As requested by lyonsgirl

My SO and I got engaged on March 22nd, 2013 in Disneyworld. It was amazing I can't wait to marry my best friend. So now I have to start the wedding planning!

We have chosen a date (sort of). I graduate on May 3rd of 2014 so we will be closing the distance on May 4th We have to talk to the church and potential reception venues but we are hoping for either May 17 or May 24. Ideally it would be the 17th but it may be worth it to wait until the 24th in case there are some last minute details that need to be attended to.

My parents will be paying for the wedding. My mom's parents paid for her wedding so they want to pay for mine. Our budget is not large considering the area we live in but it is larger than my SO and I could afford. We will have to be pretty creative and not have it at a fancy venue but that is totally fine - we're not fancy people and thankfully have creative friends! I have to become more crafty though - these DIY projects seem difficult.

So the next step was to figure out our guest list. Since we are on a budget, we wanted to keep it at a reasonable amount of people. But my SO comes from a rather large family so that proved to be pretty difficult. I was really worried about how we would be able to pay to feed all of his family members. We actually had a miscommunication over this that made him think I didn't want his family there - but I do! It was just a misunderstanding. After sorting that out, we finally came up with a guest list of about 100 people. My parents are happy with that amount (which is good since they are paying) and we are very happy.

The most important part of the wedding for my SO and I is, of course, the ceremony. We did have a little dispute over the church. He wanted it to be his childhood church (which is also the church where we had our first date). Unfortunately, his childhood church is wayyy too far from any venues within our price range. Plus we want to include my handicapped brother in the ceremony. He would probably have an anxiety attack if he was asked to participate in a church where he did not feel comfortable. So we ultimately decided on having the wedding at my childhood church, which is also my parents' current church. I feel bad for my SO since I know he really wanted it to be at his childhood church but unfortunately this was the only way to do it. He can win the next dispute! Haha.

We will be meeting with the priest in May when I go to NJ for the summer so we can start our premarital preparation. My SO and I are both Catholic. The Catholic Church requires a certain amount of premarital counseling before you can marry. Our church requires that we contact them one year from when we want to get married so we can get our counseling in and plan the ceremony. I am actually really excited for this part. Hopefully we will get to have a full Mass!

I'm sorry this blog is so boring. The really fun wedding stuff probably won't begin until I go back to NJ! I can't wait to start looking for my dress!