1 Year Engaged!

Whoever first said the time between the proposal and the wedding would fly by was not kidding in the least. It really does feel like yesterday this happened:

We were dressed so casually because it was just another ordinary Wednesday evening. Or so I thought! He had had the day off and I had been in class. When I got out, I had to run to downtown Manhattan for some school related errands. While all this was going on, my sister was with him, helping him pick up the ring that had just gotten in that day! After he asked, I texted a few people right away and some were surprised, but only because they had thought the plan was to propose a few days later, on the 11th. (The day my grandparents were moving out of NY.) Turns out the ring came in a few days earlier than planned and he just couldn't wait. He's a pretty patient guy so that gets a good chuckle out of me! Everyone's reactions were so great. It was a memorable night. And I really appreciated he did it around a time where my grandparents were around to be a part of it too.

I am sure everyone knows the proposal story but for the blog's sake, I will repeat it again, lol. Last June 5th, I get back to Jonathan's in the late afternoon/early evening and my sister is there, waiting for me. Either Jonathan or Robyn brings up wanting to get frozen yogurt. I think it was Robyn since I remember not finding that a strange out-of-the-blue idea at all since she has a sweet tooth (so does he for that matter). We go outside and Robyn makes as if to get in the car. (Later I find out that wasn't part of the plan and my next move saves it, lol.) As soon as I get in, I realize I forgot my camera. I was working on a photo project and wanted to take some shots while we were out. When I get back outside, they're both out of the car and Robyn says she wants to walk. I remember thinking that was odd; we were just sitting in the car! I want some exercise, she says. Now that wasn't unusual of her to say at all, so I agreed to walk. 

The frozen yogurt shop on Metropolitan Avenue we were going to is maybe a ten minute walk from his house and along the way is his former grade school, Our Lady of Mercy. Next to it, is the church. In front of the church are two beautiful statues of the Blessed Mother. When we pass it, Jonathan tells me he wants to see if the name on the school has changed, since it was going from a school to an academy. I didn't think that was strange and thought nothing of it. As he's doing that, I show Robyn the statues and start telling her the story of the meaning behind this place for us. (He used to take me there when we were in that weird phase of 'should we or shouldn't we date'....me being the undecided goof I was). All of a sudden, Jonathan appears in front of me and says my name very seriously. I remember in that split second being SO confused but realizing something off was happening. Then he bends down, opens the ring box and says a bunch of stuff I can't recall. See now here is what nobody tells you could happen when you're being proposed to. Your brain shuts down and is unable to comprehend what is being said! I don't even think I processed the ring I was seeing, lol. I just kept saying "Are you serious? Now? Are you serious?" Haha...I was in serious shock! I look around after I realize Robyn has disappeared. She was behind a tree filming the whole thing!

The best way to explain my shock is that, at that point, we had been dating over 4 years. I knew he wanted to get married and all that lovely stuff, but when you know someone that well, you think you have it all figured out! I had a feeling he would ask officially that year but I thought if at all, it would be around Christmastime, his favorite time of the year. Good job by him on the surprise factor! And even today, I still catch myself looking at the ring. It is perfect for me. I had never pictured what it would look like but he had remembered once before I had mentioned I liked the look of a cushion cut. Later I found out I helped him out without knowing. He started looking seriously that May but had forgotten which cut I said I liked. Then when we were watching a TV show, I think it was How I Met Your Mother, there was a ring being shown and I blurted out "Oh that's the kind I like!" Then he made a mental note, lol. 

We are not doing anything really to celebrate today but tomorrow we've got an engagement party for our friends Mike & Lucie that I'm really looking forward to! Their wedding is exactly nine months after ours. Exciting times for all. 

5 wonderful years

One week ago tonight, I flew out to Disney World for one heck of a weekend doing a 10k race! I have tons of pictures and stories for another post but let's just say, my abs finally stopped hurting from laughter and I can finally walk up and down the stairs again post race. It's good to be back but boy, do I miss Disney World/Florida badly!

Top: Our first Disney World trip. June 2009.

Bottom: Right after he proposed: June 5, 2013

Today also marks 5 years since Jonathan and I officially started dating. We have a lot of little anniversaries we celebrate, like the first day we met (February 9, 2008) or our first date (March 7, 2008). So if we met and had our first date within a month's span, 6 years ago, how is our anniversary 5 years ago? Well, the answer to that is somewhat simple and can be explained in mathematical terms. You take 1 confused 22 year old + 1 determined 24 year old and you get 1 interesting year. There was a lot of ups and downs in 2008 but what I remember the most is how Jonathan was always there, even when he had to reluctantly step down and be "just a friend", though he likes to say he was never just a friend, and that is true! When I briefly dated someone else that summer, he never faded out of the picture. We hung out all the time regardless. In fact, my mom used to tell me she felt like I had two boyfriends. Huge, huge wake up call. Of course, the other thing didn't work out and God worked his mysterious ways and things just fell into place. It did take a year for things to happen but I now see that was a blessing in disguise. Since we went through every early relationship obstacle there was to have in that first year when we were not exclusive, we never really had a reason to have any big arguments when we got together. We had already seen the good, the bad and the ugly! 

