Wedding Rehearsal & Dinner

Our friends and family members started arriving in town on Thursday, and by that time we were really starting to get excited. All the anticipation and hard work was coming to an end, and we were ready to just enjoy our wedding weekend!

When the wedding party arrived at the Georgetown Ballroom on Thursday afternoon I was over the top excited. I had not seen many of my bridesmaids, who are my best friends, in quite some time and they had traveled so far to be with us. What an awesome reunion! Everyone loved the venue and couldn't say enough good things about it. The rehearsal went off without a hitch and by the end I was just basking in the knowledge that in just 48 hours I would be saying those words for real. 

Dad practicing giving me away to Stewie.

Must remember which way to turn to hand off bouquet!

Remember... 45 degree angle!

I hope no one falls down these stairs...

Straight from the rehearsal we headed to Collins Pub for the rehearsal dinner, graciously hosted by Stewart's dad, Russ, and his wife, Patty. My friend Tara had done an amazing job setting up the private area in the back of the restaurant for us to enjoy all night. There was even a personalized menu for dinner. We were able to eat, drink and be merry for several hours with all of our closest friends and family members, and the evening went off without a hitch. It also included a heartfelt speech from Russ that brought tears to my eyes and made me reflect again on how lucky I am to be joining such an amazing family.

Lots of delicious food and drinks for everyone!

The Always - Russ, Mark, Stewart & Matt

Chris and Russ

Mark and Aunt Freda

Father of the Groom and Best Man

Patty, me and Momma

My little bro and Dad

Alissa, Matt, Haley and the Groom

Haley and Russ having a good time

Lovely couple

Simon and Lisa arrived that night all the way from London!

Mark thought our party was awesome

Cailin, me and Baby Charlie

Most amazing Maid of Honor ever, my sister, Erin

Carolina also gets a prize for traveling from Florida

Uncle Steve, who will read "An Irish Blessing" at the wedding

My siblings with their soon-to-be brother-in-law

High school reunion with Jamie, Sarah, Brooke and Taylor (our new addition)

Lovely picture of my amazing family

Gorgeous decorations with peacock feathers everywhere!

My amazingly supportive parents - I can never thank them enough...

Fabulous bridesmaid, Crystal

Stew and some of the boys... Chad, Chandler, Jason, Justin

Another fantastic bridesmaid, Tara

Brett, the Best Man

Our lovely friend Haley, Brett's girlfriend

Hanging out with our dear friends Matt and Alissa

I love my future new in-laws!

Far, far too late Stewart and I headed home to spend our last night together before the wedding. I couldn't believe that everything was really happening!

Wedding Update... Final Details

It's a good thing that I took the week before the wedding off work, because there were a lot of items to finalize! The last month was been pretty frantic and full of last minute details, but everything really came together at the end.

• I found an amazing alterations person right in Ballard and met with her twice so she could take my dress in several sizes... a side effect of diet and exercise!
• We made some trips to Costco and Cash & Carry to pick up all the items we needed for the reception like beer and wine glasses, pub mix, vintage Coke bottles, etc. We also made a very expensive trip to the liquor store for an important staple: Jameson Irish Whiskey.
• It took some early mornings and late nights at the office, but my friend Jessica and I copied this Martha Stewart design to create a unique personalized poster for people to sign instead of a guest book. After the wedding we'll have it framed and hang it in our house.

• Erin, Jillian and I visited Bella Umbrella and decided that renting vintage umbrellas was a must for photos. This place is so incredibly cute, we spent extra time there just hanging around and looking at all the adorable umbrellas which come in every style and color of the rainbow you can imagine.
• I spent a few hours at Tara's house going through her closet so I could borrow a huge bag filled with clothes, bags and shoes for the honeymoon. Much quicker, easier and cheaper than shopping!
• Erin and I spent a few hours one evening driving all possible routes to and from the venue, to make sure that the driving directions provided to our guests were correct (due to a construction detour near the venue).
• We took our rings to the Shane Company to be cleaned and polished so they would look perfect for the wedding.
• Jillian and Tara spent an entire afternoon baking green shamrock cookies for the hotel welcome bags and then we all spent the next evening assembling the bags.






• After about a week's worth of headache I was able to finalize the seating chart, which I had printed at Costco and then used spray glue to mount to poster board. Look at me, all crafty!

• We had phone meetings with the photographer, DJ and florist to finalize all the details.
• I passed off all kinds of wedding stuff (decorations, food, alcohol) to various friends so that they would be able to deliver it to the venue on the big day.
• I finished wrapped all the bridesmaid, groomsmen, usher, parent, and reader gifts... not a small task when you have more than 20 people in your wedding party!

• We applied for and received our marriage license, and while we were downtown Stew tried on his tux, which needed just a few tweaks before he could pick it up on Thursday... It was really starting to feel real at this point!

