Blogging Outlet

 

Photo Credit : Madison Rutledge Photography

 

Throughout this semester in Business and Professional Writing, I have learned a lot about which writing style type is proper in certain documents such as a professional report, cover letter and blogging. I have discovered the topics I like to write about such as personal topics and documents that pertain to my future such as the resume assignment.

This course has allowed me to think creatively and outside of my comfort zone. Blogging has taught me several things including how to express my thoughts and feelings into creative yet constructive writing. It has been an emotional outlet for me to have all my thoughts laid out and easily accessible to reference and rely on when needed, especially for wedding planning. The blog site has saved me from a lot of headache and stress with being able to journal my thoughts into an innovative space during this important time in my life.

I have learned that even if you have solid content in your blog, it is just as important to avoid awkward line breaks and to make sure to review paragraph structure before publishing. Planning what you want to write about before you post is also important to ensure the quality of your work. Since this is my first experience with having a blog and my own website, I am biased to the content I like to write about. I have enjoyed writing about wedding planning because it is a topic so near and dear to my heart.

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” Thomas Edison

————————————————————————————-

Blogging has also taught me that each blog and writing style is unique and personable, even if it is related to business. I have learned that comparing yourself to other bloggers is like comparing your lifestyle to someone else’s. It doesn’t do any good to change your writing to a certain way because you think your audience will like something different. Many bloggers choose to write blogs based on the opinions of audience, but I don’t want that pressure for my blog.

I would like to continue to write about personal events in my life because it allows me to be more relatible to blogs I find interesting, such as Desiree Hartsock Bridal Blog and Lauren Conrad’s Blog. Both bloggers inspire me to expand my blog into having several topics such as they have to make it more attractive and intriguing. I think having an outlet like I mentioned, allows me to reflect on important milestones in my life that I want to remember.

The future of my blog is yet to be determined. I need to think more thoroughly about the direction I want to go, since my blog has only been about wedding planning. I have thought about continuing my blog as a married couple and writing about our life and adventure together. I have also thought about adding sections to my blog such as Fashion style, interior design, travel and beauty. I will continue to blog in my free time even if I don’t publish them on my site each week or month to stay refreshed with creative writing. 

 

Rehearsal Dinner

We only had one more party to plan and attend before the wedding, the rehearsal dinner. We were back and forth on where we wanted to have our rehearsal dinner due to the fact we didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for a couple hours of the night, but we wanted to make sure it was a family fun atmosphere to go along with our Las Vegas Nuptials. My Fiancé’s parents offered to help with costs for the dinner, so it helped us immensely with our decision. 

We decided to have our rehearsal dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas. We knew it would be a great place with awesome music for our wedding party and kids as well. We assumed that since our wedding is considered more nontraditional that our ceremony venue would not provide a time or place for us to rehearse before the ceremony, so we decided to schedule our own dinner and practice on our own. Our friends had the same thing for their wedding and it turned out nicely to read the escort cards and have them walk together just to see if everything combines together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hard Rock Café is off the main strip, but I figured it would be a nice change of pace the night before the wedding. Although we are having 50 plus people there we wanted to make it a little more intimate by just inviting our wedding party. We rented out a private room and it will be nice for us to all get together before the event starts. With 27 days to go, we have so much to look forward to and I can’t wait to see all the plans over the past year fall into place.

Photo Credit : Las Vegas Background

Engagement Story

I was reflecting on all of my past blog posts this semester and realized I never blogged about the story of how my fiancé asked me to marry him.

We were in Thompson Falls, MT for Memorial Day weekend last year with my parents and our family friends. We were staying in a cute cabin off the river and had plans to go four wheeling up in the mountains. We found a place that led to the Deborgia-Thompson Falls overlook pass it was about a 2-mile ride up and it was the most beautiful area. It was starting to get late so we decided to head back down the mountain to the truck. We left before my parents and family friends did and the whole ride down Chris was very quiet and I thought he was just enjoying the scenery, little did I know he had other things on his mind.

We finally got down to the truck, by this time we had dirt all over us and my hair was a hot mess. I opened the truck door to brush my hair and wipe my face off before we headed back to the cabin. After fixing myself up I turned around and to my surprise Chris was on his knee with the ring in his hand. He was shaking, and I could tell he was nervous. I will never forget the look on his face when he asked me to marry him. I was so shocked and admittedly the first thing that came out of my mouth was asking if he asked me Dad first. He anxiously replied back that he did and grabbed the ring out of the box to put on my finger. I grabbed him to hug him tightly and told him yes, I would love to marry him. We enjoyed that moment together for a few minutes before the rest of the crew came down the hill. We told them our big news, they were so surprised but happy for us.

As we were sitting there talking with my parents after the proposal, he told me he was planning on asking me on the top of the mountain overlook but forgot the ring in his truck. The funny part of the story that we always reminisce about, was the dead deer that was right next to the truck when he got down on his knee. I know we will continue to laugh and joke about that throughout our entire relationship.

 

 

 

That night my parents and family friends helped us celebrate by making us the best steak dinner. May 28, 2017 was the start of a new chapter in our adventure together.

