We Set a Date!!!

Oh yes, you read that right. After being engaged for two and a half years, we have finally set a date for our wedding!



Drum roll please...



We will be getting married on May 21, 2011



I know it's odd to set a date two years in advance, but it works for our completely over-scheduled lives. Between now and then I have 32 credits of science classes to take, plus a GRE prep class, the actual GRE, and a ton of grad school applications to fill out. The date I picked ('cause who are we kidding, he just smiles and nods) is a week after finals and about three weeks before most of the DPT programs start. That should give us enough time to do all the last minute wedding preparations, move if we have to, and take a nice little honeymoon (is it too much to hope that the Ducks make it to the Stanley Cup in 2011? I want a nice big sign that says "I'm on my honeymoon with the Ducks and this guy--->")

Now the question is, am I going to drive myself absolutely nuts planning my wedding for the next two years?

Your Love is Like a Roller Coaster Baby Baby!

Yup, that's the song that has been playing in my head for the past couple days... Wedding planning, with all it's uncertainties, family obligations, and ridiculous budgets is like a freakin' roller coaster!

We've been planning all along to get married at the Sheraton Anaheim.



How can you not love the English garden courtyard and white gazebo? Plus the Mr. and I stayed there on our first vacation together, and it's a great hotel close to Disneyland. Then I started figuring out our budget using Southern California vendors and including the things that matter most to each of us: gorgeous flowers and Chaivari chairs for me and prime rib for him. Really is that to much to ask? I stopped planning when I estimated $20,000 and just about gave myself an aneurysm... Since we're paying for this wedding ourselves, and I will be quitting my job to start grad school the same summer we get married, we have got to find a cheaper way to do this!

This past weekend the Mr. and I had the brilliant (and stress induced) idea to get married on October 18th. As in two and a half months from now. At an Elvis chapel.

That lasted for about a day before I realized that I was close to tears from the thought of not being able to have at least bits and pieces of the wedding that I want. We talked things over like a good soon to be married couple, and decided that getting married in Las Vegas wouldn't be so bad if we could find a budget friendly, yet classy place to do it.

Now the venue search continues...

There is Still a Wedding in Our Future...

The problem is that with an uncertain economy, the issues with my family that I can never seem to be rid of, and a busy schedule of school and work, we've put the wedding on hold. I'm still attracted to gorgeous wedding magazines and flower arrangements, but it looks like we're now aiming more for the spring of 2011.

My going back to school has put a strain on our relationship that we've never had before. Twelve hour marathon study sessions really cut into date nights, and at times I felt like I was already married to my study partner and longtime friend who is also an aspiring P.T. Things have gotten better since the semester ended, but it made me realize that time management (and dividing up chores, bill paying, laundry, etc.) is something that we really need to work on. I have no allusions that life gets any easier (children, careers, in laws... you get the picture), so the trick is to learn from the tough spots and keep going.

I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the summer with the Mr., taking a few vacations, saving up for next seasons Ducks' games, maybe doing a little wedding planning, and reminding ourselves that we're lucky to have each other.

If There's One Thing I've Noticed...

If there's one thing I've noticed, it's that brides change their minds A LOT. I feel so much better knowing that I'm not the only person who has changed their color scheme or decided that the "perfect venue" has unacceptably ugly carpet... But lately I seem to be flip flopping between two totally and completely different weddings; two weddings where the only constants are the Mr. and me.

We live in Las Vegas. Although we both don't really like the city and plan on moving very soon to start our family, there's a certain allure to The Kitschy Vegas Wedding. My dress is fun and retro enough that I can picture Elvis and a little white chapel, and I've always held the belief that if you take your marriage seriously, your wedding can be as crazy as you want it to be. Like I've said before, we're both nerds; we enjoy swing dancing together and he has enough fedoras to make Sinatra jealous, so having an old school 1950's chapel wedding might be very us...

Photo credits: Stephanie James Couture, Graceland Wedding Chapel, Wedding Paper Divas, black and white dance floor (please let me know where it's from), Style Me Pretty wedding of Kacie and Brandon, Lawry's The Prime Rib




BUT, and this is a big but... It's not my dream wedding. Being the anglophile that I am, my dream wedding is something out of The Wedding Date--a weekend long Pimm's Cup and gin and tonic fueled extravaganza complete with English manor and groomsmen in morning suits.

Photo credits: Peppers, Knowlton Court, Make Be Leaves topiary, Hello!Lucky invitation, Better Homes and Gardens Wedding Reception, drinks from Style Me Pretty, Coat of Arms ring pillow Gayle Warwick

Now do you see my dilemma?

I Want It! I Need It!! I Have to Have It!!!

I love being organized. The feeling I get after completing a super feat of organization--like my shoe closet or the kitchen pantry-- is pretty darn addicting. My favorite part is just sitting back and admiring my work... over and over and over again! You shold have seen the look of pure joy when my good friend, and fellow parter in nerdiness, gave me a fantastic label maker a few years ago. What can I say, I love organizing. And I can only imagine that the ongoing list of wedding details combined with our extra long engagement is going to be just what the doctor ordered.

This is probably old news for most people, but I absolutely fell in love with Shelly George's Wedding Bag when I came across it at Blushalicious.



Classically structured and well organized, it has the added benefit of loudly proclaiming "I'm the Bride!" quicker than a diamond solitaire.

And just in case the Mr. is reading this... I'm adding this to my birthday wishlist, along with the Kindle and Kate Spade note cards. I love you Sugar!