YOU GUYS.

The tunnel will overlook the Flowrider surf simulator and offer views of the wide open seas. Tunnel time. At sea. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Check it out:

As you all know, Barry and I got married at SkyVenture Colorado, followed by a cruise for our honeymoon. It seems only fitting that we renew our vows at sea. I’m on a mission to make that happen.

My dad was in NYC live for the reveal event of all the new features, and I gotta say, this ship has it all. And, the best part?

WAIT FOR IT.

There is no extra charge for Ripcord. Sure, the cost of the cruise will probably increase a bit, and I’m not sure how it works with booking time, but hopefully I’ll get that information soon and be able to share it with all of you. I know that you can rent Ripcord for special events, so maybe that’s where the money will come into play.

But seriously.

Skydiving. Food. Drinks. Tropical ports of call. I’m not even kidding when I say this is the ultimate skydiver dream vacation.

Who’s in?

Behold, one of my favorite recipes, done all vegetarian style. Vegetarian, you say? Right, I promise I’ll write a post about my new found love for all things vegetarian/vegan meatless living. In the meantime, enjoy this recipe!

Vegetarian/Vegan Thai Chicken(less) Pita Pizzas

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 3 Whole Wheat Pitas
• 3 tablespoons Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce ((and some to taste))
• 3 teaspoons Garlic Olive Oil (or however much it take to spread a thin layer on top of the pitas)
• 2 thick slices Ginger (chopped fine)
• 1 Carrot (peeled and diced)
• 1/4 Red Onion (peeled and diced)
• 1/2 can Water Chestnuts (small can (like the tuna cans) - sliced)
• 1/2 can Bamboo Shoots (small can (like the tuna cans) - sliced)
• 3 Green onions (sliced thin)
• 1.5 cups Bean Sprouts (Or however much you like, pile it on! )
• 3/4 cartons Trader Joe's Chicken-less Strips

Optional

• Crushed Red Pepper (to taste)
• Bragg's Sprinkles (Salt-Less) (to taste)

Directions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 425

Step 2

Arrange pitas on baking sheet (I did two at once, then another one by itself later)

Step 3

Drizzle garlic olive oil over pitas, bake for 5-10 minutes until slightly crispy, remove from oven, let cool

Step 4

While the pitas are baking, add the Chicken-less strips to a dry pan, and heat until warm, remove from pan, chop into bite-size pieces

Step 5

Once the pitas have cooled to touch, drizzle and spread Peanut Sauce

Step 6

Add garlic, ginger, carrots, red onion, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, chickenless strips, bean sprouts, red pepper and Bragg's Sprinkles to taste (in that order is perfect)

Step 7

Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until the pita is crispy to your liking

Step 8

After cooking, add green onion

Step 9

Slice into quarters and enjoy!

I’m a sucker for a consistent brand experience. Think, Chipotle for food, and Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and Norwegian Cruise lines to name a few excellent travel experiences as of late. When you find a brand who does the in-person experience as well as they do the online brand experience, it’s a magical thing.

I’ve already shared the story of how the Four Seasons in Denver won our hearts for our pre-wedding and wedding-night stay. To recap: I put the word out on Twitter that we wanted a sweet hotel for this special occasion while we were getting married in Denver. My friend Jen recommended Four Seasons, and within minutes, actual minutes, the brand had already responded, looking to accomodate us. We were stoked.

Here’s the deal. There is no way we could afford Four Seasons on the regular. We don’t travel a lot, and when we do, we’re usually visiting friends or family, so a hotel is the least of our worries. But I will tell you this: on every vacation, moving forward, whenever we can afford it, we will be staying at the Four Seasons.

There are a bunch of reasons why:

• We never felt like we weren’t good enough to stay there – as is not always the case with luxury brands if you aren’t, yourself, luxurious.
• The staff is incredible, from the PR manager (at the Denver hotel), to the concierge, to the valet, everyone we encountered made us feel like royalty.
• The rooms. Oh the rooms. The Four Seasons Denver is a newer addition to the chain, so it’s to be expected that the rooms are incredible, but yeah. The beds are incredible (I could stay there all day), the rooms are well-decorated and spacious, and the bathrooms are something to write home about. The shower, in particular, is worth writing home about. In fact, I did.
• The little things. A welcome gift from the PR Manager when we arrived. Personalized turn down service, with a tree of lollipops and a tweet from @FSDenver transposed on white chocolate.

And then, there’s this tweet.

