Last Sunday July 1^st kicked off the beginning of our non-stop wedding meetings and planning (newlyweds weren’t joking about the 2 month mark of planning, all the sudden things go to a whole new level).

We started our morning with Warrick our photographer at Starbucks. We had some paperwork to sign and go over but mostly he wanted to talk about pictures, styles, timelines etc., We will actually have 2 photographers plus video on our actual wedding day, Warrick will be shooting Colt getting ready with our groomsmen and Jen will be shooting me with our bridesmaids while we get ready. We have a “shoot list” that we have to go through and decide what pictures we want before, after, during etc., we also have to decide on our family and group pictures. It’s crazy how much time pictures can take up if you don’t plan and schedule accordingly. MaryAnn and a few others will be helping to organize the picture flow of family and friends after the chapel so it should just be one big FUN photo shoot. (or at least that’s what I keep telling myself, and if not well there is always the open bar hahaha). Plus Colt and I have pictures all day and all night so I think everyone else can deal with 45 minutes. I already have so many picture ideas and I am already daydreaming about all the canvas shots we are going to print.

After starbucks we headed to Wailea to go to the shops. Colt found a ring online and they were suppose to have an actual store in Maui so we decided to go check it out. I also wanted to look for my wedding jewelry. We of course found my jewelry (a really simple beautiful pair of earrings, I am still debating the matching necklace) but no ring. The store that was listed on line was now the old sunglass place Colt use to work at. We looked around a few other stores and he did find a ring that we both loved! It was simple but manly. I loved the way it looked on his finger. He liked it a lot too but still wants to try on the other two rings he saw online when we are in Oahu for his birthday. I hope out of the three he finds “the one” since he is slowly running out of time. After the shops we headed to the Grand for our 5:45pm meeting with Minister Ron at the Boterro Bar Lounge. I was really excited to finally meet Ron since he was the big piece of our puzzle that was missing. I was also really nervous because I knew Colt had a picture in his head of what he wanted Ron to look, sound and act like which as we know never happens. I kept my fingers crossed as we waited that he would be a fit so we wouldn’t have to set up a ton of other meetings. As we were waiting MaryAnn called to say hello, she was at a wedding at the chapel so she told us to come down after our meeting to check out the set up and see the sunset. As we waited we laughed and giggled about our potential minister, would he be the one?

Ron showed up a little after 5:45pm and on first glace I ruled him out. I knew Colt was picturing a big local guy and this was not Ron. He was older, tall and seemed kind of sleepy. He quickly came up and shook our hands while introducing himself. He didn’t waste any time joking about Colt’s name and asking where we were both from. The conversation was light and comfortable before it transitioned into the more personal stuff. He told us so much about his background and that he is Christian but like me was raised Catholic. We talked and laughed as we discussed our first communions and confirmations. It made me feel at ease that he was so well educated in both a Christian and Catholic background. As he continued to talk about his life, family and marriage I could tell that Colt still wasn’t 100% convinced. I liked his style but it wasn’t until he said “I don’t like to make the whole ceremony about religion and God and to be honest I don’t think God minds because I don’t think even he is that religious” and it was at that exact moment that I was sold. We don’t need to walk around with a bible to prove our faith nor do we need to make anyone feel uncomfortable at our wedding. This day was about Colt & I’s love and although God is present in our life and relationship it was nice to know that even our minister agreed that sometimes enough is enough. He went on to talk about picking different scripture or highlighting certain versus from the bible that were light but fitting. He talked about how it was his job to provide us with a ceremony that we would remember vividly for years to come. He wanted us to be able to look back and remember what was said and how we felt. He began going over different examples and when he came to the “I Colt take you Jennifer to be my lawfully wedded wife” we both teared up. The presence of his voice was deafen and Colt shook his head in approval. This was it, Ron was our guy!

After we left our meeting we ran down to the chapel, the wedding party had already moved on to their reception so we looked around the chapel all set up with beautiful flowers and candles. The sun was about to set and it couldn’t have been more beautiful. It was a true Maui sunset and we both hoped it would be equally as beautiful on the night of our ceremony. Once the sun officially set we headed back up to Boterro to tell MaryAnn the good news about Ron and talk about numbers and any other pending details. We ordered drinks and pupus and had a great time. Everything was really coming together and MaryAnn was so on top of it. We thanked her one thousand times over for being so amazing and flexible with us through this whole process. As we were leaving the meeting I promised both MaryAnn and Colt that I was done freaking out, it was only going to be fun and excitement from here on out and although they both joked that I wasn’t “that bad” I could hear the sigh of relief.

This past Friday we celebrated our “50 days.” Anu made us a delicious homemade macaroni and cheese with some really fancy cheeses. She also got weight watchers brownies, fat free cool whip and strawberries for our candle celebration. It is so fun to count down the days with some of our bestest friends. I can’t believe we are approaching the one month (30 days) mark! You will all be here before you know it!