She Asked Me to Marry Her…and I Said Yes!
Well, not EXACTLY…. 
Let me explain.
Remember I told you my good friend Wendy was getting married in May and asked me to be her personal attendant? Yeah, well I got a frantic call from her this afternoon. Her officiant had just called and told her that he was very sorry but could not perform her marriage, he had other plans that day.
GASP!!!!!
I was in the midst of working on homework so I gladly pushed that stuff aside and went to work doing what I do best…poking around on the Internet. I immediately sent a mass e-mail to all local officiants to see if anyone had May 16th open to do a wedding. Nevermind that May is like the most popular month ever to have a wedding…but what else could I do?? I mean, I couldn’t marry them. Or could I….? Guess what?
YOU BET I CAN!!!
According to the Universal Life Church I sure can. Does that sound oddly familiar to you? Maybe you’re thinking of when Joey became an ordained minister so he could marry Monica and Chandler. Here…listen, Phoebe will tell you all about becoming an ordained minister via the Internet.
I sent Wendy an email explaining that I sent out an SOS to all the local officiants but if it came down to it I would get myself ordained so she wouldn’t have to worry any more. I was half joking, half serious; come on guys…she’s one of my oldest and dearest friends. Of course I would do that for her.
She replied with:
I WANT YOU! I REALLY DO THINK IT WOULD BE
GREAT IF YOU DID!!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!
I’m really serious about you doing it. It would be the greatest thing in the whole world! But if you would rather not…I know you’re a very busy girl…
WENDY
So, just moments ago, I got myself ordained. Yep. That’s right ladies and gentlemen…say hello to Reverend Laura Meckley!
Congratulations! You are now a legally ordained minister for life, though you may relinquish your credentials at any time. AS OF Saturday the 28th of February 2009 YOU HAVE BECOME A MEMBER OF THE PRESTIGIOUS CLERGY. You have earned a title worthy of admiration and respect.
Let it be known on this date that in accordance with the laws of the Universal Life Church Monastery, as ordaining officer, I, Brother Martin, do ordain you into our ministry. From this day forward, you are entitled to all of the rights of an ordained minister. You have the authority to perform marriages, baptisms, and all other ceremonies of the church. You are an independent minister of this church. This is a position that carries with it a burden of responsibility; please respect others and comply with the laws of the land.
There you go Wendy! I’m already going to be at the wedding…If you need me to make this monkey official let’s do this! 
(Just let me make a quick a call to the courthouse and confirm it will be legal in Scott county!)
Absolutely Amazing!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, hiring MediaInnovations was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. I just have to brag again about the wonderful job they did for us. They captured so many wonderful little moments that still shot photos simply cannot match.
Please note that the page takes some time to load, but do have a look: http://www.mediainnovations-online.com/wedding_videography/andyandlaura/
OMG – Video Trailer Online Already!
http://mediainnovationsblog.com/2008/11/04/laura-andy-trailer/
I am SOOOOO excited to share our video trailer with you!!! I can’t stop watching it; My mouth is watering for the rest of the footage from that day. I already know having Matt from MediaInnovations is by far one of the best investments we could’ve had for such an important day.
Weekend Update
This weekend is my last FULL weekend with no plans so I tried to cram in as much wedding stuff as I could. I had my final makeup and hair trial, got most all the gift bags packed (I will post photos after the wedding so our friends can’t be snoopy and see their gifts!), got my ring back from the jewelers, packed the bathroom baskets, and I finished my bridal banner! As always, for your viewing pleasure….
Andy’s is a titanium with carbon fiber inlay. Mine is diamonds and pink sapphires.
The ushers (Blake & Tyler) will carry this down the aisle in front of the flower girl (Aaliyah) right before I make my grand entrance. I thought this might help Aaliyah be less nervous since she will be walking not far behind her cousins.
And, how cute is this:
We got Booed!
This little bag was left on our doorstep Friday with a cute poem about Halloween. You’re supposed to go to the store (good plot Walmart!), get two new “Boo Kits”, fill them with treats (ours had this cute candy dish and mini Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups…hmmm, where did those go I wonder?!) then leave the bag on the doorstep of your friend/neighbor. It also has a door hanger you put on your door that says “I’ve Been Booed!” so people know if your house has been booed!
