Here you can find all the posts on our shotgun wedding! Our story and all the craziness that ensued including some wonderful custom elements that made our special day that much more wonderful!
03/15/2011 - Our Wedding: Lovely custom necklace from Make Pie Not War
When I started thinking about what I was going to wear when we had our photos taken for our wedding shots I knew that I wanted Alana of Make Pie Not War to make me something. I first met Alana at a convention a few years ago and I bought a wonderful necklace from her which I still love to wear. Over the past three or four years I have splurged for myself and bought a few items from her Etsy shop and I love every single one of them.
When I messaged Alana and asked her to make the necklace for me she seemed more than happy to help. Her and I discussed what I wanted and the result was the lovely two tiered necklace you see above. All I had asked was that my first initial "N" be included in the top tier, and my new last initial "C" be included in the bottom tier. I really like the locket and the all of the other sweet little details. This special necklace was the perfect accent to my dress and made me feel so special.
Make sure you head on over to Make Pie Not War and see if there's something special you might want to add to your own sweet little jewelry collection. I'm coveting her Feminine Delights necklace!
Nicole
02/26/2011 - Our Wedding: Why custom rings were right for us.
When Mr. Coleman and I started thinking about wedding rings one thing was very clear, neither of us wanted anything particularly fancy. You see Mr. Coleman lucked out because I've never really wanted a huge diamond wedding ring. I always figured that a simple gold band would be just fine for me.
So we started looking around and Mr. Coleman really wanted a ring that was simple but different so of course we checked on Etsy to see what we could find. What we found was Minter & Richter Designs. They make beautiful rings using different woods and materials and we just loved what we saw so we contacted them and started a custom ring order. We chose the size, width and wood, (a gorgeous maple,) for our rings. They were well worth the wait. We both love the way the maple looks, you can see the light and dark parts of the wood and to top it off our rings are engraved. Thanks to a lovely idea by Mr. Coleman they read, "You are my sunshine" and "My only sunshine." (Yep, I know ladies, he's a sweet, sweet man.)
In addition to these two amazing rings I have another wedding ring! I know, I know, how did I get so lucky? Well Mr. Coleman felt that I needed something a little more fancy for when I get dressed up and all of that so he bought me this lovely diamond ring.
I adore it! It's simple yet sparkly and didn't cost us very much since it came from a certain very large warehouse store.
When all was said and done we are tremendously happy with our rings. We couldn't have asked for anything better than the uniqueness of our wooden rings and my simple, budget friendly diamonds were exactly what I wanted. (Oh and for all of you who might be thinking that Mr. Coleman didn't want to spend a lot or something along those lines, he would have gotten me something bigger or more expensive if that had been what I had wanted but I really didn't and my rings are both exactly what I dreamed of.)
Nicole
02/22/11 - Our wedding story.
The most common questions I heard when I started telling everyone that Mr. Coleman and I got married were, "Are you pregnant?" and "When did this happen?" For the record, I am NOT pregnant. (I can't stress the word NOT enough.) As for the when and how this all happened...here it is.
Back in October, (yes...OCTOBER,) Mr. Coleman and I set off for the lovely City of Angels for an Avett Brothers concert. We were both super excited since they are one of our favorite bands and we have never seen them live in concert. While we were there Mr. Coleman turns to me and says, "You want to get married tomorrow?" I looked at him and said, "Yes!" Then the next day we got married!
Ok rewind...for those of you who like a few more details.
Mr. Coleman and I had been talking about getting married since we decided to move in together in August. Both of us felt like we just hadn't been together long enough and that we should wait until we had been together longer. I talked to a couple of my mentors, Jason and Annie, and both of them asked one question that neither Mr. Coleman or I could answer; "If you think you are going to get married anyways then why don't you just get married before you move in together?" Mr. Coleman and I both contemplated this question and neither of us really had a good reason not to get married before we moved in together but we still just figured we should wait.
Fast forward to two days before we moved in together, October 1st, the night of The Avett Brothers concert. We decided to get married and it was one of the most exciting, scary, wonderful nights of my whole life!
Aaron called his sister Lauren and asked her to talk to her husband Steve and see if he would marry us the next day. After the initial shock Lauren and Steve were excited for us and agreed to marry us the next day.
We met at Steve and Lauren's in Redlands and Steve performed a small ceremony for us at a park near the University of Redlands, (just Mr. Coleman, Steve, Lauren and I,) and then after we had dinner at a lovely little restaurant in Redlands. Lauren and Steve made it wonderfully special for Mr. Coleman and I bringing roses for me and a lovely little gift for our new place.
So there it is, our simple little engagement and wedding story. Still to come our party and our courthouse "wedding" and photos!
Until next time!
Nicole
02/21/2011 - Huge announcement...I GOT MARRIED!
Ok, so hopefully by now if you are family or friend then you've heard this news other than on my blog but if not...I apologize. We have tried to send out the announcements as quickly as possible but some of them just haven't quite made it to their destinations yet...especially the international ones.
I FREAKING GOT MARRIED!!!
I still kind of can't believe that the news is out there. There are A LOT of people who have a lot of questions about how this all came about. If you follow my blog then you know there was no mention of any engagement or wedding plans. That's because there really wasn't any engagement. I know what you're thinking...what the heck does that mean? Well...that's for another blog post! (I know, I know...)
There are quite a few things I want to share with everyone about my nuptials. I have a few blog posts planned for you...
1. My wedding story - Everyone wants to know and I definitely want to share.
2. DIY elements from our special day (well party technically.)
3. Our photos! Which I loved and can't wait to share.
4. Wedding music.
5. Any other little elements I may have forgotten about.
I can't wait to share these things with everyone here! It's been amazing finally letting our secret out; such a huge sense of relief.Thank you to everyone for the congratulations, it's been fun hearing all of your reactions!
Nicole
Oh...and in case you were wondering the photo above is from our original wedding day!
