Wedding Wednesday: The Basics

Wedding Wednesday is my brand new attempt to keep my blog free of wedding-induced word vomit except for once weekly! The alliteration is just an added bonus. :) Since Brian proposed, I've definitely neglected my blog and haven't really shared any of the planning that has gone into our nuptials so far...which is silly, considering it is definitely the most exciting thing going on in our world lately!

In the two weeks between when Brian proposed and he left to go to Arizona, we did our best to nail down a date and some basic plans for our wedding. It was super important to both of us that he be fully involved in the planning process, even if he isn't going to be home for the majority of the time that it is taking place. I mean, it is his wedding too! This basically means that we do research online together, and then he takes charge of making phone calls and setting up appointments while I watch him and make funny faces on Skype. :)

So, without further ado...Brian and I are getting married on May 28th, 2011!

I am happy to say that the ceremony and reception venues are already booked, and that they were both mine and Brian's top picks! We will be having the ceremony outdoors at this beautiful lighthouse on the water.

                
It is in a town that Brian and I love, about 15 minutes away from where we live, and a place we have gone on some special dates (including our one year anniversary). The lighthouse is also where we took some of our engagement pictures (and I hope to have the disc to share more of them soon)! It is so cool that we will be getting married there, as well. The ceremony is going to be officiated by Brian's long-time pastor, who we also met with for premarital counseling prior to getting engaged (what can I say? we are big planners...). We're really looking forward to working with him to create a ceremony that truly reflects us as a couple.

After the ceremony, we will dance the night away at the beautiful Residents' Club of a nearby golf course. It was the only reception venue Brian and I looked at, and we put the deposit down right on the spot. We fell in love. I can only imagine what it will look like decorated for our big day!

 

While Brian was home, we also picked a caterer who we are super excited about! On his next trip home over Labor Day, we have a couple of cake tastings scheduled and hope to nail down a DJ, as well. Everything about our wedding day has just kind of come together effortlessly, and we couldn't be happier with the decisions we've made so far. I keep joking that everyone says wedding planning is so stressful, but we've just had a ball! This has been such a special time for us as a couple, even though we are far apart. I truly feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

So, to summarize:
Beautiful ceremony site: check!
Gooorgeous reception venue: check!
Yummy food: check!
Someone to pronounce us man and wife: check!
We are on a roll. :)

I'm going to end this edition of Wedding Wednesday with a question for the married ladies out there. What was the most memorable moment of your wedding day?

Wrapping up the AZ Trip

Well, I've been back home from Arizona and running around for over a week. I'm just going to pretend I haven't only blogged once in the month of August and try to play catch-up for a little while. Things have been nuts lately, and school hasn't even started yet! I'm sure things are only bound to get crazier. :)

Before I left Brian and Arizona, we drove down to the Coronado National Forest. Apparently there was a pretty nice drive with scenic views of southern Arizona, so we figured it would be a nice way to spend my last weekend there. Little did we know, the mountain drive would be so close to the border between the U.S. and Mexico that we would see several attempted border-crossers being detained by Border Control, AND that the 'scenic drive' would be along the cliff face of a mountain! Needless to say, the whole experience was kind of a an adrenaline rush.

Pictures do not even do justice not only how terrifying the drive was, but how pretty the views were once we made our way up the mountain. I guess it was worth it. :)

Brian acted calm driving up the mountain, but afterward, he told me he was feeling almost as nervous as I was! Good thing he didn't show it, or I don't think I would have acted so cool and collected!

Driving back down the mountain, we realized that we were actually looking into Mexico. In this picture, you can clearly see the black border fence! Kind of neat, and a little weird!

Once we got back into town, we stopped at the McDonald's there to get a couple of drinks (their new frappes are really good!) Their claim to fame is being the World's First McDonald's Drive-Thru! Apparently, there was a rule there that soldiers couldn't wear their uniforms in public outside of a vehicle (in other words, they could only drive from their home to work in uniform, and would have to change to go anywhere else in town). To solve the problem, McDonald's created a system so that the soldiers could get food without getting out of their cars...pretty clever! I love random facts like that!

The day after our crazy mountain adventure, Brian drove me into Tucson to catch my flight home. I've said it before, but saying goodbye in an airport is the absolute worst. It felt like I had lived in Arizona with him forever, and coming home was kind of an adjustment. But now I'm coming up on the beginning of classes for the second and final year of my Master's, and I'm ready to get started! I'm off to buy some new school supplies. :)

Back to the Wild West: Tombstone, AZ

This past Sunday, Brian and I set out to find Tombstone, Arizona, "the town too tough to die." It was only a 45 minute ride from where he is staying, but when we got there, it felt like we had stepped back in time to the days of the Wild West!

Tombstone is known as the location of the most famous gunfight in the history of the Old West, which occurred just outside of the O.K. Corral. Today, the site is fenced off and set up to show where the famous players were standing at the time of the 1881 shooting. There is even a reenactment of the gunfight every day.

While I am not a history buff, I had definitely heard of this story and it was interesting to learn more in-depth what had happened. It is hard to believe that this was the world Americans lived in less than a couple hundred years ago. Because I live on the East Coast, we learn a lot about the Civil War. Taking a school field trip to Gettysburg made the stories in our history books all the more real. It was interesting to see a different piece of history that I, admittedly, had never really given much consideration.

It is not only the O.K. Corral that is preserved as it was in 1881; walking through Tombstone feels like going back in time. We ate at Big Nose Kate's Saloon, which was one of the most interesting experiences! It used to be an old hotel; the waitresses were all dressed in corsets and petticoats, and there was a man playing the guitar while we ate.

After spending the day in Tombstone, you could really imagine what life was like back then; Brian and I both found the whole town fascinating! If you are ever in Southern AZ, Tombstone is definitely worth checking out!