I said yes, and then I cried.

Yesterday we decided to go for breakfast, just the two of us, after he got back from the gym. When we were in the car he turns to me and says that we were going to take a little bit of a detour as he had a surprise for me. He then pulled out a scarf from his pocket and told me to blindfold myself so I would not see where we were going. (Of course my first thought is OMG he's going to propose! My second thought...shut up, you always think he's going to propose.)

When we arrive at the location and he opens the car door I can hear the train and the noises of the market, I was 99.99% sure we were at the Forks Market. (And of course I think OMG he is totally going to propose, he's going to take me to the top of the tower that we had our first kiss and propose. My next thought...shut up, you always think he's going to propose.)

He guides me to his destination, up an elevator, and takes off my blindfold. I'm right with the destination, we are at the forks at the top of the tower. He then asks if I remember what happened here and I say of course, it was where we had our first kiss. He then kissed me again and pulls out a ring box. Bending down on one knee he asks me to be his wife and I say Yes!!!! Yes, yes, yes. And then as I'm hugging him I start to cry.

To add to how awesome he is, he never actually went to the gym before we left. He drove to the forks to make sure the tower was in operation and not closed. He even left with his gym bag and came back and took a shower like he usually does. I didn't suspect a thing. I love that he's such a planner.

So now I can plan my wedding with out looking like the crazy girl.

BEST EASTER EVERY!!!!!

2nd Chances

I have been addicted to romance novels since I was 13 years old. What can I say? I love a happy ending. And this addiction has probably plan a small part in my pre-engagement wedding planning obsession.


One of the authors I use to read was Nora Roberts but I had shelved her 9 years ago due to the repetitiveness of her characters, especially series where one woman had red hair, another blond, another brunette/black; also one was feisty, another serious/perfectionist and the last wounded emotionally - possible bad relationship in the past. Anyways you get the point. I had assumed I wouldn't read her again until I realized that her newest series the "Bride Quartet" is about 4 best friends that run a wedding planning business. Hello! Someone combined romance novels with Wedding planning? I am there! So I've bought the first two, the other two have yet to be released and I'm enjoying them regardless of the fact that one has red hair, one has blond, another brunette and lastly black.


If you like romance novels and can't get enough of weddings then these books are for you:

{source}

Another Year

Life, more specifically work, has been nonstop for the last two months hence my absence. I haven't even had time to read other people's blogs! My google reader has 1000+ unread entries.

I did get my 2010 Winter issue of Martha Stewart weddings and wasn't that impressed. A few nice ideas but since it was their anniversary edition they just recycled what they've published in the past and since I have read those already it was nothing new for me. Disappointing.

I then picked up a InStyle Wedding magazine at the grocery store on Tuesday, receiving the question "You are getting married?" from the cashier and a "Nope" from me. (Why does he think its his business? I don't even know him! Not that I care, I've been buying wedding magazines for years with out an engagement ring so what's to stop me now!) I finally got a chance to flip through it last night and again...disappointed. OMG, I basically bought a magazines of advertisements for wedding gowns. There was a section in the back on Real Weddings that was nice and I found a really nice dress option for my busty bridesmaid (or me!) that is bra friendly and slimming as well.

Lastly, next weekend the local annual Wonderful Wedding Show is on and our limo service is in it again so I'll be there working. Having gone for the last 3 years I don't have high hopes that I'll be seeing anything new and exciting but it's always fun to look.

Now if only my man would get off his butt and on his knee to propose to me already! I am sooooo ready to plan a wedding! The longer I have to wait the more likely my ideas will fall out of fashion or someone else close to us will have gone that route. Is it too much to ask for an original event?

On a side note, tomorrow my best friend and I are off to see Leap Year. Yahhhh for wedding/engagement movies!

2 years

This weekend was our 2 year anniversary and we decided to treat ourselves to a fancy restaurant that we wouldn't normally go to. We chose a new french restaurant called Mirlycourtois and it was amazing. So delicious.

No ring though...

I recently went to my tarot card reader, who informed me that my guy is procrastinating on proposing not because he doesn't love me but because he's comfortable, and that I need to start changing his mind because he'll take his sweet time if I don't do something. When I got home and he asked what she said, I decided to be blunt and tell him. Rather then deny it or completely ignore it, he agreed and said she's actually pretty accurate. End of discussion though. He didn't let me push him on why.

I need to practice patience and just be happy that he loves me...right?

