My sweet friend Jessica Estrada now O’Hagan and her new hubby Conrad bought us our very first gift on our new registry last night! I was at Anu’s having a girls night (we were very excited about our 2 hour criminal minds episode) when I saw an email push come through on Colt & I’s joint email account. My initial reaction was that it was spam since it was late and the only person that really emails us on that account is Maryann or the wedding websites. So I went ahead and opened it and to my complete surprise it was a notification from travelers joy saying we had received our first gift!! Now you can just imagine my excitement.. 1). I didn’t even think anyone had been on the sight yet since I had just added it to our wedding website and blogged about it and 2). We were still 101 days out from the wedding! I quickly started half laughing, half screaming and half screeching as I tried to tell Anu that we had just received our very first gift! She too was in shock and excited! As I began to read the email and message I couldn’t help but be filled with joy. Jessica is one of my college girlfriends and has been living out her dreams while living abroad in London for the last few years. She too got engaged in 2011 and recently married the man of her dreams on February 14, 2012. It is so inspiring to see your friends living out there dreams while encouraging and supporting yours. I can’t wait for Colt and I to go visit her and Con in London…Maybe for our 1 year anniversary?

Anyways, you must be dying to know what they picked for us right?!

Drum roll…

It was the one we had our eyes on and yes it was the elephant ride!! I mean honestly did you see that thing!!! Ahh-mazing! Since I was at Anus having a girls night and Colt was at Bryan’s having a boys night he had no idea that any of this was even happening. I texted him and he too was thrilled and surprised at the news. He couldn’t believe that we already had our first elephant ride just waiting for us in Thailand and neither could I! I excitedly told Anu I would name my elephant Kailea (like when Aladdin turned Abu into an elephant after he got his wish) and promised to ride and love her all day.

I woke up this morning with the same excitement I went to bed with and asked Colt if he remembered the elephant (duh of course he did). I am so happy we went with the travel registry because it’s truly so exciting! Ashley texted me today and it was our travelers joy link then said “oops sorry wrong person, I’m just bragging about you” I thought that was so funny. I told her about our 1st gift and her exact reaction was …”What! I was gonna get u those! And that’s not really fair u get to get gifts before your wedding! U guys are cheaters” this text sent me into complete hysterics. Mostly because I can hear and see her reaction and body language and because Anu had an almost similar reaction the night before about the elephants. I guess the elephants were in high demand! After I was done laughing hysterically I texted Colt and told him to be fair we would have to create a separate mailbox folder for the gifts and we could only look at them closer to the wedding. He agreed that it was the right thing to do even though we both knew it would be torture.

I can’t believe today is exactly 100 days until the wedding! Anu of course made it extra special for us and had us over for dinner. Her and Eric then surprised us with a “100” days healthier version of dessert (since we are back on the beast mode wagon) it was yogurt with granola and strawberries ….yum! It was delicious and so thoughtful. I love that we are capturing every moment of this special time. So as I took a deep breath and blew out our candles I thanked God for our many blessing and wished that moments like these would last forever.

Well I guess you could say “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” but really what fun is that? Our Vegas Bachelor / Bachelorette weekend was seriously the best weekend of our lives. Colt and I just keep saying how there is no way we can ever go back to Vegas now because it will never be that fun again.

My girls seriously treated me like royalty. From the hotel, to delicious meals, day pool parties, shots, shots, shots, private pole dancing lessons, limo rides down the strip (and everywhere else we went) dancing and clubbing, non-stop laughter, Hard Rock dinners, rehab on Sunday plus a never ending supply of bachelorette presents and goodies…and yes, that was only my party! Colt also got treated like a king. His trip started at the exotic car lot racing expensive cars at hundreds of miles per hour. They spent their days golfing and drinking and their nights partying at the bars and gambling. They had a really nice steak dinner one night, went to the ghost bar and a really cool ice bar. Everyone met at Rehab on Sunday and I must say we party rocked that pool like no other. 14 of us just there for one reason and one reason only …to celebrate the hell out of Colt & I’s upcoming wedding! All I know is that the grotto bar is not ready for round 2 in August!

