This post is WAY overdue and I am SO excited that I'm finally able to write this blog post! This has got me a little teary eyed because around this time last year is when Brian proposed. He did it on Christmas Eve morning in our bed as I was waking up and now that same morning just passed us two days ago. We got so many texts and notifications on social media reminding us that it was a year ago that he popped the question and it was such a bittersweet feeling. I'm so happy and excited to finally be married but, I think I would totally do all of the planning stuff again! How did he do it? Well, I was starting to wake up for the day but still laying down in the warmth of the covers, and he walks in and lays next to me. We start talking about how we're so excited to see all our family that day and can't wait for the day to begin! THEN. He plops a little white box on my chest. (!!!) I grab it, open it, and see the very ring that I will wear for the rest of my life. Brian says: -- "The pup wants to know if you will marry me?" -- then the tears start bursting at the seams. And of course, I SAID YES! That was the best Christmas ever being able to spend it with all of our family and friends as I flash my shiny new ring on my left hand and just rave of how excited we are.
Now here we are, a whole year later, and I'm writing MY OWN wedding day blog post. So much can happen in a year and it flies by SO fast. I can honestly say this was THEE best day of my life. For SO many reasons. And I'm so thankful that I have these photos and videos to look back on and remember that amazing day we had on October 5, 2017 with all of our closest family and friends. Enjoy some of my favorite memories!!
Seeing these photos of my little brother get ready for his big sisters wedding day make me so emotional. I love you John John!
I had 3 requirements when searching for my perfect wedding dress. I needed straps in some way, I wanted lots of tulle, and LOTS of sparkle! This Jenny Yoo dress was the absolute PERFECT dress for me and I am so sad I won't be able to ever wear it again! UGH! I still have been putting it off to send it away to be preserved because then I can't touch it anymore and twirl around with it on the hanger anymore if it's in a box! Haha!
Jennifer tying the bow on the back of the dress of the girl that is about to marry her baby brother! I love this picture so much and I'm SO happy I get a sister-in-law now! Love you girly!!
My Kate Spade champagne flutes HAD to make an appearance on our wedding day! They are just SO pretty! We also brought two to the reception so Brian and I can toast with them. AND the getting ready champagne toasts wouldn't be complete without Sugarfina Champagne Bubbles!
My mom hoped that one day when she had a daughter that she would wear her wedding dress that her mom MADE for her. I ended up finding my dream dress and decided that I should put a piece of her dress underneath one of the layers of my dress and I LOVE how it turned out. Love you momma!
Annnnd cue the tissues! My first look with my Dad was so special and emotional for me. There was not a dry eye in the room!
These two pictures are SO special to me. Not only did we cut a heart out of my moms dress, but we also made hankies out of it too. Of course, I had mine monogrammed with my new initials! The photo on the right makes me tear up. She is showing my dad the dress hanky that was made out of her wedding dress when they got married. Her thoughts-- "Remember this day?" Unfortunately they have been divorced for many years now so this photo makes it that much more special.
Time to go see my GROOM! This was by far one of my favorite memories from the entire day. This spot was at our venue and we had him go off into the trees to hide until I got there. As I'm walking to wear ever he is, the DJ at the ceremony location was setting up and started playing the first song. (I had NO songs, no nothing planned for this!) As I'm already bubbly with so many emotions as I'm walking to MY OWN first look, Fallin' For You by Colbie Caillat starts playing. And I. LOST. IT. It was the perfect song to have playing in the background for this moment. AND why it was even more perfect, our hashtag was #FALLingForGoggins . What?! I can not stress enough to my own brides to have a first look with your groom. It might seem scary and not "traditional" and not how you dreamed your wedding day to be when you were little but, trust me. That moment with JUST you two, together, before you get married, you can't get it back. Sharing this moment alone was the best thing ever. The nerves of walking down the aisle with all of your family and friends looking at you while your trying to focus on looking for your groom, but also looking at your family and friends, and also remembering to breath! WOW! I mean, I won't say that all of those emotions didn't happen during our ceremony, because I cried like a baby! Haha! But I'm so glad we shared a first look with just us together.
