First disappointment

Photography has always been a passion of mine. Not necessarily clicking the pics or getting my pics clicked.. just looking at amazing works of other more talented (than me) people. Esp pics of events like weddings, birthdays, graduation, going away, coming home..saturday evenings.. done well, have always captivated me.

And photographer and the outcome has always been #1 on my cannot-trade-off list. After searching through (what felt like) 3,452 photographers, I totally loved one that did not want me to write over half my 401k to him! AND..my date (still tentative, but highly convenient) is the one Sunday of that month that he is booked. Oh the fate & destiny!! But, these are the few times in life that I terribly want to believe the saying - all things happen for good. Just waiting for the good to happen.

Baby steps and first words

Those of you who have not been dreaming/planning your wedding from before getting married, you will completely relate to this -- planning a wedding is daunting!! Esp for a nerd like me. I research everything, I have to know everything there is to know, in theory before i make my conclusions and decisions. But time is a major constraint here!

I need to book vendors and send out save-the-dates to peoples! And this cannot wait till I finish my all geeky research! *Tears*! But all I am trying to do now is imagine the things that I would regret about and things I wouldn't care about, on the day of and after the wedding. Helps me prioritize my super research powers efficiently.

After much reading and freaking out - venue was the obvious first step. Although I did get a head start on other things (photographer, dress, centerpieces - you know, the more fun parts). But venue needs your guest list, at least the numbers...and of course your budget! And following many bickerings, yellings, naggings, emotional blackmailings, I got the budget/guestlist talks started and I think I now know what I want - just need to find places that fit the bill. Oh also, biggest damn thing I need to consider - food! Given the amazing dietary restrictions and the varied fusses of my family and soon-to-be family, it has been a 'fun' math problem!!

I have a few shortlisted venues, I have not taken any non-virtual tours yet (will be starting this weekend - excited!!!). I want to walk around with my checkbook because this falls under the category of won't-regret-not-going-all-in stuff I spoke about earlier. So, I don't want to put in more time than I already have (and trust me I have clocked some looong hours online doing research, looking up stuff, calling people and the works). I also found this awesome community of folks going through similar stuff and those who have been through it, to help me! Yay!! I'll tell ya this, after college and living in a girls' dorm, virtual girl friends are soo much less catty than real ones.

So, after this weekend, I just got to start coughing up the $$$s.. and pouring over contracts, I hope. NOT looking forward to this part. I gave up job hunting for this - I cannot handle researching a new employer and all these places at the same time. So, I am renewed my love for the current employer for another year. At least.
Hope to get back here with more progress!! Stay beautiful, y'all.

Pre planning

Ok..so I said yes! Now that was a big thing. And I took over a month to digest what that meant to who we were, who we are and what we will be.. in the very near future. Probably took so long coz I did not have the rock on the finger just yet. We were planning on getting it together so I can pick the piece of jewelry I will be wearing.

So the first step was to do a lott of reading up on diamonds, engagement rings and more diamonds. Did you know there are people who teach other people about diamonds?! For a brief moment I was seriously considering this as a weekend hobby until the 5 hours I spent in the store picking my stone made me want to run out crying out loud. I will deal with deluded clients in my line of work over diamonds and different cuts and people trying to buy jewelry! Bottomline, I bought my beautiful shiny little piece of carbon and love it. I am not a crying kinda person but I think I teared up there for a bit when I realized it is my rock. sniff.

While I was still dreamily thinking about my beautiful stone, I happened to consider getting a move on the wedding plans. And turns out 10months is not a long enough period of time for doing this. Esp if you don't have oodles of cash to splurge on stuff and want to do a thorough research and DIY stuff.

Sigh. (Drumroll please) Let the planning begin..