Mrs. Shepherd

Well I'm back, and married (I guess it's time for a new name for the blog).

As you can probably imagine, quite a bit has happened since July! Wedding planning and work took over my life. However, I can't complain, because I love my job and the wedding was absolutely wonderful. Let's see, I feel like I need to back track to my (semi) single, summer days to catch up on what's been going on.

Like I said, work has been crazy busy, in a very good way. Perceptive/Lexmark have been acquiring companies left and right. By default (and via our co-worker's pregnancy leave) Janna and I ended up being responsible for much of the training for the new companies. That started in D.C., continued virtually to the Australian team, then to Denver and ended in Europe!

Our trip to D.C. was supposed to be July 1st - 3rd, but being that I was there with one of my best friends, over the 4th of July, we decided to pay to stay a few extra days. As always, we had a great time and have some extremely funny stories (to us at least.) Here are some highlights from our trip:




Janna and I were able to tour the Capitol which was such a neat experience!

 

Arlington Cemetery on July 4th



JFK's gravesite

The White House

Reflection pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial

Hangin' with Lincoln

Following the D.C. trip, I traveled to Nashville for one of my best friend's bachelorette party. I had been down there once before to visit her, and absolutely loved it! The first time I went with two of my friends to visit Katie (who was attending Vanderbilt at the time.) However, in August I was with 11 other girls, so we had an absolute blast. Beautiful weather, cocktails, and country music. It was so much fun celebrating the bride to be!!

Chi O's! Such a fun weekend

"Gettin' Hitched!"

The bride-to-be!

Love these three

Katie got married in October! It was the perfect day. She looked beautiful!!

I'll save the other trips, happenings, and wedding goodness for future blogs (I'm determined to get back in the habit...).

Progress on our house is coming along slowly but surely. The wedding gifts DEFINITELY helped a lot, and it's starting to feel like OUR home and not a bachelor pad (much to Tyler's dismay :) ). I haven't made much progress in my closet, besides this solution for my necklace collection. I went to hobby lobby and found the cork board and some sturdy, multi-colored pushpins and voila. We have a few other projects in the works, and I can't wait to see it all come together!

Until Next Time...

Megan Shepherd :)

Let the Games Begin!

It has been far too long since my last post. I blame it primarily on the wedding. You wouldn't (or I guess I wouldn't) think that a November wedding would be consuming tons of my time during the summer, but I have learned that is far from the case. There are so many decisions to be made and I find myself working on something for the wedding almost everyday. I decided to create this blog to document our engagement, so here we go again! First, here are 4 of my 6 bridesmaids and hostesses of my bridal shower:

Left to Right: Brianna, Katie, me, Melissa, Janna

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. Yes, I'm aware that is a very bold statement, but it absolutely was. I spent the day lounging by the pool, soaking up the sun with my bridesmaids, my mom and future mother-in-law. We indulged in Summer Shandy and buffalo chicken dip. After catching some rays, I went home to change and the others got the house ready for a fabulous bridal shower. Let me preface this by saying that I knew the shower would be wonderful. My bridesmaids are fun, creative and incredibly thoughtful. However, the shower TOTALLY exceeded my expectations. Not only was the shower absolutely gorgeous, but it was also one of the most fun nights I've ever had. Let's start with the invitations.

The theme was "Wine and Dine" complete with cork and a wine glass seal on the back. I know, I have brilliant, creative bridesmaids, right?!? I pull up to the house, and there are pink and purple balloons tied to the mailbox. I knew that if they were meticulous enough to think about balloons, they had gone all out....and that was definitely the case. I was floored as soon as I walked in the door. The shower was so detailed and so beautiful. I've added pictures below but they really don't do their time, effort, and beautiful results the proper justice.

Adorable name tags! The wine bottle was a gift from the hostesses, they made a wine label from the invite. Also, note the lighted fish bowl (there were several incorporated with the docor) it was an addition from my futuer mother-in-law, so cute!!

They had several gorgeous flowers in wine bottles, SO cute. My bridesmaids are DIY queens :)

 

A few of the centerpeices that I brought home! So pretty!