Okay, another special moment here. I am so happy that I get to say that I married the lucky guy that I went to Prom with. I wanted to make sure we could recreate my favorite Prom photo of us and it's perfect!! I'm probably going to hang these side by side in our home! That was 6 years ago! We were such babies! Haha!
Time to go get MARRIED!
Fun Fact: We were actually supposed to get married at a Gazebo that they have on the property. I had that plan set the entire time we were planning the wedding until about 2 weeks before. Brian's mom and I made one more trip to the venue and the idea of getting married under this giant and beautiful oak tree came into the picture. We both agreed that this was SUCH a better option and I am IN LOVE with how it all came out! It was SO beautiful! And the weather? UGH! I see the warm glowing sun! That is a whole different story about the weather scare that I'll get to! Haha!
Right before you walked to your seat for the ceremony, I had a Confetti Bar station set up! Instead of using rice, confetti, or bubbles after Brian and I are announced as husband and wife, I wanted to use LEAVES! It went so perfectly with my fall theme! There were cones set up that you would grab that said "kiss cheer toss!" and then I had 3 containers with leaves that you would fill your cones with! Then as we walked down the aisle everyone would throw leaves into the air! Just wait till you see the pictures! It was perfect!
UGH! This photo gives me all the feels! Looking at her son stand up there about to get married! She's probably going to tell me to take this down but I love it! So sweet! Love you momma-in-law! :)
I think this is the moment where it actually hit me AND my dad that I was about to get married! (hahah!) Both of our faces! LOL!
My moms smiling face as she watches my dad give her daughter away! LOVE this shot! Thanks Stephanie!
For our unity sand portion of the ceremony, I didn't want to do some cheesy colors of sand that had no meaning to us at all what so ever. SO! Each one of those vials is dirt from very special places to us. Brian's on the left is dirt from a park in Beecher where we first got to know each other. "That Park" is the beginning of our story! Mine on the right is dirt from under this very oak tree where we are saying I DO! Once we mixed them together, they can not be separated. This now sits on a shelf in our bathroom where we have saved sand and dirt from all different places we have visited together! We even have one from our Honeymoon! But this is my favorite one by far.
Brian as he's holding my ring- "you ready for this?" Me- "lets do this!" haha!
Right after Brian and I said our "I Do's" , I really wanted to incorporate our friends and family in the ceremony too. So I added a part where Eric said ....
"Now that you, beloved friends and family of Brian and Megan have heard their vows, do you promise from this day forward, to encourage them and love them, to give them your guidance and to support them in being steadfast in the promise they have made? If so answer, We Do!"
And that was my face as I see everyones smiling faces as they all say "We Do!"
This picture makes me tear up. Not only are we walking off finally as a married couple, but I remember telling myself as we were walking away, to look back at your ceremony. Look back at all of your friends and family that traveled near and far to be at that very location to witness and celebrate with us as we tie the knot. I remember looking back and thinking "There it is! That was my wedding ceremony! Look at everyone! I can't believe it's over already!" and then thinking, "Wait! It's not over! It's PARTY TIME now! YES!"
I was SO in love with our wedding flowers! When we heard a knock on our hotel room door and these gorgeous things came in, I started to cry! They turned out EXACTLY how I imagined them to be. I loved the colors, the textures, the ribbons, the fluffy garden roses and white anemone in my bouquet, everything about them! Aberdeen's Wedding Florist did SUCH an amazing job on these! I wish they could of lasted forever and ever! :( But I DID press a lot of my petals in books and I created a vey special project with them that I can not wait to share in a blog post soon!
Eric was the BEST officiant! He totally made our ceremony awesome and so personal to us. Brian and I couldn't imagine anyone that would marry us that we didn't know. We wanted someone we trust, someone we both knew, and Eric came into our minds. Eric lived across the street from Brian when he was in middle school and high school and has been a good friend to both of us for a while! I remember the day when we asked him to be our officiant. We were sitting outside at an ice cream place back in our home town and he said he thought he knew what was going on. We were going to ask him to be a groomsman! But to his surprise, we asked him to MARRY US! His face was hilarious! But without any hesitation, he said YES! Thank you Eric for everything you did for us to make our ceremony so special! You rocked it!
Time for our own Bride and Groom golden hour portraits! AHHH! I'm so in love with all of these! Especially the next two! <3
This glowy light! AHHH! I'm obsessed!
