Wedding planning has highlighted some qualities about myself, that I knew existed before, but tried to deny. There not necessarily horrible things, just things I have become more aware of during the planning process.
1. I am indecisive.- I would never characterize myself as this, but I really am. I have a hard time making a decision and just leaving it be. I always continue to look and wonder if there is a better option.
2. I am nosy.- I always tell my fiance I hate suprises, but this really isn’t true. I really don’t like knowing things. For instance, I know nothing about my wedding shower except the date and time. Since I love Mrs. Sewing I have promised her this will remain so and I will not snoop around to find out the details. This has been desperately hard.
3. My family’s input and approval is extremely important.- I have firm ideas about what I want (just not always sure the best way to execute them), but I really do want Mama and Papa Austen and Mr. Darcy to love them, also. For example, I really want a square cake. I think they’re more modern and simple looking, but Papa Austen really doesn’t like them. So when Mama Austen, Grandma Sprinkle, and I head off to our cake appointment tomorrow we will be looking for a round design with ribbon borders and some scroll work.
Did you learn any lessons about yourself during the wedding planning process?
As you know Mr. Darcy and I will be making our grand entrance to our reception to the Notre Dame Fight Song. Mrs. Sewing made the suggestion that she would get pom-poms and get guests cheering for us before our grand entrance. Mrs. Sewing may have been saying this in jest, but I have taken the idea and run with it. I know Mrs. Sewing will do an awesome job of getting the crowd guests all riled up for our big entrance, because Mrs. Sewing has studied such tatics (she bases her basketball picks for March Madness on which team has the best cheerleaders). Obviously we needed some pom-poms for this adventure and I have hunted down the perfect pair of Navy and Gold ones for the occasion.
1. It’s an AWESOME destination within only a few hours drive!
Vegas is a hot travel destination and even hotter wedding destination. It’s only a few hours drives from SoCal, has a huge variety of venues (hotels, chapels, mansions, all-inclusive banquet halls, country/golf clubs, restaurants), has a ton of great spots to take incredible wedding pictures, and is the perfect place to go over the top or sweet and low-key. Best of all, EVERYONE LOVES VEGAS!!!
Awesome Wedding Photo in the Las Vegas Sign Graveyard by Mike L. Photo
3. I get to spend the whole weekend with my guests.
From our rehearsal dinner to our meet and greet to the ceremony to the reception to the morning after brunch. Mr. Darcy and I have several events/days to spend time with our guests. I can’t wait! I am so excited!
4. In Vegas the party never ends.
I have made a list of five different bars where we can continue the party after the reception.
I mean really Caesars’ Palace, Bellagio, Planet Hollywood, Fashion Show Mall, the outlets, Mandalay Bay, Paris, Encore/Wynn, Venetian, Cosmopolitan, and the Palazzo are just a few places that have incredible shopping. I can shop for all my honeymoon attire and some cute stuff for our honeymoon suite.
From Paris to Italy to Egypt to New York to Red Rock Canyon to the Neon Boneyard in Downtown the possibilities are endless. And thanks to a great deal being ran by Moxie Studios Mr. Darcy and I will be exploring Red Rock Canyon or the Neon Boneyard for our e-pics.
Celebrity chef’s restaurants abound and there is nothing more than good food and good wine that Mr. Darcy and I enjoy. From Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill to Charlie Palmer’s Aureole to Emeril’s Delmonico Steakhouse the choices are endless.
I love an awesome spa. The experience is just so aaaahhhh! I always feel renewed after a day at the spa. I love having a massage, a facial, and enjoy the facilities. Las Vegas has some of the most awesome spa facilites there are from Caesar’s Palace Qua Baths to the Venetian’s Canyon Ranch Spa.
The most famous wedding is probably Elvis and Priscilla. Other stars who have married here are Judy Garland and Mark Herron, Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley, Axl Rose and Erin Evelyn, Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra, Billy Bob Thorton and Angelina Jolie, Mickey Rooney and Eva Gardner, Jane Fonda and Ted Turner, Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow, and Micheal Jordan and Juanita Vannoy.
10. Anything goes in Vegas.
I don’t have to follow the traditional wedding schedule (bridal party photos, ceremony, photos/cocktail hour, 4 hour reception). We could have a theme wedding if we wanted to. We could get married in our car. I could wear a red dress and have my reception at In-and-Out.
