Expectations vs. Reality

I think I should come forward and share the fact that I am a pisces. And if you follow the zodiac at all, then you know that pisces tend to be dreamers. We live our lives outside of ourselves and instead live in a realm of possibilities. As you can see from my previous posts, I am guilty of living in a fairy tale land on more than one occassion when it comes to my wedding. But there is another facet of wedding planning that I think most brides have to come to terms with: expectations vs. reality.


What do I mean, exactly, when I saw expectations vs. reality? For the sake of this post, I will define expectations as any dream, hope or predetermined idea of how something is supposed to be. And reality is, well- reality. The hard smack in the face bringing you back down to size.

source

It is something I have struggled with a lot during the course of Mr. Yankee and I's engagement and so I feel the need to share with the future brides out there just some of the harsh realities I had to come to terms with. There are the easy ones of course- budget (and everything budget related like the cost of... everything!), fiance participation and the right dress, but here are a few that are particularly dicey:

First- while it is a momentous day to be celebrated and cherished, your wedding is a party. Plain and simple. It's a very expensive party, yes. It's a party that people will fly across the country for, but when it all comes down to it- it is a 4-10 hour event filled with people, food, drink and music. So don't get caught up in what you are giving up for your day. This was actually one of the easiest things for me to embrace. While it would be nice to have custom napkins, a chocolate fountain, sparklers for our send off and unlimited time with our vendors, it is just a party and one day does not a marraige make.

Second- yes, you may have been planning this your whole life (or for 20 months like me), but not everyone is going to want to talk about vendor meetings, do-it-yourself projects and the different shades of color for your tablescapes- shoot, a lot of people won't know what you mean when you say tablescapes. And while it may be incredibly frustrating, remember that just because someone doesn't want to talk about the wedding or give you advice it doesn't mean they care any less about the wedding. This was something that took a lot of getting used to for me. And I am still dealing with it. Because since I have not been dreaming of my wedding since I was a child, I have felt this enormous amount of pressure (self-inflicted, of course) to have the perfect venue, with the perfect menu and perfect color schemes. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. And because it had to be perfect, I needed to talk to people who cared about the "girly" side of wedding planning. And I had to ask them something about the wedding everytime we talked. It got to the point where people saw me and looked like this:

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And third- weddings aren't all candy hearts and puppy dog tails. Inevitably, someone will have their feelings hurt. But the one thing a wedding is about? You and your spouse to be. So while yes, it sucks when someone's feelings are hurt or they are upset over a decision you make, remember it is exactly that- your decision for your wedding. Normally I am a type of person who will say exactly what she is thinking, but stick a ring on my finger and call me engaged and I am a new person. I feel bad for telling people no; or guilty for not liking what someone has suggested or picked out for me.

I had a lot of expectations going into this whole engagement thing and I think that these reality checks have both brought me back down to earth and taught me valuable lessons on what is fair to expect of people. What expectations did you have when you first got engaged? Any harsh reality checks?

Where's Emily Post when you need her?!

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Mr. Yankee and I received our first wedding gift last night. While extremely exciting and giddy-ness enducing, it left us wondering what exactly we were supposed to do. Do we open the gift right away and send a thank you note?! Do we open it right away and send a thank you note after the wedding? Or do we wait until after the wedding to do both?! The only thing I was absolutely sure on was that we were not to actually use the item until after the wedding. So we paced around the large box from Macys... trying to decide whether to tear into the box or place it in our attic until after the wedding. I played like it was 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and started phoning friends. I have some friends who have had weddings recently in their family and would know exactly what to do.... ergh- or so I thought.

"Don't open it. You're supposed to wait until after the wedding and then open everything and send out your thank you cards."

"Open it, but don't use it and send a thank you card after the wedding."

"Open it and send a thank you card within two weeks of opening. But wait until after the wedding to use it."

