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.