To speak up or keep quiet

My boyfriend and I are approaching our 2 year anniversary in three weeks, and we've already passed our 1 year living together, and yet still no serious talk about engagement/weddings in our future.

Granted I talked to him about planning on having kids in about 3 years as I don't want to wait until I'm in my mid thirties for fear of affecting the probability of conceiving or having health issues with the baby. So it isn't like we don't talk about our future together but we NEVER talk directly about getting married.

Perhaps this is partially my fault. He is slow to act on any and everything. He's a worrier and a planner so if I don't start talking about things I want us to do they will never happen (ie babies or house renovations) because he doesn't like change and is happy to keep things the way they are since they work but when it comes to marriage I have this old fashion part of me that really wants to be surprised with a proposal.

I've been reading romance novels since I was twelve...I'm twenty seven now...so this is probably a main reason why I have this warped image of the perfect engagement, as opposed to the rest of my life that I live as a very modern woman - equality and all that stuff. Because of this I hesitate to bring up marriage in a direct conversation with him about us, just in case it turns into an agreement that we should get married and I miss the proposal!!! How unromantic is that?! Of course I realize that is completely ridiculous and now I'm debating about bringing it up with him and asking what's up. I just don't know how to broach this topic. It just never feels like the right time. It's on the tip of my tongue every day lately. I need to just bite the bullet!

It's been awhile

Wow, time flies when you have too many things on your plate. Life has been preventing me from posting lately; 'promotion' at work (which just means more work), classes on the weekend for my accounting designation, starting to workout with trainers in the mornings and way too many awesome TV shows on this season (I'm in love with Glee). What spare time I've had, I've been spending it with my boyfriend. It definitely sucks when the only time you see eat other is when you wake up and go to bed.

Any who, here's hoping I can find time to post more often.

Just say NO to the Dress - A rant.

Recently I was watching an episode of "Say Yes To the Dress", which to begin with has wrong written all over it as it represents everything that annoys me about weddings but I was stuck in a hotel room and there wasn't much else on. This episode was about the budget minded bride and how the economy was affecting how much a bride was willing to spend on their dress (duh!).

The words of wisdom imparted from the manager to the consultants before the store opened for the day was that because of the economy being what it was when a bride says their budget is x amount don't bother to try and sell them xx amount because they aren't going to have room in their budget regardless of how much they love the more expensive dress.

First, WTF. I think its terrible that the shops are blatant about their planned up selling to brides on a regular day. Why is that just because the economy sucks now you shouldn't bother up selling to a bride? Why can't you just respect the bride's budget regardless of the economic situation.

Secondly, WTF to the brides. If you don't have money you shouldn't be shopping in an extremely expensive bridal salon! Why tempt yourself with something that is way above your budget.

Through out the show they do the individual interviews with future brides and consultants. One consultant explains to the camera that when you are working with a smaller budget you should cut your guest list and spend less on flowers so that you have more to buy your perfect dress with. Seriously?! If money is an issue I personally think you are deluding yourself if you think cutting back in some places just so you can afford a $10,000 is a wise move. Why not cut back EVERYWHERE and maybe, just maybe you won't go into debt over the wedding and have some money left over to start off your married life?

It bothers me that these wedding "reality" shows (which I'm guilty of watching) insist that you can have a budget friendly wedding and still have the extremely expensive items that particular show is promoting. It doesn't work like that.

Of course if you have the money and you want to by the $10000 wedding dress then go for it, if that's your thing. I personally would rather spend my money on entertaining my guests, good food, a honeymoon or future plans, not a dress that I will wear for ONE day of my life. But that's just me.

Financial Advisor = Marriage Counselor

Yesterday the BF and I went to see his financial advisor, mainly because when I asked him questions about how he was investing he didn't have a clue and secondly because I hoped the advisor would be able to convince him that he shouldn't keep all of his savings in a chequing account but rather invest some of it, which happened.

Who would have thought that we would get pulled into a conversation about why we weren't married yet, though. He basically told my BF that if we have lived together for almost a year and have been together almost 2, we were pretty much married already. To sum up the conversation, and I quote, "Shit or get off the pot."

The interesting part was that because he was talking about our finances and wasn't just our mothers asking when there was going to be a wedding, the BF was actually listening to him. Who knows maybe this means I don't have to wait 5 years for him to get a round to asking now.

Love him...really...