I woke up on November 11th, all nerdy like, and shouted an excited “Happy One Month of Being Married Anniversary” to Barry. We laughed, because for the past month we’ve been on the road and entertaining one of his students from Chicago, so we haven’t really had any us-time since our honeymoon. And then I saw this tweet. And I was wowed.

It’s one thing to make a guest feel like a rockstar before they get there (not a lot of brands do), it’s one thing to make them feel like a rockstar while they’re staying with you (or dining, or flying, or otherwise interacting with your brand however that works with your brand), but it’s quite another to remember, one month after you’ve already paid the bill, that it is a guest’s anniversary. And a measly anniversary at that.

And this, my friends, is why no matter what the circumstances, if we can swing a stay at the Four Seasons, we will. It’s a big spend for us on our skydiving-generated income, but when it comes to special occasions, and being taken care of: Four Seasons is tops. Period. The end.

On our honeymoon, we did a spa treatment on board the Norwegian Pearl, an hour massage, focusing on neck, back, and scalp. Afterwards, we decided that this is something we want to try to do monthly – to reset, to take care of ourselves, and, more importantly, to have some quality us-time to look forward to every month.

If there is some way for me to swing the spa treatments happening at a Four Seasons hotel/spa, you can bet your bottom dollar I will. Because at the end of the day, people like buying things from their friends. And while I don’t know the staff at every Four Seasons hotel, I can totally get behind the brand experience, and I feel valued there. So they get my money, even if it’s on an infrequent basis.

So, Dana and the rest of the staff at Four Seasons Denver: thank you. Thank you for an incredible stay for our wedding, thank you for this experience, and thank you for allowing me to experience what it’s like to be on the opposite side of a well-balanced brand interaction.

DISCLAIMER: I was not paid or compensated in any way to write this review. I just really freaking love Four Seasons Denver and can’t wait to check out other locations as time/money allows. Word.

But there are a bunch of different specialty dining options on board the Blake Shelton Cruise. Check out this great write up by Nancy Schretter.

Dining Choices Sizzle on the Blake Shelton Cruise

By Nancy Schretter

While next week’s Blake Shelton Cruise will feature exciting performances by Blake Shelton plus shows by Trace Adkins and over 20 other country music entertainers, the cruise experience itself is also a huge draw. The cruise is being held on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Pearl, a gem of a ship that features a wide range of dining and entertainment options. While it might be hard for country music fans to break away from the all-star entertainment to go bowling at sea, try rock climbing or play on the Wii interactive gaming system in the atrium, the Pearl’s dining line-up will likely hit the top of the charts with Blake Shelton Cruise guests.

Dining on the Norwegian Pearl is freestyle, which means that you don’t have to eat in the same place at a set time every day. You are free to dine … wherever! The Pearl has large flatscreen TV displays in high traffic areas around the ship showing the current waiting times for each dining area, so you can easily head to the venues without a wait. If you would prefer to wait for a specific dining option, the restaurant’s hostess will quote you an expected wait time and give you a pager that works around the ship.

Sure, there are standard main dining rooms on the Norwegian Pearl. The large Summer Palace dining room features aft windows, perfect for those who fancy a water view. Indigo, a smaller standard dining room, is located mid-ships. Dining here is included as part of your cruise. Guests can dine freestyle as they wish or at the same time. If you’d like to keep things predictable every night, talk with the maitre d’ on the first day of the cruise to set up.

While the food in the main dining room is delicious, Norwegian Cruise Line is also known for its extensive choice of specialty restaurants. It would be hard to cruise on the Norwegian Pearl for seven nights and not try at least one. Reservations for alternative restaurant dining can be made in advance of your cruise or once you’re on the ship. If you have your heart set on a specific dates, times and dining experiences – make your reservations early.

Here are a few of the dining experiences that guests on the Blake Shelton Cruise can enjoy while sailing on the Norwegian Pearl:

* Cagney’s Steakhouse: This restaurant serves up mouthwatering steaks such as a 16-ounce T-Bone, 12-ounce Rib Eye or a 10-ounce New York Strip or Filet Mignon along with all your favorite sides. Don’t miss Cagney’s Fries made with white truffle oil and parmesan cheese. Salmon Oscar, Double Cut Lamb Chops and Vegetarian Saffron Casserole are also on the menu, as are yummy appetizers and desserts. A $25 per person cover charge applies.

