Don't Wedding Plan and Blog. Just, Don't.

Well, I started this thing with super, duper good intentions but I learned an extremely valuable lesson instead: Don’t blog and wedding plan. It is impossible. I mean by the time you deal with dress fittings, centerpiece discussions, menu choices, music choices, cranky family members, wedding party, hair, make-up, hotels, repeat….you start to get pretty stinking busy and incredibly exhausted!!!! So as a result, the blog sort of fell by the way side – not for lack of desire, but for true lack of TIME – and when planning the biggest day of your life, time is of the essence! Luckily, I was blessed with a mother who is a ninja event planner. I’m not kidding here either. Everyone thinks their Mom is awesome, but this is a real situation where she truly has skills I can’t even comprehend. We are talking a genius of epic proportions. In fact, I don’t know how other brides do it because I had it “easy” as a result of my Mom’s ninja-ness and I was still stressed out!

If I spent the time my life deserves on each of the events that have happened in the past 3 months, this blog would be so long no one would have any interest in reading it. So I think I will nut shell it for you. I had an amazing bridal shower in November. It was classy and fun and complete with white linens, good food, games and tons of love. I have amazing family (by blood, DNA, law and love) that traveled long distances to be able to share this special day with me. There were many people there in spirit that couldn’t be there and I felt their love just as much that day.

In the beginning of December, I had an amazing bachelorette party thrown by some really awesome BFF’s and it was everything I could have asked for! We had a slumber party and an intimate Italian dinner at B’s house followed by a night out on the town at Sing, Sing. Best. Dueling. Piano. Bar. Ever. It was soooo much fun that I seriously want to go back at least twice a year. We stayed in a hotel downtown (Thank you name your price on priceline.com!) and ate a wonderful breakfast at “Snooze” the next morning before heading back to Laramie. It was a great girl weekend complete with shopping and gossip, I couldn’t have asked for a better time! Doug stayed in Laramie and had his bachelor party at what was soon to be OUR home. They watched UFC and ate man food and while I thought it sounded completely unexciting, it was his idea of a perfect evening. To each his own….

Then, after much anticipation, the big day arrived marking the most monumental occasion of my life thus far. We were sealed in the Denver temple and returned to Laramie for a ring ceremony and reception the next day. Things went off without any major disasters and it was a perfect combination of days and events that lead to the most beautiful memories I never dreamt we could have made. We had an astounding amount of support from our friends and family and the reception hall was bursting with the love we felt from all of our supporters. It was a beautiful winter wedding and couldn’t have been more perfect for either of us. We had so much fun and we so appreciated the show of support we received from everyone near and far. The thank you cards we wrote will never suffice for the gratitude we felt.

Post wedding; we have done a lot of settling down into a life together, combining our households, our belongings, our schedules, our passions, our lives….we spent out very first Christmas together at our own home in Laramie. We didn’t travel anywhere because we didn’t want the stress of deciding whose family should get to have us for the Holidays. So we stayed home and began our own Holiday traditions for our own brand new family. It was, quite possibly, the best Christmas I have had yet. Our Christmas was followed by real life and returning to work, school and the real world. We have been adjusting well and just celebrated a perfectly lovely Valentine’s Day as a married couple. There have been many challenges of molding two 26-yearold’s established lives together, but every step of the way has been an adventure. Stay tuned for the post-marriage blogging which I am certain will be filled with entertainment galore as I continue to live this every day fairytale with the most amazing and hilarious man I have ever had the privilege of knowing.