Men in... Skirts?!

The summer before we were engaged he asked me what I thought of him wearing a kilt. Wow! I did not see this coming. While I never really had a clear vision of what our wedding would look like it definitely did not involve kilts! I always imagined he would wear something like this:

Brooks Brothers Khaki Linen Suit

Brooks Brothers Golden Fleece Two-Button Pinstripe Suit

He continued to bring it up and I started to realize that he was serious about wanting to wear a kilt. At first I was completely against the idea. I thought it would look completely out of place at our wedding venue (Napa Valley), too dressy for a daytime wedding and I wanted reds and oranges and his family kilt is navy and dark green. He told me how much it meant to him and how he viewed it as a way of honoring his grandmother (who passed away several years ago). I realized that it is Mr. Olive's wedding too and he wouldn't dare tell me what to wear. So, I relented and got on board with the kilt with one condition - he would bring pants to change into for some of the formal shots. He agreed and started the search for a kilt maker! This is what Mr. Olive and his four brothers will look like on our wedding day.

Wedding Kilt

Mr. Olive will wear the Prince Charlie Jacket and his brothers will wear the less formal Argyle Jackets.

Prince Charlie Jacket

Argyle Jacket

Since our original conversation I've come to accept the kilt for what it is. I told Mr. Olive that he doesn't need to bring along pants anymore. After all, all the celebrities are doing it!

Sean Connery

Vin Diesel

What did your fiance choose to wear for the wedding? Is anyone else marrying a kilt lover?

A Wedding Planning Weekend

Mr. Olive and I recently had the chance to go to California for three days of wedding planning fun! We flew Virgin America for the first time and we had a great experience. The individual, interactive TV's were a great way to stay entertained during the 5 hour flight! If you have to fly I would highly recommend this airline!

Virgin America

Since we got engaged in November we have talked with vendors on the phone and over email, signed contracts, and sent deposits. It was fun to pick out the details but a little nerveracking to do everything sight unseen. This was our only chance to get to CA between the engagement and the wedding so we had to pack a lot in!

Here were the items on our agenda:

- Meet with Florist

- Meet with Officiant

- Meet with Music Coordinator

- Meet with Site Coordinator

- Visit Rehearsal Dinner Venue

- Visit Group Hotel

- Locate Cake Vendor

In addition to all of our meetings we also managed to find my wedding band, do a wine tasting and see a movie!

We are happy to report that all of our vendors were wonderful! Everything is beginning to come together! I have to say that planning a long-distance wedding has actually made some decisions a lot easier. We never had to spend weekends running around looking at venues, doing tastings or meeting with florists. Everything was done over email and phone. I guess I can say this because we've met the vendors and they were all great! We sure did luck out!

Has anybody else needed to pack all of your planning into a single trip? How did it work out?

Mr. Olive at our Wedding Site

Ceremony Site

The Ring

Mr. Olive and I occasionally talked about what my engagement ring might look like. We went to look at engagement rings together a couple of times during the first year we were dating but I never told Mr. Olive about any specific design that I wanted. My only requirement was not too big! I don't wear a lot of jewelery and I wasn't comfortable with the idea of having a large or flashy ring.

Mr. Olive had always told me that he preferred the solitaire Tiffany Setting so naturally this is what I expected my ring would look like. I loved the simplicity of this setting so I was happy with Mr. Olive's choice.

The Tiffany Setting

It was important to me to avoid blood diamonds and Mr. Olive was lucky enough to have a family stone that he could use for my ring. His sister had a pair of diamond stud earrings that she had inherited from their grandmother. She offered to let Mr. Olive use one of the stones for my ring. He took this stone to a jeweler in his home town and designed the setting all by himself! The final product was a very unique and beautiful ring. It is made of 14k white gold with three stones in a prong setting. The band is also very unique in the fact that the outer prongs of the outside diamonds create a second band on top of the first resulting in a band that looks like it has a smaller band on top of the larger band. I tried to find a good professional picture of a similar band but it is so unusual that I couldn't find anything like it! Without further ado, my ring:

Mr. Olive had the other ring turned into a pendant for his sister as a thank you for giving him the earrings. What a sweetheart!

Getting Rocked at the Rock

Mr. Olive and I had been dating for more than four years when he finally popped the question. We were in the middle of moving from Washington, DC to New York City. It was our first official day living in NYC...

It started off as a fairly uneventful day. We went for coffee, went to our new gym, and looked a few apartments for sale in our new neighborhood. Then we decided to do something very "touristy New York" to celebrate our first day in the city. Mr. Olive suggested that we go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. Neither of us had gone ice skating in many, many years but we decided to give it a try!

We headed for Rockefeller Center and managed to rent our skates and make it onto the ice without too much trouble. We were slowly skating around in circles and I decided to stop to take a picture but the camera batteries were dead (I knew I shouldn't buy cheap batteries)! While I am fiddling with the batteries Mr. Olive grabbed me hugged me tight. At first I was startled because Mr. Olive is not very into public displays of affection. He kept holding me tight and began to tell me how much he loved me. At this point I started thinking "OH MY GOD" because I had a pretty good idea of what was coming next. He asked me if I would marry him and I responded with "Are you serious?" He repeated the question but this time I replied with an emphatic YES! He pulled a box out of his pocket and slipped the most beautiful ring onto my finger. Mr. Olive managed to do all of this without drawing any attention to us. We had the most private and intimate moment in an incredibly crowded space.

Ice Skating Rink at Rockefeller Center

We tried to get the camera batteries to work again but no luck. At one point we thought we had enough juice to get one picture and we asked a tourist who was watching from outside the rink to take our photo. Unfortunately no amount of saliva was going to bring my camera back to life. Lucky for us the person we asked to take our picture offered to take a picture with her camera. We told her that we had just gotten engaged and she was so excited and took a bunch of pictures and gave us her card so we could email her and she would send the pics. The best part is that she is from New Hampshire, which is where we met four years earlier.

The Basics

Mr. Olive and I are our planning our destination wedding in California (while living in New York City). Here is an overview of our basic wedding details so far.

Engagement Date: November 10, 2007
Wedding Date: October 11, 2008
Wedding Location: San Francisco / Napa Valley
Ceremony & Reception Venue: Auberge du Soleil
Invited Guests: 70
Wedding Party: 2 Groomsman, 2 Bridesmaids, 1 Usher, 1 Ring Bearer and 2 Flowergirls
Theme: Vintage/Romantic/Sustainable
Honeymoon Location: Hawaii

Hello My Name Is

Miss Olive here! Welcome to My Green Wedding Adventure! Mr. Olive and I are busy planning our wedding in Northern California. We will tie the knot on Saturday, October 11, 2008 while overlooking the beautiful Napa Valley.

We recently relocated to New York City from Washington, DC. I work at non-profit that provides support and education for people living with cancer and Mr. Olive does survey research for a business magazine. Our wedding will bring together our passions and unique personalities as we celebrate our love. I consider the environment in every wedding decision while Mr. Olive relishes in tradition and elegance. Needless to say I will not be walking down the aisle in a hemp dress and there will be no vegan eats at our luncheon reception.

Follow along with me as I plan an eco-friendly and socially responsible wedding in disguise.

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