* Le Bistro French Restaurant: From the decor to the menu, Le Bistro is all French through and through. Start your meal off with French Onion Soup or Escargot and then move on to such classics as Coq au Vin, Bouillabaisse, and Filet de Porc. Naturally, the profiteroles, chocolate napoleon and vanilla creme brulee are delectable. A $20 per person cover charge applies.

* Moderno Churrascaria: Barbecued meats are the specialty at this Brazilian-style meat-fest restaurant. Diners control how much they’re served with green and red chips. Green means “keep bringing it on” while red tells servers “stop – I’ve had enough!” There’s a huge salad bar here to accompany the ten different cuts of beef, lamb, pork and chicken served. A $20 per person cover charge applies.

* Teppanyaki: This Japanese grill-style restaurant is sort of like “Benihana at Sea.” Each evening, chefs put on a show while cooking meats, fish, poultry and vegetables on an iron “Teppan” grill. This is one of the most popular restaurants on the ship and seating is very limited, so it sells out quickly. A $25 per person cover charge applies.

* Lotus Garden Asian Restaurant: Step into a world of Pan Asian delights in this restaurant, serving Japanese, Chinese and Thai dishes including Peking Duck Crepes, Kung Pao Chicken, Cantonese Scallops, Orange Peel Beef and more. A $15 per person cover charge applies.

* La Cucina Italian Restaurant: Traditional Italian dishes take center stage here, including pastas with seven sauce choices, specialty pizzas, and entrees such as Chicken Parmesan, Seared Salmon, Ribeye Steak Florentina, Ossobuco, and Vegetable Lasagna. The tiramisu, ricotta cheesecake and flourless chocolate torte offer a perfect Italian ending for your meal. A $10 per person cover charge applies.

* 24/7 Pizza: Want pizza delivered fresh to your table, your favorite bar or even to your stateroom – any time of day or night? This Norwegian Pearl restaurant has it covered. Just ask your server or call room service for delivery. A $5 per guest charge applies.

* Sushi and Sashimi Bar: Located in the Lotus Garden Asian Restaurant, this little restaurant serves up a variety of sushi and sashimi including yellow fin tuna, big eye tuna, salmon, yellowtail and octopus. Prices are a la carte.

* Blue Lagoon 24-Hour Food Court: This is the place to go if you want a quick bite, any time of the day or night. The Blue Lagoon serves up burgers, stir-fry items and light fare – all free of charge.

Norwegian Cruise Line recently rolled out a new dining package called the Signature Trio, offering savings at three of the Norwegian Pearl’s alternative dining restaurants. The package includes dinner at Cagney’s Steakhouse, Le Bistro French Restaurant and La Cucina Italian Restaurant for $47 per person, a savings of $8 per person. Reservations are made in advance, making dining at these specialty restaurants even more convenient. Blake Shelton Cruise guests take note: the Signature Trio must be purchased before sailing and will not be available once onboard the ship.

For casual dining, including breakfast and lunch, there’s the Garden Cafe and the Great Outdoors Cafe on the aft deck. Those lounging by the pool will want to check out the nearby grill serving hamburgers, hot dogs, salads and desserts. And, of course, every guest needs to try the free room service at some time during their cruise.

For more information on the Blake Shelton & Friends Cruise, visit http://www.blakesheltoncruise.com.

“We like to say LetsPour is a veritable carnival of curated craft beers and wines. We search the far corners of the beer and wine world to bring our members exciting daily deals. LetsPour encourages beer and wine discovery by connecting members with handpicked daily offers. Additional perks include things like access to sold-out or hard-to-get craft beers, first-release celebrity wines, bargain wine packs, and free shipping when buying in quantity.”

I swear, if I find Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA on here, I’m going to squeal.

So yeah, back to free beer for a year. You interested? So am I… here’s the scoop:

Leading Social Commerce Craft Beer Site, LetsPour, Announces “Free Beer for a Year” Promotion for The Great American Beer Festival (TM)

Redmond, WA (September 25, 2012) – In honor of The Great American Beer Festival, LetsPour, the leading social commerce site for highly sought-after beers, today announced a promotion bound to delight craft beer lovers everywhere – the chance to win “Free Beer for a Year.”

“We love beer and beer enthusiasts.  So why not give them the craft beers they would otherwise have a hard time finding?” said Raghav Kher, CEO of LetsPour.  The site searches the far corners of the beer world to bring its members the best beers on a daily basis.  Members enjoy free shipping when they buy any 6 bottles of beer.

Registering for this promotion is easy!  Simply visit www.letspour.com/gabf.  The registration is free and no purchase is necessary to win the prize.  The lucky winner will receive a pack of 6 outstanding craft beers every month for a year and shipping is free. The winner will be announced on November 5^th, 2012.

