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Published: January 2nd 2010
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"Name that Honeymoon Destination"
My beautiful Mom playing one of the many fun games put together for the shower. I can't remember exactly when I started imagining my own wedding, but since I can't remember a time when I didn't I guess its been awhile. Oh, the details changed here and there, and I tried out various mystery men at the alter, but I always knew how I wanted to feel - like the luckiest girl in the world. And thats exactly what I got. Most importantly lucky to fall in love with the groom of my dreams, but then seriously my wedding festivities were some for the record books! A surprise international proposal, two showers, a bachelorette party with my best girls, dream wedding at the beach, the honeymoon of a lifetime and another incredible party at home...I know I'm beyond lucky.
As I reflect on my amazing year I'm humbled again at all the love, thought and energy that our family and friends poured into this important moment in our lives. Our wedding fun kicked off with a shower for my Southern Oregon family and friends in Myrtle Creek at SoCo Coffee. Hosted by Aunt Valerie, Jodi, Katherine, Karlie and Kailey in January this shower was sure to be a great party. Who knew after a fabulous
The Newlywed Game...
...or almost Newlyweds anyway. Larry gave Kristi some great answers to her questions :-) We were all in tears laughing. sunny week in January that we'd get snow in Southern Oregon that stuck! On the day of the shower!! The turnout shrunk to those in the immediate vicinity of the coffee shop and a few with four wheel drive, but we still had a wonderful time.
My hostess' turned an already cute coffee shop into my wedding shower. Blue candles and favors everwhere, wonderful food and friends - not to mention that despite the annoying factor of the snow it was really very beautiful. And really, if your going to get snowed in somewhere at least it was at a coffee shop. My chai latte hit the spot :-)
The games turned out to be a hit. We played a "name that honeymoon destination" game where we tried to match pictures with one some of our intended spots. Kristi got Larry involved a "Newlywed" type game where she asked him questions ahead of time trying to anticipate my answers on the day of the shower. His answers cracked all of us up and I think we actually did pretty good matching our answers!
Just when I thought I'd found a place for all the wonderful gifts from
my first shower it was time to party down again for a bachelorette party/Portland shower weekend. Little did I know the surprise I was in for on Friday afternoon.
Kristi and Mom drove up early on Friday to join me for my first wedding gown fitting. It took me (I'm told) an uncharacteristically long time behind the curtain to get ready - dress, shoes, jewelry etc. - but there was a secret that I didn't know and everyone else was getting pretty anxious. As the curtain was pulled back I noticed there were many more bodies in the room than I expected. First I saw Grandma's blond hair and thought "well this is a nice surprise." Then Aunt Valerie and Katherine. Finally the three other shapes on the couch started to take shape...it was my three bridesmaids and best friends flown in from across the country!
Kelly from Maryland, Sara from Kentucky and Lizzard (she didn't fly in, but I wasn't expecting to see her until that night :-)). They'd flown in just for this special weekend.
Needless to say I turned into Miss America. I jumped. I cried. I looked on in disbelief - speechless (which
Shower attendees braved the storm
The January weekend before the shower was gorgeous - who knew that just a week later we'd be hit with a major snow storm in ROSEBURG! we all know rarely happens to me). I think I'm still speechless as I try to write this. Thanks to two very special women in my life here in Oregon who planned all of this while still keeping me in the dark, I got to have all my bridesmaids with me as we celebrated one of my last weekends as Jessica Johnson.
We ate dinner downtown and went to a Cowboy bar that night in Tualatin. I think I spent most of the night just staring at them in disbelief.
Kristi had planned an incredible bachelorette day for me on Saturday and it all started off with pedicures in Oregon City. The George women - Kathy, Cheryl, Christy and Heather met Mom, Kristi, Kel, Sara, Liz, Aunt Valerie, Grandma, Katherine and myself for a morning of pampering before the afternoon schedule. Grandma, Katherine, and AV left us at the Excursion limo and the rest of us enjoyed champagne and stories on the way up to the Columbia Gorge Hotel.
Lunch was excellent, the stop at McMenamins Edgefield for wine tasting hit the spot and then it was time for the evening portion of the party. I was
The Sneak Attack
A few special angels in my life came together to make this amazing weekend happen. I will never be able to really explain how much I appreciate and love each one of them. excited and surprised to find out that Aunt Valerie had booked a hotel suite for my bridesmaids and I at Hotel Lucia in downtown Portland. The room was beautiful and it sat right on top of Typhoon's Restaurant where the next party would begin making it soooo much easier to get ready.
The guest list grew at that point. My cooking club girls came out - Michelle, Alyssa and Katie, Roseburg friends - Angie, Tonya, Margarita and Cassi McKinney, Jodi, Kelly, and Sarah drove up from Myrtle Creek, AV, Katherine and Grandma rejoined us, and Aunt Kris and Uncle Steve even stopped by to say hello.
The rest of the evening is a blur. After dinner we drove to 'The Grand' on Grand Ave. The upstairs of the bar is set up for karaoke fun while the downstairs is all about salsa! Kristi had made arrangements for us to all have a half hour salsa lesson before the club filled up and it turned out to be a blast. I think everyone had a great time - I know I did.
We danced, we sang karaoke, we laughed, had a few drinks and I loved every single
Cowboy Bar in Tualatin
The Wild Turkey girls were a hit at our table. minute of it. Later Jodi drove the bridesmaids and I to dessert across from Hotel Lucia, but my feet weren't making it to another bar so we called it a night.
As if the weekend hadn't already been a total success we spent the next morning and afternoon at a shower hosted by Aunt Valerie and Katherine at their home. It was beautiful. There were flowers everywhere! The food and drinks were perfect, even more friends and family came to join us and to top it off AV had hired a pianist to entertain us while we ate. I think I'm still unpacking all the fun stuff I received from that shower :-)
I consider myself so fortunate to be surrounded by such strong and beautiful women in my life. My own Mother and Sister, Grandma, my Aunts on both sides of the family, my "Girls", and a whole new group of wonderful women that I get to call family now. I will never be able to adequately thank them all for this amazing winter of celebrations. This was truly a month I will never forget.
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