Okay, so we courthoused it almost two months ago -- which worked out impeccably well because it's the least stressful and anxiety-inducing -- but we still want to celebrate with our friends and families (no one was there when we got married except our parents). We were actually going to keep it a secret and then have a big wedding next year but we have big mouths (especially Rob geez!) and I'm still so busy with school, there's no way I'd be able to do all the planning in time, like booking a venue a year in advance. Plus, the money thing. We don't have any and we don't want to put ourselves in a crapload of debt for one day ($5K was our budget and that's a crapload). The little planning I did was really fun, though, so I think what we're going to do is have a vow renewal when we get a house with a yard big enough to fit a bunch of people. Ideally, that would be our first house. ;)

So that's that. We're married now.





It's really fun!

In the last two months, our plans have changed.
1) Rob got a new job, one that is more secure
2) I get to keep my job at Oldfields but it'll be full-time next school year
3) We're moving to Oldfields so we don't need to buy a house just yet
4) I'm looking into getting married at Oldfields. It's absolutely beautiful and there are a ton of places on the grounds that would work perfectly. Our pictures would be amazing.

If we can get married at Oldfields, we'll most likely be getting married in June 2009 rather than September or October 2009. June (hopefully) won't be as hot as July or August and Christmas break is kind of out of the question.

It would be nice to get married in a place where I feel comfortable and one which will actually mean something to us. Rob talked about that in the beginning (getting married someplace that means something to us) but I kind of brushed it off because I didn't know of any place that meant anything to us both where we could get married. Plus, I didn't think I'd still have my job there, let alone live there. But it's so gorgeous, I've sort of fantasized about it since I started there.

This is still very tenuous because I haven't asked anybody yet if we can actually do it although I know people have gotten married there before (I think two employees' daughters have). I'm still weighing our options.

The cafe can still cater (if they're around -- the owner is trying to move away) and that will be easier and more delicious than most other places. The longer I work there, the more I realize how crappy the food is everwhere else. No one else really puts that amount of care into the food they make. And it's all so fresh and pure. I'm thinking if we do it in june, we can have light, kind of picnic-y food, like iced tea and finger sandwiches. And cake of course.

I wish some of J. Crew's wedding dresses weren't so expensive. They ain't all that but some (mostly from previous years) are really cute.

I hope I can actually find a dress I like because sooo many are sooo ugly. I haven't had time to go to any shops yet so I don't even know if something I would like actually exists.

I finally got my real engagement ring! It's platinum and the diamond is in a bezel setting. I love it; I don't have to turn it around to get something out of my pocket like I did with the loaner ring and it's so cute, it's like a little button.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a decent picture of your own hand? It doesn't even look like a hand close-up.
I wish you could see how sparkly the diamond is.


This gives you a better idea of the setting:


We also got our wedding bands. They're engraved with "True till death." Sometimes I catch Rob trying his on. His is a size 12! Mine fits completely inside of his.
What's funny about this is you can see the reflection of my hands holding the camera in his ring. These are both platinum, too.


Oh yeah, Rob's sister is getting married so now we have to invite him. I'm happy for her, but he's not.

Wedding planning has sadly been put on hold because the two weeks or so that I dove in head-first, I didn't do any homework haha. I can't do that again for a while because I can't afford to lose my fellowship. I haven't completely neglected planning; I'm still constantly thinking about it what I want to do and how I want it to be.
Actually, I'm getting hypnotized later this week to overcome my anxiety so my first order of business will be taken care of.

One of the teachers at my work gave me some books on how to do weddings for under $5k and I'm so grateful. It's really sweet that she did that and I hope that once our wedding is over, I can pass on the legacy of how to do inexpensive weddings to one of my dear friends who has to work within a tight budget. Maybe there are some tips on how to do it without much stress, too? I'm afraid that at the first stressful decision, I'm going to be like, "This is bullshit. To the courthouse." I'm sure Rob and my mom won't let me.

I got a new job at Monkton Village Market, a vegetarian cafe, they cater and their food is really good. We make wraps, sandwiches, and interesting and delicious dishes. I'm going to dupe my family into not eating meat for one day.