That is why we really like to celebrate today. It had felt like we won a marathon by the time we got together! His grandmother, who would have been 91 this week, told him once that she had prayed we would get together. That is just the selfless kind of woman she was.

The event of making it official was so low-key, you would think there would have been some big hoopla when it happened, but nope! I had been talking to two dear friends of ours, Anthony and Gina (who are now married) all week but most especially the night before. Little did I know, they were talking to him and giving him encouragement too! I remember specifically Anthony asking me why wasn't I giving my best friend a chance. Another huge wake up call. I made up my mind that night that the following day I would ask him to be official. So, that's just what I did. :-)

I thought it would be appropriate to use the flashback picture from our 1st Disney World trip. To say we really love that place is an understatement! It's a good way to get to really know someone. You can see how they handle the heat and long lines, haha. I remember coming home from that trip and thinking, wow we just spent 4 nights and 5 days straight together, and I'm not sick of him yet. I thought that was a great sign. It's still true to this day :-D

Okay, that's enough mush for one post, lol. This has been a busy wedding planning week so plenty of updates in the next post :)

Hello, October

It's hard to believe it's already October. This time next year will be that eerie calm before the storm, since it's our wedding month. In fact, it's a wedding month for a lot of people. October seems to be the June of the fall wedding season! We have two weddings this month and I'm really looking forward to both. The first is this Saturday at Woodbury Country Club. We were actually going to visit it during the venue search, as it's right by Crest Hollow Country Club, which we did get to visit. However, we had gotten to CHCC so late that by the time it was over, WCC probably wasn't going to show anyone around. Not only that but we were all tired and hungry so we skipped out on it. Obviously no regrets there as shortly later we found Chateau Briand. But I am looking forward to seeing WCC. Not only that but I think the wedding planning was done by Fairy Tale Events, and I wanted to use some of their products, so I'm really curious how it turns out.

The second wedding is on the 18th at Sand Castle. Jonathan has known the groom for many years and I got to know Anthony and his soon-to-be-wife Bryn through him. They are a fun couple and so I know this wedding is going to be one heck of a night. Not only that but Sand Castle was a place I fell in love with during our search, so I like that we get to go to a wedding there and attend it as a guest and not as potential bride and groom.

Last night, we checked out a limo recommendation from two friends of ours who got married last year. We met with the owner and talked about what we would need; he ran some numbers and it all looked good. Jonathan's parents are generously taking care of the limo so we wanted to run it by them first before signing anything. The transportation was one of those things that I felt were hanging over our heads. I didn't want to wait too long to check 'limo' off the list of things to do, but even though we didn't sign any contracts, getting our information in their books was good enough for me, for now. The name of the company is Nowstar Limo and I'm definitely liking what they offer.

On Tuesday, Kim and I met up at the Michael's in the Upper West Side. I worked in the Upper East Side many years ago and can probably walk around blindfolded there and still get around. But when it comes to the Upper West Side, it's foreign territory. That's why I was nicely surprised to see a whole shopping area on Columbus Avenue between 97th and 100th streets. Will definitely have to go again. I'd like to say Michael's was a success! Check out the goodies I left with:

Prior to this visit, I didn't really know what color could accent the navy blue I wanted to use in the color scheme. I knew the flowers would have blues, whites, orange and maybe some yellow. The intention of the Michael's visit was to check out things to make the seating place cards with. (We ultimately decided not to go with the seating chart.) They didn't have a pumpkin paper puncher as I was hoping but they did have leaves. I decided maybe that was a good thing. I don't want to overdo the whole pumpkin thing. So once the leaves were decided on, we were trying to figure out what color. Then Kim suggested....what about gold? Brilliant! It's the perfect fall color. Sunny yellow would be too much and I didn't want that anyway. But gold complements blue nicely, especially a darker shade of blue like navy. I'm excited to test these out. 

The Tuesday before that, two of my bridesmaids decided to come with me to try on dresses, just to see what would look good on them. Alex (my aunt) came and took her two daughters, who are also playing flower girls for the wedding, as well as Tiffany (one of my oldest friends.) I have to say, they were great sports about trying on dress after dress! In Woodside, where my parents and aunt live, there is a David's Bridal within walking distance from the house. We didn't feel like sticking the kids in the car for a drive to Long Island so we decided to stay local. It was fun seeing them in dresses and you know what? They looked great in anything they tried on! Good problems to have, huh? I like David's Bridal but I know I don't want to use them. There were dresses though, that even if I didn't like, these girls made it look great! 

They didn't have many sample dresses in navy but this was style they mutually liked. Ayla saw her mommy change and wanted to get in on the action, lol. (Hence why she has no clothes on in this picture).

I looooved Tiffany in this dress! The sash is a dark purple and it compliments the pink so well. If I were doing a spring or summer wedding, I would have considered this color combo. 

It was an eventful afternoon and made me excited for picking out the dresses for real. Even Ayla was checking out dresses for herself!

I could only handle one kid running around so Eliza was in her stroller the entire time, hogging my phone :-P

Oh! And in the spirit of weddings...today is my parents' 28th wedding anniversary :) This was them at my mom's prom. The 'fros, the ruffles...yep, this was the 80s all right!