-- you might have read all my ideas already, but I wanted to record it here in MY blog instead of just in someone else's

All of my bridesmaids are wearing a different cut of dress (same color, though) and we found 3 of them on sale. I ordered my dress on ebay...it is hand made and will cost $300 less than at David's Bridal, but is the same style (check out the ebay buyer comments before trying this!). I might sell my dress after the ceremony, too. Why keep it and store it? It will be out of fashion when my future kids are getting married.

Go with sheet cakes for the bulk of the guests to eat. I'm going to have a small fancy-decorated one for the official cutting, but it will be taken to the back room to cut for the guests so they won't know they are eating sheet cakes. Not that they should care...free cake for them!

We bought the groomsmen gifts with three 33% off coupons, and an additional coupon I got at the register. Over all, with the coupons and that additional coupon, I got 26% off.

Never buy anything without checking for a coupon or comparing with some other store.

I made the bridesmaid gifts - pearl necklaces and earrings (REAL PEARLS!). I spent $140.11 on materials, and I made a set for 5 bridesmaids, 3 sisters not in the wedding, my mom, his mom, and his soon to be sister-in-law (his brother's fiance) and me. I have enough material to make 1 more and probably a bracelet for me. That means their gifts are < $12 for a real pearl necklace and earring set. Did I mention they were real pearls?

My sister is making the flower stuff. My big bouquet, the bridesmaid bouquets, the boutineers, arrangements for the church, etc.

My mom is making the flower girl dresses. I have two flower girls, and dresses at wedding shops are > $100, and I'm not paying that!

A different sister took our engagement pictures with her digital camera and she had them developed at Walmart and gave me the CD. They look awesome! We are out in the country, so we had a lot of neat backdrops (in a barn, trees behind us, limestone bridges, etc) but if you are in town, you can use a nice park or arboretum.

Remember, postcards are much cheaper than a card and an envelope. The postcards themselves are cheaper, and the postage is definitely cheaper. We have a lot of people coming in from out of town, so I thought save the date cards would be a nice touch, so they could plan way ahead of getting the official invitation. Postcards can save you a LOT of money! I used one of the engagement pictures and went to printsmadeeasy.com and made them up myself. I got 300 of them for $44.84 (including shipping), or about $.15 a piece. Postage was $.26 each vs. $.41 for a card and envelope.

I bought a ream of gray paper and two 100-piece sets of vellum and printed them out. Some ribbon I found at an ebay store, and some time, and I tied them all together. I also made RSVP postcards out of the same gray paper. I had Copy Max cut them for $1 a cut. Much cheaper than buying kits.

I also made Thank You postcards using printsmadeeasy.com. Again, $.15 a piece plus $.26 for postage.

I've looked into getting those M&M's with the words on them, but they are very underwhelming. I had a few friends have them for parties in the past, but you can't hardly read the text and most people won't notice anyway. So I won't be getting those...and they are expensive!

I'm going to make my own veil. Veils cost > $100 at David's Bridal, but tulle is like $1 a yard. I can make a lot of mistakes for $100!

Got 7 of the 8 groomsmen gifts...well, 5 for the groomsmen, 1 for each dad, and need one for my fiance still. Got them nice Wrangler pocketwatches from Shepler's.

They were $29.99 each. I had 3 33% off coupons, so for three of them, I saved $9.90, or paid $20.09 each. With each purchase, I got a coupon for either $5 off a $25 purchase, $10 off a $40 purchase or $25 off a $100 purchase. So, I bought the other 4, which was $119.96 - $25 = $94.96

Total: $20.09 * 3 + $94.96 = $155.23 / 7 = $22.17 a piece. That is about 26% off each of them!

Got our first engagement gift the other day. Ok, so it was a gag gift from my fiance's aunt that thoroughly embarrassed him (or em-bare-assed him, if you know what I mean ). But that got me thinking that I'll need to send out a lot of thank you cards in the next few months.

So, instead of running to walmart to buy their thank you card set, I figured I could make them for cheaper. First of all, postcards just have got to be less expensive than a folded thank you card plus envelope, and second of all, postcards only cost $.26 for a stamp while envelopes cost $.41.

I called my mom to see if postcards were socially acceptable, and she said yes, so long as I write out the actual thank you part on the back. So, I just had to figure out what the postcard should look like.

I made one with the font that I used for the invitations, just simple and plain with "Thank You" on the front.


I also made one with "Thank You" in different languages.


And I also found one online that is a pretty green with a funky looking tree on it...and surprisingly, my fiance, a co-worker and I all liked this one.


