I can’t believe we’re exactly one month out. I am so ridiculously excited. There’s so much left still to do!

My mom helped me fold all the little favor boxes (thanks, Mom!) but those still need to be stuffed and adorned (I hope you all like them!). I have to figure out the candy bar situation and whether or not we can have a chocolate fountain (sorry, Danny, it might prove too complicated).

Really we just have all the little things, since the big stuff is pretty much done. We even chose our song last night for our first dance as a married couple. It’s all coming together.

And 30 days from now I will be Mrs. Emily Vilorio. How crazy is that?

I just booked my flight to Portland for the wedding. This thing is really happening…

I’ve been saving up my vacation time for the past year and I’m going to take 4 weeks off of work. I can’t wait! I’m flying into Portland on September 19 and flying out on October 15. But, even so, I’m not returning to work until October 21. It’s going to be so nice to take such a long vacation!

I’m so excited!!

I don’t usually feel anxious before a trip or big event. Not even when the event is near, or I’m hopping on the plane. And I thought our wedding would be the same…

But last night I realized that the wedding marks a new stage in our life. So far, it’s been nothing but planning. But today, the wedding and our future feels more real than I expected.

For example, it’s strange to think that a year or two from now I might be a father. I guess I did okay with Harvey…so there must be some hope for me yet. Getting married also marks me as an adult, right? Maybe crossing that line scares me.

But I don’t need to worry or feel prepared for the things that will come next. I have Emily. We’ll figure it out together.

That’s a calming thought…

Thank you for joining us. See you then!

–Dennis

About a week ago I realized that it would be great to surprise Dennis with a mini-honeymoon after the wedding. The weeks before and the days immediately following the wedding we’ll be surrounded by friends and family (which we’re thrilled about!) and then our real honeymoon probably won’t be until 6-12 months later. After everyone leaves the beach on Sunday it might be nice to head somewhere just the two of us, to relax and bask in the newlyweddedness.

I found this awesome bed and breakfast in the forest called Powder Creek Ranch, conveniently located on the way back from the beach.

The room I wanted to surprise him with is the East Lake Suite. 

The B&B is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by wildlife, with only two guest suites and tons of hiking trails. It sounded absolutely perfect. And so, of course, it was already booked.

Back to the drawing board.

After hours of searching for affordable options I came across two. Neither are as conveniently located as the Powder Creek Ranch but both are great. Unfortunately, I can’t surprise Dennis because I can’t decide between them! So last night I shared both options with Dennis and… he can’t decide either.

What’s your vote?

Option 1: The McKenzie River

Pros:

• Cute, rustic 1 bedroom cottage
• Also located in the middle of nowhere 
• Private and secluded, right on the river (can’t you imagine sitting on that deck?)
• Reminds us of the Shenandoah Valley, where we got engaged
• Whitewater rafting is right down the road

Cons:

• It’s a 3-hour drive from the beach and then another 4-hour drive back to Portland
• Some of the cabins are pretty close to a busy road on their front side and there is traffic noise
• It really would be just relaxing as there isn’t much else in the area

Option 2: Hood River

Pros:

• Only an hour outside of Portland
• Bed and Breakfast 
• Incredible views of Mt. Hood from every room
• Easy access to the restaurants and breweries in Hood River
• Lots of hiking and outdoor activities

Cons:

• A little more expensive
• Not as private/romantic
• Might be lots of other guests roaming around

Now that you know what we know, what would you recommend?

I can’t believe we’re only a few days away from the 2 month mark. Time has been moving so quickly.

You know the cliche that everyone talks about the weather when they have nothing to talk about? Inevitably, when you’re engaged, the small talk changes to, “How’s the wedding planning going?” I think I have probably been asked that question around 200 times. Maybe more. It’s a nice question. It’s nice that people remember that I have this big day coming up and it’s nice that they are interested, or at least feigning interest. The problem is that I don’t have anything to share. For the past 3 months my response has been, “It’s done.” Because it is. I suppose there will always be a couple last minute things (I still need to put together the wedding favors and I’m not sure what kind of headpiece/veil I’ll be wearing) but for the most part we’re just coasting. It’s pretty, well, nice.

This whole process has been impressively low stress, at least compared to what I thought it would be. There have been stresses with the guest list, which is normal, and with the budget, before we sorted it all out. And helping everyone figure out lodging and travel arrangements is a little stressful. But mostly it’s just really, really exciting. I am beyond happy to deal with those minor issues because the payoff will be so huge. I can hardly contain my excitement when I think about how ridiculously fun our wedding weekend is going to be.

