{maybe}

i just might have bought all the bridesmaids tote bags with their names on them...and they just might be awesome! guess you'll have to wait and see!

{the marrying man}

I almost forgot to post about this! We met our minister, Rev. Fair last Sunday before our waterfall hiking adventure. He was great! I really like him and am very comfortable with everything he said and his experience. He had a really fun, dry sense of humor that should fit right in with the style of our wedding.

Oh, and he gave us the best advice ever: he said, "don't ever do anything until you are both mutually excited about doing it"...(unfortunately this is probably why dishes take forever to get done in our house, haha). I'm really excited and happy about having picked him...again it seemed like perfect luck!

{just a week}

In just a week all my sisters and best friends will be in the same place at the same time...how ridiculously exciting is that!? The crazy thing is that it might not ever happen again (I mean, I hope not! But some of us live far away from the others!).

So speaking of the girls, just one quick update: I had a bridesmaid switch out. My good friend Rachel realized that due to unforeseen life events that being a bridesmaid was just too much for now (but at least she's still coming to the wedding thank goodness!!). I'm really sad, but we know it's both for the best! So, about a month ago, we switched in Jaime! Jaime has been my friend since freshman year and we shared an apartment my senior year. We've spent many late nights talking our hearts out and she is totally responsible for getting me addicted to One Tree Hill. Jaime got married last summer and has had amazing advice from the start. It's kinda like she was a bridesmaid all along.

And best of all, thanks to her incredible flexibility, we found her a dress that fits in with the wedding in less than an hour (seriously just 3 or 4 weeks ago) and she's jumped into everything as if she had never missed a beat and was there from the start.

How lucky am I, right? It's like switching a bridesmaid a month before the wedding is normal...I couldn't have done it without the seamless support of the girls (all my love girls!).

(ps. love this fun photo!)

{the final countdown}

here we are...almost there...with only 10 days to go. it's really silly, but i've been thinking about this post since i started this blog because i love the title (and especially the song it's been taken from). i always wondered what i would actually write in this post and a few minutes ago, i finally made up my mind:

t minus 10: moments of clarity

with only 10 days to go and everyone asking if we are nervous yet (asked at a frequency that has nearly induced nervousness...) we are nothing but completely excited. maybe it's the excitement that has caused it but i feel, all of the sudden, more alert...leading to moments of clarity. here's what i've figured out today during my occasional moments of clarity:

1. there is no reason to be worried that our wedding won't be any fun, everyone who is coming is a fun person and it would be impossible for us not to have a really good time at our wedding.

2. there are little things that will go wrong. it's a good thing to accept that now and just move past those when they come.

3. no matter what, we are going to get married that day and that is amazing.

4. dogs, a devoted funny fiance, adventurous trips and chocolate squash any nerves that even begin to rise.

and lastly, my tip to any future or current brides: get distracted. yes, there is a to-do list and things need to be done, but instead of letting yourself over-focus on it and go into crazy-mode...why not just take a break and go climb a waterfall...barefoot... (we did this sunday. it was awesome. i heavily suggest it to anyone who needs a break!)

{hello september}

we are getting married this month....

{in a month}

a month from today, kail and i are getting married...

i can't believe it's only a MONTH away. where did time go? what happened to june and july?

i'm really excited though...and i (luckily) am still not feeling stress. we're still battling some missing rsvps but are much closer than just a week ago. and life has been good to us.

i have minor things left to do: menus, aisle decorations, table numbers and seating cards...a final meeting with our minister...but really that's sort of it. it's almost done.

i wonder if we'll get nervous instead of being as excited as we are or stressed out like everyone keeps asking if we are? i hope we'll just stay blissfully excited and avoid all the stereotypes of people about to be married. that's my t minus 31 days and counting wish.

