Paddle fan ceremoney programs: A brief glimpse of bridezilla

I am detailed-oriented to a fault. So, unfortunately my mom and Wes’s mom got picked on a little bit when making the ceremony programs.

Let me state my case: 1. They kept asking me for things to do. As far as I am concerned, you get what you ask for. 2. I was so proud of my save the dates and invitations, how could I not want the ceremony programs to be just as beautiful. And, most were…

Mad for Chalkboards

Somewhere along the way, I fell head over heels for chalkboards. Could you tell? There’s just something about them! I love that you can dress them up or down. I love that you can write in a whole bunch of different fonts all over them. I love that dusty look. I find everything about them heart-warming and a bit romantic. I think Kristen Taylor (our photographer) said it best when she called our wedding “casual yet elegant” and chalkboards very much represents that idea to me. I didn’t want chalkboards to overwhelm the wedding rather I wanted them to add to the feeling and be one of a few repeating elements in the wedding.

I hope I didn’t go over the top!

Photo by Kristen Taylor Photography

Big ticket items

The week I took off from work before the wedding was definitely a necessity for all the decor for the wedding to work out. I don't think I realized how crazy of a bride I was until I saw all my wedding "stuff" crammed into my mom's poor house. Thanks Mom (again) for letting us invade your house. Thank you Matthew, my incredible nephew, for bringing so many of the boxes back to grandma's house for us!

The reason why my nephew had to help drive stuff back from Waldenwoods was...because... I had some BIG stuff for the wedding. Remember these?

Flower or no flower?

I was really pleased with my DIY projects! I had one more DIY fail, though, after the mercury glass situation. That would be my hair flower…

I had seen all these breathtaking photos of brides where their hair is adorned with beautiful hair flowers. I ordered some chiffon and organza fabric forever ago and thought I would try my hand at making one. I used this DIY tutorial that seem super easy and figured that it would turn out simply amazing. Here’s the final project:

My flimsy flower.

On the town

So, first was my wedding shower and then, we had my bachelorette party later that night. J SO MUCH FUN. My super-dupa-awesome-to-the-core friend and maid of honor, Colby, planned such a perfect party. She insisted that we get a limo so we could all enjoy the night and be together the whole time. I argued with her a bit on this because money doesn’t grow on trees, but she was right to insist. By far, the best part of the night was riding around in that darn limo. We got to talk and enjoy a “few” cocktails. It was so nice to have so many of my friends mushed into one little box. We were having so much fun in the limo that I guess Colby and I were a little difficult to get out of the limo later that night. The reason was because we got back to my house a half hour earlier that what Colby had paid for. We insisted on using the limo up until the last minute! And for the record, Colby I insist we have a limo for your bachelorette party. Don’t argue.

I have no photos of this portion of the night... probably for the better! So here's a good one of my mom and mother-in-law!

In between limo rides, we did visit was a comedy club and a piano bar. Which were fun! But, the comedy club really didn’t like us. I heckled the comedian a bit and apparently that is a no-no. Oh well. Lesson learned, don’t go to a comedy club when you have had enough liquid courage to heckle the comedian. The piano bar was nearly empty, but that was very good because it allowed us to get up on stage and perform the Unicorn Song.

WHAT? You don’t know the unicorn song?  Please press play as you view the following photos:

I particularly love how aggressive Josh looks in this one.

Overall, the night was a success. Fairly harmless, besides one broken toe. Rachel – I love you. I promise to break my toe at your bachelorette party.

The big difference between my party and Wes’s was that I had all my fun jam-packed in one night while he was able to span his out for a few days in Vegas. The whole “bachelor party” weekend is becoming so popular! Which kind would you want?

A slightly nontypical wedding shower

I was fairly adamant that I did not want a bridal shower. Somehow I ended up with 3. And, I’m glad no one listened to me! But, there is one reason in particular that I did not want a shower…

...because I didn’t want to sit in “the chair”.