Rob and I are working on finding new and better jobs to make money and eventually be able to afford a house, which is taking precedence over planning our wedding. The way we figure it, we're going to be married forever so we don't necessarily have to rush the formalities. We also want to have a house first because 1) we don't want to be a married couple living at our respective parents' houses and we don't want to throw away money renting a place and 2) we can put things we need for our house on our registry. It would be ideal if we could find a little house on an acre or two and have our wedding at our house. We and our guests would probably feel most comfortable doing that. We actually found a house that would be nearly perfect if it wouldn't take so much work to make it liveable. If it were less expensive and needed work, we'd be all over that. But it's expensive AND needs a lot of work so we can't do it. I bet it's totally haunted, though, which is a big selling point for me.

Our rings (our bands and my permanent engagement ring) are still being made. I feel like it's taking forever but it's probably a good thing because I didn't want to pay for Rob's ring with a credit card and this gives me a chance to save some before it's ready. I asked Rob to call the jeweler today but he probably didn't have had time. He's trying to quit smoking so all his time is focused on not smoking haha poor guy.

I'm really rambling when I should be working on my finals. It's just that thinking about getting married and buying a house (and having babies -- I didn't mention that) is way more fun than building decomposition and data flow diagrams, analyzing info services in my organization, and answering questions for the IPL.

I know it's still far away, but I think I want to get our cake at Grauls. We're thinking about carrot cake and their carrot cake has won awards. It doesn't have to be fancy, just a white/cream-colored cake, maybe with kind of a rough surface.

Since I've started working at Oldfields, every time we've had cake for whatever reason (baby shower, teams making state championships, various celerations), it's been from Grauls. And every cake has been nothing short of amazing.

I got Real Simple Weddings. God, I love Real Simple.

I'm finally getting my resized loaner ring back today and the guy wants me to wear it for a week and let him know if that's the exact size I want my engagement ring and wedding band to be. I'm pretty sure I'll know by tomorrow. Actually, I'm pretty sure I'll know after the first time I wash my hands and slather them with moisturizer.

We're also getting our wedding bands soon after I get my engagement ring to get that out of the way. We're going to keep them in a safe and I can guarantee I'll sneak in it more than once and try on my ring and pretend to be married.

Rob is so cute. I asked him if he wanted to help me pick out some stuff for the wedding and he starts looking at bridal grails and steins. He found some really awesome pewter grails that we can use for our toasts and then keep forever. So I guess his job is to pick out grails.

Ugh I want to post so much stuff on here but I want there to be surprises in our wedding. I've been cracking myself up trying to come up with songs that would be appropriate for us during different parts of the wedding. Without giving away too much, here's a sneak preview:

For cake cutting, either


or



I'll get Rob's opinion when he wakes up haha.

The more wedding stuff I look at and the more people I talk to, the more I realize that we aren't a typical couple and I'm far from a typical bride. We're really low-maintenance but we're sort of picky. I have a feeling we could make anything cool and we can have a really pretty wedding for not that much money. The main problem will be finding a venue. Oh, and finding a dress because pretty much everything I see either isn't my style, wouldn't look right on me, or I just don't like it. I already know what shoes I want to wear.

I told my boss how expensive this one place is that I think is really cute (www.sladesinn.com) and she picked up the phone to see what the price includes. The verdict is that it includes nothing. Which is cool. We will definitely find something better. I like when I mention something and someone jumps on it and picks up the phone, especially because I'm a stuttering mess on the phone usually.

I'm a little nervous about when my aunt steps in because she's had three weddings of her own and apparently none of them were perfect so I'm afraid she'll try to make my wedding her dream wedding. She's already telling me to have it in a place that costs 50 grand.

Also, I'm not going to let anybody talk me into having a ton of alcohol at our wedding. Neither of us drink and since my matron of honor and Rob's best man tend to overindulge, I don't want embarrassing toasts or fights between spouses. I think champagne and wine and sparkling cider.

I just want it simple and cute.

This is my ring. The band is a loaner (it's white gold and mine will be platinum) because Rob designed two of them but wasn't sure if I would like either of them so we're going to make an appointment and I'm going to get to pick out my own. The diamond is mine, though, so it'll just be switched to the other ring! So here it is!