Oooh la la

I had my hair and makeup trial this morning with the stylist who is doing it for the wedding. Allison was awesome - I was hoping we'd hit it off, as I'd be sitting in a chair getting made up for two hours both today and on my wedding day. She's definitely a really cool person. She's an artist in many senses: mural, makeup, cake decorating. When she told me she does cakes, I got so excited. I think if I were to ever take a leap and leave tax to do something different, I'd want to be a cake artist. So it was definitely a fun two hours and she did an awesome job. I gave her basics of what I didn't want and told her to go for it - she did exactly what I was trying to find pictures of before I decided to go with the flow. It's a bummer I'm by myself all day with no where to show it off. Now the search is on for the perfect piece of hair jewelry to make it really awesome!

Wedding planning fun

Even before we were engaged, we were thinking about picking a wedding date. I wanted to get married on a Friday. Neither of us wanted to get married in the summer in Phoenix, Arizona. Looking at the calendar, Mr. Kingston's birthday fell on a Friday this year. We first said "I love you" on his birthday, and it seemed fitting. He didn't mind "giving up" his birthday, and so the date was set. We were on the same page with each other and our parents with wanting an intimate affair: meaning family and our closest friends. We wanted our wedding to reflect us. We worked to plan a wedding that would be fun yet still elegant in our own way.

Within a month, we'd chosen our ceremony and reception venue, cake baker, florist, and DJ - all the "big" ones as far as I was concerned. We had a friend who was willing to do our photography along with our engagement photos. I went shopping for my wedding gown in March. I'd already found it online, trying it on was just a formality. I absolutely love it. We bought Mr. Kingston, his groomsmen, and my dad suits rather than renting tuxes. Invitations and everything that goes in them were ordered and received by June. The only thing I've changed my mind on is centerpieces, but I think I've got it nailed down. As of today, I don't have much left to do. It's a really good feeling to have so much out of the way. Hopefully, what I have left - the invitation stuffing/addressing/mailing, favor assembly, and detail stuff - will be fun and stuff that we can do together. I know Mr. Kingston is excited to do our reception entree tasting in July. We both look forward to celebrating with family and friends who've been here to support us.

I'm really excited about a lot of our details. We're using wine bottles that we've drank together on our Thursday night wine evenings in our centerpieces. I'm super stoked about my purple shoes and purple motorcycle garter. I think our favors are fun and cute, and our flowers are fresh and unexpected. Our music has been carefully selected and is meaningful to us. Our ceremony has been handwritten to reflect us and our values. Not only that, it's being performed by my dear college friend, whom we'll call Rev Drew. My parents have given us their cake server to use to cut our cake, and that's incredibly special to me.

We also have a great wedding party. My sister, Mija, is my maid of honor. Our relationship continues to get stronger as we grow older, and I love and respect her very much. My bridesmaids, Nerd and Toe, have been dear friends for quite some time and are very special people in my life. Mr. Kingston has his brother, DJ, as best man as well as his friend, Holmes, as his groomsman. They're all supportive and loving people who mean a lot to us and we're honored to have them at our side on our big day.

So now, we're all caught up. From here on out, I'll be mostly sharing our adventures as we count down to October 16th and hunt for a home. After that, who knows where life will take us, but we'll be working at adjusting to married life and planning an anniversary trip to Ireland.

A little more about us

Mr. Kingston and I met at a co-ed baby shower for a mutual friend. He spotted me from afar and was blown away by my knowledge of celebrity babies. I noticed a tall guy with a lot of tattoos and kind eyes. I didn't think much of it though - all the younger guys were kind of over the whole baby shower thing and had segregated themselves. Apparently though, just as he'd gotten the courage to come over and talk to me, I left for dinner plans. He asked our friend for my contact info and we eventually connected on myspace a week later. We made plans and had our first date at Cheesecake Factory.

We dated casually fow a couple months since we were both in school, lived far apart, and didn't have a lot of free time. We can both be shy and we just enjoyed getting to know each other. I knew he was special when on my birthday. Not only did he show up to my get-together at Dave & Buster's where he wouldn't know anyone alone, he brought me gift cards for Starbucks and PetSmart. For having only been dating for about 6 weeks, it struck me as very thoughtful, and I knew coming took him out of his comfort zone since he hadn't met any of my friends. When my semester was over, we started dating more seriously and became inseparable pretty quickly. We found so much we enjoyed doing together: wine tasting, Dave & Buster's, playing Wii and Xbox, taking Paisley to the dog park.

We started talking about getting engaged on Christmas Day. A week later we began shopping for rings, and we were engaged on January 25th. He asked for my parents blessing the night before, and popped the question while we were dancing in our pajamas after making dinner together. It was perfect.

Starting Out

I decided to start a blog to detail this exciting journey that my fiance, Mr. Kingston, and I are about to begin. There's so much going on that I want to look back and remember it all.

So here's our story: Mr. Kingston and I have been engaged for almost 5 months now and are getting married in just under 4. We'll soon start shopping for a home and settling in. We currently live in an apartment with our puggle, Paisley, who is about a year and a half old. We can't wait to get her a sister when we have a yard. I am 27, work as a tax analyst and am pursuing my masters degree. I'm from Tucson and have a great family. Mr. Kingston is 24, from Phoenix, and works in the plumbing industry. We're very busy between work and school, spending time with our families, wedding planning, and our social lives.

We're very excited for the next few months and the excitement they'll bring as we prepare for our marriage and wedding. Beyond that, we look forward to the first years of our married lives together, settling in to our home, and starting a family. We're Building a Kingston Castle, and we hope you'll enjoy reading about our adventures.