In addition to this promotion, LetsPour will be offering many exciting prizes at the Great American Beer Festival (TM) including hourly drawings for “$50 worth of craft beers from LetsPour.”  Festival attendees can enter simply by signing up at the LetsPour booth (#151).

“LetsPour is not just another beer retailer,” said Raghav Kher. “We are a social commerce site for craft beer where members can both rate and review beers that are on sale and ask questions before buying.  Members can sign up for daily or weekly recommendations.  Cheeky beer reviews, tasting notes from independent critics and LetsPour’s vibrant community, along with rich information about beer, keep members coming back for more. “

About LetsPour
LetsPour is a Seattle-based social commerce site founded in November 2010 by fun-loving beer and wine geeks who wanted to create a social buying site for their favorite beverages. With over 100,000 members, LetsPour is the first and the biggest social commerce site for Craft Beer.

Members include casual beer and wine drinkers, aficionados, winemakers and brewmasters along with industry professionals. The vibrant community of beer and wine enthusiasts can share their favorite beers and wines, connect with people, as well as wineries and breweries.

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this. The links are not affiliate links. I do have a press pass for the GABF, but that actually has nothing to do with this post. So, yeah, GET YOU SOME BEER FOR A YEAR!!

Likely a hungover married woman, but married.

And I don’t think it will be much different than it always is. See, that’s the thing. Everyone keeps saying things like “oooh, enjoy your time while you can” and “everything CHANGES when you get married” and I just don’t get it. Maybe five, ten, 20 years from now, I’ll look back and say, holy shit, everyone was so RIGHT, everything did CHANGE. But I don’t think it’s changing in the ways that they say it will.

See, the whole changing thing is half the reason Mr. Man didn’t want to get married (again) in the first place. Because with his first marriage, it did change. Everything was awesome, and then it wasn’t. So maybe I’m incredibly cognizant of the fact that things COULD change if I were someone else or if he were someone else, but I really don’t see our dynamic being any different on October 12th than it is today, or tomorrow, or October 11th.

Which brings me to the whole writing vows thing. We had our friend who will be playing referee at our wedding over for dinner the other night and it was like, oh hello, THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING.

One of the reasons I’m so head over crazy in love with this dude is because we just roll with it. The proposal? Not a huge production. Perfectly us. The venue selection? It just happened. Despite my best efforts to find that perfect beach or field or whatever, deciding on the tunnel just happened on a whim and was the obvious choice for us. Everything else is falling into place and yes, there are logistics we need to figure out (which is why our friend is doing the ceremony part, because he’s the expert in this area), but for the most part, it’s almost like we’re on auto-pilot.

Which, is not to say that it isn’t fun or hilarious or some of the best times of our lives, but it’s not stressful. I haven’t had any wedding-related meltdowns. We aren’t sitting up at night wondering how we’re going to make everyone happy. Maybe we’re blessed with some circle of friends and family that just get us and we’re lucky. I don’t know, but this whole wedding planning thing is not nearly as stressful as I have heard it can be. Then again, we’re only dealing with maybe 10 of the 12304923 factors that go into planning a traditional wedding.

So yeah, vows. I’m excited. We were talking to our friend who is officiating the whole thing and I asked him how long the vows should be. He said he’s had couples go for 15 minutes (too long) and as short as like 30 seconds (a bit too short). Apparently a minute, minute and a half is the magic number. And if you’ve ever heard me speak in person, especially when I’m excited, you know that I tend to speak very quickly. So, I can get a loooooot said in 90 seconds.

But really, where do you begin? This is a huge deal to me, yes. I don’t want to not sound like it is single-handedly the most important decision I’ll ever make in the history of decisions and I want to be sure I treat it as such. When I’m on, I’m on, and this kind of stuff comes naturally, so I’m sure it will be fine, but I’m definitely excited to see how to put everything I’ve felt, how much I’ve grown, and how fucking excited I am for the future down into words. Sweet.

THE DRESS. Or, in my case, the suit. Yesterday my friend Angela and I went to LiquidSky Sports to get fitted for my super sweet custom wedding jumpsuit. It’s pretty much the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever owned. I’ll post pictures and stuff once we’re all done and married and all that, I’m not sure what the superstition is all about but in the interest of keeping it a secret? Not like B hasn’t already seen it – I couldn’t wait to get back home and show him.

