Wedding (not mine)

As I stated yesterday I had to book it back from Fargo to get to my office managers wedding at the church I serve. It was a glorious celebration and I wouldn't have wanted to miss it for the world. It was a little strange in the sense that he got married at Bethlehem and then had his reception at the lodge in Baxter. I feel like in a few weeks we will have role reversal and he will be sitting at our wedding at Bethlehem and then we are off to the reception at the Lodge. Too funny.

This is actually the first wedding that Marc and I have attended together. The next will be ours which is nuts to think about. I can't believe that we are under a month and only a few weeks out. Sadly I failed and didn't take a single picture, which is crazy!!! I think I seriously was way too exhausted to think about much beyond the exhaustion in my legs and getting through the rest of the day.

The wedding was beautiful, the bride looked gorgeous (her dress was amazing on her, although not at all what I expected her to be wearing - which makes me wonder what people expect me to wear) - the groom was cute and so excited to see her. IT WAS LOVELY!

Marc and I had a marvelous time and were slightly caught in the disbelief that it would be us in a mere three weeks! Because they had their wedding in the same church that we will be married in and they had their reception in the same location that we will be having ours it left Marc and I plenty to talk about!

Sunday night we had a small shower with some folks from church and it was marvelous and exciting to hang out with everyone and hear how excited everyone is for us. It is humbling to know how many people are holding us in prayer as we begin our final journey to our wedding day!

And because what is a post without a cute picture of my favorite puppy. Here is a picture of Dakota from last night. She has been so ridiculously tired at night it has been MARVELOUS. She is getting so much exercise because we are playing outside all day and have been getting in a ton of runs. She thinks she has died and gone to heaven! I love this sweet picture of her snuggling next to me on the couch.


Do you have many weddings you get to attend this summer?
Have you had the opportunity to be outside a ton with this gorgeous summer weather?
What is your favorite thing about summer?

Wedding Craziness

I am super excited to be getting married this coming summer. I can't wait to be married and continue the adventure with my fiance. He is fabulous. As you can imagine since getting engaged we have been on the journey to planning a wedding: setting a date (finding one that works with the church and finding a reception site that worked with the date), finding a reception site (harder than I imagined), asking our attendants, and sharing the news with friends and family. Other than those types of things I have begun to do some hoping and dreaming about how we want to decorate and all of those types of things, but it is OVERWHELMING!
The wedding industry is crazy. The other day I was looking online at a few to-do lists of when what needs to be done in terms of months out from the wedding and some of it was ridiculous. Some time lines were yearS in advance. Seriously YEARS! Who plans a wedding for years? I was committed to being engaged for less than a year, too much longer seems crazy. I don't need all the excess stuff, this does not need to be a multimillion dollar event. I can't fathom spending that much money on a wedding. There are lots and lots of things I was looking at and thinking about how over the top it was. My friend Lynneskies sent me a couple bridal magazines, they have been fun to look through and get some ideas and laugh at the over-the-topness of some of it.
There is a piece of me that was seriously disappointed (granted some of this comes from working in a church) but in most of the stuff that I have read or seen it appears that there is little to no emphasis on the actual wedding but rather on the reception and party after. Why does the ceremony get little to know focus and almost seems to come across as a means to an end?!
I am excited for the ceremony, to gather with God, family, and friends and to be showered in prayers and love as we make promises before God. I am excited as well about the reception and celebrating life together. It will be marvelous.
I haven't been doing a ton in terms of wedding stuff. Although I did just finish making our save the dates. I used this idea from pintrest, ours are brown and green. They were fun and not too challenging to make. At some point I know I need to go start looking at wedding dresses for myself, I am overwhelmed even thinking about it. It is crazy to think of all the options and to try to decide where to even begin. It'll happen soon hopefully.
That is my wedding rant of the moment. While this is the first I am certain this will not be the last, thanks for reading, feel free to include your point of view on weddings.