During this time my amazing fiancé, mother, maid of honor, and many of my bridesmaids were also running around like crazy helping me out. They spent so much time helping me plan for and accomplish all the little details that don't come up until the end, and I NEVER would have been able to do it without them.

Firefighter Stair Climb

On Sunday, March 11 Stewart joined over 1,550 firefighters representing 291 departments from 24 U.S. states, Canada and Germany to compete in the Firefighter Stair Climb, a timed race to the top of the Columbia Center in full combat gear and self contained breathing apparati (SCBA). This event is the largest individual firefighter competition in the world, so of course my sister and I went to support him.

At 788 feet of vertical elevation, the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle is the second tallest building west of the Mississippi. It takes 69 flights of stairs and 1,311 steps to reach the observation deck overlooking the city. 


Stewart did amazing and placed #147 out of 1,550 with a time of 16:07!! He trained for months leading up to the event and I'm so proud of him for accomplishing his goal. 


The Scott Firefighter Stairclimb supports the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raising money through sponsorships, individual and department fundraising, and entry fees.

Wedding Shower 3.0

Stewart at his first wedding shower. I loved my hot pink banner!

My fantastic co-workers have been extremely generous and patient with me during all these months leading up to the wedding. My team even took the time to plan and host a wedding shower for us a few weeks before the big day. I was beginning to feel quite spoiled at this point because it would be my third shower, but this one was a bit unconventional which made it more fun.

Instead of holding the shower in one of our office conference rooms we headed down to Collins Pub after work. And this time the shower was co-ed so Stewart was finally able to partake in some of the constant celebrating and present opening. (I was starting to feel guilty doing it all myself!)

Bride and Groom ducks.

The girls worked so hard on the gorgeous decorations.

Drink tokens for everyone courtesy of my boss!

Everything was gorgeous in the private area at the back of the restaurant with candles and beautiful floral centerpieces that included peacock feathers, of course! There were plates and plates of delicious appetizers and so many different types of cheeses... my favorite, so I ate a ton - don't tell my trainer. There were also complimentary drink tokens for the guests which of course made the party a blast, and Stewart and I stayed fairly late into the evening with a small group of my favorite co-workers. It was such a nice relaxing escape from the constant stress of wedding planning we had been experiencing.

We got some extremely thoughtful and generous gifts including stuff from our registry, beautiful handmade items, and some amazing adventures for our honeymoon.

Stewart finally gets to help open some gifts. Drink in hand of course!

I feel so lucky to work with such an awesome team that has supported me throughout every step of this journey. It was so wonderful to celebrate this next step in my life with them!

Some of my awesome team members.

Wedding Update... Craft Night!

Believe it or not, my friends, there are just two more weeks until our big day! I am incredibly fortunate in that I have some super talented and crafty co-workers who have been helping me along the way with a lot of my wedding planning. We stayed late after work a couple nights this week to work on a lot of the decorations and printed materials for the wedding. It turned out to be so much fun and we really got a lot done! Here's a sneak peak of the custom table number cards we've been working on...

I simply took a design I found on Etsy that I liked and modified to match the look and feel of our wedding. They were a lot of work but I love the finished product!

We still have a few things to finish up like printing the programs, finalizing our vows, getting our marriage license, working out a day-of schedule, doing the seating chart, finishing our slide show and organizing some activities for the week of the wedding, but in general I'd say we're in really good shape! The time has absolutely flown by and I can't believe our wedding day is almost here! All the planning and organizing has definitely been a mixture of both fun and stress, but I know it will all be worth it in the end.

I'll try to continue to keep you all updated over the next couple weeks, but I can't promise anything!

Tale As Old As Time...

The 1980s and '90s brought us some of the best Disney entertainment of a generation, including The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King and my personal favorite, Beauty and the Beast. So of course when I heard the Broadway show was coming to Seattle I immediately got tickets. I absolutely adore this classic fairy tale and I have the fondest memories of watching it on VHS videocassette as a child.

Sitting in Seattle's Paramount Theatre with Stewart I seriously got chills as the lights dimmed and the orchestra began playing the familiar music. Unfortunately our tickets weren't nearly as good as our seats at the 5th Ave and I could hardly see anything with my poor eyesight from our third mezzanine location, but I really didn't care. The story and the music swept me away just like when I was a seven-year-old wishful princess. Sigh.

It's such a wonderful, exciting, sweet and incredibly romantic story. The stage show was incredibly well casted and the castle inhabitants like Lumière, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts were just as endearing as ever. Gaston was particularly entertaining and Belle and the Beast were wonderful together, especially in the famous "Beauty & the Beast" dance / love scene.

This show is completely entertaining with it's lovable characters and wonderful message: that beauty is found within. I'd say that it's probably my favorite show we've seen so far, and Stewart agreed he'd rank it right up there with Aladdin. I believe Beauty and the Beast is still currently playing in 3D movie theaters... I must try to get tickets!