{bachelorette party!}

I completely forgot to post about an amazing part of being engaged: the bachelorette party! my awesome bridesmaid jenna threw me a bachelorette party a few weeks ago and it was fantastic! it was not a typical bar-hopping, embarrassing moment bachelorette party that everyone on facebook would laugh at once pictures were posted...i guess in that aspect, it was really tame! but there was really good food (think peanutbutter truffle brownies and cheesecake filled chocolate covered strawberries!) and hilarious games. it was a small party but that was a good thing! we played games, made "crafts" (we were RA's and such in college, it's just in our nature) and continued fun traditions started last year when our good friend Jaime got married. and of course there were lots of presents!....of the uh...honeymoon wardrobe sort...It was an amazing time with some of my most amazing friends (and future sister in law!!!).

{remember me?}

So hi…

I know, I haven’t posted in awhile…a pretty long while. I had big plans for a 50 days post and when I missed that, a 40 days post…but then I missed that too. So here we are at 38 days. 38 is sort of unremarkable but kinda fun too. A week from today will be exactly one month until the wedding (and that is a crazy thought!). Tomorrow is our original anniversary of dating (awww…yay!).

I guess I should catch you up on what I’ve been up to lately in terms of the wedding: I bought ribbon for the bouquets for the girls, my shoes came in (adorable! and they fit perfectly!), I picked up Kail’s wedding ring, I’m printing the programs today, and one of our photographers is completely set and ready to come to the wedding!

I have a few small ends to tie up: we need to meet with the minister officiating our wedding, I need to make aisle decorations still, I need to go to my plan B for a guest book just for the sake of time and not having to worry about it, I need to do place cards (once we finally hunt down the literal 60% of our invited guests who have not RSVP-ed yet), get the other photographer all set, and I need to re-pack the centerpiece vases that I’ve been promising my mom I’ll do for months.

Honestly, now that we are getting so close, I’m beyond excited…but I can almost feel the end of wedding planning and am so ready for it. I love being engaged…I love planning this wedding, but I’m ready to start my married life and let things settle back to being normal.

{modern wedding}

You know you're having a modern wedding when you can blog from your iPhone (awesome!!). So this will be quick but I couldn't wait to share- today I ordered all the flowers for the wedding and got a great deal on them!! AND I bought my shoes for the ceremony too!! Two huge things to check off my list!! I'm so excited! I'll post more in the morning from a real computer!

{accomplished}

i've been working feverishly for the past week or so to begin tying up all the loose ends, well, because we're less than 2 months from the wedding...here's what we've accomplished:

• we bought kail's wedding clothes
• we bought kail's wedding ring
• we hired a minister
• we ordered the cake
• we made reservations at a kennel for our dogs while we're on our honeymoon
• we sent out invitations (!!) and subsequently started receiving RSVPs in the mail (yay!!!!)
• we finalized our honeymoon plans
• we have reservations made for the night before the wedding
• we created a wedding website for our guests (http://www.megandkailgettingmarried.blogspot.com/)
• and we settled on a color for table linens (since I changed the colors after we picked them out the first time)

there isn't much left to do! which is a great feeling!! here's what's up next:

1. place cards and table seating chart
2. finalize our programs and menu cards
3. finalize all of our music
4. re-pack our centerpieces to make them easily assembled
5. buy shoes
6. make the 8 aisle decorations for the chapel

i'm sure there's a little more to do, but those are the major things!!

{you are invited}

So our first wave of invitations has been sent out! It was exciting and was a total labor of love, but in the end, I love them and am so proud to have designed and printed the entire invitation set...so I hope you think they're beautiful!

more photos coming!

{because we're cool}

and as promised, some more engagement photos, enjoy! (ps. the one of me laughing with the green wall behind us is my most favorite. ever. lol i laugh every time i look at it)

{mmm...cake}

oh and last night was so productive, that it rolled into this morning. our cake is ordered! and who doesn't love cake and waffles!?

{with this ring}

So after our awesome adventure in clothesland during our date night, we had enough time to stop by the jewelry store where Kail bought my ring and looked at men’s wedding bands. And, that’s right, you guessed it, we picked out and bought Kail’s wedding ring!!! I’ve been gushing over this all morning on facebook and twitter, but I’m just really excited for this! His ring is a dark grey titanium (almost black) with a thin band of silver, polished titanium around the middle of the ring. It looks like a thick, almost chunky man ring, but, unlike other men’s rings, because it’s titanium, it’s incredibly light…almost like plastic.