 

Photo Credit : Bev Freeman

What Would be a Celebration Without Music?

As it gets closer and closer to our wedding day, it is finally starting to become reality that we will be getting married in 40 days. I know I’ve said this in several of my blog posts, but it is such a big event in your life it seems it’s here in the blink of an eye after what seems like the longest year of planning.  As May 26th approaches, we are close to finishing up the final details of the wedding. Our next main focus is the little details of the reception, making sure we have everything in place and picked out before we get over there. The reception is one of the last things we have to add some final touches to because we have been waiting for our final RSVP’s to make final decisions. One of the last details we have been looking forward to picking is our music choices for our ceremony and reception.

My fiancé and I have been deciding on what music genres we want to play, and we are so far having a mix of oldies, country, and pop. We both love all sorts of music, so it was difficult deciding on what songs we wanted to walk down the aisle to and our dance selection songs. We both decided that we wanted to have our wedding party walk down to Marry Me by Train, and exit down the aisle to Sign, Sealed, and Delivered I’m Yours by Stevie Wonder.  We choose the song From the Ground Up by Dan and Shay for our first dance as Husband and Wife. It is one of our favorite songs and it means a lot to us to be able to share that moment together. For the Father-Daughter dance, I decided on the song I loved her first by Heartland, it is one of my favorite songs and I think it perfectly displays my Dad and I’s relationship. My fiancé is still deciding on the Mother Son dance song that will be long enough, so he has the opportunity to dance with both his Mom and Step Mom. For the rest of the reception we asked our DJ if he could take music requests for the reception and he was more than willing. A couple of my friends have had similar who allow music request and I always thought it was cool idea to keep everyone involved and enjoying the celebration.

 

Photo Credit : Madison Rutledge Photography

Guest List

When my fiancé and I got engaged, we both decided it would be ideal to have a small wedding. In our minds it would be less stress to host, and more time to enjoy each other on our special day. When we decided on having a destination wedding in Las Vegas, we loved how central it was for all our family and friends to try and make it there. We knew since our wedding day is on Memorial Day Weekend, it would be costlier, and it would deter some from coming but had hopes since we gave them ample notice it would help them budget for it. We decided to invite 75 people which included our immediate friends and family. Although that may seem like a lot of people for a small Las Vegas wedding, with both my fiancé and I’s family, it was quite reasonable amount of people to us. However, most of the people who said they couldn’t come were family members unfortunately. Most of the family members who can’t come have 5+ people in their family, and it’s understandable financially why they can’t help us celebrate. Our reception venue allows up to 65 people, so we had to keep that in mind as well. As of right now, 51 people have RSVP’d, which is more than we could have hoped for and imagined. We are so happy we have so many family and friends that want to share our special day with us. We are expecting a few more people to attend and hopefully here from them soon so I can let my planner know an official head count. Our wedding is larger than what we originally wanted, but it will still be a lot smaller than if we were to have it in Missoula.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit : Todd Smith(Chris’ Dad)

 

 

 

Our Flower Girls

My fiancé and I have two nieces that we asked to be our flower girls. They are his Sister’s children and I’m so excited to finally be an Aunt, although I’ve always been known as “Auntie Mac” to them. Both of their parents will also be in our wedding as well, and they will all be walking down the aisle as a family together before me. The little girls are three and almost one, they are at the age to where they probably won’t understand what it will mean to us that they our flower girls. I hope when they get older they will look back and see how much it meant to us that they were part of our special day.

My future sister and law and I found the perfect dresses for them off Pinterest. I bought the dresses off a website like Etsy, the website is called Pop Sparkle. The dresses are light pink with lace, pearls and tulle they will look so cute on them. I also got them flower girl bracelets, which I found off Etsy, the box they come in says “Thank you for leading the way down the aisle on the happiest day of our lives! Wear your bracelets as a reminder that you are amazing and very, very special”. We also got them little robes to wear with hangers that say, “flower girl”. The robes will match the ones my bridesmaids will be getting ready in. It will be a cute picture. I know the girls are young, but hopefully one day they can look back at pictures and maybe this saying by their bracelet and know that are so important to us. We are so excited for them to be a part of our wedding and to share such a special day with our family and soon to be family. 

Mother of the Bride

I asked my Mom to write a short piece for my wedding planning blog because her opinions and thoughts are really important to me especially on something that is so special to me. 

— “The memory of my baby girl being born is still very vivid in my mind. One of my very first thoughts after she was born was “One day she will be a beautiful bride.”  I had no idea how fast the time would fly and how soon that day would come.  Since she was a little girl and throughout her growing up, I always knew that it would take a strong and loving man to marry my confident, beautiful, intelligent and sometimes strong-minded little girl.  That day is almost here, and the planning has been happening for 8 months now.  The wedding date is set for May 26^th and I think we are seeing the planning coming to an end soon. I always vowed that I would stand by any decision my daughter made in her life if it was safe and healthy for her. That’s why when she said her, and her fiancé wanted their wedding in Vegas, I was all in. I won’t lie, I had hesitation on how we would get family and friends to attend, but since the invites have been sent out and they have received RSVP’s, I am so pleased with the turnout her and her fiancé will have to witness their special day.  I am so excited to see my “little” girl walk down the aisle with her father and to see the look in her fiancé’s eyes when he sees her.  This will absolutely be one of the most special days of my life!!!”