Okay I know it’s been several days, since I have posted. (Boo Miss Austen!) In my defense things have been a little crazy in the Austen-Darcy household. (Mama Austen just finished school, lil bro Austen promoted, Papa Austen had a grand mal seizure and broke his nose (he is okay, thank God!), Mr. Darcy started a new job, and I have a new work schedule that requires me to wake up at 5 am and I am still adjusting). So just want to let you know I am still here and I am alive and this wedding is still happening! Mrs. Sewing has put me to shame by going on a posting marathon, so I will be doing the same over the next few days. I promise you will be seeing a lot more posts through the end of the week.
For those you who do not know what Etsy is, let me explain. (Since you obviously have been living in a dark room. Just kidding. You really should log on as soon as your done reading this post, though) Etsy is the most awesome craft site, ever. It is an online shopping site with a menagerie of artisans with a focus on the vintage and handmade. It is a bride’s dream. I absolutely L-O-V-E Etsy and want to share with you some of my favorite Etsy finds for the wedding.
There is so much more, that Etsy offers. You can see some the gorgeous book themed invites here and here. Explore Etsy for inspiration, adorable wedding finds, and gifts.
Did you find any wedding items on Etsy? What was your favorite Etsy purchase?
Of late I have been questioning the copious amounts of money I we are spending on this wedding. I know and understand the sources of these feelings. Things have been kind of stressful for Mr. Darcy and I of late. I thought I might have pregnant ( I am not) and this was very hard for Mr. Darcy and I have been struggling with what could of been and our now overwhelming desire to have a child together. Not to mention with summer here both Mr. Darcy and I have less income coming in and although we aren’t financially struggling, it’s hard to justify writing checks for vendor payments. My game plan to fight these feelings of questioning and to make sure I don’t let our wedding day turn into a regretful, I have decided to outline the purpose and our goals for having this wedding.
The Purpose-
Our wedding is a celebration of not only Mr. Darcy and I’s love, but just as important a celebration of the people we have become in our five and half year relationship. Most importantly it’s a celebration! My kid brother gets to be excited about being the best man, when he has had a tough day at school and my mom gets to celebrate that this is her one time to be mother of the bride when she comes home from work and she is exhausted or feeling sick. And for Mr. Darcy and I it will be a time we can think back on when life throws us a curve ball. We are hosting our wedding, so we can celebrate. I am going to celebrate the good times, so I can remember them in the hard times.
Our Goals-
1. To create a wedding that is reflection of Mr. Darcy and I and who we are as couple. Translation- Hawaiian traditions incorportated into our cremony, Notre Dame fight song for our entrance, book motif, and Italian food. (I really do love our wedding and that is totally us)
2. To make sure our all our guests who have made the trip to celebrate us are comfortable, well taken care of, and happy. Translation- Welcome bags, welcome Las Vegas strip tour, morning after brunch, and hotel blocks.
3. To make our celebration memorable and unique. Translation- Even if it’s super prevalent on weddiing blogs most of our guests probably haven’t seen it so here is my list of “trends” I am throwing in there to make it unique- destination wedding, photo booth, after party, lots of diy details, vintage decor, groom’s cake, welcome bags, cocktail party.
Just blogging about it reminds me why I am planning this celebration and why I love our wedding and why we are celebrating our union, as husband and wife.
Did you ever have moment where you asked yourself why? Why are we spending this much money money? Why didn’t we just elope? How did you come to realize that it’s all worth it?
Mr. Darcy and I have had a lot of stuff going on in our lives lately, more than usual. This has made for a very tired Mr. Darcy and a very emotional Miss Austen. Mr. Darcy and I are also both very stubborn people (me more so, hands down), so this doesn’t always make for the best situation. I like to say in times like this Mr. Darcy and I are going through growing pains. We are adjusting to our new situations, learning to support each other through these times and to communicate our feelings better. I love Mr. Darcy more than life itself and can’t imagine spending life without him, let alone how I would get through it without him. Our relationship is not perfect, but it’s ours and we both have to work at it. I write this not because I want to talk about the difficult times in Mr. Darcy and I’s relationship, but rather the importance of the work that is necessary to put into the relationship to make it work. Yeah, Mr. Darcy and I may fight and we do, but in the end we always end up the better for it. I love Mr. Darcy every day, just some days I have to work at it more. I can’t wait to be his wife and at the end of the day I will will be (even though I wear the pants in the relationship). I am still learning how to be the best me in our relationship, not the stubborn, pigheaded, have to be in charge me, and Mr. Darcy is learning his own lessons also. I think our relationship is ever evolving and we must constantly work to keep it strong. So I leave you with this, my new favorite song for our relationship. ( I love music and often relate it to my life and my relationship with Mr. Darcy). Someday, I will share with you the soundtrack of our relationship from my perspective, but for today I leave you with this.
