149 Days...

Hey look at that, I have not updated my portion of our wedding blog in a long time. Silly me for nothing keeping my end of the bargain.

It's amazing for me to see how close the wedding is, only 149 days away. You may say that the wedding is still a long ways off, but in all reality it is not at all. When I first purposed in March and we decided the wedding would be in January, it seemed like that was forever away. I wanted to marry Meghan right then and there (note: I still do), and since I am ordained I began to wonder if I could officiate my own ceremony, Yeah, just think about how crazy that would be.

Minister (Me): "Tyler do you take Meghan..."
Me: Walking to hold Meghan's hand..."I do..."
Then back and forth several times....

Ok I know that kind of sounds weird and dumb and whatnot, but hey it would be exciting. I may become winded though. Yeah, Meghan make me delete this section. Anyways back to what I was saying...

It has been amazing so far through our engagement to see God bring us closer together through joys and difficulties. It is so great to see where God has brought us in over 2 1/2 years. We are beginning an amazing journey together and I look forward to 80 more years together. It amazing to see God love us so much individually and as a couple. He has blessed us immensely and one thing I am reminded of is that God's love does not change, His love remains. He has been there for us in the past, in the present, and will be in the future. He will never leave us and that is so comforting to know. He really does love us like He says He does in the Bible.

My prayer is that I continue to love my God first but secondly love Meghan as He has called me to do so. To daily sacrifice and give myself up. I need to always work on that. I pray that husbands love their wives, the same way Christ loves the church. I challenge you men to do this and work at it, be a student of her.

I know I need to always work on it, especially because like I said earlier, 149 days is closer than you think.

Give Grace, Live Truth, Reflect Jesus
Ty

Here we are, four months in...

It's hard to believe that Tyler and I have been engaged for four months.  The time has flown.  We're almost half way through our engagement...CRAZY!

We have gotten so many things done since our last post.  We got our save the dates in!  They should be arriving in everyone's mailboxes over the next few weeks.  Tyler and I have also started looking at apartments!  I know it's a little early, but we want to look everywhere we can and see what location works best for us.  My office moved downtown and Tyler works in Arlington so we're working on finding a great place in-between that we can call home.  We also have been interviewing DJ's.  I've learned that hiring a DJ is much harder than I anticipated.  They are in charge of the whole feel of the reception.  If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

We also have chosen our colors.  The colors are navy, champaign and a splash of pink.  I'm so excited that we are incorporating pink in the color palate.  I always thought I'd get married in the fall and had my heart set on pink, but when we chose a winter wedding I thought there was no chance we could have pink.  I love pink and navy together though so I'm super pumped!!

Only 160 days to go!

- Meghan

Engagement Entertainment

Check out this video of Tyler and I...we're REALLY excited about getting married.  It makes us want to break out into dance...

- Meghan

Check, check, check!

Only six more months until the big day!  I can't believe we've already been engaged three months.  Time has flown by.  We still have a lot of stuff to do, but have already gotten so much accomplished.

First of all, I got MY official wedding dress.  After sending two back to the designer the third one ended up being a winner.  Yay!  I can't wait to see Tyler's face after seeing me in it on our wedding day.  

We also took our engagement photos.   So fun!  Hillary, from Hillary Anne Photography, took our photos.  She's amazing you should check out  her website: www.hillaryannephotography.com.  Tyler knows Hillary from Tech which is an extra bonus!  Aside from it being 100 degrees outside, we had such a great time with her, I can't wait to see what the photos look like.  

We picked our minister for the wedding.  Justin Bindel from FBC Wichita Falls will be officiating the ceremony.  We are thrilled to have someone who knows both of us do the wedding.  Justin and Amber, his wife, have been around Tyler and I since we started dating, when Tyler was working with Justin in Wichita Falls.  Justin and Amber are such a great example of what a godly marriage should look like and we are honored to have them be a part of our special day.  

That's all I have for now.  Will update on more very soon!