I know I am with "the one" because even when he throws a hiss fit, for lack of a better word, when he can't find the right size tupperware containers for our sandwiches that he's making for tomorrow's lunch, I am not really annoyed. Surprised not annoyed, since he's not prone to hiss fits - I can count only one other time since I moved in with him a year ago and that was when one of the cats climbed into the ceiling some how and wouldn't come out when he wanted him to, again a weird time to get upset but what ever.

I also know that I'm his "the one".

So if that's the case why does he need to say ridiculous things like being his wife isn't in my control, as though this is something that will only happen when he says so. Ugh. I wish I wasn't so hung up on the romantic idea of him getting down on one knee and doing the 'surprise' engagement thing or we would be having a really long talk.

Boys are stupid, even when they are smart 30 year old Engineers. Always and forever.

Why I haven't posted in awhile...

It's been awhile, main because:

1. It's been suggested to me that perhaps I shouldn't write such personal posts about my thoughts on my boyfriend and lack of engagement. Point taken.
2. I've been too busy reading other peoples blogs to write in mine. Becoming quite addicted to Google Reader.

Negotiations...

Yesterday's email conversation went like this...

Him: "tell you what...You start making a fitness commitment by going to the gym 4 times a week, start getting into better shape and I will go camping with you. Deal? " (to clarify he's concerned that I've been skipping out on the gym lately with the excuse that work has been busy)

Me: "Well if this is a negotiation now, I feel like I’m having to put in a lot more effort than you are….."

Him: "Just an idea. If you think it isn't fair, be honest. I'm trying to help you here! "

Me: "Well I appreciate the help. Sweeten the deal and you got a motivated girl!"

Him: "How?" (How terrible is it that at this point my mind is screaming "Ask me to marry you?!")

Me: "I don't know, this was your idea" (I'm lying but I'm definitely not going to share what's going through my head)

Him: "I'll think about it but you should to. That's called negotiation" ("Ask me to marry you and you got a deal!" Right...anyway)

Pressures

We drove to my parents' place last weekend to visit my family, something we hadn't done since Christmas as we are spoiled with my family continuously travelling our way for appointments and just plain old visits.

When we were driving home on Sunday, the BF commented on the fact that there sure was a lot of pressure on us to get married now, from my mother and others. He wasn't exaggerating and I'm partially to blame as I didn't discourage the comments.

Example:
My mother's best friend's 8 year old granddaughter - "Are you married?" No. "Are you engaged?" LOL No but why don't you ask him why that is... BF's response "Uhhh..."

I told him not to stress about it and to consider it a huge compliment that at least he KNOWS my family likes him. I didn't hear this 'pressure' when I was with my ex.

Budget friendly Manitoba

This week I saw a post on Martha Stewart's Wedding Blog about a bride that has created a blog where she is asking people, strangers, to help pay for her wedding. In fact she even has a link built into the site where you can click to Donate.

With the economic uncertainty the way it is around the world right now, its no surprise that more and more brides are realizing that they can't afford to go into debt over their weddings and even reducing their budgets to $10,000 or less isn't enough, as they have NO money saved for it.

Its times like this that I puzzle over why more communities outside of Manitoba, Canada don't embrace the idea of a PRE-WEDDING SOCIAL. What is a pre-wedding social you ask? Well just the bestest friend to the budget savy bride!

A social, something that is apparently unique to Manitoba, is an event much like a high school dance for adults that you sell tickets for. It is primarily used as a fundraiser and is very popular here for brides and grooms to throw prior their wedding to make money to put towards their wedding, hence 'pre-wedding social'.

Basically you rent a hall, much like planning a wedding reception, book your music, stock the bar and have a midnight snack available. People pay between $10-15/ticket to attend, purchase drink tickets for their alcohol and then additional tickets to enter into draws for prizes. Some couples will add additional games that cost money to play and add to the fundraising. If done right you can make a few thousand dollars after expenses.

To those that aren't familiar with this they tend to respond with distaste, marking this up to basically just ASKING people for money but the truth is people that attend are actually very happy to spend the money. How is buying a ticket to attend a dance any difference then spending money on cover at a bar? And at least they know its going to help a couple to start off their lives debt free (hopefully!).

The nice thing about the social verses a reception is that it is very casual and there isn't the same pressures to decorate, have center pieces and provide favors, and yet it is still an opportunity for friends and family to get together and have fun.

Personally I plan to have a social where the money I make will go toward the cost of the open bar at my future wedding, if I plan it right I might even have enough to cover part of the food costs as well.

April Fools...Hilarious?

This morning on my way to work I get a text from my sister informing me that my brother and his girl friend are engaged. I then get a second message from my best friend asking if it is true.