Ashley and Landon we know how much time, planning and expense went into our bachelor and bachelorette parties and we want you to know how grateful we are for your extreme generosity. We are truly blessed to have the most amazing friends in the entire world.

Now, you all know I could go on and on but there are not enough thank you’s in the world plus pictures are worth a thousand words!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

Party Rockers out…until August.

When Colt and I first started talking about our honeymoon we dreamt of far away places like Bora Bora, the Maldives, Paris, Thailand and other places that would awaken our deepest desires. We talked about how amazing it would be to emerge ourselves into a new culture as we explore, learn and grow and we couldn’t think of a better way to start our new life together.

Since Colt works at the Four Seasons we have so many options as to where we could go. We started researching every property we could possibly think of, along with flights and travel time. We quickly found out that traveling from Hawaii isn’t the easiest of tasks not only for cost but also for time. We would be losing a full day and a half no matter where we went over seas. We started talking about staying local since Hawaii is the #1 place to honeymoon. We thought about going to the big island instead to relax and enjoy our beautiful home. We also looked into the possibility of Mexico and wine tasting in California. In the end we still kept coming back to foreign places, unknown adventures and elephants so we decided on Thailand!

One of the main reasons (besides the elephants, I can’t wait to ride one) we chose Thailand was because we could stay at three different properties during our stay. We decided we would stay in Bangkok the first night since its such a long flight. The next morning we will fly to Chiang Mai to stay at the golden triangle for 4 nights. The golden triangle is in the middle of nowhere and you have to ride elephants in. It’s tented tree houses of luxury and sounds and looks like a dream. From the golden triangle we will go back to Chiang Mai and stay there for a few nights. This is more of the resort style four seasons that we are use to. I’m sure we will spend our days by the pools, golfing and exploring. There are a few museums that everyone says we have to go to. I personally can’t wait to ride around town in a tuk tuk and explore! I can just imagine the never ending laughter as we cart around Thailand in one. From Chiang Mai we will go back to Bangkok. We certainly could not go to Thailand and not experience the red light district! I hear they have some of the best street food in the world. Colt wants to see the lady boys and ping pong girls in all their glory, I’m sure that’s going to be an adventure to say the least.

Colt got his first passport (ever) a few weeks ago and I am so excited for him. I also got mine renewed. We are officially officially ready to take on the world (literally)! I can’t wait to travel to far off lands with the man of my dreams. I know that Thailand will be our jumping off point to accomplishing our many dreams and adventures. I already got my time off approved from work (I am so grateful that my boss is being so flexible with my wedding and honeymoon). Colt is still waiting for his final approval (fingers crossed) but as soon as he gets it we will be booking our flights. Colts boss also offered to help us book our rooms at each hotel throughout our stays which is so amazing and helpful. Once all of our travel plans are approved and finalized we will also be creating our honeymoon registry! This will allow our guests to purchase rounds of golf, elephant rides, breakfasts, dinners, activities among other things while we travel! It’s a fun new option for wedding registries and a great way to bring everyone along with us on our many adventures!

We are beyond excited to announce that we just added two amazing people to our wedding party, Anuhea Dooge and Joe Getgen! We are very happy that they will be by our sides on this extremely special day.

