New beginnings
Hello, beautiful friends! Guess what? I GOT MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whew! Now that that’s out of the way, I want to backtrack quickly and relate a few things I didn’t have a chance to get to pre-wedding. Turns out my schedule was a bit busier than I had anticipated, but I knew you all would prefer I spend time doing things like playing cornhole, going to the beach, and running errands with my Mom, even if it meant I didn’t get to write a sign off post.
BUT, if I had had time to write a final post, there are a few things I would have said.
I would have thanked you all for your excitement. From genuinely sharing in our enthusiasm from day one; to being thrilled for us at every step of the way, even if our steps were at times more like shuffles; to loving our engagement photos almost as much as we did. Even though I didn’t share too many of our projects in advance, you were delightfully enthusiastic over the ones I did share, like our marriage certificate, our wedding website, and our invitations.
I would have thanked you for your honest feedback. You helped me choose save the dates, shoes, and a rehearsal dinner dress, among other things. You offered kind opinions and tips when we were looking for a dress for my mom, when I shared our preparations for our wedding morning, and when we were struggling with whether we could afford videography.
I would have thanked you simply for reading, for showing up and listening to my thoughts and plans, and sometimes, when I got lucky, for commenting. Sharing the experience with you all made it twice as sweet!
I also would have thanked a few of you individually, though I would have been worried about leaving someone special out! I’ve loved growing closer to online friends throughout the last year, including longtime readers Charity, Kelly, Lisa, Paloma, and Laura F., as well as newer readers Madi, Madelynne, Elizabeth, and Amanda. Of course, lots of my “real life” friends have followed our planning via EFM, too, and I always love hearing from them! Alyssa, Molly, Jackie, and Laura B. form my most ardent fan club, with Emily, Anna, Caity, Meredith, Nancy, Megan, Cassie, Meghan, and Jesse also popping in frequently. Lastly, even though I chatted with them about plans often offline, I always loved seeing all FOUR of my sisters’ AND my Mom’s names pop up in the comment box.
So that’s what I would have said. And even though I didn’t get to say it beforehand, I still mean every word. Thank you, thank you, thank you! So much love to you all.
One final note: While chatting with the official EFM fan club at our post-wedding brunch, the gals mentioned their impending withdrawal from monthly planning to do lists. (I don’t think I’ll miss them quite as much!) There seemed to be some concern that I would have nothing to write about post wedding, but lest anyone else have the same fear, let me assure y’all that I wrote this blog for three years before I ever had a ring on my finger, and I will happily keep going now that my third finger sports two rings. There are always new adventures around the corner, after all.
P.S. Our wedding was perfect, from the weather to the emotion. In fact, we couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces, as evidenced below. Can’t wait to share it all with you soon. xo
Thank you for the photo, Laurie!
GIRL! You are so sweet! I feel like we really are friends – even if it is just through the cyber-world! Your journey has been so fun to watch unfold and I can’t wait to see many more posts from you! I’ve gone rogue on my blog ever since we got our puppy Boston Terrier, Luna. She doesn’t like it so much when we come home and I don’t play with her so I’ve been busy and distracted. But I still check for new posts from you EVERY DAY! So glad your wedding was amazing – can’t wait to hear all about it and I’m truly not surprised how amazing it was! We expected no less :-)
yay! yay! yay! i’ve been following your blog since january 2010, so i’ve read all about co-habitating life, engagement and wedding plans. i actually woke up on saturday morning and thought “today is emily’s wedding day!” isn’t it funny how the bloggers you follow can seem like real life friends? well, congratulations! enjoy your first few weeks and months as a wife. i’m so excited to follow along now that you’re a newlywed!
SOOO happy for you a million times over!!! MRS!! EEK! I feel like the whole “wedding” process is very difficult especially when there are not a lot of people around you who have been through it so it’s nice to share the experience with others! (Even if you feel like no one cares, OBVIOUSLY someone does!! What’s not to like about L-O-V-E?!) You are SO sweet to even mention me and I’m just happy to enjoy the ride! From getting our dresses at the same store to having our engagement photos at the same location, it’s like a real life bond even if it’s over the net! ;) I can’t wait to see the rest of the details and hear any advice you may have as a WIFE!