It’s such a funny illusion for your brain because when you hold it you assume it will be cold and heavy and very “metal” but it’s so light. It feels like you could step on it and accidentally crunch it into a million pieces, but titanium is one of the strongest metals on the planet, so that would be impossible. Apparently, the space program uses titanium on their shuttles, or at least that’s what our salesman told us, lol.

I love it because it’s light enough that he will probably be able to leave his ring on while doing jiu jitsu but the titanium is strong enough to totally hold up to the amount of physical activity that Kail does on a daily basis. It made our wedding feel so soon, but I love that feeling, I’m so excited and ready for it!

{vested}

I had a super productive wedding planning day last night. Last night was our date night for this week and attempt No. 2 to go pick out Kail’s wedding clothes…and this time, we succeeded! I’m so excited! It was surprisingly easy, thank you H&M, and he looks amazing. So grown up and modern…I am very satisfied. It took just a slightly more edgy direction than I had anticipated, but it’s so good! And, are you ready for this?, he’s going to wear a vest (at least for the ceremony, lol, we compromised on the vest and agreed that if he feels really uncomfortable in it during the reception that I don’t mind if he takes it off)!!!!!!!!!

I’m not sure I’m quite ready to reveal what he’s wearing yet…sorry for the teaser…but it’s like j.crew/European good. So all we have to do now, after Kail realized that he wants the groomsmen to match each other, is go pick out what they’ll be wearing and then everyone will finally be clothed for our wedding (thank goodness!!). I’m so excited…I can’t wait to walk down the aisle towards him, lol.

And yes, is still definitely wearing sandals. Would you have it any other way?

{what the groom wore}

kail and i have a date night tonight!! on the menu: picking out his wedding outfit. wish me luck!! i'm really hoping for something like this! i'm so excited!!

{do you}

did you know that finding a wedding minister who is not insanely expensive is going to be impossibly difficult? i had no idea! apparently $400 is about the average...

$400? for 20 minutes? really? why?

anyone know anyone who would do it for a donation to charity or smaller fee? it's kinda hard to get married without a minister/officiant.

{bacon}

Ladies and gentleman...i give you bacon. Officially, there will now be bacon on our wedding brunch menu...and thank goodness too! Kail said he was only coming if there was bacon.

{who knew it was that important? lol}

{75}

okay, i know i've said it before but time is f-l-y-i-n-g. really flying. i know, too, that i've slacked a little on the blogging aspect, but between work, teaching classes, training and planning, i've been really busy!

but here are some fun updates:

• kail and i finished our wedding/pre-marital counseling classes
• my bachelorette party is being planned!!
• i got promoted at work (which means more money! which means i can afford to have flowers at the wedding, lol..)
• wedding invitations go out in less than 2 weeks! (trust me, i thought picking a day, booking a venue and buying a dress [alright, correction: dresses] made everything feel super official...but knowing invitations go out soon is the most official it's felt yet!)

we still need to order a cake, buy kail a wedding band and figure out what he's wearing, order flowers and figure out some logistics, but that's really it (except we desperately need a minister to actually perform the ceremony, but i am really working to get that figured out a.s.a.p.).

that's all i've got for now but will try to stay on top of posting!

{100}

today is kinda a special day for me...today means that in only 100 days we will be married. so, this time in just 100 days we will be at our wedding afterparty, almost done with the day and very very happy.

i can't believe it because it seems like only a little bit ago I was writing that we only had 200 days left and *poof* here we are a 100...which makes it seem inevitable that these next 100 days will fly.

but i am excited and so ready for this! today i was talking about the wedding with people in my class (i've been in training lately) and they said they were surprised by how calm i was and how not stressed i seemed to be....so here's to our wedding, 100 days and a un-stressful start to this whole experience.

wish me luck that the next 100 days will progress with the same grace and ease. love you guys.

