Och Tamale!

I know this isn't in the least bit related to wedding news, but incase you didn't hear already, I got into the University of Redlands' Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. :)

Tonight was orientation (mostly boring) but next week is my first day of class (hopefully more mentally stimulating). I'm somewhat stoked about being back in school! I wish that the price tag was a bit smaller but so far I'm happy with what the school has to offer.

Back to wedding stuff!! <3

February Post from Megan

So I planned on updating this beautiful blog that my fiance created on a weekly basis (if not more) but I find that I am WAY busier than I had anticipated. I guess I'll have to aim for monthly updates for now.

Here is a fun summary (wedding-related and non-wedding-related activities) of what I've done with the month and 10 days since becoming engaged!

* Plowed through 8 completely different wedding magazines from cover to cover squeezing every last drop of juciy-good wedding goodness from them. I haven't ripped any pictures out (I'm a magazine page conservationist) but I did invest about $4.00 worth of sticky notes in those suckers! Hah!

* Went on my very first wedding dress shopping excursion with mom. I have been spending every weekend with Grant (by design) to A) see each other at least once a week for some quality time together and B) commit one day a week to wedding planning. A couple of weeks ago Grant and I discovered that there was no way we would be able to spend any meaningful time together because of our work schedules so I opted to stay in Redlands and surprise my mom with an outing to David's Bridal. I hadn't actually expected to try on any dresses -just wanted to peruse the stock and say that I did something wedding-related that weekend. :)
The sales women there were incredibly helpful and efficient and I ended up slipping into half a dozen dresses. I found that my vision of my wedding dress was 100% wrong -no, I take that back, 101% wrong. I was going for statuesque and discovered, to my dismay, that one must be statuesque in the first place to pull off this look (which apparently has a minimum height requirement!) No worries though, I found many other viable options! I would love to post some of the pictures here but Grant would see them and we don't want that so instead, I'll move along!

* We got as close as possible to outlining our amazing budget from my parents (thank you Mom and Dad!!) I got a nifty little program on my computer that keeps track of (almost) everything and lets me print whatever I need to to Excel so that I can send it over to Grant for adjustments. (Note to future engaged couples: living within close proximity is very helpful when planning a wedding etc. Having to schedule weekly visits a couple of weeks out for planning details: not quite as awesome.)

* Found out that one of my Bridesmaids will become a Bridesmatron (?!?) before my wedding! Congratulations to Miss Andria Varner and Mr. Bryan Z! :) I'm looking forward to our first double date as engaged couples! Oh the free deserts that we'll reap! Muhahahaha!

* Became addicted to "Rich Bride, Poor Bride", "Platinum Weddings", "Ace of Cakes", "Iron Chef" and "Iron Chef America". My poor brother. He has been a great sport with the recent television choices... I think deep down he secretly appreciated the insane effort it took Chef Duff and the team to put together that baby toy building bloc cake. :)

* Got accepted to the University of Redlands Masters of Business Administration program (MBA). Yep, I just received official notice on Tuesday of this week. I visited the school a couple of months ago to discuss the possibility of attending and walked out with a verbal offer to enroll that day. I took my time and discussed it with my parents and Grant and decided that I had nothing to lose by applying. Long story short: orientation is next week and the week after that I start my first class. I have to admit that I am somewhat excited and nervous because I haven't used my brain in nearly 3 years... *sigh* time to dig it out, dust it off and put it to work!

* Grant and I scheduled appointments with a videographer whom we would LOVE to have document our wedding and 2 possible wedding sites. We're booked full this weekend in addition to a wedding expo that mom and I are going to in Pomona on Sunday. Grant and I are trying to squeeze in a meeting with a photographer in Riverside too but we'll see how quickly we run out of steam. (Next weekend we both get a break from wedding stuff because I am going out to visit my Matron of Honor in Phoenix! Hooray!)

Well, that doesn't seem like that much once I write it all out but that begs the question: where did my month go!?!? See you all in March!!

Progress Amidst Confusion

So here we are, almost a month after the engagement, and things are starting to get exciting. Megan and I are perusing venues, discussing colors, setting up places to register, and working on all the other billion decisions that have to be made before a wedding takes place. But there's something that nobody tells you before you get engaged...planning a wedding is really difficult!

Ok, ok, so maybe I'm just naive when it comes to this whole process; but there is so much more to do than I ever expected.

The best way I can explain it is like buying a new car. You have to decide on the right kind of car, find a good dealer, test drive a bunch of different models, haggle with the salesmen, put down a downpayment, and then freak out when you realize how much tax and insurance is going to cost you. It's just like that, only multiplied by 100 since you have to do that process with every vendor.

The nice thing is that we are making progress. And despite the gigantic task at hand, we're having fun.

We're going to start putting more info up on this site as soon as decisions are solidified; and I know that most of you won't even know this site exists until you get an invitation; but that's ok, you can read back this far if you like.

Anyway, here's to getting married.