It’s almost here! I leave tomorrow for Pennsylvania for….drumroll….my wedding this weekend! I’m so excited I can barely stand it!
Originally my fiance John and I had planned to just run off casually and get married over a weekend. Well something else kind of took over and although we are still eloping technically (meaning just the two of us without any guests or friends/family in attendance), this thing has become purely magical. So many things to share and many of them to come but this post is about a fairytale shower that my friend Kathy flew in from Delaware to host for me last weekend. It was truly the most beautiful magnificent shower I’ve ever seen and I have the pictures to prove it.
I met Kathy via Websleuths and she posts under the name Zuri. We got involved in some truly serendipitous and magical situations related to the Travis Alexander trial which are so involved I can’t go in to it all here. Suffice it to say she became a sort of anonymous angel urban legend on the message board we posted on and inspired many many others to do good deeds for the Alexander family –including me. She has now also become my angel as well!
Kathy is also a surviving sibling of homicide so we “get” each other on a very deep level. I have clocked hundreds (if not more) of hours on the phone with her in the two plus years we’ve known each other but had only met in person once recently before she flew in to throw me that amazing shower. She has also met John! People are still talking about the shower, it was just that beautiful.
(I got to take that home!)
It was a high tea held at the historic Arizona Biltmore Resort. 10 of us in attendance, including my dear from Lora from Tucson who drove up and my cousin who drove down from Vegas for the weekend for the festivities.
The table was so stunning that people were literally stopping to take photos of it as they walked past in the lobby. Everyone had their own small flower arrangement with their name as a take home gift.
The ladies were in their tea finery and at the last minute threw on this hat of my Grandma’s with a spider brooch that perfectly fit my flowy dress. Everything was perfect.
Our servers said they had never seen a table so beautiful or with so much “positive energy” as ours. Kathy kicked off a toasting situation where everyone shared a memory with me and tears flowed all around the table. There was so much love going on I’m surprised the table didn’t levitate. Then my dear friend Mya (who cohosted the shower with Kathy) served up 4 bundles of “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” and inside the first one was a locket she embedded with pictures of my sister and mother. Tears as you can see.
The beauty was indescribable.
(angel on my shoulder)
(this is me showing a video John made to greet everyone there)
Since then others have gotten on the sentiment train and a friend stopped by yesterday offering to loan me a hankie that’s been in her family since the 30’s carried at weddings all over the world that have all resulted in long happy marriages.
Then last night my Dad gave me a baby pin of my Grandma’s and a bib clipped of his with his initials monogrammed. (as well as a big fat check to basically cover our entire trip). It’s just all so much to digest!
As you can imagine I’m knee deep in packing and projects (and working today) getting ready to head out tomorrow. I’ll just tell the rest of the story in pictures. Thank you everyone out there who’s been cheering us on. This has been a very long winding road to find each other but we sure did. This is my guy, the one I’ve waited a long long time for. And I can’t wait to marry him and become Kathy Monkman-Higham (pronounced High-um). He is perfect for me.
Stay tuned for more adventures. We take off to our wedding destination Saturday and have so many fun things planned. My custom made dress fits like a glove and…well, just stay tuned. It will be like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Hope all you readers out there are enjoying your Spring. 🙂
two innocents 
Perfection for the beautiful bride. Sending much love and good wishes for your wedding, honeymoon and marriage. You deserve the best in life and it looks like you’ve found it in a great man, amazing friends, and well, us from afar. Enjoy every second of your biggest adventure yet! ❤ Stacy
Thank you Stacy! 😀
I cant even express how happy I am for you both!!! xoxox
thank you Shannon! xoxo
So, so, SO excited for you two jubilant souls!!! Enjoy every millisecond of your magical weekend 💏
Thank you Phil! Your invite kicked the pebble! 😀
Best wishes for a lifetime of celebration!!
Congratulations!
From a follower since birth — the birth of this blogpost,
Sally
KCL..so happy for you! May your journey forward be full of all the love and happiness you and John have been seeking! Congratulations!
Kim in NM
So delighted to share in your happiness and joy!! Beautiful shower and love the mani/pedi!! Happiness Always Kathy and John!
This has to be the most exciting elopement I have ever had the pleasure of following!! I am beyond thrilled for the both of you. Thank you for allowing us to follow along and share in your happy adventures. May this be the beginning of a long journey of love, happiness, and laughter.
All the best to Kathy and John High-um!!!! Have a beautiful wedding celebration …….. Mr. and Mrs. Forever ….
You look radiant and I am so very happy for you! YOU deserve love and there is nothing better! Right from the start, my marriage brought me happiness beyond my imagination.
LIVE and LOVE !
All the best to you and your man!
-Shell in San Diego
Kathy, I am completely and utterly enchanted with all of the luscious details of your beautiful, classy, exquisitely magical shower. I practically feel like I was there! The love surrounding you is a thing to behold. Never have I seen a more radiant bride-to-be. To say I’m happy for you seems so inadequate when I’m just “gobsmacked,” ok? 🙂 Wishing for married life to bring you and your man all the happiness, love, prosperity, laughter, and joy the world has to offer! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
One more thing… I’m dying to know where you got that beautiful frock you wore to the shower! And do you happen to know the name of that china pattern? I love it and cannot remember it’s name! (Ok two more things…)
Kathy it’s me — Andrea S!
Love you! You deserve every freaking minute of this. I am enjoying the ride through you – and hope I can see you soon to hear about it all in person! xoxoxo happy wedding!!
Total “coolness”!
I am over-the-moon happy for you both!!! Your shower looks and sounds like it was aMAZING!
I can not WAIT to see pictures from the Main Event!! WahooOooooooOoo!!
Congratulations! 💑🎉
Much love!!!! 💞💞💞💞
I am so thrilled for both of you!! A lifetime of happiest days for you! xoxo
wishing you both a lifetime of love and laughter…….💞💞💞💞
SO sweat of your girlfriends to shower you in such a beautiful way!!!!!
And exciting for us to see this dream of yours come true.
Everything looks just beautiful! Wishing you a lifetime of love and happiness!!! 💙
WOW!!! That’s about all I can get out through the tears of HAPPINESS for you and John! xoxoxoxox Here’s to many, many blessings on your new life together! I am so blessed to call you a friend! Best of EVERYTHING you two!
Thank you for sharing your happiness with us! Everything about your special tea was beautiful, elegant, classy…simply lovely and done with such care and thoughtfulness by people who obviously recognize how truly special you are.
You look positively gorgeous…radiant….happy!! Wishing you a lifetime of happiness!!