Those were the three answers I got. Now Mr. Y and I did not want to open the box to check out the loot- we could have checked our registry to find out what we got. Our main concern was sending off a thank you (yes we got your gift) card so that the sender could sleep at night. So Mr. Y and I opted for the third option and opened the box. And ooh! How exciting.... For Mr. Yankee. He got his knife set; of course as soon as he realized it was a knife set he asked when we could use it. Boys- they only listen to a certain point.

personal photo (our first present- yay!)

But this got me thinking about all the other etiquette related things that are bound to come up over the next 8 months. How do we word the invitations? How do we address them? Who dances first- mother and son or father and daughter? Is Mr. Yankee supposed to thank certain people during his toast at the reception? In a certain order? How do we handle monetary gifts given at the wedding?

So many questions dancing around in my head- it might just explode!! How did you handle all the little pieces of etiquette that popped up over your planning? Any advice for peaceful resolutions?

I present to you.. our awesome VENUE!!!

In my last post I shared with you the journey that was our venue search. It was tumultous and draining to say the least, but I believe it paved the way for me to actually appreciate our venue even more. To realize what we found and how to truly love and enjoy it. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Inn Marin:

personal photo

Isn't that tree just beautiful? Gorgeous even. The moment I saw this tree I had all these visions of bridedom sweep over me; suddenly I could see myself and Mr. Y under the tree, exchanging vows in front of family and friends and enjoying the moment. I saw a wonderful cocktail hour by the roman inspired fountain while Mr. Buble crooned those recycled favorites. It felt like this was our venue. And the catering director? Ohmygosh! I'll be the first to admit that I don't deal very often with catering directors or venue managers for all the posh parties I have, but let me just tell you- Inn Marin has one of the best people in the business. Her name is Lora and let me say- she is 50% of the reason we booked. Not once did I feel like we were being "sold" something; or that we weren't worth her time because we were working within a budget. She took her time to give us a tour of the entire venue- rooms, suites, the grounds and the banquet hall. Needless to say I clicked with Lora immediately, but before I got too excited I had to make sure it fit within our budget. So we sat down with Lora after the tour and told her what our expected guest list was and what we were hoping to accomplish (ceremony outdoors, reception indoors, sit down plated dinner, cocktail hour and all around fabulous party) and she smiled and said that she absolutely felt like she could accomplish what we were looking for. She promised to throw together some numbers and shoot me an email by the end of the weekend. Score!

a photo of the court yard where we will be having our cocktail hour. adorable, no?

As soon as we were safely out of ear shot in the car I told Mr. Yankee that this absolutely had to be our venue and that if the price was even somewhat doable we were going to move forward. I felt so valued and understood that I thought no other place could do us justice. Mr. Y agreed saying that he thought it was a good fit and that hopefully the price was right. And oh my goodness, was the price ever right!! When Lora sent us our price quote I nearly fell out of my chair in excitement. You mean we can have a wedding, with a served dinner, drinks, linens and a day of coordinator without breaking the bank?! **SQUEE**

I immediately emailed her in response and proposed marriage.. uh, I mean asked what she needed to proceed with the date. And so after what seemed like a lifetime of venue searching, we found the best spot for us.

How did you find your venue? Did you know right away is was where you were going to get married? Or did you have to warm up to the idea?

Venue search... or how I almost got married in front of Elvis.

Mr. Yankee and I got engaged in December of 2008. We started to browse for venues in January 2009. We found and booked our venue in March of 2009. Two months of searching- no big deal, right?! Wrong! The truth of it is, the venue we picked was the second to last venue we had to look at before booking a trip to Vegas. Mr. Y and I searched from the north end of Santa Rosa to southern most point of the south bay in Gilroy and had come up with a fat zero in terms of venue. These places drove me crazy! They were either too out of the way, too expensive or had too many cookie cutter requirements that would take away from our individual tastes. We got information from over 15 venues- but I will condense our search for you into the top contenders.

