Bringing sexy back. Girls vs. Boys.

Adam getting fitted for his tux.

When it came to dressing our fabulous foursome, Adam and I were at a loss. This was also something we hadn't really discussed yet, so we were going in blind. After talking with Universal about the decor at the wedding and the colors they were using, we chose a rich, satin purple as our color. Now, I love purple as much as the next girl, but the truth is this wasn't and still won't be a color for our 2012 celebration. We started our selection process with Halloween colors. As this was a Halloween wedding, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to go big or go home and choose Halloween colors. This left us with orange, blood red, black, yellow, purple and lime green. Adam and I, and Universal, felt orange was too cliche Halloween, so we nixed it. I nixed yellow because I didn't want our wedding party to look like bumblebees. Lime green seemed a little too...something. So, we were left with black, blood red and purple.

We eventually nixed black because so much of the setting would be in black and other dark colors, and we wanted our girls and guys to stand out. Left with the choice between blood red and purple, I chose purple. I know, I know, it is not a manly color. But in my defense, Adam had no qualms with it and I knew my brother looks great in purple. Plus, we had no time. Go go gadget purple.

Adam determining his jacket size.

You'll see plenty of photos soon enough of the wedding, and these photos will showcase KT and Allison looking fabulous in purple dresses and Bill and Keith owning that purple vest like a real man should. Adam and I made a hectic run to David's Bridal and Adam actually picked out the girls' dress. He chose a just-above-the-knee, strapless, form-fitting purple dress that had a black ribbon with two black flowers around the waist. I loved it, and so did KT and Allison. I hope they will find an occasion to wear the dress again and I am forever thankful for their eagerness and determination in locating the dress in their respective sizes with only two weeks until the wedding.

As I suspected, Keith looked great in the purple vest and Bill rocked it without even saying anything about it, and he looked awesome. Keith and Bill both rushed to Men's Wearhouse (more on them later, grrrrr) as soon as the wedding was officially a go to get fitted for their tuxes. I know it's not how they wanted to spend that Saturday, and we thank them.

Trying on the black shirt.

We set our dads up in tuxes as well, but we opted for them to wear a platinum silver vest instead of the purple. We wanted them to stand out from the two boys. My dad had a horrific encounter with Men's Wearhouse in Orlando that resulted in pants that wouldn't stay up, the wrong size vest, threats of cutting said vest down the back to make it fit and my brother ultimately snapping at the employees and demanding discounts. Through all of this, though, he kept a smile on his face and enjoyed the ride.

As for my charming groom, he selected a pinstripe tuxedo with a black shirt and white tie. And he looked a m a z i n g. I couldn't wait to get up that aisle and stand with him! Next up: choosing and dressing our officiate.

Introducing...the wedding party.

In an attempt to make our wedding as "normal" as a wedding on the steps of a haunted house could be, Adam and I chose to select a wedding party. We already had an idea of who we wanted to ask for our 2012 wedding, but that wedding party was starting to look fairly large. Because our guest list was now only 20 people, it seemed awkward to have more people standing up with us than sitting as guests. Plus, as all 20 of our guests are incredibly important people in our lives, it almost felt as if everyone was a member of a small, intimate wedding party. Ultimately, we decided to take this opportunity to have a wedding party consisting of only a best man, matron of honor, one groomsman and one bridesmaid. And lucky for us, this was one of the easier choices we made during our three-week planning process. Who did we choose?

Bill and Adam just before
we got engaged.

First up, Adam's best man. Adam and Bill have been best friends for an eternity, it seems, so this was a no-brainer. I have also known Bill since I met Adam, and we have become close friends over the past six and half years. Bill couldn't wait to give a speech, even though I had to remind him to keep it short since our reception was only an hour and half long.

Me and Kristina last year before
we moved to Vermont.

Next, my matron of honor, Kristina. I kept calling her my maid of honor, forgetting she got married in June! KT and I have been friends since sixth grade and I was super happy to have her stand up for us on our special day. KT met Adam even before we were dating, so she is quite familiar with him and our relationship. She found out about our wedding much later than our other guests, since she was out of the country on her honeymoon, and she immediately sprang into action and got on board.