This is by far one of my favorite pictures from our wedding day. The glowy sun, the giant oak tree we got married under, the light posts, AHH! I love it! This venue was absolutely perfect for our wedding day!
My new In-Laws!! I love these people just as much as my own family! I couldn't imagine having anyone else be my sister, mother, and father in law than these people. They have made me feel like part of their family since the very beginning. They welcomed me with open arms and always cared for me as one of their own. Now I am officially a Goggins!! I love you all so very much!!
Annnnd here is my crazy bunch! (missing is my little brother, and step sister and step brother) My daddy, my momma, my stepdad and basically my 2nd mom (my moms best friend). These people have shaped me into the very person I am today and I am so grateful for each and every one of them. I love you all so much! Thank you for everything!
I do not remember the last time me, my dad, my mom, and my little brother were in the same photo together. My parents got divorced when I was little and seeing how my wedding brought them together again was so special. I will cherish this photo for the rest of my life! I love these three people so much!
I wanted to have a spot set up as a photo area to give people an excuse to take a photo at my wedding that they will have forever! I wanted it to match our fall theme and I LOVE how my vision came to life! Annnnd hello glowy sun in the background!
We had three signature drinks that our guests could order at our bar. Mine was a Tequila Sunrise garnished with a cherry and orange slice (yummm!), Brian's was a Rum and Coke with a lime wedge, and our Wedding drink was Spiked Apple Cider topped with a cinnamon stick! They were all a hit!
One of the things I had set out for our guests was a display of post cards that were hand painted and drawn by one of my best friends, Caitrionna! Each post card had a state on the front, and on the back our friends and family were supposed to give Brian and I ideas and suggestions of places we should see and do within that state! Everyone loved giving us adventure ideas and we actually brought them all with on our honeymoon to read! We sat on the back porch of our cabin in the Smoky Mountains (our honeymoon blog post is coming soon!) and went through each and every card and message that they wrote and just fired up our hearts to take our next adventure!
The sweet people on the left? These were our amazing videographers! Alyssa and Michael were one of my 2017 couples and Alyssa has been such a good friend of mine for years! Thank you both for everything you did for us on our wedding day and we absolutely LOVE the video you provided for us that we get to cherish for the rest of our lives!
Here is a shot of our guest book! I had so much fun coming up with this idea. I didn't want a plain book that everyone walks past, writes their name and moves on. I wanted them to be able to write us a message! Give us advice! Share some kind words as they wish us a happy life together as husband and wife! I also wanted to have a photo of their sweet faces next to their message. So I made this Project Life album. I had cards set out where they could write us a message, and Brian's cousin Dallas was walking around with a polaroid camera to grab snap shots of our guests. We also brought this along on our honeymoon to look through!
The wedding party entrance was another one of my all time favorite moments from the day. For the parents to walk in to, I chose "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith because that is my mom and 2nd mom's favorite band and I knew they would love it! In the video they just lit up when the song started to play! You're welcome guys! ;)
Then, the song switched, and one of my favorite songs ever started to play. I chose "Something Just Like This" by Coldplay and The Chainsmokers as our entrance song. As I heard the first couple of tunes, I got goosebumps and was SO excited to walk into our reception to it! Our four grouped couples walked in, cheers-ing, princess waving, and even dabbing (only my little brother would dab into his sister wedding haha), and then Brian twirled me into our reception! I saw all of our friends and family cheering and clapping. It made my heart so happy.
Our first dance song was "From The Ground Up" by Dan + Shay. Since the first day I heard this song, long before I was even engaged, I pictured this as the song playing during my first dance. And here is the day! It happened and I loved it!
I HAD to include this iPhone photo in this blog post that Brian's mom snapped of all of us because this was one of both mine and Brian's favorite memories from the reception. I decided that I only wanted the head table to have glasses of champagne for during the toasts and speeches and after they were all done, everyone realized that NO ONE touched the champagne (go figure! haha) So you know how every other 15 minutes, all of the guests clink their glasses to make the Bride and Groom kiss? We thought it would be hilarious that the next time everyone starts clinking, we wait it out and make it build up and have everyone looking at us, and then the whole bridal party would stand up and chug our champagne, together. Everyone started cheering, clapping, and laughing! I have no idea how Brian's mom got this shot so quickly but I'm so glad she did because I think this is the only one that exists.