Stonetree Golf Club

I fell in love with this place the minute we pulled into the parking lot. It was our third location of the day, but I knew in my heart that this would be our wedding location. It was perfect in every way. Outside patio with hillside views of the sun setting as we say our vows? Check. Banquet hall with stunning views and lots of space? You betcha! A price that was reasonable and within our budget? Uh, hold the phone.

Mr. Yankee and I both absolutely loved this place. We sat in in the foyer and looked at pictures after pictures of events past. But as much as we absolutely loved the golf club, there was no way we could ever afford it on our budget. But not for lack of trying; we sat and thought of everything else we could possibly cut so that we could have our wedding there, but in the end it just wasn't doable.

Oakmont Golf Club

Oakmont was another absolute beauty. It was nestled far into the Santa Rosa hillsides and would make just an absolute gorgeous backdrop. However, Mr. Y and I got lost on our way to look at the venue and figured that if we got lost it would be easy for others to get lost as well. Not to mention that it was a little farther than we were hoping to make guests travel. So it was on to the next locale.

Wedgewood Banquet Center(s)

I really tried to like this place. Really, I did. I had heard from so many friends that Wedgewood was really reasonable when it came to budget and that their service was very good. I even dragged Mr. Yankee to San Ramon to look at another one of their locations. But I just could not get jazzed about this place. Yes, it is an unbelieveable deal, but you are also giving up a lot in the process. To me (and I mean no disrespect to anyone who is thinking of, or has had their wedding here) it was too cookie cutter. They had only certain floral designs, certain cake designs, decor limitations and do not provide a tasting! So the bride and groom are just supposed to pick some random dish and hope it turns out okay?! I don't think so.

These are only a few of the many, many, many locations we scouted for our wedding. And I was getting really upset about not finding a venue and did more than a few inquiries into Las Vegas weddings. However, herecomestheguide saved me and presented me with this great little gem of a location that was right under my nose. And in my next post, I will tell you all about it.

But for the fellow brides out there, how did your venue search go?

**all photos courtesy of herecomestheguide.com**

I dream of... celebrity weddings edition

Celebrity weddings.. How beautiful, romantic and trend setting can you get? They are gorgeous affairs. Renting out 400 year old Italian castles? No sweat. Flying in David Tutera to plan a Phantom of the Opera meets Peter Pan themed bash? Done. Paying for 200 of your closest friends to fly in from all over the world to watch you get married? Easy.

Hollywood weddings are absolutely over the top and incredibly beautiful. The stars can pay for the best in the industry and they make sure their every wish is granted and every desire fulfilled. And why not? It's not as if they are on any kind of budget like us real brides. So here is a few of my favorite celebrity weddings and what I would take from them for my wedding.

Fergie and Josh Duhamel

(appeared originally in US Weekly Magazine, January 2009)

I mean first of all- look at them. They are so ridiculously cute. I am not a huge fan of Fergie, but she looks like such a bride here I can't help myself. And while they had a very large, hollywood enamored wedding, it was still a mystical, enchanting evening. The romantic choice in color (whites, purples and blacks) with little bits of their personality thrown in (the castle cake? I mean come on!) speaks to me whenever I look at the pictures from their wedding. Their estimated cost? One million dollars! And what, you ask, might I steal from their wedding? Fergie's dress. I love my dress, I really do. But that long train that expands for miles? Priceless.

Roselyn Sanchez & Eric Winter

courtesy of instylemagazine.com

I am not even going to show you a picture of the bride because she is just too gorgeous and puts us real brides to shame. As a history major I fell in love with this photo; it's rustic, historic with a flair of dramatic that only old world architecture can do. Her location?? Oh just an old fort in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Guest list? A measely 250 people. And if you haven't guessed it- I would steal her venue. Yup. I could totally be married in Puerto Rico, no?

Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro

source: http://www.celebritybrideguide.com/photos/electra-navarro-278x400.jpg

I realize that they are no longer together (but in Hollywood, how surprising is that?), but the one thing that stood out to me- and I think anyone else who watched their series on Mtv- is how unafraid they were to make their wedding about them. I sometimes feel like celebrities cake on glitz and glam because they can. But with Carmen and Dave's wedding it had a certain feel- a warmth that a lot of Hollywood weddings are missing. And Eden theme? Pulling in parts of a kubrick film? All really interesting, fearless and beautiful moments. So what would I steal from their wedding? It wouldn't be any one thing- I want their fearlessness. I think so many brides get caught up in what would look okay, and who would say what that we forget to have fun and bring our personality into the wedding.

How about the brides out there? What celebrity weddings inspired you?

Oh, photography! How I love thee..

courtesy of theknot.com

Wedding planning is all about compromising and our wedding planning has been no different. I’ve compromised on venue, guest count and budget. The only thing I was not willing to compromise on was our wedding photographer. I allotted for a larger budget for wedding photography because I knew that I wanted the memories. And not just the memories taken from Aunt Sue’s digital camera (that she still hasn’t completely figured out how to use); but the “ohmygosh that was so cute” memories. After the food has been ingested, the cake served and the dances danced, pictures are what will remain to remind us of our first day as a married couple and I wanted to make sure they looked flawless.

So I started my search on photography early. It was actually the second vendor we booked. You would not believe how many talented photographers we have in our great metropolis of Northern California! And I made sure I took in as many different sites and photographers names as I could. I posted facebook status messages looking for recommendations, I asked people at work- everything I could think of to make sure that when I sat down with a photographer that I was prepared to tell him or her what I wanted and did not want. I did not want to rely solely on what the knot suggested I ask a potential photographer.

I know there are adjectives that go with photography (photojournalistic for example), but I will not be bogged down to mere words. Because photography isn’t about words; it’s about capturing the little moments. I wanted to relive my wedding when I looked at my photos. I wanted every photo to tell a story; to have a history. I did not know what style of photography I liked. I just knew there were some photographers whose work made me want to cry and those that were beautiful, but weren’t me.

And so I bookmarked the photographers’ sites that made me tear up and started going through what seemed like the longest lasting task of finding “the one” that I cared about most. Not the dress, but photographer.

What was your one sticking point while wedding planning? Are you a compromising bride? Or a fight for what you want planner?

Inspiration Boards... Photography Edition

So as much as I would absolutely love to be photoshop, flash or even power point savy- it just wasn't in my wedding planning cards. After clicking through all of these blogs for inspiration and noticing that the thing to do was to create "boards" I got both extremely excited and a teeny bit sad. There are two reasons for this:

1. You mean people know how to put pictures together, in a cohesive manner that doesn't look all sorts of 2nd grader collage-like? Pressure!

2. I have to actually decide what my "vision" is for the wedding? Isn't the "theme" of the wedding our love?

And number 2 is where I really started to hyperventalate and get nervous. I mentioned in earlier posts that I am not the bride to end all brides. So not only was I responsible for planning this picturesque wedding, but now I had to come up with a theme? Color palette? And put it in an INSPIRATION BOARD?!?!

help?

I took a step back and decided I would break down all of these little wedding quirks and make them work for me. I have no set vision of our wedding. I'm kind of going with the flow and letting the wedding evolve on its own. But I knew there were certain things that were very important to me and I knew I could probably gather a "so-so" inspiration board to get my point across. And that is where Wedding Wire came in. I tried using the sites that specialize in inspiration boards only, but I found them to be too confusing and frustrating. But Wedding Wire was a one stop shop. I could create my inspiration board and save it right there! Score! I will speak more to Wedding Wires glorious ways in future posts, but first I give you my inspiration board: photography edition!



All photos courtesy of Wedding Wire

I dream of... venue edition

Let's face it: we've all at one point or another come up with some pretty extravagant things for our wedding only to be pulled down to earth and reminded that we don't have a wedding genie and can't make all our wedding wishes come true. But it doesn't mean we can't dream -
and I have spent a fair amount of time doing that. Because thinking of those things that you just know you can't afford sometimes leads you to ideas and things you can afford.

