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?

This entry is subtitled: Why I’m Freaking Out About Our Food at the Reception

Sorry it’s somewhat long and picture-less, but I think it’s a good story :)

Let me set the scene: It was the end of June this past summer and Mr. and I had just bought our first house. We decided that it would be fun and a good idea to have an open house for the 4th of July for our families. That way, no one could say, “You haven’t even invited us over to your new house yet!” or no one would just stop by unannounced (a HUGE fear of mine with his family), OR no one would just come over and snoop and peek in the windows (which they ended up doing anyway) because they were all invited to stop by and check it out. Nothing fancy, maybe we’d make some lemonade and have some chips and pretzels, but because we would have only been in the house a week and wouldn’t even have anything to sit on (seriously, we were sleeping on the floor) it wouldn’t be a full out party.

Well. I’ll bet you can figure out that’s not how it went down. This whole thing evolved into a huge barbecue for his family. Now, granted, my family is much much smaller than his, just my mom, aunt, uncle, and cousin who live close by (everyone else is at least 7 hours away), so it’s understandable that none of my family came (except for my mom after all of his family had cleared out…and a jumbo sized bottle of gin to help us recover from the afternoon). His parents did generously offer to bring all the food, but when I heard how much they were bringing I got a little nervous. 40 hamburgers and 40 hot dogs? THIS is when I realized that our little “open house” was much much more than that. At least with all the money we were spending on the house, we wouldn’t be out even more money to host the party. For which I was VERY grateful.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

It occurred to me today at the doctor’s office…that when you are engaged…you can easily have a conversation with just about anyone…and at any time.  Of course the subject of discussion is… the WEDDING!!  Why is it that all of a sudden I feel like the lady at the bank that helped us set up our joint account wants to have us over for her next dinner party??  And does the pharmacy tech really care about what flowers I’m going to have on the cake table??

It’s amazing how a shinny rock on one’s finger can suddenly make everyone want to know everything about you and your husband to be…where you went to school…how you met…where you are getting married and when…the list goes on and on.  Suddenly I find myself having 30min conversations about shoes and candles with people I used to just smile at and say ‘hello!’

Then when you go to wrap up the conversation…they end it with “oh you just HAVE to bring in pictures from the BIG DAY  next time you’re in!!!!”

source

Really….you really want to see my wedding album?  What so you think I’m just going to lug that thing around everywhere I go? (ok myabe I will)  …and then what…so I drive through the bank to cash a check and you want me to shove it in that drawer-esq thing to you??  Or the cashier at Target…do you really want me to hold up the line while you go through every page??

I’m guessing most people say this just to make me feel good…so for that 1 min as I walk away I can think to myself, “heck yes…my weding is gonna ROCK…that’s right…you WILL want to see my pictures because it will pretty much be the most awesomest of awesome weddings ever…”

Heck…if someone brought in a wedding album for me to look at everyday at work….I know I wouldn’t complain…would you?

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 }

{Read the rest of this entry…}

…of being engaged….and we still have 8 more months to go.

some random thoughts at this point:

1)  On a “wedding-related” phone call the other day…the lady on the other end told me CONGRATS! with a lot of excitement…it took me a minute to realize she meant about my engagement…because ya know…that happened SO 12 months ago…

2)  I went to try on my dress/see it for the first time since I bought it 4 months ago…I told the lovely lady behind the desk that I bought it in June…getting married next June…she replied “oh yeah..I did the whole ONE-YEAR engagement thing too” (expressing that it is a looong time)…I didn’t correct her.

3)  A few weeks ago we received a Save-The-Date from a couple friend of ours getting married a little more than a month BEFORE us…we haven’t even designed ours yet.  (PS…they got engaged this summer)

4)  Within the first 6 months of being engaged I got my ring cleaned oh around 10 times…since then…maybe once.

5)  Thinking about Christmas I got excited thinking it will be our first Christmas as an engaged couple!!….oooooh waaaiiittt….nope…we were engaged last Christmas.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Sometimes when I’m roaming wedding blog land, I am amazed at what bridal bloggers can do in their spare time. How do they keep up with their wedding and have a full-time job? How did they make their own wedding dress and stay sane? What do you mean they baked their own wedding cake?? I am so impressed by all the talent out there, so much so that I often feel like bowing in front of the computer hailing “I’m not worthy!”

Well, y’know, not really but it makes for a funny and geeky visual. :)

Last week I started graduate school part-time. I have a pile of papers, two empty Starbucks cups and a bag of chips to prove it. In addition to my full-time job, some volunteering, wedding planning, and blogging, I’ll be reading theory and writing papers at night. As I embark on this new chapter in my life, I thought it’d be an appropriate post to throw out to the wedding community–how do you fit planning a wedding into your life? And if you’re already married, what would you have done early on in the planning to alleviate some of the stress in the final days before the big event?

