One year down…a lifetime to go!

It’s crazy to think that a year ago, we were in the midst of an overwhelming, yet extremely fun-filled wedding weekend! I thought our year of being engaged went by quickly, but I’d have to say, the newlywed year flew by even quicker! Here are some shots from our special day a year ago: 

Our friends Alana and Hōkūao let us get ready at their beautiful taro farm Nohoʻana

Walking through the macadamia nut farm where we got married

 

The sparkler entrance was just magical

 

my favorite shot of the bridal party!

  
The past year has been absolutely incredible. Joe and I have been lucky enough to travel the world together! 

   
    
We honeymooned for a week in the Seychelles before heading off to my favorite city in the whole world, Paris…

  
    
   
We got back, settled in to married life then took a trip to San Francisco and Napa a few months later! 

   
   
A couple months after that we yolo’d a trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon! 

   
   
Earlier this week we celebrated our one year anniversary in Hualālai on the Big Island. It was such a nice getaway! 

   
    
    
   
Our peaks of our first year as a married couple   

 
We are planning a trip to Pennsylvania/New York this fall, and hopefully New Zealand next year! Our next house project will be completely re-doing our backyard, we are installing a summer kitchen and pergola! We can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

Our Wedding Video and Favorite Wedding Moments!

Mr. & Mrs. Getgen

Its been two months since we tied the knot and finally we’ve gotten back into our normal routine. Much like everyone told us, our wedding day (or shall I say, wedding weekend) went by way too quickly! A year ago, Joe and I were solidifying the budget for our wedding and decided ultimately to splurge on things that we would be able to cherish forever. Weddings are expensive. We knew early on that we would have to limit ourselves in some areas in order to splurge in others. After talking with many of my friends who had gotten married in recent years, many of them had one just one regret. Not getting a videographer. Joe and I decided that a good videographer and photographer would be our biggest splurge. Lucky for us, we happened to know and be friends with a fantastic photographer (see his photos here). We quickly decided on an amazing videographer who is incredibly talented as well.

Here is our highlight film, it is a short (5min) video that captures the main parts of our wedding day!

Here is our feature wedding film, it is about 20 minutes long, but it really captures our wedding day so beautifully.

We are so incredibly happy with both our photos and videos of our day. It has been truly amazing to be able to relive this special moment over and over again! I know that it is something we will cherish forever and we look forward to watching these videos and going through these photos on many future anniversaries to come!

In about a week, Joe and I will head off for our honeymoon! We are flying to NYC for a brief stop to see family (so excited), from there we will head out to the Seychelles for a week where we will be staying at the Four Seasons (thanks to Joe’s benefits from being an employee with the company), then we head to Paris for a week where we have rented a cute apartment, followed by a night in NYC before heading home! We will be gone for about 3 weeks and we absolutely cannot wait! Prior to leaving we will be mailing out our ‘Mahalo’ cards to all of our friends and family who have helped us celebrate this amazing new chapter in our lives. We could not have done it with all of you and we hope you know how much we love each and every one of you. Mahalo!
Here are a few more of our favorite wedding photos:

My favorite girls.

The boys.

Classy.

Sassy.

A surprise for Joe when he put the ring on my finger.

One of our favorites.

Everything was so magical.

Joe & Dougie

We decided to do a “First Look” so we could have a more intimate moment together before our ceremony.

“I have found the one whom my soul loves…”

In a little over a week Joe & I will be starting the next chapter of our lives as husband & wife. As I’ve said repeatedly the last few weeks, the time has just flown by! As a little girl, I’ve dreamt of what this day will be like, and it is quickly approaching!

Penny is so excited!

One of my friends likened her wedding day to opening up presents on Christmas morning when you’re a little kid. The anticipation of this amazing event, that literally just flies by way too quickly. Once it’s finished, you’re happy & grateful, but a part of you wishes that moment just didn’t have to end. Another one of my friends told me to take a moment on our wedding day to sit back and just bask in the bliss of it all, to enjoy the happiness we feel and the happiness that surrounds us. We definitely plan on doing just that.

Many people have asked how I am feeling…if I’m nervous and “ready.” Truthfully, I’m not nervous or anxious to marry Joe. Now, if you know me, you may be thinking to yourself, “that’s bullshit.” Because if you know me, you know that I’m just an overly anxious person in general. I am nervous for the party part of it. I have anxiety about all the little details and making sure things go smoothly (even though I know that everyone says there will be something that goes wrong.) None of my anxiety or stress is about the part where Joe and I say, “I do.” Well I am a little stressed thinking of all those people watching me while we say it, but otherwise no nerves or hesitations or worries. In fact, the thing that has been calming me down in those stressful moments has been Joe simply reminding me that in however many days we’ll be married.