For our desserts, we didn't want to do a big extravagant cake for our guests. We wanted something a little more playful and fun! So Brian built a cupcake stand out of wood and we had 5 different flavor cupcakes! There was s'mores topped with a marshmallow, mocha cappuccino topped with a coffee bean (because, of course!) , vanilla, red velvet and GF chocolate! We also had pumpkin spice and apple cider cake donuts, andddd it wouldn't be a Megan wedding without macarons! We had salted caramel and red velvet macarons and they were AMAZING!
Seeing my parents dancing together at my wedding was one of the best memories I will have. These two photos are so special to me.
For our favors, we wanted something that was more personal to us than just getting a coozy with our wedding date on it. Brian and I loooove coffee, so we put together little bags of our favorite coffee blend for our guests to enjoy the day after our wedding!
This was without a doubt, the greatest, best, and happiest day of my life. Now that it's already been almost 3 months later.. I miss it more and more every single day. For everyone that came to our wedding, to celebrate with us, to love and support us on the first day of our story together as husband and wife, to witness our vows, and to dance the night away with us, I can not thank you enough. You made this day so special from Brian and I and I love each and every one of you! Now all that's left are the photos, videos, and memories.
To Brian. My husband. We have been together for a little over 7 years and every single one of those days spent with you, I dreamed of what this day would look like. What our wedding day would be. What memories we would make during it. And here it is. Our day finally arrived. I love you more than life itself and I am SO happy I get to spend the rest of my life with you as your wife. We have so much ahead of us and I get to do it all with you. Our wedding day was everything I had hoped and dreamed for, and so much more. Thank you for everything you have done for us to get to where we are today. I am so thankful and blessed to have you as my best friend, and now my husband for life. I can't wait to see what this crazy life has in store for us! And also, thanks for the last name! Megan Marie Goggins has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? :)
Thank you to Alyssa and Michael for giving us this beautiful wedding video! I watch it almost every day and STILL cry every time!
Before I completely wrap up this blog post, here are some fun facts about our wedding day! --
1 | We got married on a THURSDAY! It was supposed to be on Friday October 6th, but half way through the planning process we changed the date to Thursday October 5th.
2 | To go with the fact above ^ , as you saw in our beautiful pictures, we had such perfect weather! The sun was shining through out the whole day, and it was 75 degrees! In OCTOBER! The very next day (which was supposed to be our wedding day) , it rained the entire day. (yikes!) Something told us in our guts that we had to change our date. As much as it was strange to get married on a Thursday, it was meant to be!
3 | We had less than 100 guests! It was such a nice intimate wedding surrounded by just our closest family and friends!
4 | Our two witnesses to sign our marriage certificate were my little brother, Johnny and Brian's big sister, Jennifer!
5 | We were engaged and got married within 9 months. It was crazy but we got it all done and everything was perfect!
6 | October has always been my favorite month since I could remember, so our wedding was no matter what going to be in that month!
7 | We left for our honeymoon the Saturday after the wedding, and that blog post is coming soon! We had a GoPro with us the entire time so there will be a video along with that post too! GET EXCITED!
A HUGE thank you to all of the vendors that made our day as special as it was! We could not have made this day possible without you!
Dress Designer: Jenny Yoo - The Magnolia Dress
Dress Store: - Magnolia Bridal
Florist: Aberdeen’s Wedding Florist
Ceremony Venue: The Redfield Estate
Reception Venue: The Redfield Estate
Event Coordinator: Denise with A Touch of Elegance Event Planning
DJ : Al Mitchell with Ameritunes
Photographer: George Street Photo
Videographer: Alyssamay Grino Productions
Cake and Desserts: Sweety Pies Bakery
Catering: Salerno’s
Bridesmaids Dresses: Rent The Runway
Groomsmen and Groom attire: GQ Formalwear
Invitations: Paper Source
Monogram Embroidery on Hanky and Garter: Oatmeal Lace
Silk Ribbons: Nettle Textiles
Ring Box: The MRS Box
Bride Hanger: DarkHorseEngraving