Oh where, oh where shall the wedding be?

The Mr. and I met, live, and love in DC. Interestingly enough, the majority of our families live in NY (shout out to BX and BK). I grew up in North Jersey, where my immediate family and a few NY converts now live.

Contrary to popular belief (thanks a lot MTV), I don't look or act like this:

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But I digress. We had some decisions to make.

If we decided to have the wedding in DC, 85% of our guest list would be from out of town. We love the idea of showing everyone a rocking good time at this place we call home and we both love. It's not like we live in the middle of nowhere. It's the nation's capital. Come visit because it's our wedding and it's the friggin' nation's capital so you should!

Then we got to thinking, we could bear the burden of travel and host the wedding back home. We got excited about this for about 5 and a half minutes. The thought of planning from a distance didn't appeal to me and frankly, the NY tri-state area is pretty expensive much like DC. It's not like we'd be saving money by having the wedding there and it would probably cause us some logistical headaches. So we benched it.

Then we got knee deep into budget and threw a fit about what a full blown DC wedding would cost us. We toyed with the idea of doing a small ceremony with our nearest and dearest (~50) in DC and a large reception a couple of weeks later in NY/NJ. The idea being that perhaps some money could be saved since there would be no rehearsal dinner, etc. and the party wouldn't have to be so fancy. I researched once again and found that even still the prices for that type of function in NY/NJ were about the same as a full blown reception in DC. Plus, there would be two photographers to hire and the whole long-distance planning thing. I asked Mr Bronx if he would be willing to downgrade the venue if we went this route. Then I got - the face.

You know, this one.

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Did I mention he has a bit of groomzilla streak? Well, 'nother day, 'nother post. In short, Mr. Bronx has a vision for our wedding day and "not so nice catering hall," ain't it. So once again, that idea was scrapped.

Finally, after some debate, deliberation, and waffling, we put our feet down. A DC wedding it shall be and we should have known it all along! Done and settled, right? Not so fast! Soon after, I had my first wedding meltdown. Stay tuned...

Wedding Paralysis

It's no secret that I love all things wedding. I have been watching wedding shows for years, I read wedding blogs (shout out to weddingbee!), and may or may not have saved the occasional inspiration or idea pre-engagement. I even planned weddings in my head for my not yet engaged friends, for chrissakes!

So naturally I thought that when I got engaged, I would be a modern day Martha Stewart. Planning the wedding would come so easily. Hmmmm, not so much. Instead, I looked more like this:

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You see, my good people, daydreaming about a wedding and actually planning one are two very different things I learned. While I dreamed of color schemes, chiavari chairs, venues and such, I never had to actually pick one and stick with it. There were so many different weddings I imagined and now I get. just. one. One color scheme. One venue. And I found that overwhelming. Having to actually make decisions, check them off the list and move on was something I hadn't considered in my wedding dreamland.

For the first 3-4 weeks of our engagement, I had a serious case of wedding paralysis and I was reluctant to come out of it. I didn't want to leave my engagement bliss to begin the research and recognizance that planning a wedding required. At all.

Lucky for you, I snapped out of it and the planning has commenced. But, those initial feelings of being totally overwhelmed were a shocker to me and they are never too far away in this roller coaster world that is wedding planning.

Engagement Bliss

There is definitely something that comes over you when you become engaged. Some call it bliss. I'm not sure what it should be called, but there is a certain giddiness that happens. Even couples like us, who have been together for a while, living together even, get giddy. The argument could be made that we knew it was coming and that's true. I knew it was coming someday. But once you become engaged, someday is today - and just like that, it's different.

I wasn't surprised so much by our giddiness, it was the happiness displayed by others that I found not so much surprising but so heartwarming. People have been genuinely excited, elated, and overjoyed for us. No one cares how I'm doing anymore, they want to know how the wedding's doing! And, I love it.

When my 11-year old niece called to check our wedding colors because she had fallen in love with a dress and wanted to know if it would match, I realized, "we're engaged!" How cute is that!? Nevermind that it had only been 3 weeks. I have gotten several emails from my cousin V (the fashion maven) pointing me to bridal lines that I should check out. FB friends check in on me and offer suggestions. We've gotten several cards and one special package.

I was only able to see one person's reaction to our engagement. Unfortunately, I don't live near my loved ones so the announcements came via phone and email. If I had it to do again, I would wait till I could see their reactions in person. Luckily for me, one of my cousins didn't get the memo and I was treated to her totally spontaneous reaction - sweet!

A few days later, I received this in the mail from said cousin J. It was so special and it made me so emotional about the planning that lay ahead of us.

A completely personalized card front and back offering well wishes and advice. I love the quote she included - "Marriage is that relation between a man and woman in which the independence is equal, the dependence is mutual, and the obligation reciprocal." - Anspacher.

Two wedding mags complete with a note.

She actually went through the mag highlighting things and offering me ideas along the way. So sweet!

And...the most important note on the back.

Thanks, Jenny. Your gift was so thoughtful. I was so touched by the personalization, and the time you took to think of us. What a way kick off our planning!

Who we be!

How can I start chatting wedding without even telling you about us? I can't. So bare with me, will ya, as I tell you a little about how we came to be.

Mr. Bronx and I met the good old fashioned DC way: at work. I vaguely remember a young gentlemanly fellow asking me out to lunch and *gasp* I turned him down because I was in a relationship at the time. Now, there is great debate in the Chatter house regarding exactly what I said. According to him I said, "I wish I could but I have a boyfriend." He's wrong. I said, "Thanks but I can't, I have a boyfriend." This debate will rage for all time and Mr. Bronx will be sure to tell the children his version.

Fast forward a year or so and we ended up working on a committee together. We made idle chit chat, you know, usual work stuff. At this point, I am single, sexy, and free (snap, snap). Valentine's Day came and went and I get an email from the Mr asking if I got all the candy that my heart desired. I responded with a carefully thought out, "It was uneventful." Read: I'm single. I know that's what he really wanted to know, anyway.

A few emails, fun work chats, etc. later, this Jersey girl found herself enamored with the Bronx boy. We set out on our first date on 4/8/2006 and we've been together ever since. Yes, that's almost 5 years! Good work, class!

And now we find ourselves heading to the altar. We are a complimentary pair, he's the optimist, I'm a realist (he says pessimist), he's a numbers guy, I'm a words girl, he likes movies, I read books - you get the picture. Sometimes it gets bumpy but over the years we have learned to fill in each other's gaps. Though we have our differences we are alike in a lot ways as well. Namely our sense of humor and we're deep thinkers. The Chatter house is equally full of thinking and laughing. We've grown so much, and are so excited to be planning a wedding celebration with our loved ones.

And in the spirit of our goofy personalities, meet the Chatters!

Let's get this planning started!

My Very Own Wedding!

Welcome to my all-things-wedding blog! If you've been around a while, you know that I have a little obsession with weddings. Well, my number is up - the love of my life proclaimed me the one, and it's time to plan my very own wedding. Can you believe it? I can't!

Anywhoodle, we're are one month into planning and here's where I plan to detail all the ins, outs, ups and downs of our wedding planning adventure. I'm glad you're here for the ride. I'm gonna need the company!