Honeymoon

Eric & I met with our travel agent last night.  Are you wanting to travel, ever?  Get a travel agent!  

I met ours at a bridal show that I went to back in January and boy am I glad I kept her card.  Eric's been emailing back and forth with her to get information on places to go. I spent some time looking through the places she recommended and some of the brochures.  I would be completely overwhelmed if we were doing this on our own.  There are so many options.  

By working with our travel agent, what we wanted was already narrowed down.  She also sent us a list (16 pages long!) of other things to do where we are planning to stay that are outside of our all-inclusive, on the beach, looks like relaxation waiting to happen resort.  October is way too far away.  I want to go to the beach now!

Engagement Pictures

Last week, Eric and I took engagement photos and it was so much fun!  We sort of took a different spin on the traditional. When we met with Chris Mullins, the photographer, he mentioned he could photograph us anywhere, even at home on my couch.  Well, my apartment isn't quite that photo worthy but I had the idea to take an inflatable couch around the city to some of our favorite places.  It was so much fun!

We started out on the Country Club Plaza with the couch in tow.  Eric and I spent a lot of time at the beginning of our relationship there. It is about the same distance from both of us so it was the perfect place to meet up. We would walk around, window shop, sit in our cars on colder nights listening to music and just talking.  One rainy night, a bicycle patrol person knocked on the window and asked what we were doing.  Just talking.  He told us to move along, but seeing as it was late and had begun raining, we stayed a while longer.  We always stay out a little (okay, maybe a lot) too late.

 On the stairs next to McCormick and Schmick's we took pictures with "Marco"/"Polo" signs.  When it's been a while since we've heard from each other, we'll sometimes text "Marco" and wait for the next person to reply "Polo."  We stood apart and got closer and ended with a "You're It!" sign between us both.  It was cheesy but it's special to us. Some women leaving the restaurant stopped to ask what we were doing, so of course I told them the whole story. They thought it was sweet.

From there, we went onto Loose Park which is where Eric and I officially became a couple and were engaged - so extra special!  We were trekking around looking for the tree we were sitting in when we had Cupcake a la Mode and our DTR (Define The Relationship) talk and when we finally came across it, Chris says, "Oh, I should have known it would be this tree!"  I've seen a lot of people with pictures in this tree because it's perfect for sitting in with it's low hanging branch and somewhat secluded spot.  We took more traditional pictures here and they turned out amazing!

After that, we took the couch over to the pond, which is where Eric proposed.  I insisted Eric bring his guitar, since he sang to me that day, so he could play.  We sang Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol while Chris snapped more awesome photos. Having people walking by the couch makes the situation seem so...ironic.  Couches are private things usually, but here we were surrounded by people.

Next, it was on to Liberty Memorial (Chris was awesome and willing to go with us to so many spots.  Totally appreciate it!) which was another stop on the Great Engagement Race.  One night, Eric took me to Liberty Memorial to walk around.  He was racing to the top but I was taking my time because I'd never been there before and it was a gorgeous that night.  The stars were beautiful, the air was clear and downtown looked amazing.  I convinced him it was better to slow down and take things in.  Now we have an incredible photo of Eric and I randomly sitting on a couch with the Kansas City skyline in the background and it's so cool!

On our way to the top of the Liberty Memorial I saw some people sitting on a blanket with a telescope pointed at the sun.  I remembered Eric telling me that Venus was going to be in transit (which I now know means crossing the sun).  Apparently, this will never happen again in our lifetime so while we were starting to unload I ran across and asked if that's what they were watching.  They said yes so I called Eric over. The man held up a box and you could see this bright circle with a black dot across it.  So on our once in a lifetime day, we got to experience another once in a lifetime event.  How awesome is that?

Our final stop was The Flying Saucer, one of Eric and my favorite places to go to relax and hang out.  We set the couch up on the corner across the street.  It was so fun because people kept passing by and commenting about the couch on the corner.  There was one person who tried to tell us that a company actually owned the sidewalks and after several minutes (which took longer than what it would have taken us to finish the photos) he said it would be okay if we finished up our session.

After that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to pop into The Flying Saucer since it's such a great way to end the day.  We even ended up staying a little later and meeting up with friends for trivia night.

It was a fantastic day!  We had so much fun and the pictures were amazing!  Make sure to visit Chris' Blog - chrismullinsphoto.com to see a few extra pictures.  And while you're there, check out the rest of his stuff!  You won't regret it. If you're in the KC area and looking for a photographer - check him out!

My advice for engagement pictures - make them fun.  If you want the traditional shots, that's great!  But this is your chance to have fun and take pictures that are all about you.  Make them personal and have fun.  What do you enjoy to do together?  Can you take pictures where you first realized you were in love?  Do it!  You won't regret it.

Preparing for the big day

Over the past few months, soooooo much has happened..  Wedding planning, trips to Chicago and Texas, shopping, getting to know more families, being stressed, being excited and just life.

For the wedding, we have our location reserved, all of our vendors lined up and are working through out check list and it feels so good!  It took a ton of stress off knowing that everyone is in place and has our date saved.

I also breathed a big sigh of relief when Eric and I both were able to admit our stress/fears/anticipation/hope about being a husband and a wife.  You see, I observe the couples in my life that I look up to and I feel so inadequate to be a wife.  I'm terrible at going grocery shopping, I have a hard time motivating myself to cook or clean, I purposefully keep enough clothes on hand to avoid doing laundry as long as possible and I have loved living alone.

However, I have come to understand/realize that these women I look up to were probably no more ready to be married when their nuptials were approaching than I am.  It was through time, effort and talking with the wonderful women I know, who readily admit not knowing everything, that I've become more peaceful about the future. With that being said, I still don't feel ready, but I'm more at peace and I think that's a good thing.

A friend lent me the book, Inviting God to Your Wedding by Martha Williamson (the producer of Touched by an Angel). It is a really good book that I enjoyed reading and working through.  It was definitely needed.  The author shares her experiences honestly as well as what made her wedding, as well as weddings she has attended, special or memorable.

I truly view my wedding day as the first day of my marriage and as such, I want to make sure that it truly reflects how Eric and I feel about one another and incorporate elements that are important to us and that definitely includes our faith.  This book gave some great suggestions for doing that.  In the future, I will definitely be recommending it to anyone who is getting married.

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