Keith and I at KT's wedding.

Adam and Allison in Boston.

There was never any doubt in our minds regarding who would stand up for us as our bridesmaid and groomsman. We are both incredibly lucky in that we have great families and great family members who are both blood and friends. What's better than that? It seemed perfect to honor our great relationships with our siblings by having them stand as our bridesmaid and groomsman. Of course, Allison and Keith have known each of us, separately, since the day they were born. It felt awesome to have two people next to us who knew us so well. Over these past six and half years, Adam and I have gotten close to each other's siblings, and it was such a joy to have them so close to us on our big day.

Adam and I are big believers in both sides of the wedding party standing for both the bride and groom, not just the boys standing for Adam and the girls standing for me. At the end of the day, we had four people standing up for us who love us both and support our relationship, which is such an invaluable thing to have. We are forever grateful to Bill, KT, Keith and Allison for helping us along the way with shopping for wedding dresses, shipping bridesmaid dresses from Ohio, renting tuxedos, checking in and calming us down and for simply being amazing. You officially rocked our world.

With this ring.

Given that our original wedding date was still over a year and a half away, Adam and I hadn't given a ton of thought to our wedding bands. I knew that I loved my engagement ring so much that I wasn't sure I wanted to put anything else next to it and Adam knew that he hated jewelry and wasn't sure he could wear a wedding band every day. With this knowledge, we headed over to our favorite jeweler here in Vermont and she was eager to help. She spent months meeting with Adam and helping him pick out my engagement ring, so she was ecstatic to assist with this step.

I found my ring pretty quickly, but it still took me a bit of time to make the final decision. I opted for a band that is a little more funky and expressive of my crazy personality. It is a thin band, white gold, and it has tiny circles of diamonds and tiny rectangles of rubies. Rubies! I loved this band because of the rubies; most girls don't get bands with anything other than diamonds in it and this band seemed very unique. I love the addition of the red, and I thought it was a great choice to symbolize our insanely unique and special wedding.

Lauren and Adam snapping photos of the rings.

Adam had a bit more trouble selecting his ring. He quickly narrowed it down to two choices and proceeded to ponder these choices forever. He was torn between things like weight and metal and appearance. We also weren't sure if we planned to get additional rings in 2012 to commemorate that experience. In the end, Adam realized that he is a one-ring guy and would not be getting another ring. I am still uncertain, but I am leaning toward keeping just the one band for 2012 as well.

Adam trying on the ring he         
would eventually choose.            

After what seemed like an eternity, Adam opted for a platinum band that has a hammered appearance. He loves how heavy it is and surprisingly, he wears it all the time and hates to take it off. I'm really happy with the choices we made for our rings. At the time, it was hard to make a choice because there was so much pressure to choose something quickly. But, as I learned with all the other choices we had to make quickly, less time can often mean you go with your gut, make the right choice and don't turn back.

I promise to post photos of the rings! I am hoping Universal's photographers snagged some shots of them at the actual ceremony, but if not, I'll take some shots here and post them. Up next: our wedding party!

And then the shock set in.

Immediately after I received the e-mail from Universal Studios saying we won the contest, I went numb. I couldn't think, I couldn't speak. Adam was at work, so believe it or not, I didn't call him first. Through the course of the evening and the days that followed, Adam and I called our families and closest friends and received a myriad of reactions. You see, not everyone knew we even entered the contest. My mother laughed, saying she knew I would win. My dad said, "April! You have to do it; this is the coolest thing to ever happen to us!" Some people were confused, as they didn't even know what Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) was. Most everyone was shocked. Adam's sister got over her shock fast and spent a solid ten minutes screaming with joy in my ear. Everyone had questions, and I had no answers. I knew nothing. I had a short e-mail and nothing else.