(History)

When Colt and I moved into our new place in August it was by total fate that a month later Joe and Anu moved into the main house with our other best friend Eric (also in the wedding). Joe, Eric & Colt all work together at the four seasons so it was pretty funny when we all became neighbors. Anu and I had met several months prior but never really got to hang out much. Once she moved in we quickly became friends and haven’t spent much time apart since. Colt and Eric were already always hanging out before so the move just made things more convenient and in turn he also got to hang out with Joe all the time. When I was in California going through my manager training for Hard Rock Colt and Kailea spent the majority of their nights over there hanging out and eating Anu’s cooking. Once I got back it didn’t take long for us to all start hanging out and we quickly became a sixsome (Kai is of course included)

(Now a days)

Colt & I technically “live” in the Ohana next door but we pretty much all live together, we could probably move into their extra bedroom and nobody would even notice. Kailea also spends most of her afternoons with them and we are so grateful to always have the extra helping hands since Colt & I work so late. Anu is pretty much the Mom of our “sixsome” so she is always making sure we are all fed and happy. She is an awesome cook, not only is it always delicious it’s also WW friendly which is great since we all beast together at 5:30 in the morning. The boys if they aren’t working play pool, play golf, play golf did I mention GOLF… yes they LOVE golf and lucky for them Anu’s dad runs a beautiful golf course here on Maui, so they tend to get a little spoiled. Anu and I just mostly workout, shop, dine, watch our 3 favorite shows, beach and of course the whole groups favorite SAILING! Joe has an amazing sailboat and the adventures have been priceless. I absolutely cannot wait for our next family adventure (and hopefully this one doesn’t involve the lifeguards).

boys will be boys.

adventures at sea.

(Asking)

Since our engagement Eric, Anu and Joe have been by our sides. Eric was actually one of the people that helped Colt set up on the night of the proposal while we went on our hike. (if you haven’t read about Colt’s proposal just click here). Each of them have become such important pieces in our day to day lives and it’s incredible how selfless they have been in their friendships. Colt and I have obviously been on a budget and working like crazy so to have them always helping out on a daily basis has been a God send. They are always taking Kailea on walks and babysitting, cooking delicious dinners that are ready for us after our 12 hour work days, waking up with us at 5:30a.m. every morning and holding us accountable for beasting, coming to Vegas with us for our Bach parties, having family nights with movies, games or fire pitting. They have also helped us so much in regards to the wedding just by being there to listen to all our excitement, frustrations and disappointments.

One day as Colt & I were talking about the wedding I was mentioning how I really wanted to include Anu in a lot of the things on the day of. Colt then said “you really want her in the wedding don’t you?” I looked at him and told him that I really did. He then told me that he had also been thinking about it and he really wanted to add Joe to the wedding party as well. We couldn’t be more excited! After talking about it some more we both agreed that our day just wouldn’t be the same without them by our sides. We asked Anu & Joe and they happily accepted. We couldn’t be more honored.

Our bridal party now consists of 7 of the most amazing guys and girls this world has to offer, 4 of the cutest flower girls everrrr plus Colt and I! We feel so blessed and honored to have such amazing family and friends to stand up for us while we celebrate our love and start our new life together. I LOVE that we are having a small wedding with the worldest biggest wedding party! I guess my original dream of a big wedding has come true after all just in a different way. To me it’s truly the best of both worlds to be able to have a big wedding party with a small wedding so our time is spent with everyone. Which in turn reminds me; RSVP’s are DUE next week so please get them in the mail if you haven’t already. Once we get our final count there will be a lot more information coming down the pipeline for all our guests and we couldn’t be more excited!

The time has finally come to make some noise about our VEGAS trip as we get into the much anticipated 4 week count down! Excited doesn’t even begin to explain it! I feel like Jessica Spano from Saved by the Bell (minus the caffeine pill freakout)

♪ I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it, I’m about to lose control and I think I like it ♪

It’s so surreal to think that at exactly this time next month we will be in Vegas with our best friends celebrating our upcoming wedding. We are both so grateful to all of our friends that are coming and to Ashley (my sister in law) and Landon (Colt’s best man) who have put so much time and energy into planning our bachelor and bachelorette weekends for us. It is such a huge stress relief especially with how much we are planning right now with the wedding. We can’t wait to see what is in store for us! From the sounds of everyone’s excited chatter I know it’s going to be better than anything we could even imagine. I love that we both have NO clue! The only thing that is certain is …

