Tell me what ya see!

It's been a stressful few weeks for B and myself.  Sunday was the five month mark - our wedding date is looming and there's still so much to do.  Faced with an endless to-do list, we've found ourselves struggling to balance the wedding tasks with our everyday lives.  There's just so, so much going on!

B has finally hit the homestretch and will complete his Masters degree in a few short weeks.  But in the meantime, he has rehearsal for the opera every night, and the show opens at the end of March.  Then there's three concerts that he performs in the week after that, and his Masters Recital is on April 9th. Needless to say, he has a lot to do before graduation day arrives and hasn't had a lot of free time.

Meanwhile, I've had a lot on my plate at work lately, and both of us are struggling with the fact that it's the longest we've gone without seeing each other.  Christmas seems like an eternity ago.  We're both in desperate need of some quality cuddle time!

Sometimes I just feel like I've hit a wall, and apathy kicks in.

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Wedding Websites 411

Let's review our engagement timeline, shall we?

January 1, 2005 - Started Dating
November 21, 2009 - Got Engaged
July 28, 2010 - GOT A WEDDING DATE

Okay, so that's over eight months of engagement before we had a date, before we could book vendors, and before we could actually have a conversation about the wedding without getting into the Dickens of back stories whenever anyone asked when we were getting married.

I've already discussed how difficult that period was, but now let's focus on the positives.  Sure, there were a lot of things that hinged on the date, but there was plenty of fun things I could do in the meantime.  I could research vendors, contemplate our wedding colors, peruse my favorite wedding inspiration sites, but one task proved much more satisfying than anything else I accomplished over those eight long months: the wedding website.

I knew almost immediately after getting engaged that I wanted we needed one.  I spent more time than I would care to admit putting her together, but I was so happy with the results, and once she was finally finished I really felt like I had accomplished something!

So here's the breakdown of my quest for the perfect website:

Dropping the f-bomb

It took me awhile to get used to the fact that I was engaged.  This is probably extremely common, but it seemed to take me an embarrassingly long time.  In fact (and I can't believe I'm actually admitting to this) a few weeks after I got back from Paris, the checkout clerk at the supermarket pointed to my hand and said "Oh my gosh, that's so pretty!" and I thought she was talking about my nail polish. 

Seriously. 

It wasn't until I got home and was putting the groceries away that I realized that *duh* she was talking about my ring, not my chipped, navy blue fingernails!  I guess I just never really got a chance for the engagement to sink in before B was back in Michigan, and I was back to my everyday life.

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Dropping the f-bomb was the weirdest.  Fiance...it just seemed so pretentious.  Couldn't I just call him by his name?  For the longest time I avoided the word completely.  And even though a year has passed and it seems less strange, I still stumble over the F-word.

I can't even imagine how weird "husband" will be!

Did you have a hard time remembering that you were engaged?  When did it finally sink in?

Update on the Cathedral's Restoration Progress

OMG OMG OMG!!!!

Apparently while I was visiting B in Michigan, our church updated the virtual tour on the restoration website.  All the scaffolding is gone and you can really start to see what the finished product will look like once the sanctuary is built and the pews and rest of the marble are installed.  I can't believe these have been up for over 2 weeks and I just found them!!  Check out these screenshots:

View toward the sanctuary

A Belated 'How We Met' Post

In honor of our one year engagement anniversary, I think it's time to tell the story of how B and I met.

The night it all started:  New Years Eve 2004

We were just babies back then...

Whenever I get asked, I've always wanted to tell strangers that B and I met on eHarmony.  He thinks I'm ridiculous, but I have this theory that deep down everyone wishes they knew at least one couple who met online, and that we could fulfill that desire for them.  But maybe that's just me.

Vendors vendors everywhere, and not a-one to book

I think I've mentioned a few hundred times how the distance and our long engagement complicated our planning process.  Well just in case you're not sick of my whining yet, here's another example.

As you can imagine, going eight months without a wedding date was beyond frustrating.  I bore it pretty well for the first few months, what with the excitement of the holidays and the new blang-blang on my finger and all, but after the novelty of the engagement wore off I started getting antsy.  I wanted to start PLANNING!  Unfortunately, literally every major decision hinged on that wedding date.

In January (of 2010, mind you), I thought I had found a way to scratch that wedding planning itch and registered to attend a local bridal show, certain that the event would cheer me up.  Boy was I wrong.  If you've never been to a bridal show before, let me set the scene for you:

So...when's the big day?

You know the story: girl meets boy, they fall in love, get engaged, everyone celebrates, and about thirty seconds later the couple is inundated with questions from family, friends, and strangers alike:

When are you getting married?  Have you picked a venue?  What are your colors?  What style of dress do you want?  And my personal favorite - Am I invited?

Ugh.  It's enough to make any bride feel like this:

Kill me now!

Weddings and Politics

It's election day in America, a day that to some means victory, to some means defeat, and for the rest of us means that those mudslinging political ads will finally be off the air.

As people across the country are heading to the polls, I couldn't help but think about how much politics is involved when you're planning a wedding.

(And I don't mean those politics)

"In Loving Memory" Ideas

I know this post is a bit of a downer, but it's a really important aspect of my relationship with B, and I thought Mike's story was worth sharing.  If nothing else, maybe someone will relate to our story and know that they're not alone.

Over the course of our relationship, B and I have been through a lot together.  He’s lost one aunt to cancer, and has another aunt battling it right now.  My grandpa passed away, shortly followed by the unexpected death of my uncle.  The biggest hurdle we’ve overcome, though, came in June of 2006.

B and I had been dating for a year and a half the night his brother died.  To say that our relationship changed in an instant would be a huge understatement.  Everything changed...for all of us.

Patience is a virtue.

Some important dates:

Jan 1, 2005 - started dating!
Nov 21, 2009 - got engaged!
Aug 13, 2011 - getting married!

Now you may be wondering, why the long engagement?  It's a valid question, especially after nearly 5 years of dating (and it's certainly a question I've gotten a LOT over the course of our engagement).  Well, as you may have guessed, there are SEVERAL reasons.  We're fairly young, B is still in school, plus I'm a control freak who intends to plan this wedding down to the very last detail.

But the most significant factor delaying our upcoming wedding can pretty much be summed up with one picture:

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Welcome to our church.

We’re having our wedding in the cathedral where both my parents and his parents were married.  It is special to us, not only for that reason, but because singing in the choir there is how we really got to know each other.  Our involvement in the Cathedral Choir meant we saw each other twice a week, every week, which inevitably led to stolen glances across the choir loft and prolonged goodbyes every Wednesday night and Sunday morning.  We can’t imagine getting married anywhere else.

Unfortunately, the church is under renovation right now, so having our wedding there meant sitting patiently through what felt like the world’s longest engagement before we could even get a date from our priest.  Thankfully, they finally have a firm completion date, and our wedding will be a few weeks afterward (just in case!).  We will be the very first wedding in the newly-renovated cathedral and we simply can’t wait!

But we're going to have to.