Well, of course, we said yes. I mean, c'mon? I've wanted to marry Adam for six and a half years now, so I certainly wasn't going to pass this up. And even with the stresses and sacrifices, we knew it was a once-in-lifetime adventure that we would remember forever.

After we said yes, a lot of things happened in a very short amount of time. Adam and I scrambled to narrow down the massive list of friends and family to just 20 guests. 20! We rendezvoused with Universal Studios via phone conferences and discussed cake flavors, reception menus, media presence and officiate information. At one point, I remember looking at Adam and saying, "Did we really just get off the phone with about seven staff members from Universal Studios?" Lucky for us, Universal served as a great wedding planner, but there were still things to be done on our end. And boy, were they big things. First, we needed to sign the contract. This was fairly easy. See?

Standing in front of the bank after we got
the contract signed and notarized.

Filling out the FedEx form so we could send
the contract to Universal.

Adam standing outside the FedEx building
after we mailed the contract.

Second, we needed to buy wedding bands. This was very difficult. We hadn't even thought about wedding bands. Well, we bought them and I adore them. My next post will be about the bands. Like that little tease?

Third, we needed to choose our wedding party and our officiate and dress these people and dress ourselves! While the wedding was a Halloween theme, the guests were to dress as one would normally dress for a semi-formal wedding. And Adam and I were to wear typical wedding clothes. Which means, I flew to North Carolina the weekend before my wedding on a wing and a prayer (is that the phrase?) with the hopes of finding a dress. Don't worry, faithful blog readers, I have plenty of photos of that experience. Oh the fun we had!

So many tasks, so little time. But you know what? I've never had so much fun doing something so crazy. Life is both one giant adventure and a block of time full of mini-adventures. I think this might just be our greatest adventure yet. (Subtle nod to Inglourious Basterds there. Hey, I'm still me.)

Next up...picking out our wedding bands. AKA, April makes a semi-quick decision and Adam stands for nearly an hour contemplating.

We got hitched!

This weekend was by far the best weekend of my life. Friday night was incredible. Surrounded by friends, family and evil scareactors, Adam and I were married on the steps of a haunted house at Universal Studios. It was surreal, magical and totally crazy. We're back in Vermont now, no longer living in sin!

I can't wait to share everything with my faithful blog readers. You're about to embark on the wildest adventure ever. Get ready to hear all of the details, from signing the contract to dress shopping to partying with Jack the Clown. I hope you're ready...

XOXO
Mrs. Cochran

The Story You've Been Dying to Hear.

I'm back. Blogging about your wedding isn't easy when...wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. In my last post, I alluded to a huge, life-changing e-mail and something wicked coming. And you've been on the edge of your seat since then. C'mon, I wouldn't be a good writer if I didn't know how to pen a cliffhanger. So, you think you're ready for the news?

Every year, Adam and I hop down to Universal Studios in Florida during the month of October for a celebration called Halloween Horror Nights. It is one of my absolute favorite times of the year, and we love it. At night, the entire park transforms into eight haunted houses, six scarezones and insanity. Every year, I run, screaming out of houses as I am chased by Freddy or Leatherface or some random scary guy. I know what you're thinking...how is this fun? Well, for a girl who loves horror films and Halloween, this event is pretty much the Holy Grail.

This year, Halloween Horror Nights ran a contest for engaged couples. You see, Universal Studios plans to offer wedding packages now. Engaged couples can get married in front of the Jaws ride or at Halloween Horror Nights, etc. To kick off this new service, Universal ran a contest for engaged couples to win a wedding at Halloween Horror Nights. I thought, "Oh, how fun and awesome that is!" and sent in 200 words on why Adam and I wanted to win and a Halloween-themed photo of the two of us. Of course, I sent the photo we used for our Happy Halloween cards last year. Remember?

The contest winners were randomly selected and normally, this should have excluded me. I've never won a damn thing in my life. I don't know how it happened, and frankly, I'm still unsure it did. It is possible I am stuck in a dream. Adam and I did some serious thinking about Inception, and I think the movie might have become a reality. I mean, it'd be totally fitting for me to get stuck in a dream due to a movie. Right? Right?