In my previous post I hinted to letting know more about my search for the perfect venue. Before we get to my search, I'll share with you the places I would get married if price were no option. It's really an eclectic mix of places, so enjoy the ride.

Number One: Yankee Stadium


source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl2LkZf6LtbXJY4IY3qX4568bXbjzTO_s2G8cj1Z7iKA8zMCpuuB1Ynjp5FWpI6iMKTXxlyN63hspyfg92vMjsZ_yxXAp0WNOFLjuUdwVvtu0On27psb-20kwo67qLAXiIaiuE1W5HqLM/s400/Joanna+Mike+Wedding+251.jpg

I mean how cool would THAT be? I would have to get married ON the field, of course. Right in between second and third base! I realize that couples aren't allowed to get married on the field (why not?! that would be sooo cool!)- but a girl can dream, right?

Number Two: Disneyland


source: http://disneyfairytales.com/wp-includes/images/disneyland_wedding.jpg

Ahh, to be married in the happiest place on earth! I mean who DOESN'T dream of being married inside the pearly gates of Disneyland? I know- a lot of people- but I think they are all crazy. Picture this: old rolls royce auto's picking up your guests on main street and escorting them to the ceremony location- right in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle! Ohmygosh! But at nearly 35k just for venue and food- not to mention the slight annoyance of having to wait till after the park closes before your ceremony can begin- I deflated myself and got back to Earth. I did get a Disneyland proposal, afterall. And I did figure out a way to bring a little Disney into the wedding- more on that, later.

and last, but certainly not least

Number Three: Hawaii


source: http://www.alohaislandweddings.com/images/aShannon_Lonnie_hawaii_weddings%20001%20(44).jpg

Mr. Y is a big fan of the islands and loves all things beach. And I love that you are pretty much guaranteed beautiful weather no matter the time of year. And I know a lot of people end up choosing Hawaii for their "I Do's" but Mr. Y and I wanted friends and family with us more than we wanted a beautiful beach. Plus living in California means that we have plenty of beautiful beaches just waiting for us to plan a wedding.

What about you? Any 'I Dream of Jeannie' venues pop into your head during your wedding plans?

You mean we have to PAY to get married?

source: http://milkyourmoney.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/budgeting1.jpg

Like so many brand new brides to be, I was excited at the prospect of being engaged. I actually purchased a small notepad while still in Disneyland to jot down ideas, songs and people I really wanted to be at the wedding. However, I soon started to think of the number one sticky subject in every relationship: money.

How are was Mr. Yankee and I going to pay for this? Who was going to be able to contribute? How much were they going to contribute? What strings, if any, were going to be attached to their most generous gift? Can you tell that I am a slight type A personality? So immediately upon returning home, I got to work. I figured out exactly how much Mr. Y and I could contribute every month and let that lead our way. I felt it was a fairly reasonable amount of money- until I started getting price quotes from venues.

In my last post, I shared what I loved best about being in Northern California. Now, I'll share what I hate most: the insane prices! Now I know here in California we enjoy things like beautiful weather, easy access to both snowy mountaintops and gorgeous beaches, but let me tell you- we pay for it! With my initial budget estimates, I was preparing myself for having a wedding here:

source: http://www.thegreenestdollar.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/13campsite-outhouse.gif

Now, I know it isn't where you get married or what you wear, but I draw the line at an outhouse!

