An Engagement Story

Well, Hive…

I almost started to talk about wedding ring shopping {!!!} when I realized that I’ve never even talked about my engagement ring…or how we became engaged! So, here it is…

As a preface- you should know that everything was completely perfect.  Really, really perfect 🙂

Ok, moving beyond my gushing. My birthday is on New Years Eve and, since we’re own a home large enough to have several people spend the night, Mr G and I usually host a party of sorts. Additionally, one of my best friends, whom I only see once or twice a year, was planning to be in Ohio for the holiday, but she was in Cincinnati, not Columbus, so I planned to drive to Cinci on the morning of the 30^th to see her, then come back to Cbus for a NYE party. Mr G knows that I get a little salty when all of the holidays take over and my birthday gets pushed to the side, {not in an awful way, just a little hurt} so he suggested that we do birthday dinner the 29^th.  We made that plan on Christmas Eve, and I sort of forgot about it.

On the 29^th, Mr G was at home and I was at work. My sister called to ask what we were up to that night and I invited her to go out to dinner, since I was sure that Mr G hadn’t made any crazy birthday plans. She politely declined, and I started to plan my birthday dinner- I was thinking PF Changs. When I got home, though, the house smelled amaaaazing. Mr G told me he had decided to make birthday dinner, and told me to go change out of my work clothes. I suspected absolutely nothing- he’s a pretty good cook, even though he cooks so rarely, and I thought it was sweet.

This was our meal. He made two pasta dishes, chicken parmesan, an epic caprese salad, some bread, chocolate covered strawberries- it was a really impressive spread. Still, I suspected nothing. Mr G asked if I wanted to open my birthday present before or after dinner, and I chose after- I love surprises, and I let myself build a little suspense- Mr G is a pretty amazing gift giver. Still, I suspected nothing.

I ate my dinner, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over everthing- it was delicious- while Mr G cut his food up and pushed it around the plate. After about ten minutes, he asked again if I wanted to open my present, and I agreed, since he was so insistent. Still, I suspected nothing. I opened the nicely wrapped box and found this coach wristlet- so cute!

I admired the wristlet, and set it aside to continue eating. Mr G asked if I wanted to look inside the wristlet and, Hive- I honest-to-God thought that there was a TJ Maxx or Starbucks giftcard tucked inside. I never, ever suspected a ring. I found it, and just sat with it in my hands staring for a second and, when I looked up, there was Mr G all on one knee saying all the proposal things. So. Much. Excitement!!

Afterward, Mr G told me so many other things that made it even better. To start with, how Mr G bought the ring. We had talked about rings, as various friends got engaged, but that was it. So, without consulting any of my friends, moms or sisters {each of whom I had discussed all preferences with!} Mr G happened into a jewelry store as he was Christmas shopping, saw a ring that he liked, and bought it- like a boss 🙂

He had also told every single person in our families and some close friends that he was planning to propose that night, so they didn’t mess it up and not a single person leaked any of the details! {My sister said that she nearly died every time I called or texted her that day.} Also, Mr G said that since he was so nervous, he just kept cooking things all day, until I came home- that was why we ended up with such an expansive meal!

So, sorry for the wordy post, but that was my proposal, and how we began our engagement 🙂 How was everyone else’s proposal- anyone else completely surprised by it? I feel like a lot of people have an idea what’s happening before there is a ring in front of them- did you?

***all photos are personal

A non-wedding weekend

Guys…I’ve hit a wall. A wedding planning wall. As in, I haven’t made any progress on wedding things for, oh, about two weeks. I think that’s ok, though. I really anticipate about two walls in my planning: this one, where all the decisions have been made, and it’s just a little too far out to work on the details of everything, and the one that you hit when you’re between a month to two weeks out and you are so over whelmed that you just want to call it quits and elope {or so I’ve heard}.