I was going to print them all out myself and have Copy Max cut them, but I decided that my printer didn't print that one out good enough, and it costs $1 per page for Copy Max to print them. That is $.20 a piece just for the printing, plus you have to add $6 for the cutting.

So, instead, I uploaded that picture to printsmadeeasy.com and ordered them glossy with nothing on the back (would have added about $10 to the order just to put my return address on them...and I'm moving after the wedding, so my return addres would be wrong and I couldn't use them after that anyway). I got 300 of them for $35.99 + $8.85 for shipping, so $44.84 total or $.15 a piece. I picked the cheapest shipping...I could have spent like $30 to get them here tomorrow, but that isn't necessary...they'll be here by next week and that is soon enough.

While making the wedding invitations, I have about a 3 inch strip at the bottom of the vellum that I didn't have a plan for. I decided I would print out some sayings (some romantic, some silly, some from favorite songs, our names) on the bottom, cut them apart with some scrapbook scissors for the funky edges, and sprinkle them on the tables at the reception to add some interest. People would have something to look at and discuss if there is ever a waiting time, and it might get people moving from table to table to read them so they would interact more.

I've looked online for "romantic love quotes", "silly love quotes", "wedding quotes" and all I get is either Shakespeare or how crappy marriage is. I don't want too many sappy ones, and I don't want any crappy ones

Here's what I have so far:
"From this day forward
You shall not walk alone.
My heart will be your shelter,
And my arms will be your home"
- Marianne Williamsen

Thank you for sharing our special day.

Mr. & Mrs. (his last name)

(his first name) and (my first name) (his last name)

"At last my love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song"
- Etta James

"But at the beginning of creation, God made the male and female. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate." Mark 10:6-9

She thinks my tractor's sexy

A wedding is a Day, a Marriage is a Lifetime

When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew.
-William Shakespeare

"Let's hold hands on the porch swing,
Under the moon
While the wind through the willows
Plays us a tune
We can lie on a blanket,
Out back in the yard
And wish for our future
On a faraway star
You'll feel the passion
As time after time
I press your sweet lips to mine
We can dance to the radio,
Right up 'til dawn
'Til you drift off to dream in my arms"
-Travis Tritt
Our First Dance

"All of my life I've been waiting for you
All of my love I've been saving for you
Wild and tender to you I surrender my heart
You touch me and time has no meaning at all
The longer I hold you the deeper I fall
I'll cherish the moment I knew
I'll always love you"
-Blackhawk
Our Second Dance

So, any of you creative types have any other suggestions? I have 63 more invitations to print, so plenty of space for suggestions.

My fiance and I went to the Catholic Engaged Encounter this past weekend. It was a bit of a waste of time, because we had talked about most of the topics already, but we did get some good out of it. I think what we got out of it most was an affirmation that we weren't rushing into this.

The format of this weekend was that everyone met in a big conference room with two married teaching couples, a priest, and all the engaged couples. There were probably 35 couples there. One of the married couples would tell a story in their lives that had to do with the topic, the priest would tell a story having to do with his congregation, they would go back and forth like this for about 20 minutes. Then, one of us would go to a room and the other would stay in the conference room, and we would write letters to each other having to do with the topic. After about 20 minutes of that, the person who stayed in the conference room would go meet their partner in the room. Each would read the other's writing, and then discuss if you had any problems or issues that needed to be talked about. Then, after about 20 minutes of that, we went back to the conference room.

First we talked about why we were even there. Why did we show up at the weekend retreat? What do we want to gain? I'm sure that a lot of people wrote "so the priest would marry us" or "she wanted me here, so I'm here."

Then, we talked about ourselves, and how each person comes into this union offering ourselves to the other person. Also about how we see ourselves and how other people see us, and if we feel the need to live up to someone else's expectations. We also talked about our family backgrounds, and how the way we grew up would impact our future relationships.

After that, we talked about our relationship. About how in marriage, there will be good times, there will be bad times, and that sometimes, you have to decide to love the other person because you won't like them at that moment. The point of this one was that there is a cycle of romance, disillusionment and joy in every relationship, and that it isn't always going to be rosy and sunny. We also talked about the romance, disillusionment and joy we have already had in our relationship. Just reading his letter to me on this one makes me want to shout out with happiness! I smile every time I read it.

