Date.

As far as planning a wedding goes, I have little to no experience. If anything, I 'assisted' my sister with her Mexican beach wedding by offering my opinion on whether they should move the wedding indoors to avoid certain rainy weather. I gave my advice, "Keep it on the beach," she did and things were peachy keen. Not a rain drop.


So, there is my wedding planning background. Sure, I design invitations, programs, save the dates, etc., but no clue on planning. Thus, I'm presented with a challenge: plan the coolest wedding for Jeff + Emily. The Grob-Trotter wedding. Make it epic, unique and insanely special.


With the assistance of my creative genius mother, we have a few things nailed down. All of which I'm THRILLED about. First, our date. May 21, 2011. It's not too soon, not too far away, and it's in spring (my request). I'll be swamped at my new job all of March + April while we plan + execute the Festival of the Arts...it's huge and I'm told I'll be a little busy. No need to throw wedding stuff in the middle of that, so late-May won the battle of the months. Plus, the wedding is the weekend before Labor Day. Extra vacation day for the honeymoon? Yes, please.


Second thing I'm pee-my-pants happy about is that we booked the fabulous Sarah Rhoads + her hubby to shoot the gig. If you're not familiar with her work, do some jaw-dropping on her blog. She's an Orange Peel friend of mine, and she's the best in the biz. Can't believe we've got her booked!


Thirdly, we wanted our wedding/reception venue to be very personal to us, something funky and with an awesome vibe. We found it. Jeff + I are getting married with our favorite Okies at the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in Muskogee! It's an old, rickety train depot with exposed brick walls, green cargo load-in doors and a hardwood floor that has seen many years of wear and tear. It's perfect and I can't wait to transform it.


So, there you have it. Three things down, about a million to go! Jeff has his little list going too - find us a killer band, do some woodcutting and drilling for centerpieces, get a costume suit, etc. It's gonna be a DIY wedding with lots of personality. I'll be sure to share my adventures on here from here on out. I can't wait to marry this guy!