I can’t wait to be a Getgen. I can’t wait to wake up next to my husband. A few months ago I was having a melt down that our engagement was going to end, and today I am looking forward to it. The moment I first laid eyes on Joe, I had no idea or inkling that I was talking to my future husband, but he turned out to be the one whom my soul truly loves.

Joe & I are lucky to have such a great life and to have such great people in our lives. It simply amazes me at how many of our friends and family have put so much time, energy, and money into making this event a memorable one for us. I hope you all know how much we love and appreciate not only what you’ve done for us, but we just appreciate having you in our lives. Mahalo mahalo mahalo!

And of course, here are our most recent Operation Enjoy Engagement pictures:

Penny can’t wait to walk down the aisle!

Spending time with my sisters!

Family time

Joe & Mom

Taking a moment at my grandparents life celebration to reminisce on the wonderful memories of them. I wish they could be there to see me get married.

We get to have these 2 little monsters with us until the wedding!

prime seating

representing

beach fun!

test trials

 

 

 

“A healthy relationship doesn’t drag you down, it inspires you to be better.”

Well ain’t that the truth! Last week, Alana & I went out to lunch to celebrate her belated birthday, but also to catch up & talk story. The usual girl time. Throughout our conversations she said something that stuck out to me. At the time, I didn’t really go into it, I just agreed with her, but what she said really resonated with me.

We were talking about the various relationships in our lives…friendships, families, significant others, etc., and Alana mentioned in our conversation that she felt relationships in general should make you want to be a better person, they should push you to be better. As we left lunch and I went back home to study (MFT licensing exam…blah.) I thought more and more about that brief comment and reflected on how it applied to those in my life.

Joe and I do not agree on some pretty major things. Politics. Organized Religion. And those are just two of them. Don’t get me wrong, there are many things we do agree on, and important things too! Parenting styles, finances, our roles in our home…but as I mentioned there are some pretty big ones that we can butt heads about.

What I absolutely love and respect about Joe is that although he may not agree with me, he will respect my opinion. He respects that it’s something I value or believe, and will genuinely listen to my perspective with an open mind. He doesn’t agree with me just for the sake of agreeing, he asserts his opinions. We challenge each other to look at life in different ways, to realize that our way of thinking isn’t the only way. I believe he makes me a better person. He makes me want to be a better person.

I believe that relationships take work, constant effort, and I think Joe and I are a good team. As we are counting down the days to our wedding, less than a month away, I’m getting more and more excited to start a new chapter of life with my best friend and to tackle the challenges that lay ahead together. I’m so happy that our closest friends and family get to be there to start that chapter with us.

Now, enough of the serious talk. Our wedding is less than a month away! In just a few weeks, a lot of our friends and family members will start arriving and we couldn’t be more excited! It’s so crazy how quickly the time has flown by. Here are some operation enjoy engagement pictures from the past couple weeks!

Sunset at the Grand Wailea

Haupia pie with Haupia ice cream!!

Off to scope out the wedding venue with our wedding coordinator, photographer, and musicians (aka our friends!)

Having a drink at Andaz, the hotel we will be staying at during our wedding weekend

Our friends Jenn & Colt invited us to a beach day with their families!

What better way to discuss wedding details with our awesome coordinator & photographer than with tostadas & margaritas! (No really though they’re great so let us know if you need a coordinator or photographer!)

Gaga.

Working on our kitchen cabinets

Time at home with our Penelope.

 

 

“Life is about moments. Don’t wait for them, create them.”

Yesterday, Joe & I celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our engagement! It had dawned on me a little while back that it had been a year since our big trip last summer (Spain & Morocco), which is also when Joe proposed. However, it wasn’t until I got this text message from our bestie Jenn that it really dawned on me how quickly the time flew by.
An ENTIRE year had gone by! It’s really crazy to think about because time doesn’t seem to go by that quickly when you’re in the moment. Before you know it though, time flies by.

I’m the kind of person that worries. I worry about just about anything and everything. Whether it be in the past or the future, leave it to me to worry about it! For the past few months, since we initiated Operation Enjoy Engagement, Joe & I have tried to be more cognizant about living in the present. Focusing on what’s happening in the “here and now” as we in the therapy world call it. For someone who worries, it’s quite a challenge to focus on the present. That was the whole point of the Operation though! To focus on enjoying our engagement and not worry about how quickly time is passing or what the future holds. I’d say we’ve been pretty successful at it!

When we got engaged (see our wedding website for the proposal story here) we had eaten dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant near our hotel in New York. We couldn’t even remember the name, it was a tiny little place, family owned, but great food and a great ambiance.

