So it begins......sort of

So, I decided to create this blog to track everything that went into wedding planning.
Quite a task to undertake, but I wanted to be able to go back and read about all the craziness that was in my head during this chapter in my life.

In order to start off this brand new blog, let me take you back to the beginning.

First and foremost, as of today, January 25, 2008, Al and I are NOT officially engaged.
I was given a promise ring back in May-ish of 2007 before I moved in with him due to Allyson's request.
Al and I have been dating since July 28, 2006 and talking about marriage since August of 2006. Our relationship went at warp speed and then we decided that normalcy and time were the way to go, just to make sure we didn't screw things up. Both of us are from broken homes and both are pretty darn gun shy about marriage in general.
In fact, before I met Al, I had pretty much succumbed to the idea of being the crazy old cat lady and had set up my life as such. At the time I was a foster mommy for kitties of a rescue organization and I was very involved with my church and any other groups that I could get my hands on. And now.....well, EVERYTHING has changed.

A bit of backstory.....
I grew up a serious tom boy. I think my father at times wished that I had been a boy, so I was into climbing trees and adventuring with the neighborhood boys during the week while spending my weekends in ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance. Needless to say, I think I was set up to have an identity crisis ;)
So despite the girly-ness that my Mom tried to instill in me, I wasn't having any of that. Therefore, I never dreamed of my wedding, thought of THE perfect dress, or even imagined being married. And to be honest, that was never a problem and never came up in my previous social circles (despite having attended a women's college) until a few years ago. My first small group had a mini retreat and while hanging out poolside, the topic rose it's ugly head. Everyone had an idea of how their wedding would play out. Me.....not so much. I had to admit that I had never thought, dreamed, schemed, planned, etc. for ANY of that stuff.
So....I've been catching up.

I knew I wanted to marry Al about 4 months into our relationship. He claims it was 2 weeks for him.
So at that time, I decided I wanted to go to a Bridal show.....and I did. All by myself under the guise of going to church (I know....it's horrible) and hanging out with friends.
I'll say this......
Everyone should go to a large bridal show once, just to have done it. However, NEVER go by yourself. You should always go in a group, friends, family, whatever. But, you need teams to do these things.
I took two friends the second time around and it was a MUCH better experience.
My last experience was with my Mom......it was fun, but I realized how arduous these shows can be. Never go to the same show more than once. The same people are almost always there and they can be ANNOYING.
Anyway......so, I did the bridal show thing three times, and it was helpful as far as exposing me to what's out there.
I also decided that I was going to start gathering as much info. as possible and doing as much internet research as possible.....so I did.

I created wedding folders and sub wedding folders to organize the overwhelming amount of information available out there.
In addition, I became a regular reader of wedding blogs, my favorite of ALL time being weddingbee.com. I pretty much check it daily for updates, tips, and ideas.....which is why I decided to create my own wedding planning blog for myself.

I also started checking out some venues for the wedding reception. I gathered information on quite a few (I'll do a separate post for those next) and visited the ones that made sense for what I wanted.

I determined that the two most important things to me were photography and videography, so I devised a plan of attack if you will to find the PERFECT vendors.

For photography I started searching the web, getting advice from the local boards on the Knot and then making appointments to meet with various people. I ended up becoming a second shooter for the person that will be photographing my wedding and gaining an awesome new friend (post on all that forthcoming as well).

For videography I did the same thing. I think I struck out in this department though. Everything I've seen has been ameteur and cheesy at best, even the ones who claim to do cinematic work. The ONLY exception I have seen is Blue World Studios (who I also work with occasionally) and a company called First Sight productions that is based out of Florida but works in Georgia. Other than that, the Videographer/Photographer of my dreams is in Canada *sigh*......

Al made it clear from the beginning that he wanted to be married in a church. And despite the fact that I would have preferred to get married outside, I'm cool with a church wedding. However, if I have to compromise than I wanted to get married in a CHURCH.

While I was doing my second shooting for my photographer, I was able to experience a myriad of possibilities.
Al is catholic, so we were looking for a catholic church in Atlanta. Enter the top three contenders....
The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Sacred Heart
Christ the King

I will post individually on each of these (pros and cons) in the coming days.

I will go ahead and reveal that we are getting married in the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and we are also becoming members because we love the Church, Father Graz and the environment. It's so freaking beautiful inside and I can totally see myself walking down that aisle. (more on that later)

So basically, it began quite some time ago as things to do on the side and over time, but I'm so glad I did it that way. I can see why brides to be stress out. I accomplished quite a bit over a year and some change, so I can't imagine how people can do that in months.....sheesh.

Needless to say, this is just the beginning, and I'm so excited to get all this out of my head and share it with whomever happens to come this way.