I missed my calling! I can’t tell you how much fun I have had the last year and a half planning this wedding. When I tell my friends this, “It’s not too late!” is the resounding response. But it really is. I wish I would have discovered this passion in my 30’s or 40’s, but at 56, I don’t think I’d have the energy to do this for anyone other than my only daughter. I could be a helper, and if anyone would like to hire me as a helper, please reach out!

For those of you who are not familiar, our daughter Hillary is getting married in Montana in June. We are all super excited. Once the wedding is over, I plan to do several posts with all the details. I thought I’d get a head start by sharing some of the fun leading up to the wedding.

First, the engagement. Keenan and Hillary had been living together for about 5 years. They were happy and did not feel an extreme urge to get married, although I think Hillary thought about it more than Keenan did. I personally thought about it quite a bit. Their birthdays are a month apart, in April and May, and after turning 31 a couple years ago, I started throwing in teasing remarks about marriage - “locking this thing down,” “making it official” and so forth. I couldn’t wait to tell Keenan about my good friend’s son who was supposed to go on a vacation with his girlfriend’s family, but her grandmother chimed in, “No ringy? No bringy!”

Did I know that Keenan loved Hillary whether they got married or not? Yes. But did I still want them to make it official? Yes, yes I did. I was married at 22, and that was probably too young, although we are still a match made in heaven. But with the kids approaching 32, it seemed like it would be a good time to make a more official commitment. (I know - who cares about age! I am on that team! But also they were in love and I was excited to plan a wedding!)

The jokes continued for months. Keenan was a good sport and giggled. Hillary would roll her eyes. Finally Keenan started asking questions about rings. (He asked one question) Once that conversation started, it was only a month or so later, and he proposed. They are the cutest!

The engagement was plenty long - December of 2021 to the wedding date in June 2023! We heard 2022 was going to be a record year for the most weddings, and thought we’d skip to 2023 for less stress. We have enjoyed every moment! Hillary has been great about sending ring updates lol.

We secured our wedding planners immediately. Hillary had them picked out for quite a while and we had both been following them on instagram. Darci and Arden Greenwood of Greenwood Events, located in Whitefish, are adorable, so talented, and we feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with them. They put up with me emailing them way too many times a day, and are gracious and professional, and they have the connections I do not have to plan a wedding in Whitefish. This was different than a typical destination wedding since Hillary and Keenan live there full time, as do the wedding planners, but there are still many challenges associated with planning a major event long distance. Travel is involved with almost every single vendor. But the mountains . .. .

So yes, the logistics of planning a wedding in the mountains, and things that are un-fun, like portable restrooms, garbage cans and ice chests, are all taken care of without my involvement. And although I adore the design part of planning the wedding, I especially appreciated the editing cues from the pros.

Once we had the planners secured, we confirmed the venue and the date. Green Valley Ranch was the winner and had also been saved in Hillary’s mental wedding folder. So focused on avoiding snow and wildfires, we decided on a June wedding, failing to consider the existence of rain. No one mentioned at that time that June is rainy season in Montana. Fingers crossed we will be ok! Stay tuned for that update.

We planned a fall visit to Green Valley Ranch, and you can read about that here, if interested.

For someone who initially wanted to veer from almost anything traditional for her wedding, Hillary really committed to a bit of extravagance when asking a few friends to be bridesmaids. Etsy has everything you could possibly need and more for a bridesmaid ask!

These darling bridesmaid boxes were so easy to fill with the cutest things.

Hillary’s original plan was to send a bridesmaid box to her friends telling them, “Lucky you, you don’t have to be a bridesmaid!” As things progressed, it turns out her friends wanted to be bridesmaids. The theme stuck but with a new message, “Lucky me to have a friend like you!”

I can’t remember when she found these necklaces, but they may have been part of the inspiration for the lucky theme… At any rate, they are perfect, and sealed the deal.

The heart jewelry case from Mark & Graham was a fun combo with the necklace.

Hillary added some candy, and the boxes were off to the maids!

Then, THEN, I remembered these adorable lucky themed bauble stockings! Hillary sent these out in November, after the bachelorette trip to Miami!

Since Hillary has been sober for almost 7 years, we weren’t sure exactly how a bachelorette weekend trip would pan out. Turns out, just fine. A little rest and relaxation sounded like total bliss in November, and The Goodtime Hotel in Miami was just the place. Creative Director and Designer, Ken Fulk, was the mastermind behind making the vision of creators Pharrell Williams and David Grumman come to life.

This AD article features the photo above and a bit more about the hotel, if interested.

And here are a few more photos of the super adorable, extremely instagrammable hotel from The Goodtime Hotel website.

The girls had the best time and planned every detail of the weekend. They are such a sweet group, and Hillary is so lucky to have them all as friends!

Flying just about anywhere from Whitefish is difficult, so Hillary flew to Denver and spent the night with her Maid of Honor, Monica. They flew to Miami the next morning on a nonstop flight. This was a wonderful way to alleviate some travel stress.

The maids arrived at different times, got settled, and scoped the place out before dinner.

The first night, dinner was at the Versace Mansion, and it looks like they had the best table available!

Monica had the room decked out for Hillary. So sweet! Please notice Hillary’s lucky themed PJs!

Yoga sesh in the morning!

And the obligatory drag queen brunch. I did not know this was a thing, but I’ve been noticing so many brides partaking in this activity since Hillary’s trip. Interesting that drag queens have become such a hot topic in recent months. Definitely provided plenty of fun for this group!!

Next up was an afternoon on the water. The boat was in part thanks to a dear friend of mine who helped organize this surprise for Hillary. The girls had a blast!

Another dinner and games!

This outfit!

The next day was a pool day and especially fun at the Strawberry Moon Pool…

Check out the very bridal pearl “cover-up” !!

Next up, pizza in the rooms, and trying to stay awake and energized enough to go out to a club. Apparently the clubs don’t really start up until 1am or 2am which is not really Hillary’s deal. I mean I’m sure it’s not anyone’s deal in this group, but it’s Miami, and it seemed like a must. (LOL - the girls in the bed.)

Chelsea brought this bridal tulle robe!

The last white dress of the weekend!

The club!

A fun night to close out the weekend…

Oh! I forgot about the cute bags for the trip!

The hair tie with strawberries was for the Strawberry Moon Pool at the hotel… and a few other fun trinkets.

I can’t get over what a major event a bachelorette weekend has become. There are actually companies for hire to plan bachelorette weekend trips! It is pretty extravagant, but also so fun. I was so touched by the girls coming together and celebrating the bride.

Before the bachelorette weekend, I posted about a beautiful bridal shower in Omaha, and shared some of the fun things Hillary registered for, the flowers and Hillary’s cute bridal-inspired manicure.

I am anxious to share all the fun things we planned for the wedding weekend, but sneak peeks have not been approved, so I will continue to wait.

I am off to see what else I can cross off the to-do list! This is my daily activity. I’ll be back in June with tons of pics, many, many details and lots of fun information!