Introductions

HI, EVERYONE!

My name is Lindsay and I am the resident bride-to-be. Just so you have some idea of who’s writing this blog you’re reading, I am a 22 year old recent graduate of the Florida State University. I have a degree in music education and will (hopefully) be a real-life music teacher by the time Fall 2011 rolls around. I love lots of things like theme parks, shopping, watching movies, fashion, reading…the list goes on and on. This blog, though, isn’t really about those things. This blog is about my current, all-encompassing, obsession: my wedding!

Will you marry me?

THE PROPOSAL

Now, I guess to have a wedding you need a groom. Mine’s name is Ryan and he is awesome. He willingly listens to my frequent wedding-related   ramblings and even offers his own opinions sometimes! We met at Florida State and have been together for around 3.5 years. He actually proposed on our 3 and a half year anniversary. I was in Tallahassee for my graduation after a semester-long internship. He gathered up a good sized group of our closest friends from school and had them waiting at a famous fountain on campus singing The Hymn to the Garnet and Gold (a beloved traditional school song). Don’t worry, our friends are all musically inclined so it sounded great! He walked me up to the fountain with my eyes closed, then got on one knee and told me to open them. Then he proposed! After that everyone headed to a classy local bar to celebrate.The whole thing was so sweet and I loved having so many close friends there to witness it!

We're engaged!

WHY WAIT?

So, as someone who has now experience getting engaged, I can tell you what the very first thing everyone will say to you following congratulations is. That would be, “So, when’s the date?!” To which my and Ryan’s responses were “ummmmmmm.” Why anyone asks that question so soon I have no idea. It is one of the very first things you need to figure out about your wedding, though. After talking to my lovely parents and thinking about dates we like we’ve decided on October 25th, 2013. I know, I know. That seems about a million years away. To me especially, trust me! Here’s the reasoning. First of all, October 25th is already our anniversary and it falls at the perfect time of year. It works out that my birthday is October 14th, then our anniversary is October 25th, and then comes Ryan’s birthday on November 19th. It makes for a very fun Fall that leads right into Thanksgiving and the holidays! How could we give that up? Here’s the part I know you’re wondering about, though. Why wait two and a half years?! The main reason is that, as long as I can remember I have dreamed about my wedding and how amazing it would be…and my mom knows that! In order for us to have that most perfect wedding, I have to let my parents save up! We’re both also only 22 so it’s not like we are in any position to be rushing things. We could have only waited two years but we needed to wait a little longer to have the wedding on our perfect anniversary date.

At first the thought of waiting this long before my wedding seemed crazy but when I stopped to really think about it, it made perfect sense. Seeing as I just graduated from college and Ryan will at the end of the Fall, we are in a very transitional period right now which doens’t seem to me to be the best time to plan a wedding. Actually, since Ryan is still in school we aren’t going to even be living together until the beginning of 2012. Now, from my research I know that a normal amount of time to plan a wedding is a year to a year and a half. Sure, there are people who do it in less time but that is totally not me. Here’s a little timeline that shows what will be going on up until about a year and a half before our wedding:

April 2011:
◦THE PROPOSAL!

May – August 2011:
◦I look for and hopefully get my first teaching job.
◦Ryan completes his summer semester at FSU.

August – December 2011:
◦I start and get adjusted to my first job.
◦Ryan finishes last semester and graduates from FSU.

January – April 2011:
◦Ryan and I find an apartment and move in together.
◦Ryan gets a job and I finish out my first year of teaching.

May 2011
◦Exactly a year and a half before our wedding date!

As you can see, we’ve got a lot going on up until we can start planning so this works out perfectly BUT…what am I to do in the meantime?! That’s where this blog comes in. I am the type of person who really enjoys planning things and can’t have some big event coming up in my life without planning it. I keep very detailed planners and love researching and planning for vacations. Seeing as we are still very far out from our wedding date, we can’t really officially plan anything so I am using this time to do extensive research on all thing weddings and get inspiration. Those are the things I will talk about in this blog. Hopefully, if I keep up with it, I can even use this as a reference for when I get to begin officially making plans. We’ll see how it goes!

-Lindsay