Can we just set a date already?!

Ok, so we've been engaged now for a whole 2 months. I wish I would have kept track of how many times I've been asked over the past months if we've set a date. If I had to take a guess, I'd have to say that it's at least 40-50. I'm guessing Ryan doesn't get asked this nearly as much as I do because he doesn't not seem to be the least bit concerned about doing this. And, I must say, it is getting quite annoying. Every time someone new finds out we've gotten engaged, I usually hear "oh, what a pretty ring" (which is great, and I love hearing it), and "have you set a date yet?" (not so great, getting tired of hearing it). I know it's the next logical question to ask after oohing and ahhing over the ring, but I just don't have a great answer. I guess I should be thankful. Ryan is wonderful, my ring is beautiful, and we have at least figured out the month we will be getting married. Of course, I'm not really sure Ryan had much say in this anyway. I have my heart set on a September wedding, so the most logical timing for the wedding would be September 2008 because 2007 was just too soon for us. Anyway... we now have 2 dates that I like (9/6 and 9/20) and have asked Ryan to consider. Let me take a step back and explain that we supposedly made a deal after we got engaged that we wouldn't start officially planning the wedding until April 16th (after my busy season and tax season for Ryan) - ugh, the joys of being accountants. Ryan swears that I agreed to this on the night we got engaged, but I have no recollection of this due to the shock of the engagement. I guess I should define "official planning" as planning the wedding with Ryan's involvement because I already spend about 90% of my free time thinking about ideas for the wedding, reading my 4 Bridal magazine subscriptions, which have started to arrive this month, and looking online for various things like wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, CDs which have wedding music on them, photographer portfolios, and pretty much anything else that relates to the wedding. Of course, none of this is "official" because Ryan wants nothing to do with it... won't even talk to me about anything that I have found. This certainly doesn't mean that I don't try though... Anyway, back to the wedding date. Ryan has this idea that when we start looking at reception places, we should go with a few dates in mind, and in a sense, let them choose our wedding date for us (i.e. if they have availability or not). I'm not sure I completely agree with this. I think the wedding date that we choose should be something that we have chosen for a reason, and we should go with that date in mind when we are looking for reception places. I know September is becoming a very popular month for weddings, but I think if we start looking in April/May, we shouldn't have a big problem. I guess if we find a place that we absolutely love, and they aren't available on the day we pick, we could be flexible, but for now, I think we should stick with one date and go with that. I say this knowing that all this is just pretend for now as the real wedding planning has not begun... So, for now when I get I asked if we've set a date, I just laugh and say "Oh, September of 2008 - we have plenty of time." as I pretend that it doesn't bother me at all.

Who knew bridal shows could be so overwhelming?

On Sunday, Feb 4, 2007, my sister, Crystal, and my stepmom, Linda, and I spent the day looking at more bridal stuff than we realized existed. After a fulfilling brunch at Claddagh's Pub in Canton, we headed off to the Convention Center for our first official wedding planning event. What a day. I am so grateful they were there to keep me company and keep me from feeling as overwhelmed as I would have been without them there. Between the vendors asking me if I had hired a photographer/videographer, picked a location, hired a florist or better yet, had we set a date yet, I thought I might lose it. My favorite were the vendors who wanted me to sign a contract with them on the spot. Are they crazy? Anyway, despite all of the stress, we did get a lot of information which might prove to be helpful down the road. Just ask Crystal how much information we got - she was the lucky one who got to carry the heavy bag with all the brochures, business cards, honeymoon info, and DVDs with sample videos and photos.

I think our favorite part of the day had to be tasting wedding cakes and oohing and ahhing over how absolutely beautiful they were. Although we have made no decisions yet, our favorite cake places were Woodlea Bakery (www.woodleabakery.com) and SugarBakers (www.sugarbakerscakes.com). I also found a custom invitation designer called love2bcreative (www.love2bcreative.com) and fell in love with her invitations. In fact, I've already contacted her for some additional information. Crystal was a big fan of her invitations as well - she almost tried to pocket one of the displays so we'd have an example! We watched part of the fashion show and were quite surprised to see some of the styles of wedding dresses that are "in fashion". These fashionable dresses had, as Crystal calls it, a "ruffled ugly foo-foo look" for the skirt. If that's fashionable, I guess I won't be in fashion because I was not a fan! All in all, it was a great experience, and I can't wait for the next one!