We decided to celebrate this one year mark by going to eat at an Italian restaurant here on Maui. Our favorite Italian restaurant, Capische closed early and since Joe was closing up the bar, we had to settle for Longhis in Wailea.

It was a great evening, we had some drinks & over a long dinner processed our year of engagement. We reminisced about our favorite times, memories with our grandparents that we’ve lost, and the excitement of our upcoming wedding.

We talked about our future goals as a couple and as individuals, career goals, relationship goals, family goals…things we want to see, do, and accomplish.

One of the things I love about my relationship with Joe is the life we have created together. We have a really great life. This past year has really taught me to embrace living in the moment more and to create the kind of life that I want.

Here are some Operation Enjoy Engagement pictures:

“Be with those that bring out the best in you, not the stress in you”

The past couple of months have been stressful. Our family had to deal with the loss of Grandpa, which was not something we thought we’d have to face so soon. We’ve also had to deal with many unexpected changes with our wedding plans. Everyone says wedding planning is stressful, but you don’t really realize what that means until you’re in the thick of it. Joe & I made a plan to really enjoy these last few months of our engagement (Operation Enjoy Engagement). Some weeks we were more successful than others at fulfilling the operation.

Some great memories with Grandpa

I’ve never really liked a lot of attention. I dreaded birthday parties and that awful moment when everyone sings “Happy Birthday” while intently studying your reaction. So as one can imagine, a wedding is an event that brings a lot of attention to just two people…and if we’re being real here, in our society most attention is placed on the bride. Since I struggle with this type of thing, I decided early on that I wanted to look at this event as not just about Joe & I. When you really think about it, this day isn’t just about us. I mean it is…but it also isn’t. We aren’t throwing 2 receptions and a week filled of pre-wedding festivities for ourselves. This occasion is supposed to be about celebrating with the ones we love and care about.

That being said, this process has really taught me a lot about the relationships in my life. I’m sure many brides-to-be go through the same thing. Where I’ve grown up, big events like this are less about the actual day but more about the time spent leading up to the event. The time with our close friends and family, coming together to work towards a big celebration. This process has allowed me to really take inventory about who I choose to surround myself with, and the roles these people have in my life. It’s been a sad, scary, but rewarding experience. It’s allowed me to see where I stand with other people, and where they stand with me; to see which relationships are based on genuineness and authenticity, and which are based on more surface things.

It’s my hope to really foster the relationships based on genuineness and authenticity as Joe and I move forward in this exciting new chapter in our lives. We all have surface relationships with people, and I think that’s okay. I guess what it comes down to is that I think I’m beginning to realize which relationships will be for life and which ones may only be meant to be for a certain period of time in my life. Coming to peace with this realization is a good feeling. I want to strive to surround myself with positive, loving, and supportive people. They say you become like the 5 people that you spend the most time with…I want to choose carefully.

Here are some recent operation enjoy engagement pictures:

Operation Enjoy Engagement

A few weeks back I was texting back and forth with a friend about how quickly the wedding was approaching, and since she is a newlywed herself, the joys and struggles of married life…then it dawned on me. All at once. Joe and I were getting married. I mean I knew we were getting married, we had been planning a wedding for months! I had been given an absolutely amazing engagement ring! We were just looking up fabulous honeymoon destinations! In that moment though, it suddenly became so real. While I was so excited (like really really excited) I was also kind of sad. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that Joe is the absolute love of my life and the person I am meant to be with, but I was sad to see our engagement come to an end. I love being engaged. Joe and I will only be engaged for just this short period of time, then we’ll be married for the rest of our lives. Our engagement was just going by way too quickly!

So of course I spiraled into a mini-panic and texted my newlywed friends and future sister in the hopes of finding some fool proof plan to make the most of these last months! The texting panic led to a very long phone conversation with Jossie where I poured my heart out and went on and on about mourning the future loss of my engagement (this is the therapist in me coming out). She totally normalized my feelings, put me at ease, and sent me off with the task of letting Joe know how I felt.

During dinner that night I brought it up to Joe and of course he was so understanding and could totally relate. This is where “Operation Enjoy Engagement” was created. We created the fool proof plan I had been stressing over, with the hopes of making the absolute most of our engagement. The plan has been in effect for a couple weeks now and we’ve been doing pretty well at following it!

Quality time with our Penelope

Operation Enjoy Engagement.

Maroon 5 concert on the beach with our besties!

Shabbat! This was our inspiration from the Getgen-Kestenbaum’s. We love how they have a nice meal together on Fridays.

Cruisin’ at the beach in our new hats!

Finally finished our paneling project.