You can see the delicious Sangria on the left, luckily they bought 25 bottles of wine for 23 people so rest assured we had plenty! Also, delicious cheese, grapes (wine and dine!), hummus, pretzels....just for the appetizers. Everyone wore pink, purple, or red (wine colors).

Note that the cheeses are indicated by wine corks, so creative!

The wonderful meal! They prepared an elaborate Italian dinner complete with caesar salad, fettucini alfredo, pasta marinara, homemade mac and cheese, caprese salad and garlic bread. It was DELICIOUS! (And some how I didn't spill any of it on my white dress!)

Beautiful outdoor setup! Reine even had the pool fountain going!

Gift Table before everyone got there :)

The first hour we spent chatting and everyone was able to get acquainted. Then we had the fantastic dinner then made our way inside for gifts.

My cousin Mary and I

Cousins! Maggie and Amy, my  twin :)

The MOB (Mother of the Bride)

Everyone brought such sweet and thoughtful gifts! Here a few unique gifts:

Trish and Maureen brought these adorable personalized towels. Love the monogram!!

Lindsey got us a personalized beverage tub with outdoor wine glasses, so cute! 

So the shower was so beautiful and it was clear that my bridesmaids had put so much time and effort in. But, their gift was the icing on the cake. Not only was it fitting with the theme, but it was SO thoughtful. They gave Tyler and I 6 bottles of wine for all of our "'firsts". The card read:

"Like fine wine, our friendship only gets better with time! We are looking forward to seeing you through your 'firsts' in your new married life!"

The baskets included:

1. First New Years - "La Jolie" Champagne
2. First Dinner Party - "Foodie" Cabernet Sauvignon
3. First Fight - "Clean Slate" Riesling
4. First Anniversary - "Barefoot Bubbly" Champagne
5. First Christmas Eve - "Kris" Pinot Grigio
6. First Baby - Sparkling Grape Juice :)

Each bottle has a very sweet note that goes along with it. The gift means SO much to Tyler and me, and I love that my best friends will be a very special part of our "firsts" as a married couple.

Thank you guys so much! I LOVE the gift!!

After gifts, we played a cute game that the girls came up with. They asked Tyler several questions, and I had to guess his corresponding answers. If I answered a question incorrectly, I had to take a sip of Sangria, but if I got it right, everyone else had to take a sip. Each received a different question, my bridesmaids also put a lot of thought into who got what question. For example, my cousin with curly hair had the question about how I think Tyler likes me to wear my hair. While my cousin with 2 kids, had a question about how many kids Tyler said that he wanted. Tyler's answers were well thought out and so funny! Here are a few examples:

 Question: Which movie did Tyler say you would watch if you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life?

My Answer: Meet me in St. Louis.

His Answer: Does my high school football highlight film count?? If not, she would either watch the
Holiday or Meet me in St. Louis.

Question: We asked Tyler what your favorite color of shoe is. What did he say?

My Answer: 90% of my shoes are tan or nude, so definitely tan

His Answer: Really??? I have no idea. Leopard Print?? (Needless to say I had to take a drink on that one)

Question: Tyler was asked to pick what kind of animal you would be. What did he say?

My Answer: A Chipmunk. He always says that if I was an animal, that's what I would be.

His Answer: A Chipmunk.

Question: Tyler was asked to pick what kind of animal he would be. What did he say? Why?

My Answer: He always says that he'd be some kind of Jungle cat.

His Answer: I would also be a chipmunk because tigers and chipmunks cannot get married.

It was such a cute game and Tyler's witty answers made it extra entertaining. Janna pointed out that I answered the question, "When is the first time you and Tyler said, 'I love you'" incorrectly, but I was able to list off the animals we would both be without any hesitation, haha. It was such a cute idea and made me laugh and cry (tears of joy, mind you).

That concluded the fabulous shower, and were ready to head out on the town! They gave me beads, "Bride to Be" glasses, and a BRIDE goblet to bring out. However my mom and Melissa (my maid of honor) had a surprise. My mom brought the veil from her wedding (that I lovingly refer to as a yamaka - see picture below) to wear out. We were heading out the door, when I saw the last surprise. Reine (my future mother-in-law) had arranged for a trolley to pick us up and take us out. The ride down was an absolute blast! It was such a fun surprise! We went to the Levee in Westport, danced the night away, and ended the night with the whole group singing Happy Hanukkah by Adam Sandler (an ode to the yamaka veil). Party Pics below :)

Party Trolley to the Levee...with a few unexpected stops :)

Hilarious...