A month later, the cat is out of the bag. I got married and I didn’t change my name. (*insert shock and awe *) I will come right out and admit that it I find it rather insane that in 2009, people still assume that I changed my name just because I got married. Honestly, in the last month I have found myself outright stunned by the large contingency of people who are taken aback upon learning that, no, I did not in fact change my name. How is it that such a thing is still somehow shocking, surprising, perhaps even a little taboo? As if retaining my maiden name somehow makes me less married than had I forfeited my name to take another. So, I’m just going to put it out there - no, I didn’t change my name. And honestly? I think it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. Not that this was a decision I entered into lightly. It was a source of great debate and personal reflection, but in the end, the decision was clear.

{Source unknown}

My great debate about whether or not to change my name was not something I publicly discussed nor blogged about before I was married. In fact, it took me a while to figure it out myself. I had a lot of mixed emotions at first, but in the end it was a surprisingly easy decision. I debated changing my name, but keeping my maiden name professionally. I debated taking my maiden name as my middle name. One thing I didn’t consider was hyphenating - it would have required far too many syllables for my taste. Ultimately, the only thing that felt right was making no change at all. So that’s what I did. Nothing. I have yet to have a friend get married and not change their name, most being outright gleeful to do so, and so I understand that this lodges me firmly in some kind of minority category. I’m ok with that. Ultimately, this was a decision I made for myself, in consultation with my then fiancé, and it wasn’t a decision that required the input nor approval of anyone else. Which, is good, because I haven’t received approval from very many people, most of my largely conservative family included….despite it being their name I was unable to part with. The irony, huh?

{Read the rest of this entry…}

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.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

I still remember the day I learned about Facebook. It was sometime in 2004, and I was walking back to my apartment with my friend Matthew after history class. We were dodging the usual suspects on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley, when he enlightened me.

“Hey, have you heard of Facebook?”

“Facebook? What is that, some way to check people out without them knowing?”

“Ummm…sort of…it’s like Friendster, except better.”

“Better than Friendster? How is it different?”

“Well, for instance, it lists your class schedule, and then it will show you all the people who are in the class with you.”

“Whoa. Are you serious? How do they know what classes you’re taking, do you list them on your profile?”

“No, they have your class schedule because it’s linked to your school email account. You use that email to sign up.”

“WHOA.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool, these guys at Harvard made it. Go sign up, IM me when you have your profile up and I’ll add you.”

So I did. Matthew became my first “friend”. And thus began my Facebook profile. These days, it seems like everyone is on Facebook. Old high school friends. People from work. Businesses. My relatives. I even set up a “Catbook” for my cat. It’s an easy way to get the word out…

{Read the rest of this entry…}

It’s finally time to start the much anticipated wedding recaps! Much anticipated on my end, at least. I want to remember every moment, every emotion, every detail. It really is true that the day — the week, actually — will just fly by. And before you know it, you’ll find yourself where I am today: happily married and still marveling in the loveliness that was our wedding day.

Before I get started, let me offer two bits of advice that made my week much more manageable.

First, if possible, take off work the week of your wedding. I can’t imagine having to juggle job assignments along with wedding prep.

Second, find some time to relax — I mean, a bride needs her beauty rest, right? Yes, there are errands to run, projects to finish, gifts to wrap. But, if you’re lucky like me, you’ll have a whole crew of family and friends who are ready and willing to help. Don’t decline their offers!

Now let me give you the rundown on what kept me and my team busy during wedding week:

*Tied red and orange ribbons to 80 mason jars filled with river pebbles and candles (total cost ~ $1.10 per jar)

* Painted barn wood signs (thanks to my artistic sis)

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And sadly it’s not the good kind of dream… Last night I had my first wedding-related freak out dream.  You know, the one where you somehow find yourself at your wedding and you hadn’t finished planning everything (so people are wandering around aimlessly wondering why in the world you don’t have escort cards), your hair and make-up are not done, it’s the first dance and you can’t find the groom anywhere so you dance with your mom?  Yea, that one.

I can remember having similar dreams at other “big event” times in my life (prom, graduation, first day at a “real” job), but they were always a lot closer to the actual big event.  So needless to say, I’m a little worried because I don’t really feel too stressed about the wedding yet… what happens when I’m two weeks away and actually starting to freak out in real life?!

My wedding is a little over two months away, so I need some tips on how to not start freaking out just yet (even if it is just subconciously).  Anyone have any words of wisdom out there?  I would be particularly happy to hear any that involve massages or things of that nature…

Friends! It’s been so long, and I have so many stories to share! August 28th was the most perfect day of my life — rain and all. There was spontaneous singing during the ceremony. There were bridesmaids with red umbrellas and groomsmen with mugs of microbrews. There were proud parents. There were family cookbooks for every guest. And there was an unlimited supply of love and laughter.

{credit Robert Winton}

Our honeymoon at El Dorado Maroma in the Riviera Maya was equally as memorable. We ate gourmet every meal and drank fruity cocktails every day. We kayaked, snorkeled, climbed Mayan ruins, and did a whole lot of relaxing. We were pampered from the moment we arrived until the time we left.

Stay tuned for all of the joyful details!