Mega thanks to Julio and Vicki, the two peeps at LiquidSky who were the driving force behind making this happen. If you’re not hip with the skydiving industry, LiquidSky is one of the most sought-after companies for custom jump suits, and their work is exquisite. As a result, the wait time for a suit right now is something crazy like 26 weeks. People wait for somewhere around six months to get these suits. They’re on the higher end for cost, but it’s no secret as to why. Luckily, they’re based in LA and I was able to get my suit fitted to me before I took it home. It’s one thing to get measured and get the suit sent to you, it’s an entirely different experience to have the suit put together for the most part, but to be able to take it in a bit here and there, and try it on again, and see how it slowly but surely becomes the most amazing custom suit you could ever want.

Which, I imagine, is EXACTLY like wedding dress shopping. Right?

And finally, the cruise. We’re counting down the days and saving our dollars for all of the fun we’ll have on board the #BlakeSheltonCruise on the Norwegian Pearl. In case you missed it, I wrote all about it last month. Word on the street is there’s a surprise guest joining the already impressive list of performers – but they won’t give away a name just yet. We recently received our cruise documents in the mail, which includes our cabin number (YAAAAAY for balcony cabins close to the stairs) and luggage tags.

The only detail we’re still working on is where we’ll stay in Ft. Lauderdale or Miami before the cruise. We get in town early on Saturday, and just need to decide if we’re staying in Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, and then get to the ship on Sunday morning.

As for the cruise itself, Norwegian has a great interactive cruise planner on their website, where you can book different shore excursions, reservations at some of the specialty restaurants, etc.

I’ve been stalking the menus at the specialty restaurants and I’m thinking a visit to the Teppanyaki and Churrascaria are in order. We’ll see what’s available once we get on board, but yeah. I’m hesitant to book anything ahead of time because we might meet awesome people or we might go explore some port, or something that could come up and interfere with pre-arranged dinner plans. Yet another reason I’m stoked about the Freestyle Dining on the Norwegian ships. Eat when you want, where you want, wearing what you want (within reason). Sweet.

Good news is, if you’re a country music fan and you are in desperate need of an awesome vacation, it appears as though there are still a variety of cabins left on this sailing, so definitely check it out, as we’re only 32 days away from setting sail!

I mean I’ve never really been into the whole dress/church/big reception/DJ/dancing traditional type wedding that seems to be the standard. Hell, six months ago we were talking about how we were perfectly content skipping the marriage thing and just being us, sans wedding and ceremony and titles and paperwork. When we first started planning, we talked about a Vegas wedding. We were looking for a beach. Then we decided to do it at SkyVenture Colorado. It seems fitting because it is so perfect, so “us” – which leads me to the question: do people go through the whole standard tradition because they feel like they have to? Is there some underground community of brides wishing desperately that they COULD do it their way?

Our honeymoon air is booked. Our honeymoon is booked (counting down the days until #BlakeSheltonCruise). We’re slowly but surely checking expenses off of the list. Now I’m just trying to find a sweet hotel for our pre-honeymoon stay in Fort Lauderdale, we’re still looking for rings that are totally awesome and perfect, and of course, we’re trying to save as much as we can for the actual honeymoon, since there is so much to do on the cruise.

I guess what I’m wondering is, does this happen to other brides? Are there (or were there) aspects of your wedding that made people say “I’m so glad you’re doing this your way” or something similar? If so, what elements of your wedding sparked those conversations?

What is the #BlakeSheltonCruise, you ask? It’s a themed cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines, with Blake Shelton as the headliner. He’ll be doing two shows during the cruise, and when he’s not performing, there will be a whole boat load (no really, a boat load) of other country music stars rocking live performances, acoustic stuff, and meet and greet sessions. The list of performers is pretty impressive, check it!

Blake Shelton, Special Guest: Trace Adkins, Jerrod Niemann, Easton Corbin, Neal McCoy , Lee Brice, Randy Houser, McKenna Faith, Frankie Ballard, Brett Eldredge, Jana Kramer, Tyler Farr, Brinley Addington, Chris Cavanaugh, Chuck Wicks, JJ Lawhorn, Logan Mize, HER and Kings County, Joanna Smith, Maggie Rose, Clayton Anderson, Brandon and Leah, Rae Lynn, and Nik and Sam.

Holy awesome performances, Batman.