That was it for Friday night. We then retired to our separate rooms (we're at a Catholic weekend retreat, after all) and got up early for mass the next morning. The first talk after that was "Openness in Communication." It talked about how to fight fairly, like no name-calling, no outside influences, no past history, no cheap shots. Don't go to bed angry. And HOLD HANDS. That one was kinda strange; you most likely don't want to hold hands with someone you are fighting with, but they explained that this way you realize that you are not trying to make the other person lose, but you are trying to make the best decision for your family. When we were discussing this one, I realized that I don't listen to what he is saying and take it to heart enough. I hear what he is saying, and I can talk intelligently about it at that moment, but I don't internalize it and remember it.

Next was "Signs of a closed relationship." This helped you realize if you were hiding something from the other partner, so you could spring it on them after the wedding, even if this wasn't intentional. Some of the questions you could answer were "what things to I talk with others about more easily than I do with you? What does that say about our relationship?" or "what doubts to I have about marrying you?" or "What do I expect of myself as your husband/wife? What do I expect of you as my husband/wife?". The one he answered was "Are we in agreement about how to handle the assets and debts each of us brings to this marriage? How will we do this?" We had quite the discussion over at the forums about my fiance having a high interest debt and that he was buying land and a tractor and a combine, and what I suspected is true...that he kept the farm loans current so he could keep operating, and that is why the credit card hadn't been paid. I am starting to realize that farming is going to be completely different from anything I have ever done...that even if you do the right things at the right time, if the rain doesn't come or the sun doesn't shine, you don't make it. With this discussion, I realized that he thinks about money a lot, mostly in the "where am I going to come up with that" line of thinking. He agreed that the high interest rate credit card had to go, but that you had to balance that out with keeping all the bills current. In this section, I talked about how I sometimes don't feel feminine, and that I have been so independent and in control since I have been out of school, I am worried that I won't make a good partner with anybody. And I worry that I won't make a good mother. Those are my doubts.

That takes us to about lunch on Saturday. Only another day to go...but I'll wait for that one for another time.

I started my garden late this year (maybe late April?), and was worried that we wouldn't get many vegetables out of it. I didn't have a tiller, so I just cleared the grass out with a shovel and a lot of elbow grease, made holes with a post hole digger, and planted my little seedlings. Because I was lazy, I didn't give the plants enough room, so all the plants are growing over each other...Good thing it has been raining like crazy! So, many things to learn for next year, but it is looking pretty good for a thrown together endeavor. I only spent $35 for all the plants, plus I couldn't find any spaghetti squash seeds, so I bought a squash, cut it open, removed the seeds, ate the squash, and kept the seeds. That thing is growing like crazy!

Even though the plants are growing over each other, I am getting vegetables. I want to keep track to see if I get my $35 back.
7/8/07 - 1 cucumber
7/10/07 - 4 tomatoes
7/20/07 - 2 cucumbers
7/22/07 - 2 yellow squash
7/28/07 - 1 spaghetti squash, 3 yellow squash, 1 zucchini, 1 cucumber
8/3/07 - 2 cucumbers, 2 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, 2 spaghetti squash.
8/5/07 - 1 zucchini
8/11/07 - 4 yellow squash
8/25/07 - 1 yellow squash, 2 zucchini, 1 spaghetti squash

Totals as of 8/25/07:
6 cucumbers
4 tomatoes
12 yellow squash
6 zucchini
4 spaghetti squash

Then how come they are so darned expensive? First a little back story...

I bought the gray cardstock to make my invitations today from Office Max, and it only cost $12.97 for 250 sheets. That will be enough to make all the invitations as well as all the RSVP cards I'll send, and the maps I'll probably just use plain white paper.

Office Max also said that it would cost $.16 a sheet for them to print black and white, and $1 something a sheet for them to print color, but only $1 to cut the whole ream of paper. So, I think I am going to print them and take them in and have them cut.

I had already made a sample of the invitation, with vellum on top, card stock on bottom. They are going to be tied with ribbon. I had figured just print two on one sheet and then cut down the middle to get 8.5" x 5.5" invitations, and then find the right envelopes. Good thing I looked first!

I want to have two envelopes, one inside the other, and the only sizes similar to that I could find were 6.13" x 8.38" for the inner envelope, 6.38" x 8.63" for the outer envelope, so I would have to cut them twice anyway. And I wanted gray. Holy cow, it is hard to find gray envelopes! And, these particular ones come in 100 envelope boxes, so I would have had to buy 3 of each. The larger ones were $56.39 for 100, the smaller ones were $51.59. Grand total: $323.94. EEK!

