A Little Bit Lax

Well, it seems like forever since I have posted anything to our blog. The school year is coming to a break, and that means that I am testing students and preparing for quarter grades.

Michael and I are trying to prepare for Christmas. We have been a little lax on wedding plans, but last night after I put kiddo to bed, I stayed up and read some articles in one of the magazines Michael bought. Some of the articles I wasn't planning on reading because the couple had a more traditional wedding, but I ended up reading the articles anyway. I did find some interesting ideas from those articles too. Some of the ideas dealt with what the attendants wore, and some were about flowers.

I am hoping that while I'm on break from school, that I'll have more time to get some plans down. I think we have at least one color, and we have some ideas, but nothing is really set in stone, so it's probably about time that we start taking care of that.

Honeymoon Ideas

Glenda and I started looking at honeymoon ideas yesterday. One of our magazines suggested starting by brainstorming places we've always wanted to visit and then go from there.

It looks like we're going to end up doing something tropical. I've always wanted to spend time on the beach next to the ocean. Sometimes I look at the tropical pictures that come with the Windows desktop or screen savers and think, "some day I'm going to go there!"

We may wait for a bit after we're married to actually go on the trip. That's due to a couple of different factors, including avoiding the peak vacationing season, job stuff and having money saved up. We'll just see. If we do wait, I think it'd be cool to spend at least a couple days soon after the wedding at a nice local hotel/resort as a "mini honeymoon" before the actual big trip later.

Priorities.

We want to have a fairly small, simple wedding. We both are hoping for something that is truly meaningful, worshipful and special. That means that the way we approach some elements of the wedding ceremony and festivities surrounding it are going to be...different. Everything that day will be focused around kicking off our marriage in a special way, all the while having friends and family there to join us in the experience.

I've been fascinated to find out in our research that so much is devoted to making the best experience possible for the guests. One magazine or Web site even said something to the effect of "most of the time the guests care most about two things: the bride's dress and how good the cake is."

Really? If that's true...how sad.

We've thrown out all the ideas of what a wedding *should* be like. We can say with great certainty that many of the elements of a "typical, traditional" wedding really turn us off. Our ceremony and reception may make some of our guests walk away saying, "Well, that was kind of different," but we want that statement to be followed by, "but it was really nice."

We want our guests to enjoy themselves, but we also can't help but think that spending ridiculous amounts of money on extra stuff, fancier cake, and a super-elegant wedding dress is not necessarily good stewardship.

We welcome your comments. I especially would like to hear about what's most important to you as a wedding guest. Is the cake really number one in your eyes? Do you first look to see what the couple's colors are? Are you most interested in the bride's dress? What would you think of a wedding that breaks away from the norm?

God bless.

Family Fun

Today: Michael, Benjamin, and I were able to spend time with Michael's family for Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun. I was able to get to know Michael's brother and sister-in-law better. Amy showed me their wedding movie, which Michael video taped and produced. I must admit, Michael did an awesome job! (Not that I'm biased or anything;)

We were able to spend last evening with my parents which was very interesting! I had issues getting some medicine from the pharmacy and my mom ended up having to make the dinner. Michael, of course, was able to make things better with his sense of humor. He can always make me laugh, even in the least desirable situations.

Tomorrow, we are going to spend some time with more of Michael's famliy. I know it will be a lot of fun! Benjamin always enjoys spending time with Michael's nephews.

What a Date This Has Been

We've set a date! Not three days after I proposed, we now know that our wedding date will be June 9, 2007. What's so interesting about the date is that it is exactly one year after our first date when we went to the Royals game together. We thought it'd be cool to keep our anniversary the same for...everything!

Setting the date seems like a huge step. The reason I say that is because the very first two family members we told of our engagement -- and many friends since -- have asked "do you have a date yet?" Who knows their wedding date 30 minutes after the proposal?! Honestly?

But anyway, the date is now set! Now the questions will be "what are your colors?" and "how many attendants are you going to have?" and "where are you going on your honeymoon?" Patience, my friends, patience. :-)

Smiles, Michael

Wedding Magazines

Today I took a couple of issues of Brides magazine over to Michael's for him to look at. Some of the stuff in it he thought was really cool, other stuff was...questionable. He's being so wonderful about wanting to be involved in the wedding planning process, and it makes me love him even more than I already do!

No Arial for Me.

Glenda informed me tonight that she doesn't want to wear a "mermaid" style dress for our wedding. At the time, I was looking at gowns on TheKnot.com and happened to mention them. That's just fine with me, though I do think Arial in "Little Mermaid" is a little hottie red-head...for an animated character. ;-)

But Glenda's still the only girl for me. :-)

Smiles, Michael