So it was back to the drawing board. Obviously, I wasn't going to get my dream locale (more on that later) and I was going to have make some compromises. So I made a list of all the things that I might possibly want at my wedding. It was a dream list, if you will, and included things like having Michael Buble serenade our guests live. And then I put it away and came back a few days later and really stared at the list and crossed off things that I thought were silly (like a chocolate fountain. Although a wonderful idea, especially for a chocolate lover like me, at 400 for two hours plus set up fees it just didn't seem worth the money) and highlighted things that I was not willing to compromise on whatsoever. That list? Provided below:

• Outdoor ceremony space
• Ability to house ceremony/reception on the same premises
• Seated, plated dinner
• Ability to bring in our own alcohol, if necessary

Once I scaled back my wish list, I felt a little more even headed to continue on with the venue search. It was a long and arduous task, but in the end we found a great venue, with a wonderful catering director that fit within our very modest budget.

Any brides out there have to scale back their wedding wish list in order to accomodate their budget?

The beauties of California... and how we came up with 10/10/10

I'm very lucky to live in a beautiful section of California. It is normally referred to as "Wine Country" by those living elsewhere and let me tell you- there is so much more to Northern California than wine. Sure- we have vineyards aplenty, but we also have beautiful mountains, beaches, historic locales and some pretty excellent food. The other great part of living in Northern California? The weather.

We have super excellent weather in these parts. We don't get snow (too often), we have mild winters, beautiful springs, toasty warm summers and absolutely gorgeous falls. On any given day during fall, you can expect to see this:


(Personal Photo)

And so when it came time to decide just when Mr. Yankee and I were going to get married, fall seemed to fit right into place. We knew it would be beautiful- the leaves turning that magnificent yellow, orange and red hue, the sunsets with their bright and bold finales and the weather could be counted on to be nice enough to have at least our ceremony outdoors. And that is how our date came about. We wanted a fall wedding and knew that 10 months would just not be enough to save, plan and execute the wedding so we pushed it to 2010. And as luck would have it, there was a date on a Sunday (which was prefered for me in my line of work) that just happened to be practically perfect in every way: 10-10-10.

There were a couple of reasons we decided 10-10-10. First look at that line up! 10-10-10! I am not much of a believer in numerical destiny but I thought that was a pretty cool date. Another reason we picked 10 to the third power is that due to budget and guest list reasons, it was ideal to have our wedding on a Sunday. Score! And the third perk of our date?! The weekend of October 10th falls on a holiday weekend (for some) which meant that people could come to our wedding and not everyone would be worrying about having to go to work the next day. ::does happy dance::

So now that we knew the date, it was time to find the place. Oh yeah- and figure out the budget. What is the best part of where you live (or getting married)?

Okay, so really... Why the blog?

I promised in my introduction post that I would share the main reason I decided to start this wedding related blog. A couple of months after Mr. Y and I got engaged, I was browsing the internet looking for great wedding inspiration. You see- I was never the girl who dreamed of the perfect venue, the perfect dress or the perfect design- so I was overwhelmed feeling I had a lot of catching up to do. As I clicked through the various sites, magazines and blogs I stumbled across this great little site called Weddingbee. And I fell in love.

Huh, you say?! Well Weddingbee is a source for all brides (and brides to be) to share their stories and discuss the small minute details of wedding planning that none of your friends, no matter how hard they try, can get really excited about. So I spent 3-4 hours browsing through each bee's post, pulling inspiration and stories from these great authors. And then I nearly fell out of my chair! The Bee (as we who frequently stalk the site so sweetly nickname it) accepts applications for new members??!!? Holy dark knight, batman! I love writing- sign me up! And then I read about the application process and was a bit scared. Posting something wedding related 3-4 times a week? Do I even have that much to say?!

And that is where this blog was born. I have been needing an additional outlet for all things wedding for a while now and becoming a potential candidate for Bee'dom was just the necessary push needed to sit down and create this special blog. So here is where I hope to craft my voice, get posts together and figure out if I really do have that much to say about the wedding.

So wait.. We're getting married?

I have been with Mr. Yankee (ha- he would die if he knew I referred to him in that context. He is not as big a fan as I am. Whatevs) for 4 years next week. It's been a great ride. But before meeting Mr. Yankee I was the one member in my female group of friends who was adamant about two things: I was not mother material and I was never. ever. going to get married. ever. ever.

