Can I make an awful confession that no one wants to hear?
Well, I'm gonna.
Confession: Wedding planning is not very fun. I mean, sometimes it's crazy fun, but it often seems like a lot of deadlines and stress and wanting to please other people. This is probably because I should have been more on-the-ball four months ago when I was wasting my precious class-skipping hours by playing pranks on people instead of choosing napkin colors. Don't do that.
Here are some things I wish I had been told in the pre-engagement/early engagement days:
1. Even if you're not dating anyone, plan your wedding like a half-crazed high-schooler. I always had this attitude of, "Hey, why jump the gun? I'm not the girl whose entire life is centered around Pinterest boards dedicated to my marriage to a man I haven't yet met." However, my favorite engagement planning moments were when I realized that A) I had a picture of a flashy gold wedding cake saved to my desktop that I'd committed myself to at age 18 B) I knew exactly how to go about ordering my flowers, and C) The temple had already been booked three weeks prior to the ring on the fing.
The less you have to think about, the better off you'll be. Because eventually you'll get to this point of, "Oh good, I do not care if my dress catches fire or the groomsmen show up wearing manpris. I could neglect all decorating and all would be good. I have my man. Let's be done with this nonsense."
2. Hit the big stuff first. Venue, photographer, engagement photo-shoot, announcements, dress, etc. On second thought, all the stuff's the big stuff. But for the record, I haven't yet even begun planning out reception decorations, and I get married in eight days. And I do not regret that, because it's one of the few things that can be put off that long.
3. Diet and exercise plan? Good luck with that. It's going to fly out the window.
Engagement Diet: Eat anything placed in front of you with the most sincere gratitude you have ever experienced. All other times, you will get so caught up with researching skirts and blingy shoes that you will forget to eat unless you happen to squeeze in a date night with your honey. But please don't forget to hydrate. MIGRAINE.
Engagement Exercise Plan: 4 hours shopping. 2 hours making lists and hyperventilating. School and work hustle and bustle. Repeat.
These patterns have, for me, been unavoidable and more effective than any others on the market. Although I can't wait to ditch them.
3b. Please oh please don't let the dreaded doctor's appointment scare you. Give it some time. Nausea will subside. Everything will be great.
4. Being engaged is going to become really taxing after a couple months. Not necessarily for "physical reasons" (I feel like that's the only reason I had ever been given to avoid a long engagement), but for mental reasons. Your mind's going to start playing funny games with you. It's going to get annoying to have to plan times to see your man.
Life would be so much more convenient if you could just hang out with him all the time instead of trying to strike this weird balance of giving each other time and space to work on your own things, even though you're pretty much communicating and working together like married people already. And you're going to start noticing things about married people that you never have before. Some good, some scary. But in the end it's all good and you'll wish you could just be getting married already so your brain can stop going four trillion miles per hour.
We really are enjoying these months (days), though.
As busy as things are, life has never been better.
Tonight we licked jawbreakers as we sat on massage chairs in the middle of the mall.
And that was a welcome date night.
And it was severely awesome.
Well, I'm gonna.
Confession: Wedding planning is not very fun. I mean, sometimes it's crazy fun, but it often seems like a lot of deadlines and stress and wanting to please other people. This is probably because I should have been more on-the-ball four months ago when I was wasting my precious class-skipping hours by playing pranks on people instead of choosing napkin colors. Don't do that.
Here are some things I wish I had been told in the pre-engagement/early engagement days:
1. Even if you're not dating anyone, plan your wedding like a half-crazed high-schooler. I always had this attitude of, "Hey, why jump the gun? I'm not the girl whose entire life is centered around Pinterest boards dedicated to my marriage to a man I haven't yet met." However, my favorite engagement planning moments were when I realized that A) I had a picture of a flashy gold wedding cake saved to my desktop that I'd committed myself to at age 18 B) I knew exactly how to go about ordering my flowers, and C) The temple had already been booked three weeks prior to the ring on the fing.
The less you have to think about, the better off you'll be. Because eventually you'll get to this point of, "Oh good, I do not care if my dress catches fire or the groomsmen show up wearing manpris. I could neglect all decorating and all would be good. I have my man. Let's be done with this nonsense."
3. Diet and exercise plan? Good luck with that. It's going to fly out the window.
Engagement Diet: Eat anything placed in front of you with the most sincere gratitude you have ever experienced. All other times, you will get so caught up with researching skirts and blingy shoes that you will forget to eat unless you happen to squeeze in a date night with your honey. But please don't forget to hydrate. MIGRAINE.
Engagement Exercise Plan: 4 hours shopping. 2 hours making lists and hyperventilating. School and work hustle and bustle. Repeat.
These patterns have, for me, been unavoidable and more effective than any others on the market. Although I can't wait to ditch them.
3b. Please oh please don't let the dreaded doctor's appointment scare you. Give it some time. Nausea will subside. Everything will be great.
