6 Months.

 

 

So here we are - it's the 24th of June which means that it's been exactly 6 months since our Engagement and exactly 6 months left to go until we're married!

 

It's been a whirlwind 6 months and we've both loved our first few months of being an engaged couple. Everyone has been so supportive and helpful and I genuinely believe we've grown closer as a couple these last few months.  It's a funny thing, deciding to make a commitment to someone - it puts everything in your relationship into perspective.  We no longer sweat the small stuff. Being able to look into the future and make plans together is the greatest feeling.  Knowing that we will have a partner and a live-in best friend for life makes us happier than we've ever been. And I think it shows.

 

Believe me, we're not living in cloud cuckoo land.  We know it won't always be easy and things may change and get harder as we go along.  Coming from the families that we do, we know marriage isn't all sunshine and flowers and sometimes it doesn't work out.  But we're feeling confident - we're so happy together.  Isn't that the most important thing?  And we've worked so hard in getting where we are today, and that's not going to stop.

 

This summer we'll celebrate our 5 year anniversary from the day we met at a music festival in August 2010.  We had our first official date on Halloween night 2010 (Michael Archer, ever the slow mover) before I took off travelling for 8 long months in January 2011.  We were in contact almost every day while I was away through whatever way we could including postcards, hand written letters and ridiculously expensive telephone calls (for Michael...I was a skint backpacker...) When I returned home the following August we went out on our first date in months and have been inseparable ever since. 

 

We've made two very happy homes together and adopted two furry friends.  We've seen each other through some of the hardest times in our lives so far and come out stronger at the end. We've gone on so many adventures together including Dublin, Paris, Barcelona, Portugal, Spain and now onto New York and Las Vegas - we're so lucky to be living the life that we are, together.  We have 5 years of amazing memories and we can't wait for the years ahead and the adventures to follow.

 

We're buzzing with excitement about New York and Vegas! We've been concentrating on the NYC plans recently and we've our whole day planned as much as we can - much of it will need decided upon during our 3 days in New York prior to Christmas Eve.  We're leaving much of it to fate, embracing the spontaneity of it all and trusting our lovely and ever-helpful photographer Amber to give us the best advice.

 

In 6 months time...

 

We'll be waking up in our room in the Sheraton Tribeca where we've requested an executive king room with a view so fingers crossed that works out. I've booked myself in for an early morning blow dry (or blow out, as the New Yorkers call it!) at the Dry Bar in Tribeca just a couple of blocks from our hotel.  I've been getting some pretty ridiculous quotes for make up (most in the region of $600) so I'll likely do my own make up and invest in some really nice products or nip into the MAC store in Tribeca and see if I can book an appointment, which,  Amber tells me would cost around $60.  Much more affordable!

 

We'll likely have our ceremony around midday (around 4/5pm back home).  We can't wait to meet Amber and Marley, our Photographer and Officiant.  I've been following their blogs and they are such a cool couple with bucket loads of talent for photography and writing and all those lovely things. Amber lists on her bio her appreciation of a good "that's what she said" joke (like me!) and Marley lists 'Ill Communication' as his favourite Beastie Boys album (like Michael!) so I think we'll get on swimmingly!  It's good to know that we have 2 New-York-Know-All's to call upon with any questions.  And the fact that they're engaged and very much in love too makes it all the more special.

 

We're still hoping to be able to use the terrace in our hotel for our ceremony, but I'm worried that it will be closed for the season.  I'm hoping we'll be able to sort something out, but if plan A fails I know that Amber and Marley will whisk us off somewhere even better.  We're keen to have a skyline backdrop and we don't mind if it's freezing cold outside and we have to get married in our coats.  Prepare for red cheeks and red noses in our photographs! I'm super nervous about the photographs and I know Michael is too - we're not photogenic whatsoever but hopefully Amber will be able to make models out of us - she has her work cut out!  I can't wait to see what ideas Amber has for locations :)

 

After the ceremony and photographs we'll likely go back to the hotel to get changed - we have to wear our dress/suit again at our Reception so it's best to limit their wear, especially when food and drink will be involved.  I may even throw on another white dress, sense of occasion and all that. Americans love a good costume change.  We'll then either hop into a taxi or onto the subway to Rockefeller Centre, which will be hiving as it's Christmas Eve.  You just have to visit 'The Tree' on Christmas Eve, don't you?  Very Kevin McCallister. 

 

We'll probably book a table at a restaurant nearby and have a quick lunch before popping into Magnolia Bakery on Rockefeller (even though the best one is on Bleeker) for some wedding cake.  I love this idea.  You have to have cake after your wedding!  We have booked tickets to the Christmas Spectacular in Radio City Music Hall for the 4.30 showing and we're so, so excited about it.  It looks fantastic.  I have a few friends who highly recommended it to us so we thought it would be a fun thing to do the evening of our wedding.  It's important to keep the energy going, too, seeing as it's just the two of us.

 

After the show, we'll probably go to a bar or restaurant.  Probably somewhere we can grab some dinner with an amazing view of the city.  We've stumbled across a bar called SixtyFive which is a rooftop cocktail lounge which looks pretty great.  Everywhere is going to be so busy but we'll try to get reservations booked well in advance.  But if the crowds are too much, heading back to the hotel bar seems like a good option too.