- Meghan

Reception, Rehearsal and Registering

Ok, ok..so we have not posted in awhile. Yes, I'm sure you're thinking we are lazy, but nope this is not the case. We have been all kinds of busy. Apparently planning a wedding is a big task. 


We finally decided on a reception venue. I am a small town country boy (yet I do not own boots, cannot 2-step and own only 1 pearl snap shirt, which I think is some sort of crime being from Texas) so I typically like simple places, but this place is beautiful. Meghan and her family did a awesome job of picking it out. Plus, I get a free round of golf, which is AWESOME! 


As for the rehearsal venue, we are still looking for places. So if you know of any places to have a sweet rehearsal dinner in the Plano/Frisco/Carrolton area, let us know. We could have a bbq and countryfi it. Interesting....


Ok, so this registering thing is crazy. By crazy I mean it makes you want to pull your hair out. Well, not for Meghan, but for me. I will let you in on some things I've noticed during these registering adventures. First, did you know that there's like 6 billion types of flatware, aka silverware, aka those things you eat with. Now 6 billion may be a bit of a exaggeration but there are tons. Plus none of these options come with sporks, I mean really, no sporks, geez. I was really bummed to learn that, almost as bummed as I was when I learned that one-z's do not come with butt-flaps. Trust me, I've asked around. Apparently people laugh at you when you ask these questions. Next, there are tons of shades of towels. I want a towel to do 2 things; 1) dry me off...2) not leave little towel fragments all over me, well apparently towels are much more evolved than that now. Like I said, I'm a simple guy.


Now, the one thing I'm learning about marriage is dying to myself and sacrificing for my future wife. I have heard from several men and through pre-marital counseling on how this is vital for men to do, and I completely agree. Although Meghan loves to register, it is not my idea of a party, I'd rather be at a football game or something like it. But, part of dying to myself is doing things like this. I want put Christ first, her second, myself third. I encourage all men to begin to die to themselves daily, put their agenda aside and sacrifice. 


Ok, that's all I got for now...
Give Grace, Live Truth, Reflect Jesus

Mark Your Calendars, We picked a date!

The deposits are in, the time is set, so now it's time to announce when we are getting married... drum roll please...we will officially become Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Gatewood on January 15, 2011.  That will be 4 days after Tyler and I celebrate our 3 year anniversary.  

So now it's time to set your calendars!  The ceremony will be at Prestonwood Baptist Church's Faith Chapel.  It's absolutely beautiful and I think it will be a perfect place for us to exchange our vows.  It's extra special to me because it was my home church growing up and I was baptized there in 2004.

With the date set and the dress bought, it is all starting to come together.  Something that's just been an imaginative thing is actually becoming a reality.  We still have to choose our colors, ask our attendants and register, but we are on the way there.

So here we go, the countdown begins, only 251 days to go...

- Meghan

Biblical Roles in Marriage

What kind of picture do you want the world to see through your marriage?

Last week at premarital counseling we split into two groups, guys and girls, and discussed the biblical roles of marriage.  Here are a few things that stood out to me...

Love is an attitude of unconditional acceptance.  So first we must recognize that we are two in-perfect people, he has faults and you have faults.  We live in a broken world, look at Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Marriage isn't a Partnership.  This was news to me.  Tyler and I have always said that our marriage will be a partnership, we were wrong.  It's not a partnership because marriage is never 50/50, someone is always doing more than the other.  This means that you maybe giving 80% while he's giving 20% or he's giving 90% while you are giving 10%.  It goes back and forth.  The bottom line is that you have to be willing to give 100%.  God gave us each other to help each other.  Like is says in Genesis 2:18 "It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make him a helper suitable for him."

So when it comes down to it what do you want your marriage to look like?  What do you want it to reflect? Don't confuse this with making everything look great on the outside, but inside it's a disaster.  We must come together for each other and for a common goal.

Through this Tyler and I have decided to have a verse that we want as a theme in our our relationship & marriage:  "We love because he first loved us" - 1 John 4:19

-Meghan