What the F**K! Is my first thought.

Then I remember that my brother tried calling me last night so I assume that was the reason why.

And then I start thinking that my 19yr old brother SHOULD NOT be engaged before me. I mean come on! I'm freakin' 27yrs old. He hasn't even left his teens!!! (He turns 20 this summer).

I'm ashamed to admit that I kinda got a little choked up as I dialed his cell phone number. No answer.

Called his girlfriend's number, got her but he wasn't around and she said she didn't know why he would be calling yesterday. Arrrgh, at this point it still doesn't dawn on me that its April Fools and that they could be making this crap up. I'm annoyed when I hang up as I assume she's being secretive about the engagement...not really rational since she posted it on facebook.

I finally get through to him and apparently he was only calling about his trip down to visit me next week, and when I mentioned the 'engagement' news he laughs and says that was his gf's idea of an April Fools joke. Ughhhh. Not funny but all I could think was 'I still have time to get engaged before him'. Sad, I know.

I really really want...

Today I was reading through 2000dollarwedding.com and I came across a link to an Etsy seller that makes recycled rings, more specifically wedding rings. I LOVE, love, love them. Now I know I mentioned in a previous post a list of likes for my future engagement ring. Well it isn't necessary now because this is what I want. SERIOUSLY. Its almost at the point that when I saw it I was tempted to email the link to my BF as an FYI that this is what I want when the day comes. Of course I held back. No point scaring him off or thinking I'm crazy. But I'm pleading with you...if you have the opportunity to influence his choice this is it.

1. I think they are beautiful and simple


2. Its cost effective. Each ring costs approximately $300 US


3. Its recycled metal


4. Its apparently vegan, meaning no animal products (pearls, silk, leather, etc.) were used in its construction...which is pretty darn cool


5. And did I mention that I think they are beautiful?
   
   

FYI

Since I DO want an ring, in case he ever asks you for help...

1. I do NOT want to pick it out. When he proposes there should be a ring in his hand.
   
2. I am not comfortable wearing extremely expensive jewelry. I'm paranoid I will loose it or damage it. I would be happy if he spent less then a grand.


3. Vintage/Antique is better


4. It doesn't have to be a solitaire or even a diamond for that matter, I'm more interested in design then the cut or carats.
   

Conversations

Yesterday my cell rang at work, it was my BF's mother. She wanted to tell me of a conversation she had just had with her son about what to buy me for my birthday.

She wanted to know if he had any ideas and he mentioned that I had wanted a food processor (which is true) but she thought this was a terribly 'old married couple' thing to get and that he needed to buy something more personal. The conversation then lead to the fact that a ring is personal and maybe he should consider getting THAT for me.

My BF's response? "No mom, she DOESN'T want a ring"!!!!

Excuse me, how wrong can a guy get?

Needless to say she is quite concerned that this is true, hence the phone call and considering that at Christmas they had a very similar conversation I shouldn't be surprised. She thinks that perhaps I've given him the wrong impression and should 'try harder'. At least I know that she wants me in the family!

Basically I figure that since this has happened twice now I should probably clear things up with him, just in case he's silly enough to think that statement is true.

Why am I writing this blog?

At 26 years old I have already been a bridesmaid in four weddings and helped out planning and organizing another two, not to mention the countless ones I've attended as a guest. I love weddings and more specifically I love planning them but alas I am not yet engaged.

Until recently I thought I was alone in my obsession to plan my own wedding, down to the nitty gritty details, subscribing to Martha Stewart Weddings (much to the bafflement of my boyfriend...one day babe, one day...) and attending wedding shows but then I decided to go outside of my normal website reads of The Knot and Martha and search through blogs for inspiration and found heaven!

I am not alone! There are others like me. And because I love making lists and researching I am going to use this blog to document my pursuit of the perfect wedding...for me!

Here is an overview of my vision and challenges:

1. I want a beautiful, prairie chic wedding on an affordable budget, currently I'm working with $10,000 but my maximum is $15,000. I refuse to spend more.
2. I have a large family on my mother's side that is very close, so my side of the guest list is AT LEAST 100 but could be as high as 150 and I'm guessing my future fiance's will be about 50. This means cutting the guest list to save money isn't an option, unless I want my family to disown me.
3. I need a venue that can hold my guest list but allow me to stay on budget while still maintaining the prairie chic feel that I want. I haven't been able to find that yet in my area - a prairie province in Canada.
4. Luckily I love DIY and plan to do as much myself as possible.