{the look}

alright... i think this is what i want to look like at our wedding. i just sorta stumbled over photos of actress zooey deschanel and am in love with her bangs, and how dark her hair is, and well...everything.

(don't worry, i just had to have a talk with myself really quick, but i think blue contacts at the wedding would be a little over the top. lol. kidding, i wouldn't do that).

can we do this?

not too shabby of a start for a girl who never wears makeup! maybe a little eyeliner and an eyelash curler...i think we're off to a great start! i love that the makeup is a little dramatic (not too much so), because my dress is simple... well with a little practice, i might actually be able to pull this off. thoughts?

so here's an update on the dress situation: i have finally found the dresses i am going to wear for our weddings. I am wearing a San Patrick Pronovias gown to our Puerto Rico cathedral wedding and finally, after all this time, have settled on a beautiful J Crew gown for our simple Maryland chapel wedding.

the dresses could not be more different, but i love that they are! i get to do the whole ball gown dress and the simple, understated dress. it took a lot to get here (really...who ends up with four wedding dresses?) but at the end of the day, after a Davids Bridal dress and a different J Crew dress...I love my dresses.

so now i'm putting the dresses i will not be wearing up for sale on multiple sites (craigslist, oncewed.com, weddingbee classifieds...etc). I'm trying to avoid sites I have to pay to list dresses on, but depending on how this goes, may choose to later include those too. Wish me luck!!

and now i just have to figure out how to do my hair!

{now you can save the date...for real}

why, indeed my friends, those ARE my signed, sealed, and stamped save the dates! And YES i did finally drop them in the mail (well at least i gave them to my mom to put in the mail). it was incredibly exciting!!! and that means that this whole thing is for real! yay!

remember how long ago i designed them? eh...oh well...they got sent!

{marry me}

so...we just had our engagement photos taken this past sunday. i was so nervous (i hate being in front of a camera, i feel awkward) like it was picture day in school again. but our fantastic photographer Brad Snyder (http://bybrad.blogspot.com/) met us down in Baltimore and spent the morning with us. I think he did a-m-a-z-i-n-g... and i thought it would be nice to share:

the best part is that these are just a preview!! brad shoot something like 90 photographs--really, that's awesome. i couldn't have asked for anything better. i LOVE these. and i love Kail. 114 days and counting...

{i think we've got something here}

so it would seem that this whole navy/pink/peach/salmon/coral thing is starting to catch on (LOVE it!)

this showed up today via Green Wedding Shoes (one of my favorite blogs) http://greenweddingshoes.blogspot.com

Time is flying. Really, f-l-y-i-n-g. I don’t really know if I’m surprised to see it going this quickly, but it’s hard to believe that we’re nearly at our half-way point. So here is our four month status report and to-do list:

In the next week:

1. Send out those save-the-dates that keep finding excuses to not be mailed. This is it for them: crunchtime. They WILL be mailed before the end of the week. (It’s about time really!)
2. Book a hotel room for after the wedding/the wedding after-party
3. Have our engagement photos taken
4. Send thank you cards for my bridal shower gifts

From now until the end of June:

1. Find a minister…
2. Plan the honeymoon (this is Kail’s project)
3. Work on maps, directions, hotel accommodations and entertainment for guests (to be included in the invitations)
4. Buy Kail’s wedding band
5. Finalize what the groomsmen are wearing
6. Decide on and buy the cake
7. Gather addresses for invitations
8. Figure out the rehearsal dinner situation
9. Design a wedding website that our guests can begin to visit
10. Decide on a cake
11. Budget out final expenses: flowers, photography, hotel rooms…
12. Work on our guestbook

During the months of July and August:

1. July's theme of the month: invitations. Print all invitation materials, get everything folded and assembled and address envelopes. Mail them!
2. Centerpiece check: re-pack the boxes to make unpacking and decorating as efficient as possible.
3. Finish working on wedding programs
4. Have my dresses altered...
5. Figure out what I'm going to do with [the disaster that is] my hair and makeup.