Ok, looked around some more, and couldn't find anything cheaper for these sizes. And, any other rectangular sizes didn't quite fit into each other nicely.

So, I thought of square envelopes. I found 5.5" x 5.5" ones, 50 in each, 5 packs, for $11.80 each, and 6" x 6" ones, 50 in each, 5 packs, for $13.80 each, for a grand total of $128! That is a savings of $195!!!

I checked the usps.gov site, and standard letter postage rates apply to envelopes that are a maximum height of 6 1/8" and a minimum length of 5", so I am good there. Standard rates apply.

So, now all I have to do is change the invitations to be square. Good thing I thought of the envelopes before I started printing them all out!

I also went to Hancock Fabrics and bought some more blue ribbon for $.77 and 10 yards of white ribbon for $.65 for a total of $7.80 with tax.

I went to David's Bridal today, just to look around. I have decided to go with them for the bridesmaids dresses, picking the color, Marine (really dark blue) and letting them pick the cut of their skirts (I want them long, but they can choose the fullness) and the tops. I'm going to pay for half of their dresses. I also looked at the veils there. HOLY COW. They were like $150! There is no WAY I am paying that much. So, I went to Hancock Fabric's, and bought 20 yards of tulle for $19.99, 6 5-yard spools of blue and white ribbon for decorations, not the veil, (3 for $.77 each, 3 for $.99 each), some clear thread ($2.09) and two 3-yard pieces of edging. Total of $40.98.

If I use even a yard of that tulle, I will be lucky. So, $40.98 - $18.99 (extra tulle) - $5.28 (ribbon) = $16.71 for the veil itself, of course with lots of tulle and ribbon left over to decorate with. I can mess up a lot before I get to the $150 range! I still need to get a clear comb with some beads on it to decorate it a little more, or a clip with some beads on it, but I'm hoping that will be < $5.00.

The vellum came in today, and I started printing some of the invitation examples I had made. The vellum is thinner than I thought, so I don't know if I should use a solid blue color for the flower underneath, or a faded black and white flower. I'll get some opinions. I did, however, discover that my printer won't print on the vellum by itself...I had to tape a piece of paper to the underside before it would feed through. I think I'll go to Kinkos to get them printed and cut, so I don't have to do that myself. Maybe they can do a muted blue for the flower, too. I'm ready to get the card stock and as soon as the situation with the priests is figured out and I put the deposit down on the VFW (hopefully Friday), I can have them printed.

Started on my guest list today, and I have 76 people or couples or families I want to invite. I then called my mom and we talked about who I forgot. Let's say another 40. DF has 35, and I am going to pick up his mom's list this weekend. I'm going to guess less than 200 invitiations.

I was at a loss as to what my youngest sister and god-child Janell would do. She is the only one in the family without a "job" at the wedding. 1 sister is the photographer, 3 are bridesmaids, 1 brother is an usher, 1 brother is going to be the server (alter boy), and 1 sister is going to do the readings. I finally thought of this...2 of the bridesmaids have daughters close in age, and I'm going to have both of them be flower girls. I am going to have the flower girls go up the aisle, and when they get to the front, the "flower girl attendant" (Janell) is going to intercept them and take them to the pew. She will keep them quiet, and if they need to go out because they are being fussy or loud or something, she will take them out. Then, when we are doing the recessional, she will tell them when to go. I talked to her about that today, and even though she is disappointed she can't be a bridesmaid, she thought that would be a good idea and was happy with it.

Complete Music offered me a quote the other day of $700 for an 8 hour event, with they providing background music for the first 4 hours and then the dance for the next 4 hours. I told Mom that, and she thought that was a little high. So, I asked them what it would cost for just the dance. He said $550, but then lowered the price for the whole day to $600. I had my fiance ask a local guy in town, the owner of the bar we met in, actually, if he could bring his equipment in to be the DJ, but he said that he didn't do weddings...but if I wanted karaoke, we could have him! I was tempted, but no, I decided to go with the $600 all day deal.

I was checking out a wedding planner site, and it said that the following things should be taken care of at the 6 month mark. The 6 month mark is in two weeks, so I thought I would guage my progress.

- Buy your wedding planner or a good organizer. ... Probably depend on online information, so I won't buy one

- Discuss the style of the wedding and the bugdet with your fiance and ALL parents. ... They all know it is going to be Catholic, in the afternoon, so that means semi-formal. They all know I want it to be simple and elegant. And they all know I am paying for it all, so I really have the most say in all of this (with an agreement with my fiance that I'll ask him and he'll say "I don't care" or "I hate it" and if he doesn't care, I get to pick).

