Three down, fifteen to go ....

I have now been engaged for three months and one week. It is apparently fourteen months and nineteen days until my wedding day. And we have managed to do a fair amount …

Weddingy stuff we have achieved in 2009 so far:

• Boy asked the question and I said yes – lots of tears, excitement and fireworks - hooray! (Technically it was 2008, although it was already 2009 back home so I think that counts)
• Told all the most important people during vastly expensive phone calls – most of the rest found out on awful Facebook which we would have avoided if we could but we couldn’t
• Came home to London and told them all, all over again
• Had our announcement in The Times and The Daily Telegraph – so all our parents’ friends now know too
• Read lots of wedding websites and brides blogs and started to get imaginative
• Went to Hatton Garden to get ideas for the ‘ring of dreams’ (that’s all Boy’s department now though)
• Started to share notes on a Google Doc on anything we thought of that we particularly liked
• Started to write a guest list – gave up when it started to dawn on us quite how huge my family is and quite how many friends Boy has (oh no!)
• Shared all this with parents and parents-in-law-to-be during a lovely lunch where everyone had tons of great ideas and no one pooh-poohed anything – again hooray!
• Also discussed money at said lunch – agreed we didn’t want a big show-off affair. Parents and Parents-il2b generous, everyone realistic
• Turned 30 (oh no!) but best friend organised big fancy dress party – oh yes!
• Asked my two best un-married friends to be my maids-of-honour – lots of tears and excitement
• Asked my two little sisters and my sister 2B to be my bridesmaids - more excitement etc
• Went out to Italy with Mama, Papa and Boy to recee, thinking we’ll get lots more ideas and hopefully pin a few things down
• Suddenly everything clicks. A structure is formulated and a plan comes together
• Papa loves the prospect of having a son – they cut down trees and dig holes and do all the things that daughters only do reluctantly. I love Boy a lot.
• Come home and share the plan with the rest of the family – everyone thinks it is GREAT!
• Read too many wedding websites and brides blogs and started to feel a bit jaded
• Decide that once we have locked down the bigger logistical things (church, venue, caterers, etc) we’ll take a break from planning over the summer and come back to it refreshed and invigorated in September
• Decide I will definitely not try on any dresses until it is less than a year until my wedding (probably)
• Start keeping a blog
• Read wedding websites and brides blogs – but with a happy sense of perspective and measured excitement

The important thing for me at the moment is to try and maintain the joy and delight of Boy asking me to marry him. Luckily he’s so enthusiastic about everything that it’s not hard. I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to have a boy who doesn’t roll his eyes about anything wedding related or think his job is just to turn up, but reminds me everyday how lucky he feels too. Hooray hooray hooray!!