4. Being engaged is going to become really taxing after a couple months. Not necessarily for "physical reasons" (I feel like that's the only reason I had ever been given to avoid a long engagement), but for mental reasons. Your mind's going to start playing funny games with you. It's going to get annoying to have to plan times to see your man.
Life would be so much more convenient if you could just hang out with him all the time instead of trying to strike this weird balance of giving each other time and space to work on your own things, even though you're pretty much communicating and working together like married people already. And you're going to start noticing things about married people that you never have before. Some good, some scary. But in the end it's all good and you'll wish you could just be getting married already so your brain can stop going four trillion miles per hour.
As busy as things are, life has never been better.
Tonight we licked jawbreakers as we sat on massage chairs in the middle of the mall.
And that was a welcome date night.
And it was severely awesome.
Jared and I took our groomal pictures this week.
We nearly ruined my dress and did ruin his brand new shoes (oops--don't worry, they let him return them) as we tromped through a forest and waded through a river, but they came out amazing.
Our photographer is Kate Benson. She's so talented--probably one of the most in the state. And with the help of my cheesy jokes, she helped me get Jared to smile some amazing smiles that we're going to print out life-size for our reception. Legit, guys. Life. Size. You better come check it out.
As much as I love you all though, this is probably the most you're going to get in the way of sneak peaks. I'm having the Campus Floral florist put together my actual wedding bouquet, but I wanted to take a stab at getting some peonies into my bouquet for the groomals. I knew peonies were going to start shriveling and dying in early June, so I cut them while they were still buds from my grandma's garden and stored them in her fridge for two weeks. And they. Were. Perfection! This is the bouquet I put together the morning of:
Flower obsession. I've got it bad
We nearly ruined my dress and did ruin his brand new shoes (oops--don't worry, they let him return them) as we tromped through a forest and waded through a river, but they came out amazing.
Our photographer is Kate Benson. She's so talented--probably one of the most in the state. And with the help of my cheesy jokes, she helped me get Jared to smile some amazing smiles that we're going to print out life-size for our reception. Legit, guys. Life. Size. You better come check it out.
As much as I love you all though, this is probably the most you're going to get in the way of sneak peaks. I'm having the Campus Floral florist put together my actual wedding bouquet, but I wanted to take a stab at getting some peonies into my bouquet for the groomals. I knew peonies were going to start shriveling and dying in early June, so I cut them while they were still buds from my grandma's garden and stored them in her fridge for two weeks. And they. Were. Perfection! This is the bouquet I put together the morning of:
This girl on the right has been my saint of a roommate since freshman year:
I love both these girls (picture snapped at bridal shower). Sarah has seriously been a God-send for me in college.
I remember freshman year when, even though we'd just met, we'd stay up for hours talking in our darkened room, and we went crazy together in the law library. You may remember other classic moves like the time we camped out on asphalt for frozen yogurt and the time we baked notes into bread as a clever way to ask out boys. Funnest college year ever.
I remember sophomore year when she would hide gifts under my pillow. We had our first RM boyfriends (ooooh) and shared plenty of late-at-night rainy break-up runs to the Marriott Center.
I remember junior year when we loved waking up to the natural light flooding into our little town-house bedroom. All of a sudden we seemed so much more grown up (seemed...), and would talk about big adult scary things as we lived them. For weeks and weeks, Sarah was probably the only one besides my parents who knew I was turning my mission papers in. She was there as I fell in love and fell into an inner conflict. She talked me through it and listened, and brought me sanity (which proves we've come a long way since freshman year). I was there when she worked her tail off and didn't sleep for months so she could get accepted into the BYU Graphic Design Program (HUGE accomplishment). I was there when she somehow worked even more and slept even less and was accepted into the BFA program (even HUGER accomplish--she's a design genius).
And now she's going to Sweden. And I'm getting married.
And it's weird. And it's scary. And I'm feeling nostalgic.
But anyway, the point I was trying to make when I started this post was that even before I was engaged, she told me that even though she wouldn't take my pictures (bummer), she wanted to design my wedding announcement for me. And she did. And it's more beautiful and perfect than I ever hoped for. And it's coming to many of you in the mail right now!
So again, if you want one, I have like 50 extra lying around. Drop me your address! It won't be weird.
I'll post it on here in like a week, after everyone gets their hard copy in the mail.
Teaser: It's got our love story written all over the back, which is somehow something I neglected to write here . . . sorry guys.
16 days. Huh.
Introducing my best friend in the whole wide world, via a classy girls' camp picture:
Surprise! Just kidding, you already know Julie's my BFF. We tight. You tight. We all tight.
Everybody tight wif Julie.
She threw me a bridal shower like a week ago, and it was the greatest thing I've ever experienced.
Do you want to know why?
Fine, I'll tell you why:
It's because the party colors were rainbow and clear.
(I have better pictures but they're not loading!)
Any of my close friends can tell you that I always desired a wedding with a color scheme of rainbow and clear.
However, parentals weren't as keen on the idea of clear dresses with rainbow undertones, hand-chiseled ice sculptures of my face, and a skittles cake, so I had to opt out of that one.