As I finish reading her thoughtful words with tears in my eyes, I can’t help but think how lucky I am to have such a strong support system and amazing Mother. She has always been so loving and supportive and I wouldn’t be where I am at in my life today with out her and my Dad. I cannot wait to have them there on our big day in Las Vegas. I am so thankful that both my parents have such a great relationship with my Fiancé, it makes me so happy that we all are so close. I’ve always looked up to my parent’s relationship, they have been together 30 plus years and are still so happily married. I hope that I too have a successful marriage such as theirs, and that one day our children will strive for a marriage like ours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit : My Maid of Honor

 

Wedding Thoughts

Today I sat down, to look back and reminisce on all the decisions and details I have put in to our wedding and in all honesty, I have never felt so accomplished and happy about anything in my entire life. I took the day to separate myself from anything involved with wedding planning today, and it was awesome. It was a good time for me to reflect on everything that has led up to where we are at now with the wedding, our relationship, friendships, everything that involves such an important event. Planning our wedding has been so bittersweet for me because it is one of the happiest times of my life and something I have always dreamt of having and experiencing. But on the other spectrum of bittersweet, I have put a ton of time and work that has caused me moments of stress. At the end of the day, I just want the day to go smoothly and have an expectation of everything turning out the way it is supposed to.

People think that with having our wedding weekend in Vegas, it’s going to be casual and thrown together but, there really is still several decisions that needed to be made. I have had a very laidback experience so far with planning, with much do credit to my lovely wedding planners. They have kept me on track as well using wedding books and apps. I truly am so eager for the day I get to walk down the aisle and look the love of my life in the eyes and confirm our love for each other. It sounds so cheesy, (I know I know) but I can’t help it, on days like today where I sit back and realize how good I have it and how all these details towards are special day are minuscule in the grand scheme of sharing the rest of our lives together.

Photo Credit: Bridal Guide

“Marriage is…sharing life with your best friend, enjoying the journey along the way and arriving at every destination…together.” — Fawn Weaver

Pick Your Cake and Eat it too

 

Photo Credit: Wellington Place

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the midst of wedding planning chaos, I was excited to finally pick out our wedding cake. To me, it meant we were getting closer to our special day. Our reception venue, The Wellington Place, offered several different 3 tier cakes to choose from, which included flavors, fillings, and decorations.

I was all for putting multiple fillings in the cake and decided on Bavarian and raspberry. We decided on vanilla because we both don’t like chocolate, so it was an easy decision for us. We also got to decide on how the cake was to be decorated, such as flowers, ribbons, jewels, and a cake topper. I was very indecisive at first, because there are so many options, but I decided to not add flowers, instead ribbon with gold jewels and accents on it. I saw several ideas on Pinterest with swirly design in the frosting and cake. I asked my wedding planner if they could make it work and she said they would make it happen. I picked out a gold cake topper that says, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and will go perfectly with the other decorations.

The Llewellyn Journal says the wedding cake symbolizes good fortune and fertility. It also brings good luck to everyone who eats it. The bride cuts the first slice of cake (with help from the Groom), to provide good fortune in the marriage. I believe it is crucial for every nuptial to have a wedding cake, due to the fact my Brother and his wife didn’t have a cake at their reception due to a catering error. They were very upset and had to explain to family and friends why they didn’t have a wedding cake. It did put a damper on that portion of the reception. I hope we don’t have any minor hiccups like that.

 

 

Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties

 

Photo Credit : nvppaintball

My bridesmaids have a bachelorette party planned for me in Whitefish, MT. over St. Patrick’s Day weekend. They are keeping most of the weekend a surprise but I know some of the exciting plans they have so far. We are going to stay in a cute loft in downtown Whitefish, that is walking distance from a couple of bars we are interested in for a perfect girls’ night out. My Mom, three of my bridesmaids, and my Maid of Honor’s Mom will be help me celebrate my last hoorah as a single lady. We will cook dinner together on Saturday night, and then start our night out be by playing fun bachelorette games. Those are two of the only details I have of the party.

The only thing I got to pick out that weekend was the destination. I chose Whitefish for the Bachelorette party because there is so much to do in that town like outside recreation, such as snowshoeing, hiking and skiing. There are also a lot of cute quaint shops in the downtown area. I primarily wanted to get out of Missoula for my party because I know a lot of people in Missoula and I wanted it to be a special thing for some of my closest friends. Plus, I love getting out of town and experiencing new places. I can’t wait to see what my girls have planned for me.

My Fiancé and some of his closest friends are driving over to Spokane the weekend before mine, to watch the Spokane Chief Hockey team play. I’m not sure what else they have planned. (Probably for the best…) but I’m so happy to see that his best man put something together for him. They are all a bunch of goofs and I’m sure whatever they do will be a blast.

What are some of your favorite bachelorette/bachelor party games and ideas?