 

It'll be amazing to wake up on Christmas Day in New York as husband and wife - ahh!  The plan for Christmas Day is to order breakfast in bed and have a lazy morning watching Home Alone: Lost In New York (has to be done!) and then bundling up and heading to Central Park for a long, Christmassy walk.  We are going to look into The Plaza Hotel for Christmas Lunch/Dinner.  When in Rome etc...

 

It's all very exciting.  Lots to look forward to! So the countdown has begun - no doubt it will fly in as quickly as these 6 months have!

 

19 Weeks down & 32 Weeks to go.

It's all been a bit quiet on the blogging front...

Everything has been a bit crazy here.  We've both had our birthdays (another year older, not one bit wiser) and we've been throwing ourselves into work.  Michael is working all the overtime he can get his hands on which is mostly night shifts and everything in my office has sped up and taken off - there's lots to keep up with and I find myself at my desk earlier and earlier each day. 

Now that we have all the important things booked and deposits paid, we've been taking a bit more of a relaxed attitude to the wedding planning.  We can finally focus on the fun stuff - the décor, the outfits, the cake... which all happen to be the most over-whelming!  As everyone knows, when the "w" word is mentioned, they add another zero or two onto the end of prices and I'm really struggling to understand why anyone would charge, let alone pay, £500 for a simple, plain white cake. 

The most interesting part is the discussions you have with people who are also getting married.  Everyone's attitude to weddings are so different.  Some of my friends wouldn't bat an eyelid at paying £500 for a cake, "it's the most important day of your life", but I think that mentality is a wee bit mad. I imagine we'll probably club our female family members together and bake our cake ourselves.  It would be so easy to get carried away with the planning of the Reception party but as a couple, we both want to focus our finances on our trip.  The idea of spending thousands of pounds on just one day gives us both palpitations so it makes much more sense for us to put the same amount of our savings into a 2-week trip instead. 

Saying that, it's been more difficult than we thought to save money on the lead up to New York - life goes on, and every single month there has been something whether it's unexpected veterinary bills, a birthday, a holiday we booked before we were engaged...it's honestly been one thing after the other.  We have some friends that are also getting married this year, so that's been costly too.  We're burrowing every bit of spare cash away in our money pots (quite often stumbling into the house after drunken nights out and throwing in far more than we can afford) and we've been gifted some US dollars too which is so great.  I'm off to Mallorca on a friend's Hen party this week and once I'm home I hope to really buckle down and get back on track with saving as this month has been a bit of a write-off. 

It's so hard to believe that 5 months have passed already.  It's been interesting looking back and seeing how our plans are changing as we go along. If I could rewind a bit and change anything I think I would have given us a little bit more time to save.  But at the same time, it just can't come quick enough - we genuinely cannot wait to get married!  We get such big smiles on our faces when we talk about it.  Michael is really interested in getting more involved with the plans - we talk about it a lot and spend evenings pouring over invitation samples and gift lists and I'm quickly learning to back off when his eyes start glazing over and he's stifling yawns...

The funny thing is, I've generally been finding it really difficult to talk about.  I'm a complete Awkward Annie when anyone asks me questions about the wedding. The only people I really feel comfortable talking about it with are my family and my friends that are planning weddings too.  I think this comes from being cripplingly self-aware (Laura will understand this!) and I know that wedding talk is mind-numbingly boring to most who are likely only asking out of politeness.  I tend to just direct people to my blog for updates if they're interested - with over 1600 views, I know that someone out there is tuning in (Hi Mum!).

We've booked a couple fun surprises for the Reception which we're really excited about.  We're still so delighted with our choice of venue and music and I think we're close to picking our food option too.  We want everything to be free and easy and comfortable for everyone there, we just want to throw a huge party and celebrate properly. I'm beyond grateful at how many people are traveling from England etc for the night - it's going to be a bit of a reunion with some of my friends I met while traveling and I'm almost more excited to see them than I am about getting married...ha!  Thanks to those who have booked their hotel room already - showing some real commitment, guys!

We'll hopefully pick our invitations some day soon (hardest job in the world by the way...) and have them sent out in the Summer and we'll get our gift list launched too. That's something we're having a lot of fun working on as it's a little bit different from the standard wedding gift list (and completely optional, of course, we don't need anything apart from your attendance!) There's also my very own Hen Party to plan - a terrifying thought.  There are plenty of little activities buzzing away in the background, just not that much to blog about without giving everything away.  I like to check in every now and again and write a little about where we're at with the planning - it might make for fun reading for us one day when it's all a distant memory.  What a fun thing to be able to show your daughter or daughter-in-law one day.  
Oh how they'll cringe...

NYC Ceremony Dilemma

I've been humming that old Kelly Rowland & Nelly song for the past few days because I have uncovered quite the dilemma after speaking to many, many New Yorkers this week. 

