280. Now Boarding

I can picture my wedding in my head. The trees are wrapped in subtle twinkle lights. Big, white helium balloons of different sizes float above the pool at various heights, creating the backdrop to my "altar." Floating tealight candles drift lazily across the hot tub, nudging each other like gentle bumper cars. Cayden and I are standing there, facing each other, both of my hands in both of his while Marvin's booming voice entertains the crowd with the story of how he once offered to pay me $1,000 to marry his son. Everyone laughs and then they hold their drinks up as he pronounces us husband and wife. We kiss. They cheers. Then we break out the beer pong tables and lift the lids on the Chick-fil-A party trays. 

Now if that's not the fairytale wedding every little girl dreams of, I don't know what is. 

When it came to planning said dream wedding, I had no idea where to start. I already had the dress and the venue, and soon enough I'd have the groom. What more did I need? Oh, the officiant. 

I called Marvin and told him the good news.

"So, you know that British stud I introduced you to on Christmas? Turns out I'm going to marry that guy. Well, actually I was wondering if you would. Marry us, I mean."

I could see hear his smile through the phone. 

"Oh, Whitney! Congratulations!" he yelled. "I'd be honored. I bet your parents are just overjoyed. We'll work this out. I will be there."

He's going to sing, too. 

Now that I had all the key players in place, what was next? Was I supposed to pick colors or something? 

OK, peach and navy.

No, peach and sapphire. 

No, sapphire and gray. 

I loved the idea of incorporating sapphire into the wedding because it's the September birthstone and both Cayden and I have September birthdays, but I decided the color was too dark for a night time wedding. 

Peach and gray it is. Why peach and gray? Well, why the hell not. 

Now, what's next? Save the Dates? I called all of my close friends and family and told them to clear their calendars for June 16, there was a celebration to be had, many of whom responded with "Are you serious?" "Holy shit!" and "It's about time!" Technically, that counts as a Save the Date, right?

Oh, right, bridesmaids. I needed bridesmaids. I'd already told my sisters they'd be my maid and matron of honor, so for bridesmaids there was Rae and Carson and Joyce and Shanna. LeeAnn and Colbie and Dawn and Ann. Gayle and Nicole and Lea and... oh, fuck it. I didn't need bridesmaids. I had an amazing group of girlfriends and if I had them all stand next to me at the wedding, there would be no one left in the seats to watch us get married.

Mitch agreed to photograph my wedding and Chaz stepped up to take my engagement photos. There are definitely perks to working in a creative industry. I'm surrounded by incredibly talented photographers, graphic designers and creative thinkers. We aren't known for our math or scientific skill, but we sure as hell know how to make things look good. 

Speaking of talented creatives, my younger sister Meg designed my wedding invitations and they are by far the most beautiful invitations I've ever seen. I don't want to give too many details away just yet, but let's just say they may or may not look like airplane boarding passes complete with QR codes to RSVP online. We figured our relationship is dependent on boarding passes, so our wedding may as well be, too. 

In fact, Cayden will be scanning his boarding pass this Saturday for his final visit to Dallas before the big move in June. That's right, in less than 48 hours I get to pick my fiance up from the airport. My FIANCE! It sounds so weird. 

This Sunday we'll both be on a private jet with champagne flutes in hand. Where are we off to, you ask? Lala land. Rae's Dad just happens to be the president of a luxury jet service that operates out of Addison Airport, and he's letting us use a jet for our engagement photo shoot. How bad ass is that? 

I still have so much wedding stuff to tell you about but it's almost 1:30 am. I have to wake up in five and a half hours to go to work. I'll try to blog again before Cayden gets here, but I have a lot of cleaning, yogaing and engagement-photo-outfit shopping to do before then, so I can't make any promises. Sweet dreams :)