(Actually the parentals probably would have been supportive. I don't know why I didn't just go for it.)
Soooooo, Julie schemed it into the partay! And she and her mom put together the best party with the best clear-and-rainbow decorations, the best breakfast, and the best game featuring 15 minutes of my other best friend in the whole world's face. Now you can see how much of a handsome creep he is. It's long but you'll like it:
p.s. I definitely wanted to become a professional gymnast when I was a small child. And I don't think I've ever done a legit handstand in my life.
...and he knows my first impression of him was that I thought he was a preppy boy. So I don't know what that lie was all about. But now I know he's just a tender-hearted stallion.
...and he knows my first impression of him was that I thought he was a preppy boy. So I don't know what that lie was all about. But now I know he's just a tender-hearted stallion.
What up pawty peepo?????
I'm waking up in 3 hours to drive 3 more hours to go fly-fishing.
My life is cray. Not like cray-cray, but just like straight-up cray.
But it doesn't matter, cuz I feel great!
I ain't got no time fo' dis, but here is possibly like my favorite picture.
Let's all say it on 3:
1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . .
"The back of yo' head is rah-dic-uh-luss."
I'm waking up in 3 hours to drive 3 more hours to go fly-fishing.
My life is cray. Not like cray-cray, but just like straight-up cray.
But it doesn't matter, cuz I feel great!
I ain't got no time fo' dis, but here is possibly like my favorite picture.
Let's all say it on 3:
1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . .
"The back of yo' head is rah-dic-uh-luss."
Happy "We're Finally Sending Out Announcements and Oh Ya We're Getting Married in Twenty-One Days" Day.
Leave your address if you want one, cause we've got 500 of 'em. <---favorite all="" commercial="" favorite--="" of="" time="">
This is a weird thing to blog about, but I just registered for some China.
And I'm ridiculously excited about it.
I traveled about an hour to find a Macy's "Great Wall of China."
They had like a hundred adorable matchy-match patterns.
And I couldn't pick between them.
So my mom was all like, "Hey, you've just got to mix and match!"
(Napolean Dynamite, anyone? Anybody?)
So I did.
And this is an awful-quality phone picture.
But it's an amazing set.
Registering is sometimes awful. And sometimes super great.
I'm probably the only to-be newlywed around that's old-school enough to register for China.
But there's just something so romantic about it, you know?
And I'm a grandma at heart.
Feel free to find my Macy's registry online and buy us a bread and butter plate.
It's super cute!
Who wouldn't want to eat bread and butter on that classy lil' guy?
I had an awesome conversation.
In a large public restroom.
During passing period.
I ran into an old visiting teacher, and, the lifelong visiting teacher that she is, she asked me how I was doing and how school and life and everything else were going.
She had a class she was going to be late to, so we nonchalantly took our conversation into the stalls.
As I was getting comfortable on my porcelain throne, I heard her familiar voice a few stalls over.
"Oh, and how are your wedding plans coming? Is there anything I can do to help? I know people sometimes just say that, but I'm being serious!!"
There were a few people in the stalls between us and the room was full of girls taking their break between classes, but for some reason these people weren't talking much to each other.
Which made it nice for my visiting teacher and me because our voices echoed around the room without us having to strain to hear each other.
"Oh you are too sweet!" I said, feeling like I maybe belonged in my favorite YouTube short (Ghost in the Stall). "I need to make another list, but I'll try take you up on that! I'm so glad we ran into each other!"
This was not the end of the conversation. We covered a delightful range of topics.
And to be perfectly honest, it just made my day.
And probably some other ladies' days, too.
Oh hey. We took our engagement pictures. Please go find a salty snack to enjoy while you sit in front of your computer and we stare into your souls. That's a good activity.
In a large public restroom.
During passing period.
I ran into an old visiting teacher, and, the lifelong visiting teacher that she is, she asked me how I was doing and how school and life and everything else were going.
She had a class she was going to be late to, so we nonchalantly took our conversation into the stalls.
As I was getting comfortable on my porcelain throne, I heard her familiar voice a few stalls over.
"Oh, and how are your wedding plans coming? Is there anything I can do to help? I know people sometimes just say that, but I'm being serious!!"
There were a few people in the stalls between us and the room was full of girls taking their break between classes, but for some reason these people weren't talking much to each other.
Which made it nice for my visiting teacher and me because our voices echoed around the room without us having to strain to hear each other.
"Oh you are too sweet!" I said, feeling like I maybe belonged in my favorite YouTube short (Ghost in the Stall). "I need to make another list, but I'll try take you up on that! I'm so glad we ran into each other!"
This was not the end of the conversation. We covered a delightful range of topics.
And to be perfectly honest, it just made my day.
And probably some other ladies' days, too.
-----
Oh hey. We took our engagement pictures. Please go find a salty snack to enjoy while you sit in front of your computer and we stare into your souls. That's a good activity.
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