Destinations: We’re headed to San Juan, St. Thomas, Tortola and Nassau. Considering I’ve been to all of these islands before and B isn’t into touristy stuff or crowds, we’re in the process of planning out our days on the islands. We have a pilot friend (Hi Dean!) who works for SeaBourne Airlines – so we might try to see them while we’re down there. Honestly, at this point, I just can’t wait for sun, cocktails, and waves.

Fun story: I think it was about 10 years ago, my family and I visited St. Thomas and went to Sapphire Beach. I remember saying to my sister that I’d visit Sapphire Beach on my honeymoon, and now look, here we are, heading to St. Thomas as a stop on the Blake Shelton Cruise. Could it be any more perfect?

Bars: There are eleventy billion (okay, 13) bars on the ship, and as we’re exploring the deck plans on the Norwegian website, we’re noticing that several of them are directly above or below our room. Awesome! Also? Sake Bar? Maltings Beer & Whiskey Bar? Totally happening.

Food: Sixteen dining options. While I’m going to do my best to skip the late night buffets, there is definitely no shortage of action on the food front on board. Thinking a trip to Cagney’s Steakhouse may be in order – for only $25, we’re sure to get a great meal.

Activities/Fitness: There are a lot of options for on-board activities, and to be completely honest (and nerdy), I can’t wait to see how many steps we take per day, I think my FitBit will be impressed with how much walking we actually do on board. That and our room is right by a stairwell, so I’m promising myself that I’ll be taking the stairs as much as humanly possible.

Rooms: We’re in a balcony cabin, mid-ship. Which if I remember correctly, is pretty freaking awesome. The decks above us and below us are staterooms, so we don’t need to worry about the noise from a club or deck chairs or people pounding out a run on the treadmills. I’ve heard every horror story there is about cabin placement.

And, judging by the pricing page, it looks like this is almost sold out – so if you’re interested in going, get on it!

Have any questions? Have you ever been on a cruise? What was your honeymoon like?

Disclaimer: While I’m not getting paid to write this, I should point out the fine folks at Flying Dutchmen Travel are hooking B and me up in exchange for telling you guys all about it. So there you have it. I’m here to tell you about our awesome honeymoon plans and get you excited about the #BlakeSheltonCruise.

Disclaimer 2.0: …but it is a honeymoon – and you probably don’t really want to know the specifics. That said, I’ll keep it to stuff related to the cruise. Thanks for hanging out!

An update on things as they’ve been coming together:

WEDDING
The kind folks at SkyVenture Colorado have graciously accepted to wed us in the tunnel, sans wind, on October 11. We’re pretty stoked about it and at 2:00 PM Mountain Time, our friend Spot will make us all legit and stuff.  Bonus? If you’re wondering where we’re registered, we’ve registered with SVCO. You can enter discount code “Sydney” in the box on the right side of the homepage and purchase tunnel time for us there. We don’t really need new pots and pans but we can always use tunnel time, so that’s the avenue we’re going for registration. We’ll have more information as we add venues we’re registered for, so stay tuned.

RECEPTION
Well, our plan was to have our “reception” at the Great American Beer Festival, but it appears as though the GABF is going through a PR nightmare right now. This year, they partnered with TicketMaster to manage ticket sales, and it’s been less than a pleasant ride for many craft beer lovers. The tickets sold out in a matter of minutes, and are already on StubHub, Ebay and the like for $120 and above, some have reported as high as $700 on various outlets. GABF isn’t responding on Facebook to the hundreds of comments asking what is going on – instead, they posted that the GABF is sold out and they look forward to seeing all 49,000 of us over three days – ending the post with “Cheers!” which really didn’t go over well with disgruntled beer lovers.

So, since only four members of our wedding party were able to secure tickets, we’re currently seeking alternatives for a reception. And to be completely clear, this is my train of thought on the whole thing. We don’t have a lot of money. We aren’t doing this traditionally, where there’s a DJ and dancing and we pay a boat load of money for an open bar. The glory of the GABF was there was something for everyone: you pay $70 (not outrageous) and you can choose from thousands of different beers. We get to spend time with our friends, we don’t go into debt because of it, and everyone wins. So if you’re a venue in Denver that could work something out like that for us, I’d love to speak with you. You can email me here.

Dear GABF: I am totally willing and able to help you through this crisis. Bring me on board. I’ll help you navigate the murky waters. Unless, of course, hundreds (soon to be thousands) of disgruntled followers doesn’t mean anything to you. Then don’t worry about it. But really, I would love to help you. Call me. Email me. I’ve sent you some emails and some messages to your Facebook page. Let’s do this. You can’t undo the damage but you can certainly craft some messages to help clear the air and try to salvage some of your fans. Your audience is hungry for a response. Say something.

