Plans I never made as a little girl

Firstly, let me make the disclaimer that I am not engaged. Brandon and I have been talking seriously about marriage and things are certainly going in that direction - I think we both just sort of knew the moment we saw each other, and I love him more every day - but we're trying to be rational and give ourselves time to make sure we're comfortable.

With that being said, I think I've narrowed down my dress search dramatically. In the past month, I have probably seen about 2,000 dresses. I've felt mediocre at best about all of them. They've all been either too skimpy, too traditional, too Mormony or just plain ugly. But out of sheer luck I happened across a website last night that has a line of classy but different temple ready wedding gowns. I love them! I've narrowed it down to two I think:




I think they're gorgeous and they aren't your typical Mormon wedding gown since, let's be honest, I'm not your typical Mormon.

I've also been looking into the ring department of course. Brandon and I have discussed our options and I think we're both looking for something untraditional. We've considered wooden rings. He likes that idea a lot. We've also talked about making our own rings. I think that's my favorite so far. I'm going to see if we could possibly make our own rings and have his inlaid with wood. He's not big into rings (neither am I really) so he wants something that isn't gaudy, and that leans more toward the natural side. I love the idea of each of us making the other's ring though. And it's a 5-6 hour experience, with a real jeweler walking us through the process. We could have them engraved or add stones if we'd like.

My mom and I have been discussing today what in the world to do about a reception building when the time comes. I've always abhorred the idea of having a reception on a basketball court, but honestly, with the number of people from just my side who would be coming, anything else would get incredibly expensive. So I think what we'll end up doing is finding one of the less basketball-ish cultural halls in our stake and hanging tulle or some other sheer fabric from the ceiling in tent-like fashion. Because seriously, I have four parents. Each with a huge family. Not to mention two rather large sized wards I've grown up in. There's a good possibility for the guest list becoming ridiculously huge.

I'm starting to realize that 1) weddings are a lot of money. I had no idea. And 2) I have no experience whatsoever with planning or even going to weddings. I've been to maybe 4 or 5, most of which were when I was very young. So this is going to be a new thing. My mom and I are going to see if we can find some Mormon receptions to crash in the next few months just for ideas.

So, here's to engagement hopes and wedding ideas.