CONGRATULATIONS! I don’t think I’ve ever commented here before but I just have to tell you I LOVE your dress. The Christos Brisa, right? I was so close to wearing it on my wedding day earlier this year! You look gorgeous in it.
It was such a pleasure to follow along in every way! I know that planning my wedding (/us planning our weddings!) awoke me to new creative outlets and interests, and I can’t wait to see what you’re up to next! Love to the Mrs.!
Looks like it was such a perfect day!:) So happy for you and so excited for all the new finds and details of your marvelous life as a married woman. Not even worried about you not having content…you always have amazing posts and life stories! xo
Congratulations, Emily! I know Ashley mentioned this above, but on Saturday I thought the exact same thing – “It’s Saturday! It’s Emily’s wedding day!” I’m so excited for you to share more wedding day details. I absolutely love your blog, and I’m definitely going to continue to be a very faithful reader. Congrats again!
So happy for you both. It was wonderful watching you two grinning all through it all. I can’t wait for the real photos!
BEST WEDDING EVER! I have a feeling seeing the post-wedding updates is going to be just as much fun as the pre-wedding lists :) xoxo
YAY! I was so happy to wake up to this post this morning :)
Emily, you are so very well spoken. You and your new hubby look simply gorgeous……you’re both beaming with happiness! I look forward to your daily post and I can’t wait to see all the fun details from your big wedding day!
It was an absolutely MARVELOUS day! The planning time flew by and I think all of us were able to maintain our composure during the year leading up to the wonderful day :)
I have no doubt that you will continue to share all the people, places and things you love with us your readers and friends( and in turn, we will probably love them too)
Love you lots!
Y’all are so sweet!!! Love you gals.
@Rach Yes, ma’am! Christos “Brisa.” Can’t wait to share more about my search!
I feel like I am still excited from the tremendous joy of everything last weekend. I was so honored to be a part of your big day, but more importantly, am honored to have you and JT as part of my life! Looking forward to all the posts that will allow me to relive that splendid weekend! :)
Oh BEAUTIFUL! And can I just say I love how happy and giddy you and John look : ) Congrats again! Can’t wait to see more!
Emily, I am so very happy for you and have so enjoyed reading about your journey over the last months. You looked absolutely GORGEOUS! Can’t wait to hear about all the details. Again, congratulations and many happy years to both you and John!
Oh Emily, you and John look so radiant & happy! Congratulations!!! (And hugs!) Looking forward to reading about all of the lovely adventures that are in store for the two of you down the road.
So happy for you and John! From what I’ve seen so far, your wedding looks like it was full of love, joy, and a whole lot of beautiful details! Can’t wait to see more, and am looking most forward to seeing and hearing about how the mini food turned out.
This post makes me so happy! I cannot wait to hear even more about it (hopefully in person sometime soon!) and see photos & the video. (I may or may not have seen some footage last week – I couldn’t get enough of the clips I saw. Ah!) It seems as though your engagement flew by, Em! I remember writing a comment about a year ago, lamenting about having to wait a year to catch a glimpse of your day. I, too, am said that there will be no more planning updates, but I know that you and John will have so much to share from your future adventures together!
Emily, you are breathtaking!!! The smiles on both of your faces are so priceless, and I can just imagine that you’ll remember that exact moment forever. It was such a joy to follow YOUR joy throughout this amazing time, and I can hardly wait to see how everything turned out. Though really, those smiles say it all :) Cheers to new adventures! xoxo
Congratulations Emily!! What a great photo of you two looking so happy! I loved reading about your wedding preparations here (especially since I got engaged in May and am now planning a wedding myself) and so looking forward to seeing more pictures of your big day!
All the best wishes to the two of you!
YAY YAY YAY!!!!! Oh, how lovely!!!! I kept checking in with your blog and the SW blog (as well as twitter) to see if I could get a sneak peek of your dress and the day — so thrilled to see a teensy bit of your beautiful gloriously happy wedding day here!!!! Congratulations to you and WOO HOO!!! From what VERY limited (two months) knowledge I have of marriage… it’s MARVELOUS. So fitting for you:) YAY!
YAY:) So happy to get to experience the wedding and your journey of getting married! Everything was perfect!
Em, I just spent a good hour catching up on your blog and going back from post to post to post. You are one amazing little lady. I look forward to seeing your wedding photos soon :) You guys both look so incredibly happy. What a blessing xoxo