WEDDING HOTEL
My one metric for finding a hotel that we would remember for the rest of our lives: how well they executed social media. I put it out there. I said “hey, need a sweet place for newlyweds on the first night of the beer festival” and got a few replies. The Hyatt kind of responded, the Brown Palace kind of responded, but Four Seasons Denver came in for the kill. In a good way. They were friendly, upbeat, and totally awesome to communicate with.

So, we’re staying at the Four Seasons Denver on Wednesday (night before the wedding) and Thursday (wedding night). Allow me to gush for a second about how on top of it FS Denver is. One of my favorite women on the planet, Jen Grant, used to work with Four Seasons when she was with another agency. I knew that she loved the brand, I knew that she was doing great things in social with them, and when she recommended we check out the Four Seasons in Denver, I was stoked. Now, we aren’t doing a traditional wedding by any means. And we certainly aren’t looking to do some big event for our reception at a swanky venue. What I wanted? A really nice place for us to spend the night before our wedding and our actual wedding night.

@FSDenver quickly responded and followed so we could discuss our options via direct message. Dana and Nora are the two ladies I’ve been working with specifically, and they have been an absolute dream so far. Always responding promptly, pleasantly, and totally on top of their game on the social media front. I’m no stranger to working on the weekends, but I was pleasantly surprised to receive some emails and tweets on a Saturday morning. In short, I can’t wait to spend these two very special nights at a place that is so on top of the social media game.

It’s also worth a mention that the FS team is paying close attention to tweets. The Jackson Hole location and Punta Mita (Mexico) both tweeted and emailed about honeymoon options when I was gushing about how much I love @FSDenver and we aren’t even there yet. Kudos, all around, to a job well done on the social media side of things. Can’t WAIT to stay there.

HONEYMOON
If you don’t know already, my father (@OrlandoChris on Twitter) has really come into his own as a travel writer in the past few years. I feel like he’s at sea more than he’s on land these days and it’s awesome to follow him on his adventures via his blog. He’s also a travel agent, so I told him to keep an eye out for any sweet deals that would be perfect for our honeymoon. He called me a few weeks ago to let me know that Norwegian Cruise Lines was teaming up with Blake Shelton for a Blake Shelton-themed cruise. That’s right. A boat load of country fans and country stars, rocking out at sea for a week. Fortunately for us, Dad pulled some strings so we could get on this cruise for next to nothing, so thank you Dad for footing the bill and thank you Flying Dutchmen Travel for hooking it up hardcore. You can expect to hear a lot about this cruise moving forward, as we’d love to see anyone and everyone take a week off and relax on board with us. And by relax, I mean party. Because according to Blake himself, this cruise should be renamed a booze cruise. Too bad we don’t like to party.

Uh, yes. Let’s do this.

So we’ll be hitting up the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Norwegian Pearl – San Juan, St. Thomas, Tortola, Nassau… this girl is a happy camper! If you’re interested in joining us, let me know! We’d love to see you. Blake Shelton, Trace Adkins, Neal McCoy? And a bunch more! Concerts every night, 16 dining options, 13 bars and lounges on board… B and I are doing the math and it’s going to be all kinds of awesome. Norwegian Cruise Lines is also home of “freestyle” cruising, meaning no set time for dinner, no formal nights… Which means we have less to pack, and more time to do what we want on our honeymoon. Perfect.

I wonder if I could get Mr. Shelton to sing us a little song that we could dance to. We’ll be having our first “dance” in the tunnel at SkyVenture Colorado on Thursday afternoon, but I’d totally be okay with a little serenade action. Let’s see if we can make that happen, shall we?

What kind of snafus did you run into when you were planning your wedding? If you’re a GABF fan, were you able to score some tickets? Have you ever been on a cruise? Let’s do this! Come play!

On April 16th, in front of the fountains at the Bellagio, the boy proposed. And I said yes. Kinda.

The story goes as such: we watch the fountains, we go inside, we get a drink, we come back out, watch another fountain show and in the middle of it, he says “so you wanna get hitched?” And I say “Sure?” with a question mark sound at the end, a-la-Ron Burgundy.

“I mean, I’m sure this isn’t how you imagined it going down, some dude asking if you want to get hitched.”

“I’m sure you didn’t think I’d say ‘sure’ with a question mark on the end. Yes, 100% yes, but if you don’t mind me asking, what changed your mind?”