So, rather than stress myself out for being in a wedding rut, we’ll talk about something off topic- Pelotonia. This last weekend, the Mister and I, along with one of my sisters and my future mother in law, participated in a bike ride called Pelotonia. The basic idea is that every person who signs up to ride {there were over 6,000 riders this year} commits to raising money that goes directly, and I mean directly, to cancer research at Ohio State’s cancer hospital. The slogan for the event {One Goal: End Cancer} really says it all- even if you’ve never been directly affected by cancer, it’s everyone’s responsibility to work to end it.

All four of us, all in flattering spandex 🙂

I work at the hospital, so signed up at the beginning of the year. As part of our new, healthier lifestyle, Mr G decided to join me and signed up shortly thereafter {neverminding the fact that neither of us had ridden a bike in so.many.years}. Mr G’s mom, who has been bike riding for a few years, decided that she wanted to join us and, after volunteering at a pre-ride event, Shannon signed up for the ride just a week in advance.

Last weekend the four of us, along with some amazing supporters, got up at 5:30, donned an alarming amount of spandex and set out for downtown Columbus to begin our ride. Guys, I have to tell you- this event was really, really amazing to be a part of. First of all, gathering with several thousand other people who are all committed to a cause is really inspiring. Really inspiring, though, were the riders whose jerseys were marked ‘Survivor’, as in, they were cancer survivors. Or the riders who had photos of the people they were riding for. Or even the people on the sidelines {and there were people along the sidelines of the entire ride} who were holding posters and shouting their support to us, as we were riding. I know that there are so many charitable causes that people support, but just realizing that cancer is something that affects every person in a community…it was really special, to be working for a cause.

Look at this stud…I get to marry him!

This post is getting incredibly long winded, so I’ll leave you with this photo- it’s Mr G and I, after we finished our portion of the ride {why no, we didn’t make it the entire 18o miles 🙂 }. I think Mr G was pretty concerned that I wouldn’t be able to finish, since I’m not particularly athletic, but he encouraged me the entire way and stuck with me  {although I definitely wouldn’t have made it if Shannon hadn’t been there} and I was so proud of us when we finished.

A little exhausted, but pretty thrilled to have accomplished our goal!

So, that was my weekend. Did you guys do anything interesting last weekend?

Accessorizing My Look

Guys, lets be real here: I definitely can’t hold out on you until the wedding. Let’s just take a little peek at my dress, shall we?

Oh my gah, I love this dress! {personal photo}

And the train…its ruffled and awesome! {personal photo}

Ahh! I cannot believe how much I love it! Some real talk, though…it is definitely from the Mori Lee Julietta line. That is, their ‘women’s’ line. As in, am I really too big for regular sizing so they had to put me in women’s sizing, rather than standard bridal sizing?

Ok, I know that I’m not a bridal size six- or a street size six, for that matter. But I’ve never considered myself to be a plus-sized girl, either- not that that’s a bad thing! But when the bridal people started bringing over the plus sized dresses, it was really, really disheartening. On the other hand, it was also kind of nice to have someone clipping the dress in the back, rather than hearing, “it’s not going to zip- I’ll hold it up for you”. Also, having a dress that actually made reasonable accommodations for my lady lumps…well, that was pretty nice, too. So, for a while I was hard core dwelling on the fact that my dress comes from the women’s equivalent of the ‘husky’ section, but I really have embraced a more ‘F that, my dress is beautiful and fits‘ state of mind.

Moving on…the reason that I caved and posted a dress pic is because I’m addicted to my dress and feel compelled to share with the world I need to figure out my bridal look. Firstly, veil- cathedral or no? I didn’t really have any thoughts either way, so the bridal lady put me in the most dramatic veil possible, and…I’m kind of loving it. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the veil kind of covers up what I have going on in the back, which isn’t really untrue. So…any suggestions? {On that note- where are we on blushers? Yes? No? Kate Middleton brought it back, so we can all do it again?}

Next up, jewelry. I’m pretty sold on the idea of a bracelet, ideally a sparkly bangle.

Source

Beyond that, I’m not sure what else…earrings? A necklace? Both? I don’t want things to be too busy {re: gaudy} so I’m not really sure what to do about that situation. Let’s take another look at my dress, to brainstorm ideas 🙂

How cute was my mom when we were dress shopping? Real cute 🙂

Any suggestions, hive?