Improvise!
I wasn’t loving the flower girl baskets I found in the stores or online and I certainly didn’t want to pay the price they were asking if I didn’t really like it. While at the craft store I bought a cute little dark brown basket. I had Andy spray paint it black. I tried putting ribbons on it but that wasn’t doing it for me either. So I sat for a bit. I looked it up and down. I flipped it around. I looked around my super fun workshop and spotted the fabric I bought for the cupcake tower but didn’t use. ZING! That ought to do it! So I pulled out a mess of supplies and started playing.
My Mess
Here’s what you can do with some scrap fabric, ribbon & glue:
I think Aaliyah will like it. It kinda reminds me of this AWESOME line of kid’s stuff I found called Little Miss Matched. Stripes and dots and squiggles, oh my!
Getting Settled
Whew! We’ve come a long way but we’ve got a way to go. We’re still waiting on furniture to arrive but here are a few photos of the new place:
My super fun workshop:
Notice the new vinyl cutter? Awesome! You’ll see some of my vinyl work below.
And here’s our fabulous “Martini Dining Set”
This is the girls’ room (where my nieces Aaliyah & Alyssa will stay when they spend the night):
Aaliyah stayed Saturday night and was so excited to have her “own” room.
Did you notice the cute vinyl decal on the wall??? Yep – it’s vinyl not paint!
Here…take a closer look:
Isn’t that so cute?? Here’s a simple decal for the front door:
Once we get our furniture and get things in place maybe I’ll post more of the other rooms.
Right now they’re either a bit sparse or messy.
And…since I’m on a photo kick, here’s a photo of our unity candle set that I whipped together today:
And while I was at the craft store getting supplies for the unity candle,
Andy bought some props to torture and embarrass my boys:
If you couldn’t tell Putter’s the best sport about it; he either enjoys it or has just given in. I think Tiger was a little ashamed…he tried to bury his head in the couch:
DIY Aisle Runner – Part 2 (almost) Complete!
Aggghhhh!!! I am so excited I could just scream! I am *almost* done with our aisle runner. Here is the second part in this three phase project:
You may notice I still need to do some outlining but I am anxiously awaiting the paint to dry. It’s killing me to wait but I was starting to get a little sloppy in my rush to finish. After this is done I will attempt to line the entire 50′ of it in black ribbon.
I do believe this is the largest crafting project I have ever tackled. Well, the centerpieces took some time too, but I had two helpers. And so did the invitations. Okay, to be fair, this is the single most time consuming item. When it’s done I expect I will have at least 10 or more hours into it. I stopped counting after the first couple days of work.
What is the biggest DIY wedding project you have done?
Hand Painted Aisle Runner – Part One COMPLETE!
Yay!! After about 4 sessions, or an estimated 8 hours of tracing, painting and
outlining…I present to you the completed part one of our personalized aisle
runner!!!
Ta-Da!!
Now, part two is to finish the monogram section and part three
is to put ribbon around the entire thing. We’re talking over 100′ of ribbon
folks. I’m a little nervous that I might mess up this whole project at the very
end. Stay tuned…
Adventures of the DIY Bride: Personalized Aisle Runner
After seeing so many beautiful personalized aisle runners of course I had to make one for our wedding! At first I thought I would do as other brides have done and go to Kinko’s for a large printout of our monogram (or name logo, whatever you want to call it since ours isn’t really a true monogram). However, just the monogram/logo wasn’t enough for me. Oh no; I found a verse I really liked and didn’t have a place to use it yet so this was the PERFECT opportunity! The final dimensions of that area are about 3′ x 5′ so I thought that might be difficult, not to mention expensive, to have recreated at Kinko’s. Read more
DATE HAS BEEN SET!!!
Mark your calendars….NOVEMBER 1, 2008!!!!
The ceremony will be held at Tanglewood Chapel in Bettendorf, Iowa and we are looking at a few options for the reception, but it will be at a hotel for the convenience of our out of town guests. Stay tuned for more details!!!