If you’ll recall, we’ve talked about marriage before. We weren’t saying it would never happen, but we had talked about how we didn’t NEED it to make our relationship legit. I wrote about this extensively after we pranked people on Valentine’s Day. In our minds, we’re kind of already married, in that we can’t imagine life without each other, and we know we’re not going anywhere.

As we started walking back to the hotel, he told me why. That he can’t imagine NOT marrying me. That, after his first marriage, he didn’t want to do it again because he didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good relationship with a wedding (like what happened the first time). That I’m his best friend, and that he can’t imagine a life without me in it. That I don’t judge him, and he’s never really had that before. And that he loves me more and more. He also added that this doesn’t change how much he loves me. This doesn’t change how we operate. This is something for us, something that he wants to do now, because this relationship is fucking awesome.

So we get back to California, and after the haze from Vegas has worn off, I say “you know, if that was us being in Vegas and coming out of Vegas-Rage-Bender time, we can totally just pass on that and I won’t think anything of it.” He said he knows exactly what he said, exactly what he meant, and that this will happen. Sweet.

We knew that people wouldn’t get it, especially after we had the hoax. We told family and close friends, but didn’t announce it at all. I was talking to my parents and I felt very weird about it. I came to realize that I didn’t want this to be some big production, and that everyone has their own idea of what marriage is, should be, and what the wedding should be like.

We almost got married that night in Vegas, but the place with the Elvis impersonators that he wanted to go to wasn’t picking up the phone. We didn’t have the necessary documents. Then we thought we should do it on a beach somewhere. So a few weeks later we drove up to Big Sur and Carmel, CA, up the coast. I loved the drive, as a long drive next to the water is ridiculously calming for me. He was sore from being in the car for so long. We checked out Pfeiffer Beach, thinking it would be secluded and majestic but it was 30+ mph winds and a sandstorm and not very calming or relaxing at all. We had been in the car for what felt like forever, we got to the cabin we were staying in, and there was absolutely nothing to do in the town. Nothing. Well, nothing for people like us. There’s big money up there and it was so not our scene.

We drove around trying to find parking and when we finally did, he said “this place fucking sucks” and I lost it. Sad, weepy tears. We wandered into a bar and grabbed a couple drinks and I was still weepy. At the bar. Like a dork. And I was all, “I really wanted this to be awesome,” and thinking I’m totally horrible, we shouldn’t have taken these days off, I don’t know us at all, and he’s like “well the town sucks, do you disagree?” And I didn’t. The town did suck. It wasn’t our scene at all. And then everything was fine. Because it’s not always perfect, but we’re always fine.

He said we’d know the place when we found it. Last Thursday, standing in line for the Ministry show, he looks at me and says, “what if we did it in the wind tunnel? We’ll be there for the Tunnel N Beer trip in October, what if we did it in the tunnel and then did the Great American Beer Festival as our reception?”

And I started crying. Happy crying. The first day of the GABF is October 11. 10.11.12. Best. Date. Ever.

So we’re doing it. We’re getting married (having our friend do the ceremony) in the tunnel. Then we’ll have our “dance” in the tunnel. Then we’ll go get food before the Great American Beer Festival. Then we will party like there’s no tomorrow. It’s absolutely us, it’s absolutely perfect, and I’m beyond thrilled about it.

No dresses. No ties. No fancy food in spoons that is awkward to eat. No monumental bill for my parents. And something that is SO US, that I can’t imagine not doing it, or doing anything else.

Today we announced it, and by announced it I mean we changed our cover photos and made an event page on Facebook. Not surprisingly, there are people doubting whether or not we’re serious this time. I get it. We cried wolf. You have reason to believe that I’m full of shit this time too. But I’m not.

SkyVenture Colorado – 10.11.12, at 2:00 PM. That’s the date I’m counting down to. That’s the date that will be one of the very few dates that I remember and celebrate forever and ever.

We’ll post more details as they come. And now I can write again. Weeee!

Re-reading that post from February doesn’t make me sick, it doesn’t make me hate myself, and it doesn’t make me question everything I’ve ever believed. It shows me that things change, life is awesome, and you NEVER know what it will bring.

I cannot wait to marry my best friend on October 11th. And I never thought I’d say those words.

UPDATE: I had to take down the pictures of the invitations/announcements. The kind lady from the GABF emailed me to let me know I was violating a registered trademark. Hopefully they still let us in come October! HI NANCY! THANKS FOR THE PROMPT RESPONSE AND FOR BEING SO FRIENDLY!