Yes, I needed to add those two ever's for emphasis. You see- I come from a broken home. And not to say that every person who comes from a broken home will be immediately against marriage. But that was my experience. It had a lasting impression on me and my opinion about relationships. I saw the pain my mom went through raising me practically on her own and the hardships- both financial and emotional- she went through during the divorce. And I made a promise to myself that I would not put myself in that situation. I would be independent and live my life and I would either find someone to hang with or I wouldn't. And then I met Mr. Yankee.

Mr. Yankee is everything that I am not- left-brained, casual, easy going, patient, analytical, a gamer, a runner. But somehow we fit. We are two peas in a pod and I do not think I could have found someone who fits me better. And so this is why I was so uncharacteristically happy to be proven wrong on December 7th, 2008 when Mr. Yankee asked me to marry him in my favorite location- Disneyland.

Our engagement story is one that is both funny yet extremely embarrassing for me to share. You see- I had been waiting for Mr. Y to propose for what seemed like forever. At the time he proposed, we had been living together for 2 years and had purchased a home together in August of 2007. I thought the proposal would have come 6-8 months after we purchased our home. But alas, the fates aligned and decided that Ms. Yankee needed to learn a little more patience. Needless to say I was on edge. Silly fates. Anyway... It was our first day of a 4 day Disneyland vacation and Mr. Y and I had just arrived after a long drive from the Bay Area. We decided before committing to any one attraction we would walk around the park and stretch our legs a bit. Mr. Y grabbed our backpack and we took in Sleep Beauty's Castle, walked the length of Fantasyland and finally made our way to New Orleans Square and sought out "our" spot; the benches located right next to the old french fry stand between the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. We sat for a few minutes in perfect silence as we took in the crowd. I was just about to ask Mr. Y if he was ready to take on our first attraction when he asked me what was to be a very leading question.

"Does my honey know how much I love her?"

I thought nothing of this as he usually asks me this question and, thinking I was being ever so clever, quickly responded with, "Yeah, I'll believe it when I see a ring."

I know, I know! So terrible. Utterly wrong. What a way to spoil the mood. But honestly- how was I supposed to know that this would be THE moment Mr. Y decided to propose? Without missing a beat, he responded with, "Well.. Actually, I think I might have something in here for you."

And after nervously digging through our backpack, Mr. Yankee produced a very beautiful box with a very beautiful piece of jewelry inside. As he got down on one knee, half of me was wondering what the heck he was doing while the other half was scolding myself for ruining what was sure to be a perfect engagement moment. And as he asked, on one knee in my favorite place in the whole world, to marry him I was so overcome with happiness and love that I felt like I could fly.

I of course said yes, and walked around Disneyland for the next three days with this look on my face:

and thus, the "wedding planning" begun. I still wonder how I got here. To this place of taking the necessary steps towards marriage. But I do not think I could have chosen a better partner. And hopefully he feels the same way.

New Years Resolution: My Introduction

Hello? ::clears throat::: Is this thing on?

Hi! My name is Ms.Yankee- welcome to my wedding-related blog. While I am not entirely new to the blogosphere, this is my first attempt at actually writing material for others to read and, hopefully find amusement in.

So why a blog specifically designed around one 8 hour event you ask? Well, because this one 8 hour event will have consisted of over 20 months of planning, budgeting, envisioning and organizing and sometimes a girl just needs a release. And my personal blog was becomming just too much wedding, not enough Ms. Yankee. So instead of those cliche new years resolutions of losing weight or trying new things, I decided to come up with an idea that might actually last- start a new blog specifically for the wedding!

I have to admit that I did not come up with this brilliant idea out of the blue. It's all in the hopes of a greater purpose, which I will explain in future posts. But for now let me just say- I am hoping to craft my voice in hopes that I can share my planning process with an even bigger audience.

But for now, I leave you with a hello. How are you? And is there anyone else out there who is trying new things to manage their wedding planning process?