Picking a Date=Complications!

Picking a wedding date should not be so difficult. But so far, it has been the main source of heartache and headaches.

The one thing Ohio and I want most at our wedding is to have our families there with us. Neither of us wants to get married without them there.

The problem is that I have two brothers who are both in the military. This means we have to plan a wedding around when they will probably be deployed.

One of my brothers will be deployed until August, which means we can plan a late summer or early fall wedding and HOPE that he returns back to the states in time. But, you never really know when a deployment is going to end. My other brother is not currently scheduled for deployment, but that could change at any time.

So basically, I am planning a wedding that my brothers might not be able to attend. Not having my brothers at my wedding will totally break my heart.

The other complication is that Ohio's family lives in Ohio and will need to take time off of work to come to our west coast wedding. Since FMIL (Future-Mother-In-Law) is a teacher, having our wedding during the time that my brothers are most likely to not be deployed means they will only be able take a few days off for the wedding. Ohio and I had been hoping they could make a longer trip so our families could spend more time with each other.

Why not just wait and get married in the spring or summer of 2011? Among other things, starting next year I can expect that at least one of my brothers will be deployed pretty much every month of the year- meaning we need to get married sooner rather than later.

How did you deal with the complications of picking a wedding date?

Saying Yes...Finally!

So, after a few weeks of waiting for a proposal I was wondering what the heck was going on. But then I realized that my birthday was coming up- and I thought maybe Ohio was waiting to propose on my birthday.

So, my birthday arrives and Ohio takes me out to our favorite breakfast place. Good start to a birthday- and a great thing to do on the day you plan to propose! So far, I was thinking an official proposal was hours away and I was getting excited!

After breakfast, Ohio and I went to his apartment and he surprises me with presents.

Really nice and expensive presents. But not romantic presents.

This wasn't a good sign of a imminent proposal- why would Ohio buy me expensive (and very practicle & unromantic) presents when he was about to propose? I was confused!



Then Ohio said he wanted to take me to our favorite ice cream place for birthday ice cream cones. Now I was really wondering what was going on. I was having a fabulous birthday, but all signs were pointing to no birthday proposal.

Ohio had planned for us to go out to a birthday dinner and wanted to surprise me with the location. Since I knew he would not be proposing to be at a restaurant (as mentioned before I had made it clear that I did not want a public proposal) I decided I should just relax as a birthday proposal was not happening.

Being the sweet guy that he is, Ohio surprised me by taking me out to dinner at the place we had our first date. Its a really cute Mexican restaurant with amazing food. We had a great dinner and ate way too much. I mean, who can resist the chips and salsa?? We left dinner and I remember feeling so happy (and bloated).



Then we went back to Ohio's place, and he said he had one more present for me. He led me into the backroom, which was covered in vases full of flowers and candles were lit everywhere. Ohio got down on one knee and said some sweet things and asked me to marry him.

Of course I said yes!

My favorite moment of the proposal: Ohio was so full from dinner that he groaned getting up off his knee and said "I know this is supposed to be a really romantic moment, but I am so full!".

It was so funny and cute and I laugh every time I think about it.

I wonder how many guys are able to pull off a surprise proposal? Anyone else have something funny happen during the proposal that still makes them laugh?

Proposal Backstory

When Ohio proposed I can't say I was surprised. After all, we had been seriously discussing marriage for months.

We had both talked about the idea of getting married openly with our families. Ohio and I even talked about the proposal itself- specifically that I did not want to be proposed to in public. (The idea of being proposed to in front of a stadium of sports fans or in the middle of a restaurant terrifies me!).

We looked at engagement rings together, talked about what kind of wedding we wanted...we both knew we were heading in the direction of becoming engaged and just wanted to be on the same page with each other.

I am just practical like that.

So, one weekend we went to my parents house (they live about 2 hours away) and my Dad and Ohio went golfing. I knew Ohio was going to ask for my Dad's blessing, because he was really nervous and since Ohio is a much better golfer than my dad that was really the only thing he could be nervous about.

When they came back my Dad gave me a big hug and told me he was so happy for us. To which I feined ignorance. Afterall- even though Ohio and I were making the decision to get married together- I did want him to "surprise" me with a proposal!

So I knew a proposal was immenent. I even knew Ohio had my ring stashed in his dresser.

But then weeks went by and no proposal. I could tell from conversations with my Mom and Dad that they were worried. Maybe Ohio had changed his mind?

What is a Woo Hoo Wedding Anyways?

About 7 years ago I got the crazy idea to do a Olympic Distance Triathlon with Team in Training. Shortly after I finished the triathlon, I decided to join the marathon team and I've been involved ever since.

Being involved with Team in Training changed my life. Among other things, I learned to acknowledge the events in my life that makes me say "woo hoo!"

I'm not sure how this got started or when- but you can't do a group workout without hearing a bunch of people shout "woo hoo".

Finish your longest run of the season so far- you know someone is going to give you a "woo hoo".

Try a new type of Goo (disgusting energy gel you eat during long workouts)- that deserves a "woo hoo" as well.

I try to incorporate woo hoo's into my life off the running trail as well. Only, most of the time I keep my cheers to myself, silently giving myself "woo hoo's" when I pay bills on time, finish a project at work, cook dinner without burning it....all "woo hoo" worthy moments that help me acknowledge my progress in life.

So of course I want my wedding to be "woo hoo" worthy. The ultimate goal- a wedding full of moments that make me and Ohio (and hopefully our families and friends) say "woo hoo".

Adventures in Wedding Planning.....

I recently had a pretty exciting thing happen....I got engaged! I'm obviously pretty excited and happy!
Soon after Ohio popped the question (more on that later) I started to prowl the Internet for ideas for our wedding. Pretty soon I was addicted to about a dozen or so different blogs and websites and had so many ideas that really I would need at least 5 weddings and a budget about 100 times as big as the one I have to pull all the ideas together.
So, I am starting this new blog to chronicle my own adventure in wedding planning. I'm hoping it will keep me more organized and focused and that after I am married, I can look back and read all about my journey!

What did brides-to-be do before the internet???