Starting the Wedding Planning Process With a Little Help From Usher...

So we've officially started talking about planning our wedding. We aren't planning yet--but we're definitely talking about it, and that's a big step in the right direction. The one thing we've decided so far? We're taking a hint from Usher's hit song of the 90's and doing it "My Way"--or "Our Way." Yep, that's right, we're throwing conventional wedding planning out the door (kind of...) and are going to do whatever we want to do, in order to make our wedding as fun, as stress-free, and as "Mary Catherine & Ben" as possible. To quote Usher, "What I say goes! I'm in control..." And that's exactly how we feel :)

Some of the exciting ideas we've tossed around in our Usher-inspired pre-planning stages? Having our favorite delicious, organic breakfast place cater with breakfast for dinner (this is definitely happening because we both LOVE breakfast), personalized bridesmaids and groomsmen (My brothers on my side? Sure! You want to have two Best Men/Mans? Sure!), having a Jamaican/reggae band sing our favorite country song to an island beat for our first dance (we've seriously talked about this for years--don't ask--but this probably won't be possible), egg toss at the reception (um, yeah....why not?), etc. So do you see? The possibilities are endless. And we may just send out Save the Dates with a picture of Usher on them to take this theme to the next level--who knows!?! We're that crazy right now! (Kidding about the Save the Dates. Kind of.)

Anyways, the moral of this whole story is that I'm finally at the point where I think this whole wedding-planning thing is going to be really, really fun and special. I'm excited to start picking everything out and am even more excited that Ben is as into it as I am (at this point). I bought my first bridal magazine for myself yesterday (I know, can you imagine me doing such a thing? I felt like I had to slink around with it hidden under my arm so no one would see me...) and I'm committing to the process. We're thinking next October, so we've got a little over a year to plan things "our way." Yeah, yeah! (Another Usher reference...did you get it?).

To close, I'd like to share the amazingly outdated and somewhat-ridiculous video to our inspirational song--"My Way" by the one and only Usher. Maybe we'll use the video as inspiration for our wedding decorations/theme (the wedding will be in ATL, after all!) and we may just perform a little version of one of the dances as our first dance...I told you, we're total wild cards! Can't you just see it now? Elegant, classic, and romantic--all the things a first dance should be :)

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Yep, that's definitely what our first dance is going to look like. Outfits and eye makeup included.

Namaste!
Mary Catherine

P.S. For those of you who just read this pose and are truly concerned about our wedding being the tackiest event of the century, I promise it won't be. We're going to make this work! It will be as classy and smooth as Usher's voice :) But yes, we may have to throw a few of our wilder ideas out the window...