I know I am a goof and I am loud at times. But, honestly most of that is because I am making up for the part of me that is really nervous about being looked at and scrutinized. Those chairs put you in the middle of the room are just so everyone can pay attention to you. That really freaks me out! I know, you are thinking, “Come on Megan. You are a jazzercise instructor for goodness sake. And, you present your scientific results at major conferences.” And, you are right. However, I am only able to do that because I try not to think about it too much. In Jazzercise, I am just working out with my friends. At Society for Neuroscience, I am focusing on how excited I am to be sharing my work. Also, I am not receiving gifts when I do those things. I feel super weird about getting gifts. I never know what the right thing to do is… Do I open it in front of them? What if that person was way too generous? How do I respond? Don’t get me wrong. I am so thankful for all of our wedding gifts. I am in awe of how thoughtful people were and all the beautiful things that were written in all those cards. I am grateful to all of you. And, I apologize if I am super awkward sometimes.

Case in point:

My mom and her wonderful friend Lynette put together this amazing day for me. It was a “personal” wedding shower instead of being your typical “give-a-blender”wedding shower. Which made it way more fun. I received such lovely things. And I would like to note, that I wore both dresses that Colby and Rachel got me, so that gift was perfect contrary to popular opinion that day.

The other gifts I received shall remain off the internet if that is okay with you!

The house was gussied up so nice. There were some rockin’ zebra stripped balloons, a nacho bar (YUM) and mini cheesecakes.

Lori and Lynette making those house pretty.

Cutting the cake... Poor Wes had to sit in the other room while the ladies hung out.

I think one of my favorite moments was opening my card from my sister. She is my big sister, so naturally, I search for her approval. Being separated in age and thus in the different positions in our lives, I feel like I have been searching for a closeness between my sister and I for years. Her card was so perfect. Just from that simple card, I felt from her what I had always wished was between us and, most likely, was always there.



It was really wonderful to spend that time with family and friends from Michigan that I don’t get to see very often. It was an afternoon that was essential to starting the week off right. From that point on, I felt myself more focused on relishing in the moment and enjoying the conversations and little details that make each one of my family member and friends such a joy in my life.

If I looked happy on my wedding day, it was partially due to being able to do that all week. (And largely because I was lucky enough to marry my better half.)

Photo by Kristen Taylor Photography

All photos were taken by my mother-in-law except the last one. Kristen Taylor gave me a sneek peak of some of my photos! http://www.kristentaylorblog.com/Index.cfm?postID=410

We're back!

Hello! We have returned from our amazing honeymoon!

There are about a million other things I wanted to post about before the wedding, but things just got so crazy busy. I guess I should have anticipated that. J So, I figured I would keep writing to update you about June and our honeymoon.

Above all, I wanted to send out a general thank you to everyone who made our wedding special. To quote Wes at our rehearsal dinner, I feel blessed. June was such an amazing month. Yes, I mean month. One reason is that I have a wonderful Jazzercise family that threw not one, but two surprise wedding parties for me. I teach Jazzercise in two places, Piscataway and Hillsborough. I love teaching in both of these places so much. They helped make New Jersey home. They are all amazing people and I am lucky to get to share my life with them.

The lovely ladies at Hillsborough through me a shower on a Friday evening. We had such amazing food! Everyone showed off their culinary skils and brought something and I received some amazing gifts. I was particularly blown away by these flips flops one very special lady made for me. I think the best part was seeing everyone dressed up so nicely because usually we are all in sweaty workout clothes!

Surprised!

Leslie, the owner of Hillsborough, who set most of all of the party up!

The dreaded chair. I hate being the center of attention like that!

Opening my gifts!

The card that everyone signed. I was very touched by that!

Some of the wonderful gals!

My flipflops!!!

My Piscataway peeps through me a party during one of the classes I taught. They tried really hard to get these belly dancing skirts for everyone for the party, but they didn’t arrive in time.  No matter because we had a great time and Robin even made me her brownie cake that I love so much and Dean brought his homemade wine.  They all got together and gave Wes and I such a generous gift. And, the next week we had another party during my class with the belly skirts. Here’s the pic of everyone from the second party. Can you find me?

Thank you to the Jazzy ladies! Those experiences started the whole month off perfectly. I underestimated how nice it would be to have wedding showers and I very glad I had to chance to share time with so many of my favorite people. It was a good warm up for the shower my mom and family friend threw me… J