Showered with love

I’ve been meaning to post this entry for a few days and with the hustle and bustle of tying up the loose ends, I just haven’t gotten around to it...until now! 

As my wedding approaches (less than 24 hours away now!), I’ll enter into this new phase of life appropriately “showered” with love and support from all of those closest to me.  As I think back over the past 40 days, some of my favorite memories from our little engagement were the opportunities to celebrate with friends and family.   First, my stepmom threw a perfect wedding shower for me at a local restaurant and included a fun way for attendees to contribute to our new marriage.  A few months ago, Brad and I decided that after we were married we would keep our “date night” tradition alive.  So, at my shower, guests had the opportunity to contribute date night ideas to keep our tradition going.  Some guests even gave us gift cards or money to make their date night ideas come to life.  After the awesome creativity from friends and family, Brad and I will be going on a wide variety of date nights including, ziplining, cooking classes, biking, tickets to a drive-in movie, a road trip, winery trips, private art museum tours, dinners, and ideas for seeing new things all over the area!  We cannot wait to get started.  

In addition to family showers, my closest co-workers also threw me a lovely “bridal shower” while we were on a business trip in California.  The first best part about this bridal shower is that I was one of two women in the group.  The second best part about this bridal shower is that it was held at a place called “Don the Beach Comber”, a local Hawaiian restaurant.  The third best part about this shower was that we made fun of Stoddard all night...just like old times :)   It was certainly a night filled with laughs.  I mean, what isn’t there to love about a restaurant with a name like “Don the Beach Comber”?! 

Throughout this time, it’s the small, little gestures that have made this time so rewarding for us.  It’s the spontaneous hugs, the never ending “congratulations”, the date night list that will last us well into our first year of marriage, and the loads of laughs with friends at Don the Beach Comber. 

Just today, we reflected on how amazed we are by all of the sacrifices people have chosen to make in order to share this special time with us. On 40 days notice, our guest list is running at over 90% acceptance vs. the standard 80% we were told to account for :)  We have guests from all over the world and all over the country coming in to celebrate.  We have people taking the day off of work and rearranging schedules just to help make this day as perfect as is possible on this side of heaven.  In short, we are overwhelmed, humbled, and showered with love.