As excited as we are about going to Vegas it doesn’t even compare to the excitement we feel that we will get to see and spend time with our best friends. It has been so hard being so far away from everyone while planning the wedding (I think it’s been a lot harder on me since my Mom, Sister and all my girls (expect for Anu) aren’t here). It’s going to be so amazing to be able to spend 3 days with everyone and truly just celebrate, LAUGH, catch up and have the time of our lives. I think the best part and the part that doesn’t seem real is that it’s only the pre-party to the ACTUAL party. Not only do we get to see everyone in 4 weeks, but then we get to see everyone AGAIN 3 months later! We are so spoiled & blessed. I don’t know how I am going to get through the next 4 weeks when I am already jumping out of my skin, but I also know that in 4 weeks I will be sitting here saying I can’t believe we are boarding our plane to Vegas!

I honestly can’t believe that Sunday made 5 months until the wedding. It was an extra special one too because we hit our 10K mark on the “operation I Do” meter. It felt so good coloring that in! We have been working so hard and budgeting so much, so to see that red hit 10k was one of the best days of my life! It is so great to see our hard working paying off (literally). We had a special bottle of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin on reserve for this very special occasion so we colored the meter, broke out the champagne glasses, started a fire pit in the backyard, cheers and celebrated with Anu, Joe and Chris.

just keep coloring.

popping bottles

It’s funny how when you are planning your wedding you can easily forget all the good things that are going on. It’s really hard to focus on the “win’s” when you still have a full list of “to do’s”. The “to do” list end’s up blurring the “done” list and this became very apparent to me this weekend. I decided to toss the “to do’s” for 48 hours and rejoice in all the little and big things that were already done. We even went out to dinner at Outback (watch out now party animals) to celebrate 5 months and treat ourselves for all our hard work thus far. I allowed myself to really enjoy the experience and just be present in the special time with Colt. I love how much you appreciate the little things when you take the time to pay attention. Prior to Colt and I getting engaged we lived very frivolous and never went without. If we wanted to do something we did, if we wanted to go out to dinner we went, if we wanted to buy something we bought it. It certainly took some getting used to after we got engaged to think about every single thing you were spending money on down to the penny and how it was going to affect your over all BIG picture. At first I hated having to be so disciplined but now it’s kind of nice. I love watching us work together towards our goals and future.

almost there!

Last night I went by our friend Tammy’s house and got to see the first sample of the girls tutu’s. I almost melted. I could not believe how perfect they were! They were exactly what I had been thinking in my head and I couldn’t believe she created them. She is so talented and the girls are going to look so adorable. The best part is they get really puffy when they twirl! I can’t wait to watch them spin at the reception and look like little ballerina princesses!

ceremony tutu's

reception tutus!

The reply cards have slowed down so it’s always a nice surprise when we get one in the mail. The number is climbing and we are filled with joy every time we get a “wouldn’t miss it for the world.” We know how hard it is and we can’t express enough how appreciative we are to have you all here on our very special day. We are working on getting our order of sequence down for the ceremony and reception. We have about 10 “check-lists” between our wedding planner, photographer and DJ that we still need to complete. There is so much to decide on in regards to photos and songs! We also have to order our “extras” that we are doing on our own. Colt needs to have the boys order ties, shirts and belts. It’s just hard for him to try anything on right now because he is dropping weight so fast. He has reached the point where everyone is noticing a big difference. I couldn’t be more proud of him. His discipline has been my motivation. He looks amazing and we still have 5 months to go!

The next big things coming up are April 25th which is when we should have our finalized guest list so we can move into the seating charts, guest set ups, etc of our planning phase. We also have Vegas creeping its very sneaky little head; I can’t believe we are almost a month out! I hope you all are ready, ARRIBAAAAAAAA!!