- Speak with your clergy. ... Well, I've got 2 priests fighting over me, so I do have to sort that out. But, the church is booked, and I will have an officiant.

- By the end of the month, select the site for the ceremony, rehearsal dinner, reception. ...
--- Ceremony = St. Mary's Catholic Church.
--- Rehearsal dinner = Meridy's (unless his parents pay for it and decide to go somewhere else...not likely).
--- Reception = VFW (spoken for, but I haven't put the deposit in yet.)

- Begin interviewing Caterers, Bakers, Photographers, Florists, Musicians. ...
--- Talked to local caterer, and they put me on their calendar. They said $8 a plate including a whole roast hog, stuffing, scalloped potatoes, green beans, plates, cups and silverware. Not too bad!
--- Talked to the cake lady, and she agreed to do my wedding. Still need to look at her scrapbook to pick out a cake, and she is sending me a price list.
--- My sister is going to take the pictures, both engagement and wedding pictures.
--- My other sister is going to help me make the flowers and decorations.
--- Contacted Complete Music for a quote (for the reception)
--- Still need to figure out if I am going to have 4 violins at the church, or someone to sing and play the organ. Maybe need to have both.

- By the end of the month, schedule engagement photo session ... still trying to coordinate with my sister. But we'll do it within the next couple of weeks.

- By the end of the month, select and order attendants' apparel ... Yuck. I hate shopping. Going from store to store, trying to find dresses that will look good on 5 different body types. But, oh well, something that has to be done.

I went and talked to Fr. Charlie after Mass on Sunday, and I think he was a little confused. I wanted to use that church, but have the priest from Wilson come over and do the ceremony. So, he started talking to my fiance and I about how the ceremony would go. I'll have to straighten him out and let him know that Fr. David is going to do it, but I am a little scared to do that...

The church is new, and it has a little different layout than a typical Roman Catholic Church. When you walk in the back doors, there is a big open area until you get to the huge baptismal font. Then another big gap, then the pews, and then the alter up front. There is no place to get dressed in the back, only up behind the alter.

He said he is trying to encourage people getting married in that church to do it this way...Bride and Groom would stand in the back, together, along with the wedding party, greeting the guests when they come in. Then, when everybody is seated, except the wedding party, we would go to the baptismal font (which is in the back of the church, remember) with my parents on the left side (by me) and his parents on the right side(by him). The priest would lead a small ceremony, inviting our parents to bless us with Holy Water. Then, the priest, alter boy, and candle holders would proceed up the aisle, followed by the grandparents, the wedding party, his parents, my parents, and then my fiance and I up the aisle together.

What do you think of that? It sounds a little strange, but at the same time, it sounds kinda cool.

I talked to one sister about it, and she said that the typical way of us being seperate at first, with me being escorted by my father, and him up front, and then the ceremony takes place, and then we walk out of the church together, symbolizes that we are now one in the eyes of the church. She also said that it might hurt my parents' feelings if we did it the other way.

I talked to my mom and dad about it, and they said "whatever you want. we're just happy you are getting married." talk about not helping me decide!

Some cool invitations:
http://www.theamericanwedding.com/shopping/prod_detail/main.asp-pid-398-cat-163
http://www.1st-class-wedding-invitations.com/cardpreview.aspx?set=4417&piece=4417&type=I
http://www.1st-class-wedding-invitations.com/cardpreview.aspx?set=689&piece=689&type=I
http://www.1st-class-wedding-invitations.com/cardpreview.aspx?set=9821&piece=9821&type=I
http://www.1st-class-wedding-invitations.com/cardpreview.aspx?set=1023&piece=1023&type=I

Of course, I'll probably end up making my own with some card stock and a printer...

Started looking at Save the Date cards. Thinking about using our engagement picture (which we still have to do) and just sending postcards.

I can get post cards made by snapfish
(which is where I store all of my photos for free, I can share them with friends, and can print them to Walgreens for immediate pickup...that is www.snapfish.com if you are interested.) There is a tiered rate:
POSTCARD 4.25x6" 5x7"
1-19 $0.99ea $1.29ea
20-49 $0.89ea $1.19ea
50-99 $0.79ea $1.09ea
100+ $0.75ea $0.99ea

Don't know yet how many I will need, as the invitation lists aren't done yet. But, need to add on $.26 for postage.

I like this text:
Save the date:

January 26, 2008
Russell, KS

~His fullname~ & ~My fullname~

Invitation to follow...

