You won’t believe all of the changes taking place in the Brennan/Power Household within the next month!

{via In This Instance}

In the next two weeks we will be moving to the suburbs of Boston and finally living in a house with a little yard for Bradley.  I cannot wait! It’s happened a little sooner than expected but we are very excited about the move.

We’ve begun searching for a washer and dryer to buy for the house (I was shocked to see how expensive they were) as well as a car for us to get around in.  Not to mention settling in a new town, finding movers, gearing up for the Christmas season and finding out how to get back to Pennsylvania for the holidays with Brad!

The big secret however is that while we are back in my hometown, we will be getting legally married!  I wanted to keep it a secret and share with you after the big day but who was I kidding.  I can’t keep secrets!  Although the “real” wedding ceremony and reception is still in Ireland in August, this will also be very special to us as well.

To make the visa process as easy as possible, we learned that getting civilly married before traveling over to Ireland would be most ideal.  Originally we had thought of doing it after Ger graduated from Grad School however, we soon found out that it could take up to 5 months to process all of the papers.  This is when I had the bright idea of getting married over Christmas and to share the experience with all of my family that aren’t able to make it over to Ireland! Remember my dilemma? Problem solved, right?  I love that we are able to incorporate both of our families into this great celebration and I am even able to wear my first wedding dress!

I’ve always been the type that whenever I wanted to get a new hair style or a hair cut, I needed to do it right away.  It would drive me crazy to wait for days until my appointment and by then, I usually changed my mind anyway.  I admit, I can be quite impulsive at times.  I get so tired of planning and researching EVERYTHING.  Sometimes you just need to go for it, right?

Has anyone else been impulsive when it comes to life and wedding planning?

{via My Own Collection}

If Bradley could talk, I’m sure this is what he would be asking me.  With all of the Wedding plans, it’s easy to forget about our little guy and what we plan on doing with him during the wedding.

We would love to have Bradley be a part of the big day.  It really wouldn’t be complete without him there however, it is turning out to be quite a challenge.  Although our venue is dog friendly, the hard part will be to get him over to Ireland.

Imagine Bradley in a little bow tie running around on our big day!  He would be such a gentleman.  However, this brings up another point, in the midst of all of the last minute details and events, would we really be able to give him all of the love an attention he needs? Would we be too distracted to watch after him? What about when it’s time to go on our honeymoon.  Does he stay in Ireland while we are in Japan?

One of the other side of the coin, could we really go 3+ weeks without this guy? Where in the world would he go? I’m sure the cost of puppy hotel’s aren’t cheap.  This plan doesn’t seem any better!

I need your help!  For those of you who have special guys at home, how are you incorporating them into your wedding plans?

No, I’m not talking about for our wedding, I’m talking about after the wedding. Here’s a snapshot of our background:

Abby
Pennsylvania -> San Francisco, CA -> Boston, MA-> ?

Ger
England -> Ireland -> Pennsylvania -> San Francisco, CA -> Boston, MA -> ?

As you can see, we’ve been around!  We both met in college in Pennsylvania and moved to San Francisco and Boston together.  It was important to us to live in new and different cities that offered cultural enriching experiences.  This not only helped us grow but also helped us gain independence.

Although we wouldn’t change our experiences, we miss our family and looking to settle down.  Seems simple enough, right? Not so fast.  How in the world are we going to decide where we are going to settle when each of us are from a different country? Perhaps we never can?

Here are the options that are the table right now.

Option #1

Pittsburgh, PA

{via Flickr }

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The Save the Date dilemma is over! Hooray!!

Of course you remember my incessant indecision, here and here regarding our save the dates. I promise this is the last you will hear about it.

After pulling my hair out over which “look” to go for, I finally came to and realized that most people who will receive these won’t think twice about them.  Our guests won’t care if they match the style of wedding we were going for or if they were the coolest piece of mail that they have ever received.  Why spend another few weeks mulling over them?

With that, I went online and ordered our save the dates!   We decided to go with the Wedding Paper Divas “Park Bench” style.  It was fun, non-DIY and completely us.

{Wedding Paper Divas}

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Ger & I share a love of traveling to new places. When deciding where we were going to go for our honeymoon many different locations came up. Do we go around to a few different European countries, somewhere tropical to relax on the beach or perhaps a totally unique experience?

We have always wanted to go to Japan and what a better time to experience it! It’s been a dream to visit this beautiful country and so it wasn’t hard to narrow down our choice. Japan it is!

{all images via Lonely Planet}

Did you decide to go somewhere different for your honeymoon?

{via Heart of Light}

Rachel of Heart of Light created these corsage pins for her Etsy Shop (aren’t they beautiful!?)

Don’t you think that these would make great escort cards?  This could be the start of a new project for me!

I love the idea of multiple wedding cakes… add multiple vintage cake toppers and you have one amazing setup!

{via Project Wedding}

How lovely would it be to incorporate your families history by gathering everyone’s cake toppers and displaying it proudly on the beautiful cakes.

We haven’t decided if we will be having a wedding cake yet but I do know we will be displaying the cake topper that my mom, aunt and grandmother all used on their wedding cake.  It is incredibly beautiful!

Anyone else incorporating a vintage flair and a bit of family history?

By now you realize how indecisive I can be.  I’m afraid to make a solid decision because most likely I will change my mind.  This happened with my wedding dress and now my save the dates.

Remember my original save the date?

I made this months ago and loved it (until I tried to print it.)  When I went to print it, it never came out right.  The resolution of the photo wasn’t high enough, the sizing didn’t work, the colors were off.  After weeks of trying everything possible to make this save the date work, I gave up.  It wasn’t working and I was wasting A LOT of time.

So then…

I create a new save the date! The new one has a completely different look and feel and it ended up changing my whole color scheme.

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I love the idea of using letters as wedding decor and as props!

During my visit to Pennsylvania, I learned that craft stores can be dangerous.  There are way too many cool ideas that I’ve seen that I would love to recreate for my wedding.

I love the idea of using letters to create sayings, personalize a wedding and even be used as props for awesome photos!

Remember Briana’s Dessert Table with “Oh Happy Day” in block letters? I LOVED this!! I think it really makes this table stand out in a simple yet elegant way.

via Weddingbee {source}

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I was home in Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago and got to spend some much needed time with my mom mapping out the wedding planning.

I am less then a year away and needed to start putting together a solid list of what needs to get done by August 7th. We spent a good 2 hours talking about everything that we could possibility think of that needs to get done.

Now that I am back in Boston, every time one of us thinks of something else we simply call each other up and add it to the list.  For those of you who are planning a wedding in another city, state or country than your mother, I find that this is a great way to involve each other during this special time.

Here is a shot of our Wedding List (you can click to enlarge).  It is currently about 5 pages long and keeps growing.  It will feel great when I get to the time where I can start crossing things off. (Yes, I am that person who makes lists of things that I’ve already done just so I can cross it off!)

This list is also a big reminder that time is going to fly and things need to start happening. Ger and I got engaged back in December and have had a long engagement.  Honestly, now that time is shortening, it’s hard for me to get started on all the projects!

For all of those brides out there, did your “list” have a dual meaning to you?