My, oh my what a wonderful day! We had our cake tasting last Sunday, it was awesome. We got to the grand around 10a.m. and we met with MaryAnn in the lobby. We grabbed some coffee for her and colt and headed to one of the banquet rooms. Once in the room we found out that we have our own personal bakery chef making our wedding cake (we also had a personal server to wait on us as we tried each cake). Natalie our wedding chef had created 4 different cakes for us to try. She kept our “yellow and grey” theme and had a few yellow filling cakes that included lemon and lychee. She also brought out a few other favorites we had asked for like carrot & strawberry. The presentation was amazing and totally blew us away. Our chef even created a vision board of four different style cakes that she thought would match our wedding / colors perfectly. I loved all the extra attention to detail and effort especially since I am so visual. I thought I had my heart set on a certain cake I had found on pinterest but when I saw the one on her vision board I decided I might like that one better. I am not going to spill the beans on what cake/cakes we decided on because that would be no fun but I will say I don’t think you will be disappointed. It’s a great balance of island flare with elegant deliciousness.

One of our four mini cake samples.

they were all so pretty!

We also picked out our food stations (each station will have a personal chef to make each item to order). The stations items are awesome and we even have a surprise! (I know the surprises are endless, isn’t that so exciting!) I also picked out some cute flare for the tables inside the ballroom. I gave MaryAnn a picture of the flowers I want for the girls and the chapel. I am still looking for my perfect bouquet. I want everything to be “less is more” since the Grand is already so beautiful in itself. I really just want a touch of color to set the theme. I have the perfect picture in my head and I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. MaryAnn always reminds me that I cannot control every minute of every situation no matter how much we plan. I hate that even though I know it’s true. I know that there is going to be things that come up or go wrong but I also know that on my wedding day I am going to be so happy that I probably won’t even notice or care, however right now that seems like a nightmare. We have so many moving parts to this wedding and I just want to make sure that everything goes smoothly. There has already been enough unforeseen drama with friends and family and I am so over it. It sucks that for one day people can’t get over themselves and their own wants and needs and just let Colt and I have our day our way. It sucks even more that we even have to worry about these kinds of things when we are planning the happiest best day of our lives. (Well that’s kind of a lie — we aren’t really “worrying” about it because we refuse to let other people’s problems bring us down, but it still makes us sad when people feel the need to bring it to our attention).

the true taste tester of our relationship as you can see he took this job very seriously.

We have lots of reply cards coming back to us! We were getting at least one a day for the last two weeks which was so exciting. So far we have 31 attendees, I am so happy most people “wouldn’t miss it for the world.” It’s funny how many texts I have got that say “so I am coming but I can’t decide on a perfect song so I can’t send the reply yet” I love that people are really putting some great thought into this. It’s going to make our day that much more special.

I can’t believe this Sunday is going to be 5 months! Time is flying. It’s going to be a real trip when May comes around and we are in Vegas (then it’s really on). Ashley texted me today that her shoes came in and they are so cute! Its little things like this that make me jump out of my skin because it continues to become more real. I love talking to Ashley because she will say things like “I can’t believe my brother is getting married” and I know that it really trips her out! It makes me laugh so hard because a normal conversation with Colt and I starts like this “remember that one time we are getting married.” Just wait until we are actually married then it will be “remember that one time we are married and you are my wife/husband.”

The next month and a half is mostly just tying up contracts and deposits with the DJ/Photographer and working out other details with our wedding party. Come May we will meet with our florist and see examples of our flowers. In June we will have our final guest count so we can determine our final budget along with table layouts, food layout, table décor, ballroom décor, bar package, up lighting, DJ run through etc., The only things we will have to do in August will be a final walk through, our marriage license, insurance for the day of our wedding and run through with our minister. MaryAnn is working on a timeline for the wedding day for us and the DJ! I am also working on buttoning up our honeymoon details so we can set up our registry as well as a list of our pre-wedding activities. It’s funny how everyone I talk to about planning things for August thinks 5 months is still “so much” time, I think they are crazy! We will be saying “I Do” at the chapel in no time….

The inside of the beautiful chapel.