We have been scouring the interweb for elopement photographers in the City - so many to choose from - and have got chatting to quite a few who have been more than willing to listen to our plans and make suggestions.  All but one suggested, to our initial despair, that we scrap the idea of getting married in City Hall. As we had suspected all along, the queues are likely to be insane as Christmas Eve is an incredibly popular date to get married in New York.  The idea of City Hall being super busy put us off a little bit - we want something more quiet, private and less of a fuss than that.

We're still very much of the opinion that a marriage ceremony is between two people, our vows are for us and between us, and we don't feel the need for anyone else to be there.  We do, of course, want our loved ones there to celebrate with us afterwards - but I love the idea that the ceremony is just between Michael and I.  No fuss, just us.

We were also a bit concerned about only having 2 days in which to have our ceremony, and the thought of something cropping up while we're there which means the City Hall option isn't going to work gives us both major anxiety!  With the City Hall option, it's very much turn up, take a ticket, and wait in line until you're called.  The idea of having a date and time booked is very appealing with this new insight!

After speaking to many different photographers, we're getting more and more excited about the different locations and backdrops available to us for our photographs.  As two very un-photogenic and awkward people when it comes to getting our photo taken, we are looking for someone who can make us feel really relaxed and who can snap a few candid shots where we don't have to stand and pose!  We feel it's important to have a few shots of the actual ceremony, and a video too so that we can show our family and friends.

A few of the photographers were really focused on the fact that we're getting married on Christmas Eve - and were looking to charge us a premium for it being a holiday - they also rambled on about photos being taken in front of Christmas Trees and various other Christmas themed shoots - and this is totally not what we want.  Yes, we know we're getting married on Christmas Eve, but no, it is not a Christmas themed wedding.  We picked Christmas Eve as we were engaged on Christmas Eve, and New York is completely magical at that time of year.  It was important for us that there was a bit of a buzz about the place, an added bit of excitement in the air - to help dispel any anticlimactic feelings following the ceremony when the realisation hits that no one will be there to celebrate  with us immediately after, which, we know, is a possibility.  We plan to have a full day planned after the ceremony to avoid this - possibly a Broadway show or something fun after a really lovely dinner. 

So with all this in mind, we've had to narrow it down and pick a photographer and celebrant for our little ceremony.  Once this is booked - we're over half way there!  Exciting!

Elopement

We decided that we were going to elope before we were even engaged.  The very idea of a traditional wedding gave (and still gives) both of us major anxiety.  The idea of being the center of attention for a whole day - photographs, speeches, walking down the aisle...it just isn't us and we made the decision that our wedding day would be completely "us" and that we'd do whatever it is that we're most comfortable with.

Months before our engagement we had begun to plan a "last hurrah" before "growing up".  On our very first date in 2010, sitting in a nervous-drunken stupor in a dark corner of Auntie Annies in Belfast, we were talking about my up-coming trip to the USA, New Zealand and Australia.  I remember asking Michael where in the world he would love to go if he had the chance and he answered, without skipping a beat, New York City.  Ever since then, I've always inwardly made it my mission to go back there and take him with me.  

So, we planned a trip for Christmas 2015 where we would spend the holidays exploring the city and experiencing a "Home Alone" Christmas in New York.  In addition to this, we thought we could fly out to Las Vegas and spend New Years there and really go all out.  So the plan was/is to spend all of 2015 working our butts off to save as much as we can in order to make the most of our trip.  This being the plan, I had figured there was absolutely no way we were going to get engaged before the trip, so it was an even bigger surprise when we did!

I think it was Christmas Night (24 hours post-engagement) when we decided we would get married in New York while we're out there and treat Las Vegas as our honeymoon. The more research that we've put into it, the more perfect a decision it has been for us.  We're so, so excited to be getting married on Christmas Eve, exactly one year from our engagement, in the most magical city in the world.  

We have decided to cut all the traditional wedding stuff - no bridal party, no big ceremony, no big dresses and photography - and wake up Christmas Eve, travel to City Hall in Lower Manhattan and have the smallest, most intimate 30-second ceremony possible!  Just the two of us (and some random witnesses we'll grab from the foyer, probably). I always feared growing up that I would get sucked into the craziness of a massive wedding.  I never wanted that, and neither does Michael.  Weddings often distract from the real meaning of and reason for a couple committing to marriage.  We're committed to keeping a clear head; always being aware of the huge decision we're making and the true and real meaning of our vows.  Our whole wedding will be centered around just the two of us.

Once the ceremony is over and we're officially husband and wife (eeep!) we plan to go for cocktails at The Plaza and take a walk around Central Park for some photos before a lovely dinner somewhere special.  We'd love there to be a bit of snow too!

We are umming and aahing over whether to spend our wedding night/Christmas Eve in a nice hotel or whether we should rent our own apartment for the week.  We actually have a Hilton apartment suite in Central Manhattan provisionally booked - it would be nice to be able to cook our own Christmas dinner there!  Flights aren't available until February so we're itching to get them booked so that we can really start to plan.

Thankfully, our family have been really supportive of our plans to get married away.  Of course, if it was possible, we'd love them all to come with us but it just wouldn't be.  This is why we have booked and confirmed a post-wedding reception party for when we return!