I hope you all are as excited as I am. 65 days can’t pass quickly enough! Although, then I have to prepare for the new small talk question: “When are you going to have kids?”

Yesterday I had the day off and I used the opportunity to do nothing of significant value. Specifically, I watched a marathon of TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress – Bridesmaids Edition”.

If you aren’t familiar with the show, allow me to explain. The parent program, “Say Yes to the Dress”, follows a bride-to-be as she arrives with her entourage at the bridal shop, prepared to find the dress of her dreams. The entourage often includes family members (such as the 90-year-old grandmother who thinks her granddaughter should be covered head-to-toe), and friends (often her bridesmaids). The bride tries on a bevy of  gowns and parades each before her entourage for their critiques. There is always lots of drama as people hate and love different styles, and eventually everyone agrees on a dress.

So many dresses to choose from!

The “Bridesmaids” version is even more drama heavy. The bride already has her dress so now she has brought all of her bridesmaids to the shop to try on dresses, choosing a color and style for everyone. Usually there are 3-5 women in the bridal party but one girl had 19 bridesmaids! Crazy. Most of the time the bride has a very specific look in mind and won’t be happy until she finds it. One of the brides said to her friends, “Show up and shut up. This isn’t about you.” It made me realize that I did the dress selection thing all wrong for my bridesmaids. Here I had this perfect opportunity to yell at them and order them around and I didn’t do it. Oh well, there’s still the wedding day to bring out my inner tyrant.

Bridesmaid dresses – just a few of the hundreds of options

One of my favorite episodes was a woman whose younger sister felt she should get to wear a tiara to denote herself as more important than the other girls. Or the woman who was irate that she wasn’t the maid-of-honor and vetoed every dress the bride suggested. Then there was the overweight bridesmaid who felt ugly in everything she tried on and my heart went out to that poor girl. Overall, it was a very entertaining marathon.

More than anything, though, watching these women bicker over dresses and colors and insignificant details made me all the more thankful for my amazing bridesmaids, Christy and Adie. The day we found our dresses could have been stressful and frustrating. Instead, it was fun and effortless. I love you ladies!

More than a month later it is official, the combination Save the Dates / Invitations were dropped off at the Post Office this afternoon. As Dennis said, there’s no turning back. We’re all in!

Success!

It took us awhile to actually finish them but it feels great to have them done. We made them ourselves and we’re pretty happy with how they turned out. I can’t wait until everyone starts receiving them and checking out the blog!

We’re getting ready to send out our “Save the Dates” but we’re struggling with finding a good picture. Save the Dates are supposed to have a picture, right? I mean, I guess we can do whatever we want but after getting so many adorable photos of our friends, I feel like it’s our turn to show off how sickeningly cute we can be.

In all seriousness, it is actually kind of hard to find a good photo of Dennis and me because my betrothed despises posing for photos. This will probably prove challenging for the wedding photographer, but we’ve got some time to work on that…

We have a photo of the two of us from the day that we got engaged, that a stranger took for us at the tail end of a particularly steep hike in Shenandoah. We definitely look like we’ve been hiking, though.

The other option is a really sweet photo that was taken by Jaime at Adie’s wedding. I think it’s the front-runner. If you’re reading this that means you received the Save the Date, with the link to this blog, so you already know what we went with. I wish you could tell me what we’re going to decide because I have no idea what it’s going to look like yet!

I didn’t expect the chain reaction I kicked off when I proposed to Emily would take so much time and effort. In hindsight, the proposal was the easy part.

We’ve had to discuss what we wanted in a wedding, examine our finances, consider venue and lodging options, create a guest list, choose wedding colors, build a blog–and even decide whether the wedding cake should sport flowers or seashells. The list of wedding preparations is overwhelming, and it wears you down like waves crashing on rocks. I am truly thankful that Emily took on most of the grunt work.

Our venue, Stone Crest Cellars, will save us a lot of planning worries.

Why must this wedding stuff be so complicated? In hindsight, I was naive. I thought we could just email everyone an invitation, show up at a park, grill some burgers, and get it done. But it’s not like planning a house party at all! There’s etiquette to follow. We must have flowers, a photographer, suits with matching ties, and (again) the sound of crashing waves…

The truth is that the wedding is as much for Emily and me, as it is for our families and guests. We want you all to have a good time celebrating with us. I just didn’t realize then that, at the wedding, we’ll concurrently act as the hosts, the revelers, and the main attraction. That’s a strange position to be in.

I hope that you enjoy what we have planned. I am happy with our choices, and thank you for understanding them. I look forward to seeing you then!

–Dennis