Complete with the yamaka veil!

I'm so grateful for such wonderful family and friends. I can't say enough good things about my bridesmaids and I'm so appreciative of all of their time and effort that they put into the shower. It was absolutely perfect and it is definitely a night I will never forget!!

...and we're back

The last few weeks have been rather crazy, to say the least, and it's been a while since I could find the time to blog! I feel like time is absolutely flying. I've already been engaged for 3 months, and we're 6 months away from the wedding. I created a rather lengthy wedding checklist (although it's nothing compared to the knot.com list of 145 to-dos in the 185 days until the wedding) which has relieved a little bit of planning stress. Here are a few things I've learned about wedding planning so far:

• Planning is a lot of work. I guess I assumed this, but it amazes me that months of planning results in one day. When I think of it in terms of how quickly the average day goes by, I can't even fathom how fast our wedding day will go. I am a planner by nature. I love entertaining and being a hostess (I definitely get that from my parents.) However, this is much more than just planning a dinner party or a bridal shower for 10 girls. This is planning an all-day event for 350 people.
• Everyone has an opinion. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that I really didn't even know where to start with wedding planning. I received so much great advice about what works, what doesn't work and how to begin the planning process. The problem is that I am a self-proclaimed people-pleaser. If you mix that with my indecisiveness, TONS of opinions and ideas can be a bit overwhelming.
• Nothing is quite as easy as it seems. Take, ordering bridesmaids dresses, for example. That should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong. Part of this is due to the fact that two of my best friends and bridesmaids live out of state. Also, with bridesmaid's dresses, you never actually get to try the dress on before you order it. Often times the size the store has in stock is really large or really small, and of course it's not the accurate color. The idea of someone getting a size that is way off, makes me a little nervous.
• Creating the wedding website takes time. One thing I was really excited to get started on was our wedding website. After 3 weeks, we are approximately 3/4 of the way finished with it. Our wedding party includes 6 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen, 4 ushers, 2 readers, 2 greeters and 2 personal attendants. As you would probably assume, these are 22 of our closest friends and family members. You would think short bio's of the most meaningful people in your life would be easy. Try summing up a 20 year friendship in a paragraph, and then do that 21 additional times. I truly enjoy this part, it is just a lityle bit harder than I anticipated. However, Tyler and I have both enjoyed reflecting on our friendships with each member of our wedding party. It reminds us how lucky we are to have 22 people in our lives that we care so much about!

The good news is a lot of the big decisions are out of the way. We have our date, November 24th, solidified. We decided on the 24th because a lot of our family and friends will be in town for the holiday weekend (Thanksgiving is that Thursday) which means they won't need to make an extra trip.

Complete:

ü       Ceremony Location

ü Wedding Party

ü Reception Venue

ü Caterer

ü Bartending Service

ü Band

ü Wedding Dress

ü Rehearsal Dinner Location

I would add the "to-do" list, but I will spare you. :) Jenny Linville is our wedding coordinator and she has been really great at keeping us on track, which is very helpful!

Switching gears... a few weeks back, Tyler and I visited one of his best friends and groomsmen, Kyle Kremers.  He lives in Oklahoma City and our favorite band, the Zac Brown Band happened to be playing at the Chesapeake Energy Center in downtown OKC. We had been looking for an excuse to go down there and visit Kyle and his girlfriend Kaitlyn, so this worked out perfectly. The concert was amazing. Even though it was our 8th ZBB concert, it was absolutely incredible. If you have never seen them live, I would 100% recommend it. We also went to a minor league baseball game, the boys played golf while Kaitlyn and I laid by the pool. It was such a fun weekend! We can't wait to visit again. Here are a few highlights:

Getting ready for the concert

Kyle and Kaitlyn

Dinner and Drinks in Bricktown before the concert

Redhawks Baseball Game

Until next time...