Engagement cards

These are quite possibly the funniest things I have ever received.  The little kids I used to babysit gave Ben and I homemade engagement cards on their last visit.  It’s quite funny to see what an 8 year-old and a 6 year-old think about getting married. 

Here is Jonah’s:

   

In case you need translation:

The picture is of the Sears Tower with Ben and I at the front getting married…note the veil and flowers.  Jonah is OBSESSED with the Sears Tower so he is more than excited about our wedding location (the building just south of it).

Jonah writes:

Dear Abbie and Ben (not sure why he scratched Ben’s name out)
Congratulations!  I hope you have a happy engagement!  We’re waiting for the big day!  Best wishes for your whole life together!

Love, Jonah
PS. Is Ben doing fine?

Now to Emma’s…the real jewel:

        

She denotes the front and back of the card…just in case we weren’t sure.  Also, that’s a picture of a lion if you were wondering. I also love the “Happy Hearts Engagement”

And she writes:

Dear Abbie and Ben!
What a day!  You guys are married!  Happy Engagement!  This is the day of your life!  I hope you have a happy engagement!

Love, Emma
PS. Happy Engagement! (in case she forgot to tell us already)

I LOVE these!  Every time we read them we spend the next ten minutes cracking up.

Enjoy

If you’re getting married…

Be sure to know exactly what you want from your florist!  And be ready to spend a ridiculous amount of money.  I thought venues were expensive but I think flowers take the cake!

My advice to all future brides…cut out as many pictures as you can and be flexible with what you want.  Oh yeah, and be ready to cut a check for at least $5,000-if you are in Chicago at least.  This is the number most florists have told me they start with.  Also, be sure to consider things other than flowers…there are tons of cool centerpiece ideas out there.

Also, if a florist makes you feel like crying.  Fire their a**.

This has been a public service announcement.

But They are All Wonderful!

Wow.  I went wedding dress shopping for the first time today and it was fantastic.  I have been feeling like crap all week and today was the first day my head didn’t feel like there was a train roaring through it.  I was out at my mom’s and out of the blue she asked me if I wanted to go wedding dress shopping.  I immediately said no.  First of all, I have blown my nose about 300 times this week and have only showered twice…I was feeling really pretty.  Second, shopping for my dress is the one thing that has freaked me out about this whole process.  The dress is SO important.  Pretty much the whole wedding revolves around the style of dress I choose.  It is also the most criticized piece.

I informed my mom that we will need an appointment so she promptly picked up the phone and called the salon.  I had zero hope that there were any appointments left but just my luck there was one at 3:00.  I immediately called Ben as he was on top of a mountain in Utah to tell him the big news and he had a very unexpected response.  He was really excited for me!  It may have been the exhilaration of skiing down a mountain or the fact that he was freezing his butt off and didn’t hear me correctly but I am going with him being excited.  After talking to him I was feeling a little less freaked out and off we went to the bridal salon.  My mom was armed with a latte (her traditional getup when we go shopping for me) and we were ready to go.

The salon experience was wonderful!  A lovely lady named Pat helped us.  She has been doing this for 19 years at a salon that has been in business for 35 so I was feeling good.  I had no idea what I wanted so she had me strip down to my skivvies and just started putting dresses on me.  I put on the first dress and then the veil…it was like a scene from the movies.  I teared up, my mom was crying, and we were both thinking that “I can’t believe this is really happening!”

About 10 dresses later I fell in love with two.  This coming from the girl that thought she wouldn’t find anything.  One dress produced another round of tears in my mother and the other is absolutely stunning!  No worries… we are going to keep looking but I really love these two dresses.  One I know Ben will like…the other I am not sure.  I guess I am going to go with the theory that he will love whatever I wear…as long as I am not wearing gloves (he vetoed those Senior year Prom).

I was feeling a little un-excited about the whole wedding process but I am back in the game.  My drive home from the burbs was filled with fun thoughts of table arrangements, flowers, and what it is going to feel like to see Benjamin for the first time that day.  I may have even cried a little.  OK, laugh at me now, I deserve it.

Can’t wait for the next round of shopping!

Pass the Pina Colada’s please

We may not have much of our wedding planned but we certainly have the honeymoon booked!  We are headed to Maui November 17th and will be there for 7 days 6 nights.  We are staying here and could not be happier.  The nice thing about traveling so much is that you can get free honeymoons!  I had to pay $20 for taxes on the flight and that’s it!

We better start working on our tans now so we don’t fry when we are there.  Ben and I are quite possibly the pastiest people around.