If I can get them for cheaper than that, I'd do it, but I know snapfish is reliable. They would even send them out for me if I put all the addresses in. But, they do put their logo on the back of the cards, so that is a drawback...

Fr. Charlie said that 2:30 was the latest we could have the wedding start, because confession was at 4:30, and we had to be out of there and cleaned up before then.

He also said:

Someone had already had a wedding in the new church, and the bride got dressed in the music room behind the alter.

Can't throw rice (although it is a myth that rice makes birds bloat and die, that is what he said) can't throw wheat or milo, because they are small and round, and because the church has tile, it might be dangerous. He suggested maybe at the VFW when we are leaving after the dance? Or bubbles? Or bells? (although I promised my sister Aya that we wouldn't have bells, because with so many kids that will be there, bells would drive everyone crazy).

I can't put plants/flowers around the alter.

There are two ramps up to the alter, and it looks good to put flowers on those ramps. Also, put a nice big flower arrangement at the foot of the cross. And could get two candelabras to decorate behind the alter.

The statue of Mary is way up high, so we can't do a "Dedication to Mary" thing (laying roses at her feet).

Since it is a new church, I think I'll just go there on Sunday and take some pictures after mass, cause I've only been there once. Then I can get a better idea of what I want to do. I'll post those pictures here too...it really is beautiful.

Right after I was engaged (the next day), I started calling my family. I told them I would like to get married in February or March. My best friend and one of my sisters said, when they got married, they were told they couldn't get married during Lent. So, I looked it up, and Lent is early this year...Ash Wednesday is Feb 6 and Easter is March 23.

Other dates to keep in mind:
My birthday is Dec 25
His birthday is Feb 4
We need to have 6 months for marriage preparation classes.
His brother is getting married April 29
Lent is Feb 6 - March 23.

So, 6 months from now is December. I will NOT get married in December...Christmas and my birthday on the same day has soured me to putting anything else in that month. The first weekend of Feb is pretty close to his birthday, the church is booked the last weekend of March, and I don't think you should have 2 weddings in the same family in the same month (too much stress, and I don't want to steal their thunder...they were engaged first, and getting married later) and I've waited too long to get married (I'm 29, he is 32, and this is my and his first) to wait a whole year.

Ok, so I called Fr. David on 7/3 and asked him what I need to do now. I told him probably just after the first of the year, we would want to get married, and I would like him to be the officiant. Cool, he doesn't have anything going on in January other than typical priest stuff. We'll have to meet with him a few times, not more than 5, he said, and go to an engaged encounter weekend, and that is about it. I also told him I would like to get married in the new church in Russell, because there are no hotels in Wilson, and if my friends from Dallas are going to come up, it would be nice to let them get their hotels and just drive a few blocks to the church instead of 20 miles.

Then, I called Fr. Charlie, 483-2871, today to ask if I could book the church in January. He said all of January was open, but March 29 (just after Easter) was booked already. He also said that the latest the wedding could be was 2:30 if we wanted a full mass because we had to be cleared out by 4:30 for the parish confessions. I put my name down for January 26, but told him I would call back to confirm later.

I then called the VFW hall to see if they were available January 26. Someone was there, but they told me to call Fred Weigel, 483-3434, cause he was the one to book it. I got his wife, she called BACK to the VFW hall, they looked at the calendar and January 26 is open. Ok, she put my name down, and I left her my numbers so her husband could call back.

After all of that, I still need to confirm with all three (Fr. David, Fr. Charlie, and Fred) and put down a deposit with Fred. But, it looks like I have a date! January 26, 2008

Well, I was engaged June 28, 2007. This is my "memory board" so I can put in details, ideas for the wedding, record things I need to do, things that I have done, and be able to get stuff off my chest without bothering my fiance with details he really doesn't care about.

He asked me to marry him last Thursday night. I had brought some groceries to his house and was putting them away, but he had hidden the ring in a kitchen cabinet, so he hustled me to the living room so I could "relax." I was reading a magazine while he put the food away, and he came over, leaned over me, and said, "Hey, I want to ask you a question." And pulled his hand out from behind his back with the ring.

After almost hyperventilating, I said yes. We stayed up til about 3 in the morning talking and smiling at each other and laughing, and I kept asking questions I had been holding back until I knew he wanted to commit to me.

He said he did his part, and that I should do the wedding however I like, and just to tell him when and where to show up. But, he does need to decide who is going to stand up with him and the style of the tuxes. After that, I think I can handle most of the other details.