So I have this gorgeous dress and beautiful accessories for the day of, but I want to be in better shape for the wedding day. I have pretty decent eating habits, since Mr.Darcy feeds me. (Mr. Darcy is an awesome cook and usually makes the entree for dinner and I make the sides, plus he packs my lunch for me every day. Yes, I know. It is super sweet.) Except, that Mr. Sewing brought me this lovely thing, called a brand new Kitchen Aid mixer (AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!), and I can’t stop baking. I have made three cakes in two weeks (don’t worry Mrs. Sewing I plan on baking one for all of you this weekend.) So that hasn’t exactly helped, but I am working on it. I am babbling now, so I will get back to my point. I need to call and make my appointment for my first fitting, but I don’t want to until I lose 15 pounds. Let me just put this in perspective by saying I need to lose these 15 pounds anyways, so I feel like the wedding is a good motivation to get back on track with a healthy lifestyle. I have decided to bribe myself into exercising. I would really like a new craft machine, a paper cutter/embosser, especially since it would make several of my projects, so much easier. I have given myself permission to buy this new machine if I work out a total of 15 hours for the whole month of June. That is an average of 30 minutes a day. So I am going to record all work outs. The goal is to average 30 minutes of cardio 5x a week and do 1 hour of strength training a week. So you want to see what I get if I succeed?
Sizzix Big Shot Cutting and Embossing Roller Style Machine
That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Yes now I busted out some Shakespeare out on you, let me tell you the dilemma Mr. Darcy and I face. We can’t decide upon a last name. And when I say we, I mean we. See it’s really quite complicated, because neither Mr. Darcy nor I have last names of people that we actually share any blood relation with. It goes like this: Papa Austen was adopted by his father’s sister, when he was younger, but she was married to another man. Therefore Papa Austen took his adopted father’s name, now Papa Austen has no contact with his adopted father and hasn’t for a long time. He has talked about changing his name to his family name, many times. So therefore Miss Austen’s (me) name is not really the same as any of my family’s. Now Mr. Darcy was also adopted by his stepfather, whom he had a tumultuous relationship with, and has his last name. Mr. Darcy has no contact with anyone from his stepfather’s side of the family either. So you see neither one of us have last names that actually belong to blood relatives. So now that’s all cleared up, now on to the dilemma. Mr. Darcy and I want to share the same last name, because we want to both have the same last name of our future children. So what name to go with. Mr. Darcy and I have come up with this list of options.
1. Mr. Darcy changes his last name to his mother’s maiden name and then I will take that as my last name. This is a particularly appealing choice, because Mr. Darcy’s uncle (his mother’s only sibling) had no children and therefore no one from his primary family will be carrying on this name.
2. Mr. Darcy takes my last name. Although my last name is not really based on blood relations, I still love it and want to keep it.
3. Mr. Darcy and I take the last name of Papa Austen’s father or his mother’s maiden name.
For right now, we unsure of what we will choose and what will be best for us, but whatever choice we make Mr. Darcy and I will be sharing a last name.
Do you have some crazy family dynamics, when it comes to your last name? Did you change your last name when you got married?
Guess what I have returned from my lovely and oh, so relaxing get away with Mr. Darcy. We had an absolutely lovely time and decided that we need to make it more of a priority to get away just the two of us. So to all you lovely people out there who read my blog here is some advice from Mr. Darcy and I:
Carve out time for just the two of you (you and your significant other). It will make a dramatic difference in your relationship. It will leave you feeling refreshed, renewed, and at peace.
Coming soon will be several updates on the planning. Woo Hoo!!!
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