Justin & Keely

COUNTING!

Keely — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:44:49 +0000

Counting down and counting heads…..So I’ve been counting down since January, but now that it’s May I think others are joining me. We’re down to 28 days! We’re also nearing the end of our head counts, with RSVP’s due today. I’m so excited for everyone that is able to attend!

Everyone keeps asking if we are stressed out yet, but luckily things haven’t been that bad. We applied for our marriage license yesterday, and other than that we don’t have much left to do except putting together a few more programs and wedding favors.

We’re just waiting for the weekend to finally arrive!

April Showers bring…

Keely — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:43:30 +0000

The past few weekends I have been fortunate enough to attend four bridal showers!! That’s four times the yummy food and being the center of attention. Justin’s aunts hosted my first bridal shower in Cedar Falls, Iowa and many of his relatives from both sides attended the shower. One of the great things I received was a white apron that all of the guests signed. I ended up taking the apron to my other showers, and hopefully everyone’s good wishes will make me a better cook!

Then Doris’s friends and co-workers hosted a morning shower for me in Omaha. The shower was at Jennifer Haywood’s home and she had prepared a wonderful brunch. It was nice to meet many of the McAleer family friends. Most of them have watched Justin grow up, so they could tell me some great stories!

Later that afternoon, my bridesmaids hosted a friend’s shower for me at Marlina’s loft downtown. It was a mini-Northwest reunion, and I loved chatting with all the girls! The shower had a “Stock the Bar” theme so they had made special martinis in our wedding colors for everyone to enjoy. Afterwards we headed over to the Upstream to catch up some more.

The next morning I had my last shower, hosted by my sister and mom, for my side of the family. My sister had asked Justin a few questions that morning to see how well I knew him. I think I did pretty well! Although I was surprised to learn that Justin’s one word used to describe me was “structure”. Recently many of my cousins and aunts have had little ones, so it was fun to see all the cute babies…although it makes me realize I couldn’t handle five kids, two will do!

It was great to see everyone before the wedding and catch up! Thank you to everyone for everything, I know some people traveled a few hours to attend! Below are a few pictures from the showers! See everyone soon!!

You’ve Got Mail!

Keely — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:32:34 +0000

The invites are finally out! We’ve been engaged for over a year and a half now that I didn’t think it would ever get here. Thankfully with lots of help from Marlina, I was able to finish them all in the past two months. It seemed a lot more official and real addressing the envelopes and putting on stamps. Justin even helped out a bit.

And now the best part is every day we get to come home to our own mailbox and see who’s coming! Its become my favorite part of day, receiving everyone’s rsvp cards. It’s exciting!! Just a little over 50 days to go.

Dance Lessons!

Keely — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:29:27 +0000

With the wedding sneaking up, we’re starting to get busy with the little details. And we’ve started taking weekly dance lessons! We thought it would be fun to take a few classes and learn some dance moves. Now don’t get your hopes up too much, we aren’t learning anything fancy. We just don’t want to look goofy for our first dance. We’ve got a great dance teacher, Elizabeth, who is very patient and is moving us along. She is an instructor with the Omaha Ballroom.

I think I have the easy end though, because you won’t be able to see my feet if I mess up! Hopefully we’ll both remember the steps. It sure does make me have a greater appreciation for those dancing with the stars people…

Fun Pics

Keely — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:49:01 +0000

So Justin and I finally decided on a few engagement pictures. We had lots to choose from and Douglas Gunder did a great job, which made the decision even harder. He did a lot of poses that were more creative which Justin and I wanted. I have posted the ones we purchased under Photos if you want to view them! I recommend Douglas Gunder to anyone looking for a photograhper, he does a wonderful job, is easy to work with and contact, and look how great he made us look!

November 5th Blues

Keely — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:47:56 +0000

Even with all the planning and organizing it was bound to happen at some point, we hit our first bump in the road. On November 5^th the 2008 calendar for the Omaha parks opened up, and after 3 hours of waiting and calling, calling and waiting I found out that Justin and I would not be able to have our wedding ceremony at Mt. Vernon Gardens. Unfortunately another bride beat me out, hard to imagine I know!! After a long day (or two or three) of pouting and crying I came to terms that we had to find another spot. Luckily Justin and I weren’t alone in the search. All of my wonderful bridesmaids, my mom and Justin’s mom were searching with us and sending us lists of possible places to look at.

After looking at many, many parks Justin and I decided that we will have our ceremony at Memorial Park in Omaha. It is a huge park not too far from our apartment, has a lot of great areas for pictures and a beautiful rose garden for our ceremony.

Problem solved for now, but I’m sure we’ll come along a few more in the months to come. A lesson for any Omaha bride out there thinking of doing a garden wedding…..have a plan B park picked out, and maybe have 20 of your closest friends call in with you that November morning.

Picture of the rose garden at Memorial Park.

7th Month Itch

Keely — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:38:23 +0000

I can’t believe November is almost here, only 7 months to go! We checked off a few more items on our to-do list: booking the honeymoon, engagement pictures, and then some smaller tasks and we’ve been keeping busy! We were able to attend a few more weddings this past month and I finished my half-marathon at the end of September.

One thing I was finally able to do was find a bridesmaid dress that fit the color and style I wanted but was also something the girls could wear again. I really wanted to make sure that they weren’t spending money on a dress that would just hang in the back of the closet. Thankfully JCrew had a great selection in the chocolate brown color I was looking for!

Below is a picture from Andy Barker and Andi Dahl’s wedding. Both went to Ralston High School with Justin, and Andy also went to Northwest with us.