Crafty, Crafty, Crafty

For those of you who don’t know my sister Trisha, trust me when I say she’s one of the most crafty people I know…and I don’t mean Pinterest DIY on the weekends crafty. I mean legitimate crafty. She does amazing cards that would put Hallmark out of business if she could do it full time. Trisha is also the biggest perfectionist that I know. Crafty + Perfectionism = the best person to do our wedding invitations!!

When I first asked Trisha to help me with this task, she was a bit hesitant, but I knew that she and her best friend Diani could literally create anything! I showed her some samples of things I liked and let their creative minds wander.

My amazing bridesmaids Alana, Jenn, & Puddy met Joe & I (and Colt too!) at Trisha’s house this past Saturday and we got working! The final product was more than I could have ever dreamed, and while it was hard work, it was absolutely worth it. The best part of the whole experience was getting to spend time with the girls and catching up all together. It really got me excited for all of the festivities that we have ahead of us.

Here’s a little sneak peak at the fabulous invites…

You’ve probably also noticed by now that I’ve created a new blog site! Blogging seemed really overwhelming to me but I wanted to find a way to include all of our friends and family, who aren’t on Maui, on our wedding journey with us. Jenn is a truly inspiring blogger and she helped me set up our very own wedding blog! If you haven’t already you should check out her blog here

Wedding Planning Stress

I didn’t realize how stressful planning a wedding would be. You hear from your friends and family that it’s crazy and chaotic, but I didn’t realize how true those statements were until very recently. I am such a planner, so much so that if I could have my way, this wedding would be planned by the end of the month. But, it doesn’t really work that way. Things have been a struggle for me because a lot of our potential vendors keep saying that we have a lot of time so we don’t have to lock anything down just yet…and therefore they are being slow to respond as they have other events that are closer and a priority! Anyone that knows me, can understand how incredibly frustrating this is for me. So we’ve been trying to plan, but not really plan, but stay within our budget, without really knowing exactly what our budget for each different component is because it’s “too early” to have everything planned. Overwhelming for sure.

Jenn has started me on monthly meetings where we make a list of what can be done that month and how to go about doing it. This has been extremely helpful and is totally keeping me on task. Jenn has a lot of experience planning and coordinating events and has had great insight as far as budgeting and how this whole process works. So far, we’ve booked our party rentals company (tables, chairs, etc.) and are awaiting our catering menu options (see what I said!) We have also found our videographer and will lock him down as soon as our catering gets finalized. The rest is still in the works…Oh and did I mention that this is all just for the first reception!

Throughout all of this craziness my friends and family and especially Joe have been great at reminding me to just breathe and that at the end of the day, it isn’t about the food or entertainment or decorations, that it’s just about Joe and I. We’re getting married because we want to share the rest of our lives together, the fabulous party (and it will be fabulous) is just a bonus!

The Dress

On the night Joe and I got engaged, I texted Jenn to share the exciting news. After quite a few messages back and forth of excitement, she brought up a very good point….Since I was in New York, I better look for a dress! I of course hadn’t even thought of that, I mean Joe and I were engaged for literally minutes. The next morning at brunch, I brought up the idea to Joss & Mama Levering, who loved it! Joss already had great designers in mind and knew the designers we had to check out. She sent me off on our vacation with assignments to look at dresses online to get an idea of what I like.

One of the designers Joss brought up was Pronovias, a Spanish based brand who makes exquisite dresses. Pronovias is based out of Barcelona and we saw their headquarters there as well as a flagship store in Madrid. After looking up some of their designs online, it just felt right. Joss (the miracle worker) somehow got us an appointment at the Pronovias in NYC…Joe and I would be in New York for literally less than 24 hours on our way back to Hawaii, but I just had to at least look at dresses! Hawaii is so limited when it comes to these types of things and I knew if there was any chance of finding my dream wedding dress, this was it!

Erin and Mama Levering decided to make the drive into the city to join the hunt, so as soon as Joe and I landed, we hopped in a cab and headed over to Pronovias! Joe and Scott took Iyla for a couple hours and met up with Joe’s friend Russ to have some guy time while us girls got down to business.

The whole process was really overwhelming. I had an idea of the style of dress I wanted, but this is a big decision! After selecting a few dresses, I began the trying on process…about midway through, I tried on one particular dress. Once I slipped it on, it just felt right. Seeing Erin, Joss, and Linda’s reactions was really exciting. After trying on a couple of others, we all just knew that the previous dress was the one! It was really a blessing to have been able to find my dress in New York. Not just because it’s New York City, but it was really awesome to have Joe’s family there with me. It was such a special moment that I will truly cherish forever!