Bowies ...

[formerlyak]

I know you and your fi have talked about marriage before this proposal. Any thoughts on when said wedding will happen? Or what you want for the wedding?

[bowies]

Our dating anniversary falls on a Saturday, but I don't think we'll get it together by then. So...tentatively September of next year so I can build some procrastination time in there. I know myself far too well, LOL.

The wedding will be small. I have, like, 10 family members total including second cousins. It will have all the traditional parts though since this is his first (and only) wedding. That's about all we've hammered out thus far. Oh, except for my mom wanting to sign up for Say Yes to the Dress. I will seriously disown her. Dress shopping the first time was utter hell and I do NOT want that playing out for a national audience. ::Shudder::

[formerlyak]

You can always order your dress online and just tell her you are done with the dress like I did

[bowies]

She will literally burn the state of Virginia to the ground if I did that. It's the one detail she cares about, so I'll keep her happy.

[formerlyak]

I'm sad for you on that one. I have to say that my mom isn't much of a micromanager, but the first time around she certainly had opinions and was very involved in the planning. This time around, she and my dad offered us a sum of money toward the wedding and said "let us know where to be when." It's been a lot easier and I feel like this wedding is so all about fi and me instead of trying to please others. We are actually almost all done with the planning! Woohoo!

[bowies]

Good for you! What's your wedding date? If you're done planning, and want another one to tackle...

My mom hated my first wedding dress with a burning passion so she views this as an opportunity for a do-over. I wouldn't call her a micromanager, just someone who gets REALLY EXCITED about this kind of stuff. I'll indulge her. I wouldn't buy something she pushed on me if I didn't love it too. Other than the dress, she's happy to just observe the planning process from the sidelines.

[formerlyak]

July 20, 2013 is the date. We wanted a beach wedding and there is only one place in our area where you can get married on the sand and there is a very nice restaurant overlooking the beach next to that sandy area. We have both the beach and the private room in the restaurant booked. The wedding planner for that location happens to be an old friend of mine from high school and has been planning weddings at this location for 15 years, so she gave us some recommendations on vendors. We booked our officiant last week, are meeting with the photographer we want for lunch today and the florist tomorrow night. I ordered my dress on Rue La La in July and it's hanging in my mom's closet. I needs to be hemmed, but fi's mom is a great seamstress (not by trade, but it's a hobby of hers and she made his sister's wedding dress last year and did a great job) and she offered to do the alterations so we don't have to pay for them, so that's taken care of.

We have a few invitations in mind and just have to pick after the first of the year and order. For favors, since it is in July on the beach, we are getting fans with our names and dates on them (not on the fan part, just in small letters on the wooden frame of the fan) and little bottles of sunscreen.

Fi isn't into being the center of attention, so we are opting for a dinner party instead of dancing and such. Which means no DJ needed. We will put a playlist on one of our ipods for dinner background music.

Cake comes with the package at the restaurant and it happened to be through a contract with a bakery I use for my work events and love.

So now we just need to plan the honeymoon! Woohoo!

[bowies]

Oh man, that's awesome. How big is your wedding going to be? I've already had one freak-out in that regard since I don't really have a large pool of people to pull from. I'm having a "if I died, would anyone come to my funeral" moment, except it's a wedding. My parents don't want to invite any extended family since we aren't a super-close bunch and I've done this once before. My parents are only children (for the most part, long story) so that puts my family at...3. It's going to look like no one in my family wanted to go. Friends that live far away won't travel, so that puts me somewhere around 10-12 guests. Yeah, loser, right here. I'm very self-conscious of how it's going to look if only a quarter of the guests at a small wedding are from the bride's side.

Fucking weddings, man. If he had been married before, we'd be booking a wedding/honeymoon package in the Caribbean.