June is going to be very busy…I will have to combine this all with two different sets of training at work, a week-long symposium and a week of Kail being out of town. Not to mention Diana’s graduation weekend, our continuing pre-marriage counseling classes and a seminar at Kail’s new academy… I feel like it will be July before I know it. At least 4th of July stacks up to make a 3-day weekend this year.

{bouquet toss}

Meet the new bouquets! Changing the colors meant that the flowers were going to naturally take a slightly different direction...so here they are! My bouquet will be mostly the garden roses and the bridemaids will be mostly the regular roses. I'm planning on having a garden rose on all of the tables in the reception too. Hopefully this is the winning arrangement!

PS. my bridal shower is tomorrow!!

{goodbye gold}

Alright, so I have made a major change in the direction of the wedding, well as far as the color palette is concerned. So I know I just posted a new palette a few days ago, but this is where the change will take place. After I posted that palette and had made a decision to have coral colored table runners, my mom (although I told her she was silly for worrying about it) told me to think about adding another color so prominently. Well, I thought about it for the past few days and looked back through countless inspiration boards on other blogs and color palettes and have made a decision: no gold.

After looking at my most recent palette, it seemed a little primary (you know, so red-yellow-blue) so solution: goodbye gold. Before I decided to make this decision for sure I did think about what I had picked out/bought already that was gold and with the exception of some paper and some ribbon—neither of which was expensive enough to feel stressed out about and both which will find another purpose in my home (seriously, if you know me then you know my love for ribbon and complete affinity for finding use for it). So, that gives us a new palette: blue (with an emphasis on navy) and coral.

I am really happy with this choice and so excited. It’s such a small change really that I didn’t expect it to make me feel like this—like suddenly I knew exactly how everything will look and coordinate. I love it. The invitations will need just a bit of tweaking and I’ll need to order new ribbon and paper, but really, this is a fantastic development. I’m so excited. I finally feel like the wedding has a direction and a theme or tone, if you will, and am in love with everything I’ve chosen. It’s a great day.

see? this is very close to the direction everything has taken...although our color is more salmon in tone than peach. but this a great visual! i saw another blog that called the colors midnight and papaya...so however you want to name it is fine...enjoy!

{you 'wood'}

today i discovered this fantastic thing called manzanita wood... please be prepared to see it everywhere at the wedding!

{bridesmaids dresses}

well, the awesome tool that is photoshop has helped again--this time in helping me picture the lovely bridesmaids! so now that i've decided to add a third color (for depth and for a little less matchy-ness), here is what the ladies' dresses will most likely look like!

i love that i gave them their choice of 9 different dress styles and three have chosen (and i'm predicting a fourth!) the same dress, lol....i'm really excited now!

(left to right: courtney in marine, diana in horizon, jenna in cornflower, liz in marine, rachel in cornflower, and ashley in horizon)

and today i had an idea for the groomsmen--white shirts with blue pin stripes, in whatever pinstripey fashion they choose:

{an updated palette}

thought it might be time to update our palette from before and give you a peak into how everything is starting to come together! this time i'm using photos of materials/things we are actually using, so it's exciting and a better depiction of the actual wedding (instead of just an idea):

top row: milton ridge, the actual site of our ceremony, then a bouquet using the flowers and colors we're including (i photoshopped it just a bit to make it the right colors!), the guestbook that is serving as inspiration for our programs.

middle row: the vest via J Crew I'm hoping to convince Kail to wear, the Save-the-date I designed for our wedding, and the dandelion dupioni silk ribbon that will tie off the bouquets and aisle decorations.

last row: blue invitation envelopes, just like ours, the fabric i've almost decidedly chosen for our table runners (it echos the salmon colored tulips that are in our centerpieces) and lastly, the bridesmaids dresses via davids bridal (I photoshopped these also to make them the cornflower and horizon the girls will be wearing!)

Enjoy! i'm starting to really get excited for this whole thing...and i'm glad i can start showing you pictures instead of just having something imagined in my head!