've spent the greater portion of my life battling my own last name - it's a mouth full - not nearly enough vowels for correct pronunciation - and it was an element of minor torture in my school days. So I had always been excited to change my name. Until recently - being a grown up has given me more of an attachment to my name. It's who I am. Nobody else in the entire world has my name. (Nobody. Believe me. I checked on Facebook.)

Yet, despite this new found attachment to my name, I do want to share the name of my husband - I want that for my family, my children. And honestly, My Guy has a great Irish name. :-)

But it's weird to know that my name is changing. That I will not only be transitioning into a role of wife and partner to My Guy, doctor (!), and resident of a new state...but I will have a different name...a different identity....all within a couple weeks.

I wonder if I will miss my name. I wonder what it will feel like to wake up as me and go to bed that night as a different person. Or will that foreign name feel right - make sense - and be no biggie when it happens? Or will it make me sad?

Will it feel like the end of an era? Or like it's the beginning of a new one? Or both? Will I cry the first time I sign my new name? Would they be tears of happiness? Will I write my current name a million times the night before to say "goodbye" to it? When people call me by this new name, will I realize they are talking to me? Will I feel a slight detachment to my family, knowing I no longer share their name? Is it possible that sharing a name could, for us, help define our identity us as a new family?

I wonder how all of this will be. I will find out in 7 months.

i sorta kinda wanna veil

Sara Gabriel Veiling & Headpieces via Kara and Groomzilla

Truth be told = I think I've loved every Cathedral veil I ever met. The weird thing is, I can't imagine myself wearing one.

I will, most likely, say my vows sans head decoration...but who knows. These veils are so incredibly romantic...I love the idea of looking/feeling romantic as a bride. I go back and forth on this topic. I have noticed, interestingly enough, that as my wedding approaches, I find myself leaning more and more on the traditional. What if I end up wanting to be more of the classic bride on top of the mountain? Hum.

All I know is that these veils make me swoooooon.

Pronovias (no clue where I got the pic though!)

Smitten Photography

Jennifer Bowen Photography

Alison Conklin

Love Life Images via Style Me Pretty

One Love Photo
Jennifer Bown Photography - and total shout out to Father Gary!! (the raddest priest ever!)

love words weekend

I love this dreamy engagement shoot by Windy Dougall featured on Snippet & Ink

Habitation

Marriage is not
a house or even a tent

it is before that, and colder:

the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back where we squat
outside, eating popcorn

the edge of the receding glacier

where painfully and with wonder
at having survived even
this far

we are learning to make fire

-Margaret Atwood

(found at One Love Photo)

garter up

While browsing Green Dream Weddings, I stumbled upon this fun find: garters made out of ribbons that are made from recycled plastic bottles. I just love stuff like that. These pretty garters are Julianne Smith originals.

Though I think garters are kinda cute, and these are pretty and have just the right amount of frilly fun without being tacky ridiculous. However...I can't wrap my mind around the idea of wanting to do this tradition at my wedding. I hate *HATE* when the groom searches under the wedding gown...it's just terribly awkward...even for me to watch...so we will clearly not participate in that lil festivity (if you are into it - more power to ya...just not my scene.) My Guy loves this tradition. As in, he really wants to do this. Really. Poor guy.

Are you gonna garter?

victory #9: bridesmaid gifts

Melissa Dunstan Photography - Flagstaff!

I know everyone thinks they have good taste. Everyone. But really - I commissioned something truly amazing...terribly magical...and entirely fitting for my gift to my ladies.

I'm very proud of myself :-)

I'll have to share with you after the wedding - I can't blow details like that. But I can brag about accomplishing it!

wedding wish wednesday #19: the moment

These lovely ceremony photos of Alex and Joanna, of Cup of Jo, make me smile so big!
By Max Wanger

I've heard time and again that weddings fly by - that the couple will blink and the event will be over. That after spending countless hours planning and preparing their celebration, it will flash by in a blur where the bride doesn't get to eat dinner, or the couple feels so rushed around they don't get to spend a few quiet moments together. The worst is when I hear about the bride being so nervous about "everything" that she can't focus on the ceremony.

Not what I want.

When saying my vows, I want to be more present in that moment than any other. When I am looking into the eyes of my husband, I want to take in every fleck of glittering green and beautiful blue that they hold. I want my senses to be alive - not with the help of heaps of coffee - but with pure life. (annnnd maybe a cup of coffee or two...)

I wish to feel free on my wedding day - free to feel every emotion. To capture those moments, tuck 'em close to my heart for safe keeping and memory lane. To enjoy, and revel, in every last second.