Someday there will be a wedding... (part 2)

(Joining us in the middle of the story? Check out part 1 here.)

I was ready to be engaged. So ready. So ready I was fantasizing about it constantly. Thinking about exactly how I wanted it to happen. On the alert for signs she might be getting ready to propose. Yes, dear readers, I had reverted to twelve-year-old fantasy land, complete with strewn rose petals, candlelit dinners and sunset walks on the beach. Nevermind that the ocean is thousands of miles away and the cat would probably think rose petals were good to eat if found anywhere in the apartment.

I had created such a fantasy in my head, but she had other things on her mind and, I soon realized, was not going to propose to me anytime soon.

It was time to take matters into my own hands.

I would propose to her.

After weeks of secret scheming, I asked her to marry me with a picnic down by the lake. Neither of us could stop grinning. I didn't get down on one knee. But I did give her a rose and a lovely handmade ring.

- - -

So now you're engaged, you say, let's get this party started and plan the wedding. Great, except we're moving from Wisconsin to the Bay Area this summer. Which is where we want to have the wedding. And it's really hard to pick a venue from halfway across the country. And we can't settle on a date without having a venue. And we don't really know what our budget is. Which leaves this planning-obsessed girl with little to do but look at pretty wedding porn and try not to annoy her partner too much with what-ifs.

Someday there will be a wedding... (part 1)

This is a brand new blog, so I'll give you a little background on me and this whole wedding business.

My girlfriend and I have been moving toward marriage (or whatever equivalent of it we can legally get as a same sex couple) for some time. We started pretty vague - talking about how we wanted to spend our lives together, to grow old together.

Then she casually, in conversation, started to tell me she wanted to marry me. Not in an official, will-you-marry-me sort of way, but offhand - somewhere-in-the-undefined-future. Neither of us were in a place in life where we were ready to get married then, but it was something we both knew we wanted to happen.

But she'd gotten the idea in my head.

I'll admit it right up front, I am a crazy plan-ahead type person. Once I've gotten my teeth into something, I can't help but think about it and start working out details in my head. Suggest to me the barest possibility of a wedding, and I'm planning centerpieces, picking out a wedding party, and fantasizing about a location. Whoa. Probably not a good idea to plan out the whole wedding before we're even engaged.

But I couldn't let go of it. I wanted to start planning, start talking about our wedding. Maybe this is silly and overly traditionalist of me, but I thought we needed to be engaged before we started planning our wedding.