1. Thank you again for all the comments. I started tearing up when I read all of them. Call me sentimental, but each of you “strangers” feel like such dear friends to me. :)
2. I promise not to turn this into a wedding blog. However, I make no such promise that you won’t be sick of hearing about my wedding. Sorry, but weddings and money just can’t get rid of each other and I intend to blog about the costs to keep myself accountable.
3. This week I learned that an engaged girl is a fiancée but an engaged boy is a fiancé. I wonder why we don’t have an English name for engaged folk?
4. In just one week, J and I have decided the date, the venue, the time, the entire wedding party, the flowers, the theme, the wedding favor, the photographer, and the honeymoon. The only thing tripping me up are the colors. Pink and green? Green and yellow? Pink and yellow? Green and blue?
5. I mayyyy have subscribed to too many wedding blogs in my Google Reader. It seems every hour there is a new post that steals my attention and I get a new idea. I think I have to cut back.
6. So far, in case you are curious, my favorite wedding blogs are: Style Me Pretty, Southern Wedding Magazine Blog, Once Wed, My DIY Wedding Day, Green Wedding Shoes, and 100 Layer Cake. If you have a favorite, please share!
7. My budget has increased just slightly from the original $5-$8,000 budget I had planned. Don’t alert the budget police, I’ll explain it all later. I just had to give you all a bit of a warning.
8. My roommate got engaged the day after I did and it’s fabulous. Our weddings are completely opposite so there is nothing but helpful hints and zero competition.
9. However, she’s getting married in January so I’ll need to find a place to live by myself in January before J and I get married. Tiny little kink in the budget plans.
10. I’ve heard it said that being married is better than dating, but that dating is better than being engaged because engagements are the worst. Is that true for any of you? So far, however, the engagement been great. In fact, the other night we were eating dinner and J said, “So I was on The Knot earlier today…” and I just couldn’t help laughing. I never thought I would hear that out of his mouth! But he’s quite the helper and I’m thankful to have a teammate who cares about the day as much as I do.
I’m excited to hear about all the wedding stuff! My blog became wedding central for a month while I was planning, and I’m glad I did it. I don’t keep journals, so now I can read through those posts and remember the details of planning a wedding!
Re: 10. Being married IS better than dating. And out of the three, engagements are the worst. They’re not bad between you and your beloved, but the constant questions are frustrating. When is the date? Where are you going to live? Are you buying a house? When are you having kids? You just want to scream, “Shut up and let me enjoy the moment a little here!!!”
The PLANNING during the engagement was super fun. I feel like I learned a lot about D just through planning our wedding. But it kind of consumes your relationship, you know? So dating and being married are more fun because during those stages it’s all about the two of you instead of being about you, him and this giant wedding! :)
I liked that we were planning to get married, but all in all, the engagement was less fun than dating and married.
Blogs – I love A Practical Wedding, but it’s a little less wedding-y lately and more discussion. That was the only one I read throughout my engagement, because “real” wedding blogs just made me feel inferior ;) since I was in no way willing to put in so much time/effort to many things
Like Red said, you always have to answer questions. From strangers! I also was not a huge fan of planning. Even though we tried to keep it simple, it was time consuming and stressful to me, since I am not exactly a “wedding girl”. So in my opinion (which is def not shared by all) planning the wedding itself was a huge pain in the butt!
The best feeling is the morning of the wedding. First of all, you are free. No more wedding planning, EVER. Second of all, the day was really really great. Really. But you know that part!
.And after of course. Life is back to good and fabulous, and I”m no longer spewing money!
Even though I’m single, I like browsing wedding blogs occasionally (second SP’s rec of A Practical Wedding) and LOVE reading about wedding planning/budgeting/etc on personal finance blogs! :)
Good luck & ENJOY!!
http://www.theloveliestday.com/ is an amazing wedding blog.
It is okay if your blog turns to wedding central. I am curious what goes through people heads during wedding planning and merging of finances.
Congrats again on your engagement!
Throw in another vote for Practical Wedding, and I would definitely suggest Weddingbee!
Another vote for A Practical Wedding, which I will continue reading after I get married. Also Offbeat Bride is great, if you’re looking for creative anything. Wedding Bee has lots of different personalities, some of which drive me up the wall, but overall I like it. I also love Souris Marriage and The Broke Ass Bride.
Congrats on your engagement! For help deciding on your colors try The Perfect Palette. Scroll down on and on the left side you’ll see links to different inspiration boards that will help you picture what your wedding will look like with each of your different color combinations.
http://theperfectpalette.blogspot.com/
Take Care!
SB
I think most of us will love to read about your journey from engaged to married. I love TheKnot.com, but reading the message boards drove me crazy after a while! The engagement/planning part can be stressful at times, but just remember that it’s your and J’s wedding — you do whatever makes your hearts happy!
I second both Offbeat Bride and A Practical Wedding. Love them both!
I love weddings: getting married, planning weddings, going to weddings, dancing at weddings! They are the best! It will be fun to follow you so (I) we can live through your experience vicariously. I know my husband will appreciate it – it helps dampen my urge to go out and get married for the heck of it because……I LOVE WEDDINGS!
So far I’ve found being engaged to be awesome! Like you guys we figured out almost all the wedding details within the first week.
I love wedding blogs too. I agree with the above commenters about Offbeat Bride (some ideas/wedding there are too out there but still have good save money tips) and A Practical Wedding.
MPP, I just got engaged too! On Sunday. So I am on day #2 and just now adjusting to being engaged..holy crap.
Anyway, even before I used to LOVE A Practical Wedding. It’s fantastic.
Congratulations!!
Being married is absolutely amazing. I tell you sometimes I have the dreams although they’re more like nightmares where for some reason my husband and I aren’t together, not that we’ve divorced but that we aren’t together and I’m so upset because I have to go through everything again!
If you get along as well as we do, being married is no different for us than dating was, except well the consummation of our marriage. :)
Best Wishes!
Jessica
Well, fiancé/fiancée is just the masculine/feminie forms of the word. But yes, it’s a bit weird that we don’t have our own word! Perhaps it’s because being in love & getting married just makes us want to speak French!
I felt exactly the same being married vs. being engaged vs. just dating. I think I’m the only person who has ever felt that way, though!
&&& I had to stop reading wedding blog because I’d get caught up in too many details. Chad got into it for a while though – he’d always watch the wedding shoes on the Women’s Entertainment channel!
I realized that I haven’t said congrats to you, yet….So, CONGRATULATIONS! I had a feeling this would be coming sooner or later and I can’t tell you how happy I am for you.
I’ve found the whole experience – dating, being engaged, and now, married – a wonderful adventure. I’ve enjoyed different elements of each. Have fun being engaged, you’ve got your entire life to be married. Use it as a time to prepare for the next big part in your life.
I can’t wait to hear more about it all, and please ask me any questions you may have, I’ve got tons of money saving and DIY tips.
Again, congratulations lady!
I’m late to the game, but my alibi was I was out of the country…so (a belated) CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!! :D I’m sooo happy for you! Can’t wait to read all about your journey toward, down, and after the aisle. *hugs!*
Yes, Offbeat Bride!!
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