Power of a Story

Something Old, Borrowed and Blue

Mary Tanner Brown — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:03:01 +0000

I love what I wore for something old, borrowed and blue. I really hadn’t given the “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue” tradition any thought so when my Aunt Sue offered to loan me the light blue sapphire bracelet that my Grandpa Tanner gave to my Grandma Tanner for her birthday years ago I jumped at the opportunity. Both my Grandpa Tanner and Grandma Tanner are deceased and the bracelet was a perfect way to remember my them during our wedding. I remember touching it a few times throughout the ceremony and thinking of my grandparents and the surprise party we threw them for their 50th wedding anniversary in 1996. They left quite a legacy with 5 children all married, 19 grandchildren with 10 now married and 21 great-grandchildren ranging in ages from 16 to 1.

Aunt Sue loaning me Grandma Tanner's bracelet at the rehearsal dinner.

The Night Before

Mary Tanner Brown — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:45:17 +0000

It almost felt like the night before Christmas with all of the anticipation, excitment and my inability to sleep before the wedding.

Our rehearsal dinner the night before was incredible and the best part about it was that my in-laws planned the entire thing – I loved it! We had a cookout dinner with an ice cream bar (my in-laws know me so very, very well!!!) at Medallion Country Club and everything was delicious. The weather was perfect for a cocktail hour outside and there was plenty of grass for the kids to run around.

My new family

After dinner, my father-in-law gave a great toast that made me teary and so appreciative of the family I’ve joined and then my mother-in-law played a slideshow of photos of Nick and I. The cute part about the slideshow is that she showed the parallels of our lives (piano lessons, sports, OSU Engineering graduates, etc.).

I spent my last night as a single girl at my parent’s house laughing over a glass of wine, trying to make (crooked) directional signs for the reception with my mom and sharing a few emotional tears. I can’t really imagine how they felt but I know my primary emotions the entire weekend were love and gratitude. I owe my parents so much for everything they’ve done for me and their example of unconditional love!!

I'll always be a Tanner regardless of my last name!

- Mary

The Rehearsal

Mary Tanner Brown — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:20:35 +0000

So after the manicures and pedicures I rushed home to get ready for the Rehearsal, I was one of the last ones to arrive at the church (oops – too busy wrapping presents to get dressed) but I still arrived on time. The rehearsal was surreal. I kept wondering if it was really happening. Our priest, Fr. Chuck, walked us through the ceremony pretty quick and we were done in less than 30 minutes like he promised.

Us with our wedding coordinator, Nancy: "Do you guys know what to do tomorrow? That was a pretty quick rehearsal." Us: "Yeah... we're ready"

My thoughts: Is the wedding really tomorrow? I'll be sitting up here tomorrow? It's here all ready??

After the rehearsal I led a convy of 6 cars to the rehearsal dinner, and that’s when I had my one and only one moment of feeling slightly overwhelmed. Mainly because things were starting to happen REALLY fast and probably because it felt out of my control. Since I was alone in my car, I called up my wonderful, dear friend Monica and asked her if it was normal to feel overwhelmed – not at getting married or being married to Nick – just at the imensity of it all and not remembering any part of the rehearsal we just had. She gave me wonderful advice – “Tomorrow you will not care about ANYTHING except Nick. Just look at Nick and nobody else will matter. Oh and your priest will run the ceremony” She was and still is 100% right. And she made me laugh!

So for the rest of the drive to dinner I kept repeating what Fr. Chuck had told us from day 1 when we met with him. “You only need to do 3 things: (1) Get to the church. (2) Get down the aisle. (3) I’ll get you the rest of the way.” And he was right too. I guess there’s a reason he told us those 3 things multiple times, because when I needed it, I remembered them.

- Mary

The Day Before

Mary Tanner Brown — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:32:31 +0000

This is me with my future mother-in-law and future sister-in-law on Friday, July 31st after getting a manicure and pedicure:

One of the nail technicians commented that she was so shocked to find out I was the bride since I was so calm and relaxing in a chair! And I was calm and relaxed. Previous to this photo I had lunch at Cosi with my mom, future mother-in-law and future sister-in-law. The four of us went to get our nails done and were joined by my other two bridesmaids and flower girl.

Note: I am writing a month’s worth of posts after the fact, but I remember every detail very vividly… I’ve had a difficult time wanting to capture the whole wedding event, mainly because I’m afraid of ruining the perfect vision in my head by not representing it well enough!!

Mini Mental Break

Mary Tanner Brown — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:46:21 +0000

Oh the excitement is building as we are mere hours, HOURS away from the celebration. It’s been a super busy week this week although I’ve managed to stay fairly calm throughout. Last night I broke one of new wine glasses we received as a gift, so that was a bummer, but guess what, we are still getting married!

Now I just need to wrap up some work by 4 pm, and then I’m off of work until August 17th which seems a ridiculously long way away from today, July 29th.

I’m so ready To Be Married!

Back to work…

- Mary

Wedding Hair Trial

Mary Tanner Brown — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:20:13 +0000

8 days and counting and I’m calm and relaxed and READY! I’m looking through pictures from the past 6 1/2 months and here are some of my hair trial run.

Bring it on Project Wedding — I’m ready!!

- Mary

Happy News

Mary Tanner Brown — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:05:01 +0000

It’s been a very good couple of days for a lot of people I know. First, a very cute couple that I’m friends with got engaged on Friday. Next, I found out over the weekend that a cousin and his wife are expecting their first child. And lastly, today at work I found out that a coworker and her husband are also expecting their first child. Congratulations to all!!

Both couples expecting were hoping to wait until after the wedding to tell me. I told them that it is not a problem and that I love good news at any time about people I love regardless of what’s going on with me! The next 10 days do NOT have to be all about me every-minute-of-the-day; That’s too much pressure, ugh.

Back to writing thank you notes. At least I’m sitting beside my flowers from last week :)

- Mary

I Am One Lucky Girl

Mary Tanner Brown — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:57:21 +0000

After spending last week in Switzerland for work and returning home sick and really, really late on Thursday, or rather, Friday morning at 1:30 am, I walked in the door to find these:

The note says “We’ve been engaged 6 months today!” Yes, my life is pretty fantastic.

- Mary

What’s Making Me Laugh Today

Mary Tanner Brown — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:55:02 +0000

I can’t stop laughing. I think my favorite is the Big Wedding Secret!

And there are so many more at Something Awful: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/magazine-mayhem3-2.php

Photo Guestbook

Mary Tanner Brown — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:04:55 +0000

Currently at JFK airport and have been up for way too many hours as I return yet again from another (2 day) Switzerland trip. This is the last trip before W-day. The nice part about this return-home trip has been the upgrade to business elite (1st time ever, thanks Delta) and now the relaxing in the Sky Team Lounge. It’s quiet, cool, and has free food and drinks. I could travel more often if every trip was this luxurious, but I digress…

Last night in my hotel room, I finally finished our wedding day guestbook. I wanted to make it personal, cute and memorable, so of course I used Heritage Makers and I used an existing guestbook template to create ours which made it super easy and quick. Click the photo below to view the entire super-cute guestbook.

I also just bought a few of these Zip Photo Signature Pens from Scrapbook.com. The reviews looked promising so hopefully they work for people signing the pages of our guestbook.

Thanks to my mom for all of the “engagement” photos in our guestbook. One thing I was starting to regret was not having engagement photos, so last weekend we headed to my parent’s house with 2 different outfits each and for about an hour my mom took some really awesome, great photos. The best part – they were FREE!! Thanks mom!!!

Time to brush my teeth before my next flight!! (20+ hours of flying makes me feel pretty disgusting….).

- Mary