The thing is, it's not a dream. I'm gonna give it to you straight, faithful blog readers. Adam and I won the contest. We are, in fact, to be married on the steps of a haunted house at Universal Studios in about...10 days.

The past week has been a whirlwind. A million emotions and questions run through my mind constantly. I feel like Adam and I should issue some sort of press statement to you all. We couldn't speak about our victory until Universal officially announced us, which is why it took so long. Here's what I can tell you. We are ecstatic to be given this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime adventure. For two crazy kids who love Halloween, this is a dream come true. A lot has changed since last Monday. We're getting married much, much sooner than we planned. And we are getting married in a much different way than we planned. And we are getting married in front of a much, much smaller amount of people than we planned. But, even with all of this change, we still have the most important constant on our side. Adam and I are in love and we can't wait to be married.

Now, I imagine there are several thoughts running through your head right now. First, you think we're crazy. I wouldn't question you if you thought that. I often think I must be certifiable to go on this wild ride. But, you know what? It's maybe not quite that crazy. I've never been one to do things the "normal" way and this wedding will allow Adam and I to express our crazy, non-normal side.

Second, what about 2012? Here you are, reading my blog day in and day out, listening to me plan our 2012 wedding and now we're getting married in 10 days. Well, here's where you might think I'm even more crazy. We're still going to have the wedding in 2012. But wait, won't we legally be married already? Yes. But in 2012, we still want to have that "normal" ceremony and reception in front of our family and friends as planned. So, I'm still here. I'm still a blogging bride. How many girls get to have two weddings to the same, wonderful boy? I'm guessing not many. I can't wait to stand on that haunted house and marry my Prince Charming, but I also can't wait to stand in a more typical wedding location and marry my Prince Charming all over again in front of all our friends and family. And hey, if the whole thing's already crazy, then why not throw even more crazy onto the pile?

Third, winning this contest came with a bit of stress and some sacrifices. Only 18 guests are allowed to accompany Adam and I on this wild adventure and it was impossible to choose. I hate that my first wedding (that sounds funny!) can't have everyone there, but I know in my heart that the second time around will be just as special and rewarding. While everyone is not with me, I'll be thinking of each of you during our special day. And fear not, I plan on blogging about every bit of this crazy 3-weeks-until-our-wedding process. I have tons of photos to show you and since I can't bring you to Orlando, I'll bring you along via blog. In the end, you might see us around. A ton of media will be present and you might spot photos or video of the wedding online, in the newspapers or on TV. Who knew I'd be getting married and becoming a sort-of celebrity?

I can't wait to tell you everything we've been doing this week and plan to do before we get hitched. My next many posts will recap all of these events. There's information on my Facebook page linking to the announcement about the contest. And don't forget, we'll be tying the knot again in 2012! Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

Something Wicked this Way Comes...

[THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28.]

Yesterday was an ordinary day. Adam went to work. I went to the gym. I chatted with Allison (Adam's sis) on the phone and caught up on her life. I had lunch with Adam at the pharmacy. He bitched about the renovations, I told him Allison has an old Halloween costume I can use this year. Same old, same old.

I watched copious amounts of an America's Next Top Model marathon in the afternoon. That show is addicting. Plus, it was the season where all the girls are super short, so I had to watch. I got irritated with the amount of telemarketers calling the house despite the fact that our number is on the "Do Not Call" list. Minutes, hours, passed and everything was the same.

Until 4 o'clock. When everything wasn't the same anymore.

Yesterday, at exactly 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I received an e-mail that rocked not only my world, but the worlds of several people close to Adam and I. Now, don't worry! It was a good e-mail. I know what you're thinking...if it was a good thing, then why is the post called "Something wicked this way comes"?

Here's the thing, I can't tell you yet. I can only promise to tell you as soon as I can. What I can tell you is something big is happening. Something amazing. Something once-in-a-lifetime. Something wicked.

Stay tuned. You're never going to believe it.