The Philosophy of the Saying Yes...to the Dress!

Kyle and I are really trying to focus on the wedding being a Sacrament, but the actual event has a lot of fun things that need to be planned that have nothing to do with marriage as a sacrament and everything to do with the wedding being the one day every girl plans from the time she is old enough to realize wedding dresses are basically just a grown up girl's excuse to dress like a princess and not be mocked (long sentence yes).  Speaking of dressing like a princess...the dress...it's the biggest kept secret of almost every wedding, and also one of the most talked about details.  And while I know what dress I wear won't generate as much speculation as my favorite bride's (Kate Middleton, that's you), I like to think that at least Kyle has some anticipation of what I will choose (or chose, since I already did). 

Don't we wish we could all be Kate Middleton?
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That's right, I picked a dress! It was one of the first things my Mom pushed me to do in the wedding planning process.  In fact pretty much as soon as I was engaged she was ready to put me into tulle.  I decided to wait a few weeks...or months (yes, I am a procrastinator) and I needed to just wrap my head around being engaged and let it sink in for a bit.  Plus I'm not getting married for a year and a half and I was afraid that anything I would pick this early I wouldn't like that far away.  But suddenly I was ready.  MOH Rachel drove up from Austin for a couple of days and we hit up two Bridal shops that day.  I didn't make a decision that day, but after three or four sporadic days with my mom and sister-in-law hitting up random bridal boutiques, and trying a particular dress on literally five separate times at two different places, I finally decided on it. I am a particularly indecisive person (I am lucky that I love Kyle so much and saying yes to him was so easy). Saying yes to the dress was much more difficult.  I literally had mini panic attacks about it late at night and have legitimately lost sleep over it.  Here was my dilemma: I loved the dress.  But I hadn't tried on every single dress in the world yet!  Sound over dramatic?  Yes. But I like to exhaust my options before making a decision.  What if I found a dress I liked even more?  What if I hated it in a year and a half?  What if it wasn't truly THE DRESS?  Once I realized that there was not actually ONE dress that was made from all eternity just for me (dress fate does not actually exist), I also realized that if my dress was suddenly discontinued before I made up my mind I would be exceptionally sad and of all the dresses I had tried on so far (a lot) this was the only one that I truly loved.  So I took my measurements and in true TLC obsessed fashion, said "Yes to the dress".  And then I had an hour long panic that I chose wrong.  But after rambling on and on to my mom and sister-in-law, I suddenly realized I sounded like a crazy person, and to save me and the other women in my house from going legitimately crazy, I stopped.  I am now perfectly happy with my dress, I love it, and cannot wait to wear it. (No details being given out at all, I want everyone, especially Kyle to be surprised)  And like every bride-to-be, I am imagining situations in which it will be socially acceptable to wear my beautiful wedding dress more than just one.  So far I've got nothing. 

The Philosophy of the Proposal!

I would be lying if I said I didn’t know it was coming.  For one thing, we had talked about it.  For another, my dad had told me Kyle had asked him (he’s not too great at secret keeping from his favorite daughter).   When I went to College Station for Ring Dance (basically Aggie Prom), I had a feeling it would happen that weekend, specifically that Friday.  But I had my doubts.  Kyle had stumbled upon a text message that I sent saying I was expecting it on Friday.  I thought maybe he would change his plans.  He had told me he was planning the whole weekend (an anomaly) and I couldn’t know what was happening (which drove this type A personality nuts).  When I got there he said he had a meeting with someone on campus and I had to entertain myself for a bit.  I later found out he was picking up the ring!  That night he took me to a very romantic dinner at a place called Christopher's and then we drove around College Station, visiting all of our special places.  He took me to the Hall (RIP) where we had our first date.  He took me to the Spoons parking lot where he asked me out, the Sonic where he told me he loved me, Lake Bryan, my old dorm. Our last stop was Adoration, something we used to do on dates.  He was running out of time and I figured if he didn’t propose then he wouldn’t that weekend.  He didn’t. The next day my roommate was quite upset, saying "HE CAN'T DO ALL OF THAT AND NOT PROPOSE".  I think she may have been more upset than me.  I knew it was coming eventually, so I didn't panic.  

He did, however, tell me we were going to take pictures at the Aggie Barn with my brother and his girlfriend (bm Jessie) the next day. A little back story on the Aggie Barn:  This little barn between Waco and College Station was a point of contention with Kyle and me once.  On the way to the A&M at Baylor game one year I wanted to stop and take pictures since we were two hours early.  Kyle refused to stop, citing the traffic we would run into, which we never did.  Two years later I still had not gotten my Aggie Barn pictures, something that was on my Aggie Bucket List.   Now in our conversations about proposals, Kyle always made clear that nobody would be there but us and there would be no photographer.  So Kyle proposing in front of my older brother was something I just didn’t think would happen.  I had given up on that weekend and figured it would happen in due time.  So I got all dolled up and headed to the barn. Once we got there we realized there was a sign saying “No Trespassing” and a number to call if we wanted to take pictures.  We called the number and nobody answered.  Kyle still really wanted to go ahead.  Kyle never breaks the rules, so that was my first clue.  As we were taking the pictures, I could hear Kyle’s heart beating really loudly.  That was my other clue.  It still did not sink in until he turned to me and got on one knee.   My Aggie Barn pictures were  worth the wait, because they came with a question that I was dying to say yes to!  

Before He proposed. Can you see his hand in his pocket? I could hear his heart beating loudly.

"I have one more pose for us to do".  

The Philosophy of Engagements...Part Two!

Ironic that the last post I wrote was about all of my friends becoming engaged. Because now I am! I officially suck at this blogging thing, but here goes attempt numero dos.  This may turn into a wedding blog.  Or it may not.  Or I will discontinue the blog until my next bout of creative inspiration.  We shall see. But I will attempt to keep this up (through law school? Ambitious I know…), starting with the engagement story next time! Because it would be nice to look back in fifty years and remember the crazy days of wedding planning.