Details, Details, Details!

I am reminded every day during this wedding planning process how many little details need to come together in order to pull off our wedding! With Jason being in Colorado and me being in Minnesota, the logistics of planning all of these details can be somewhat overwhelming, even for a planner like me! I am finding myself emailing or calling or meeting with someone (or sometimes multiple people!) every day and saving up the big things (like cake tasting and registering and pre-marital counseling) for weekends that Jason can be in MN.

What that being said, many have wished us well and mentioned that they hope I am enjoying this time because they remember it being over in the blink of an eye. I can definitely say that I am loving the challenge of all the planning and am excited about how things are coming together. I am trying to stay true to our overall concept of "simple elegance" in a black and white theme...and am trying to focus on the high-level and not get buried in the details, like if our table vases should have knobby-things on them or be smooth, or if our cake should be stacked or tiered or off-centered stacked, or if our table number stands should be 6, 8 or 10 inches tall. :)

Shopping for wedding dresses...not my favorite activity

So I know that I really need to get a dress, since we are down to just over 3 months and alterations, ordering, etc. can take awhile. Knowing this, and knowing that I am blessed with being 5'9", which allows me to pretty much buy off the rack without needing hemming done (I'm wearing flats since my future hubby isn't blessed with height! :)), I am hoping to find a dress off the rack that requires minimum alterations. I find that my philosophy on the wedding dress is that it is not super important to me overall. I am focused more an throwing a well put-together wedding and reception than I am about finding the perfect dress for the day...I think there are many dresses that I would be perfectly happy getting married in.

With that in mind, I started my wedding dress shopping journey on Friday night, when I went to find some suitable undergarments to wear. Ha! I have to say that strapless bras have to be some of the most uncomfortable inventions in the history of women's clothing...enough said.

On Saturday, I was planning to meet my mom and sister, Melisa, but my mom decided not to chance the icy roads so it ended up just being me and Melisa at David's bridal. Our consultant was great...she took my preferences to heart and pulled several dresses right away that I really liked. After much dressing room laughter as my sister helped me dive into a crazy amount of fabric, I ended up finding a dress I love, but didn't buy because I think I can find a similar style elsewhere for a better price, plus, I really wanted my mom to see it!

So...we continue the journey in 2 weeks at a bridal boutique in St. Cloud...I'll let you know how it goes!

Wedding Plans

I have a "Stay on Schedule" checklist from a bridal magazine that I got several months ago. The checklist starts at 9 - 12 months out...Yikes! We only had 4 months to plan, so had to crunch the big things and skip some other things. All in all, I feel like we are doing pretty good! Here's what's done on the checklist:

9 - 12 months out:

- Announce your engagement (easy...)

- Arrange for the parent's to meet (skipped)

- Pick a date (May 8)

- Discuss budget (skipped...could bite me later, but I don't have extravagant taste, so I'm not real concerned about it getting out of hand)

- Reserve ceremony and reception site (done)

- Meet with officiant (in progress)

- Shop for your gown (this one worries me a bit...but I have made an appointment for next weekend, so hopefully next week at this time, I can mark this as done!)

6 - 9 months out:

- Choose your wedding party (done)

- Select a caterer (done)

- Enroll in a bridal gift registry (not started)

- Order your wedding gown (see above)

- Shop for attendant dresses (not started)

- Pick photographer (done)

- Hire florist (done)

- Hire DJ (skipped - no dance)

- Start planning honeymoon (in progress)

- Complete guest list (in progress)

- Mail save the dates (not started)

The Engagement (December 23, 2009)

Since Jason moved to Colorado Springs after Thanksgiving of 2009, we pretty much knew that a wedding and a move by me was inevitable as well. However, when that would happen was still a mystery until a few days before Christmas, 2009. Jason was planning a flight to Minneapolis on Christmas Eve, in the midst of a snowstorm that had been forecast for the area. Thankfully, he was able to change his flight to Wednesday, December 23rd so he arrived before the bad weather. When we got back to my house, we decided to have some coffee and cookies to celebrate being together again for the first time in 4 weeks! While I was in the kitchen, I heard Jason yell to me, "Baby, what's wrong with your DVD player?" I'm thinking to myself...DVD player? Why does he want to watch a movie right now? We JUST got here! So I went into the Living Room to check out what he was doing and found him on one knee! When he saw me, he told me he couldn't wait anymore to ask me to be his wife (we had literally been home less than an hour!). It was classic Jason...and exactly the kind of proposal I wanted!

The moment I KNEW... (by Abby)

...in my previous blog, I alluded to the fact that I there was a moment with Jason that I KNEW he was going to be my husband. For me, it happened very early on - about 3 weeks after we met, when he returned from his trip to Virginia. I was so excited to see him, even though we had only been out twice before he left. I happened to have a cold at the time, and had told him how bummed I was that I was sick when he was coming home. He showed up at my door with cough medicine, throat lozenges and was wearing goggles and a protective mask...his goofiness and sweetness all wrapped into one melted my heart and I knew...at that moment that I was going to fall in love with this man!

Background information

...I realize it sounds cliche, and before I met Jason, I really never understood how one KNEW that they were with the person they were supposed to be with for life...however, Jason changed all that for me! We were matched on a dating website (eHarmony - dating in the 21st century, right?) and after checking out his profile, I thought that he could be somewhat interesting. He seemed smart and obviously was into sports and looked cute in his pictures, so we exchanged a few emails and then agreed to meet for coffee or something after he returned from a work trip.

Our first date was awesome! We went to Ingredients Cafe in downtown White Bear Lake (right across the street from where our reception is going to be!) and had a nice dinner, shared a bottle of wine and both left the evening knowing that we had a great connection.

2 days later, we had breakfast together before he left for a 10-day trip to Virginia. During the time he was gone, we exchanged several hundred text messages and spend something like 25 hours on the phone. I couldn't wait for him to get back and when he did, we started spending pretty much everyday together...and the rest is history!