Some guest list backlash…

So, I already mentioned that our guess list was a little subjective in its creation- we have a limited space and seemingly unlimited people who could be invited. Rather than inviting people who seemed like obligations, because of the way we were connected to them, McGlovin and I chose to really focus on filling our 120 seats with people who we wanted to be there, and people who really would want to be there. I know full well that the tradition in my family is to invite everyone you’re related to but, frankly, why the hell should I have to invite people to my wedding who aren’t important to me? Well, I decided not to- and that’s where the trouble arises.

In the four years that we’ve been dating, McGlovin has attended a fair number of family events with me- in fact, I don’t think he’s missed any, so we have attended exactly the same number of extended family gatherings. If, in those four years, there are family members who we haven’t talked to, or family members who have done nothing but make negative impressions on us- why would we invite them to celebrate our wedding with us? {Please keep in mind that McGlovin is one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met, and has limitless capacity for making polite conversation with strangers, so- it’s not like he wouldn’t be friendly to my family if given the opportunity}. I don’t have a particularly close extended family, so…I mean, why do people just sort of think that, since they’re related, they are entitled to an invitation to one of the most important days of our lives?

There doesn’t need to be a solution to this- I just needed to vent. My parents completely support our decisions, and continue to suggest that if people are offended that their children, grandchildren, etc  were not invited, that they are more than welcome to take it up with us- and I wish they would! Because then maybe I could ask why the hell they are so rude to demand that we invite other people to our personal event? I just wish that my poor mom weren’t caught in the middle of this drama 😦

I know that you must have some similar situations- what are you guys doing to ensure that your guest lists are full of the people that you love?

Flowers- courtesy of the grocery?

So, flowers, the bane of my existence. It’s a bad situation because I don’t have any definitative opinions, and therefore am incapable of committing to anything. So.

My sister came with me to talk to a florist about two weeks ago, which was necessary so I didn’t get distracted or flustered, and it was really only partially effective. I couldn’t give an exact picture of what I was looking for, all I knew was that I didn’t want several of the flowers the florist suggested. I was clearly a less-than-helpful bride.

And then the quote came, and it’s so much more than I have budgeted and wanted to spend which, of course, makes me resent flowers even more, because I truly detest spending big chunks of the budget on things which I’m just not passionate about, but still need to have to appease everyone else.  Shannon, one of my sisters and bridesladies, suggested that we carry puppies instead of flowers, and I don’t know if that’s such a bad idea 🙂

Adorable image via William Innes Photography

Getting that quote really got me thinking, though. There have been a few times where a few hundred dollars here or there just weren’t important enough for me to argue or rethink my plan, but flowers really are a place where I don’t want to spend alot of money. So, here’s my thought process:

All I need for flowers are: bridal bouquet, 6 bm bouquets, 3 mom flowers and 3 dad flowers {McGlovin has a remarried family}. We’re doing pocket squares for the groomsmen, so they don’t need flowers. Do grandparents need flowers? If yes, that really only adds 3 coursages and 1 boutonniere. We don’t need ceremony flowers or centerpieces {the Cathedral is amazing in it’s own right, and will be already decorated from the holidays, and we’re passing food, so I don’t want centerpieces to get in the way}. So, I mean, altogether that’s not very many flowers, so we should really be able to do them for much, MUCH less that a grand.

Enter Sams Club. They sell wedding packs, which include varying numbers of bouquets, coursages, etc. and they are cheap! And, I checked the boards and Googled some reviews, and they’re mostly really good. Here are a few options:

Photo courtesy of Sams Club

Photo courtesy of Sams Club

Now, I know that Sams Club/Costco/Walmart isn’t usually the first vendor that comes to mind when planning a classy wedding, but…there really doesn’t seem to be any reason to be snobby here, when I don’t really care about the flowers. So, what do you think- is it crazy to go this route, or would you consider it if you were in my place?