Barrage of Bridal Magazines

My friend Bev just got married in May, and before Kyle and I were even engaged she had gifted me with the leftover magazines to browse through to get ideas. I kept them in the trunk of my car until we actually got engaged so that I didn't jinx myself by getting too excited for a wedding that was still very far off. When I told people I was engaged, they encouraged me to get some magazines and enjoy "shopping" for all the details.

Alright ladies, here is the reality. I have the magazines. I successfully read 2 cover to cover. I browsed through a half dozen more, just looking at pictures. I spent $30 buying a Do It Yourself wedding guide and a guide to venues in Colorado. And now, they sit, on the floor of the living room, waiting for a scorpion to make them home, and collecting dust, next to Kyle's acoustic and untouched guitar and our old Playstation 2.

The REALITY is that I can'[t afford a single thing in them! The REALITY is that they ALL say the same thing. The REALITY is that I am overwhelmed trying to get ideas from contradicting voices of various "experts" who for some reason still believe that average, everyday brides register for Bone China. I just want some golf balls and a slow cooker!

So, I must admit to being disappointed in my bridal magazine exploration. Maybe when I finally have some more free time I'll be excited to look through them some more and actually make a wedding binder, but with Pinterest, the online shopping is just so much more convenient.

Celebrating Part I

When you have been dating for over 6 years, I believe that your family and friends are even MORE impatient than you are when it comes to waiting for the engagement. Therefore, it was no surprise that within hours of landing in Phoenix we had a week of dinner dates and happy hours booked. If you want to boost your self-esteem, get engaged and wait until everyone wants to look at you. (Ok, maybe just your ring, and the pictures of your engagement if you are fortunate enough to have it documented, but you still reap the benefits).  However, contradictory to the wedding “plan” of trying to lose weight, the first week made it nearly impossible to be healthy with the inundation of food and drink. Don’t worry, it dies down.

The coolest part of my first week was that my mom was in town, so  I got to share in the exhaustive celebration with her, and my dad also got to meet me in the airport for a margarita, so my parents were really the first people to see me when I was newly engaged and still beaming. (Don’t get me wrong, I am still smiling, just intermittently between tears and anxiety).

Overall, beginning to think of planning a wedding you've been looking forward to for 6 years, and seriously planning for over a year, is completely overwhelming. Where do you start? Well, my friend Bev who just got married handed me about a year's worth of bridal magazines to start with. But if I open one I get through about 25 pages before that, too, is overwhelming. 

So, needless to say, the beginning of this engagement feels crazy overwhelming, but at the same time I couldn't be more in love and more excited at the prospect of moving on with my life and starting my own family!