Weddings in General: It seems like everyone is getting married these days. Salvador's wedding was this past summer, I just got back from Laura's wedding, Meyer's wedding is in about 2 weeks. Kristin's getting married apparently, and my mom's youngest cousin Libby (who's really closer in age to me than my mom) is getting married sometime next year. It just has really gotten me thinking about my own future and how I want to spend the rest of my life. I look at myself in 10 years, and I see the quintessential "American dream." Wife, 2.5 kids, a dog, a house in the suburbs (not in Texas, Tim...), only replace the minivan/SUV/station wagon with my G35 Coupe and Emily's Saab. It is a foregone conclusion, of course, that in my mental perception of the future, Emily and I are married. I was thinking about that this weekend ('cause where better than another wedding to think about being married?). Traditionally, we men are supposed to be afraid of commitment and terrified of the M word. And yeah, a few years ago, I would have been really freaked out if it had come up in a relationship. But I think I'm at a point in my life where I'm prepared to commit the rest of my life to making one person truly happy for the rest of theirs. And yes, if Emily and I had started talking about marriage 8 months ago, I might have gone running for the hills. But it's been 13 months (today!), and things are going great, and I honestly can't picture myself growing old with anyone else.
So, with that in mind, we took a little time on Saturday night after the reception to talk about what kind of things we might want for our own wedding one day. With the most recent weddings, and Erin Leeth's surreal cave wedding, my cousin Jeremy's wedding to Sara a couple years ago, the Dempseys' backyard wedding, my uncle Tom's and Kaye's wedding, and Libby's older sister Missy getting hitched to Chris 'Biff' Wenzler all reasonably fresh in my mind (I don't remember my aunt Nancy's wedding to Phil when I was 3), I've put together my own idea of what kind of wedding I would want. Then add in all the stories from my parents' wedding and I've got a pretty clear picture. And of course, being a girl, Emily has had her own preconceived notions of her wedding ever since she knew what a wedding was. ;)
So we just threw around some ideas. And if marriage is about compromise, I think our wedding will reflect that. Emily's own Episcopal upbringing is in rather stark contrast to my own (rather lax) Methodist upbringing. In an upcoming post, you can see how I feel about churches... Fortunately for me, Emily has always had an outdoor wedding in mind, which I think would be awesome. So we talked about maybe having it in Savannah, which if you've never been to, you should go. It's a beautiful town with a rich history and tons to do. Just don't go in late July, it gets breath-stealingly hot down there. Neither of us want a really big wedding with tons of people or a traditional "by-the-book" sort of service. I'm not personally opposed to having a minister/priest marry us, but we discussed having a civil ceremony as an option too. I decided a long time ago that I would be writing my own vows. The biggest problem there will be keeping them under an hour long. I tend to get a wee bit palaverous sometimes when it comes to things like that. We decided it would have to be between late March and mid August so it didn't interfere with either Georgia Tech football or basketball. And I really loved what Jeremy and Sara did with making a CD to give everyone, and I know between the two of us, Emily and I would have no problem filling a CD. We talked about what else to give out as favors and what kind of cake we wanted (chocolate, duh). I dunno, I mean, I guess we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. We're not engaged yet, and maybe it's just residual wedding-energy from Laura's wedding, but I'm genuinely excited about the idea of marrying Emily and about planning our own wedding.
When Holly asked me a couple months ago if I thought Emily could be "the one" (not to be confused with Keanu "Neo" Ted Theodore Logan Reeves), I was sort of caught off-guard by it, and my mom was standing right there. To avoid any parental freaking out, I stuttered out something like "it's a definite possibility." I think if you asked me that anytime after I started working though, my answer has been a resounding "yes!" In my mind, it's no longer a question of if, but a matter of when and how. Of course, that's still up to me to propose, and for Emily to say yes. I'm not taking that experience away from either of us. I love Emily. I am in love with Emily. I can't imagine a future without Emily in it. And I plan to formally ask for her hand in marriage when the time is right.
So, with that in mind, we took a little time on Saturday night after the reception to talk about what kind of things we might want for our own wedding one day. With the most recent weddings, and Erin Leeth's surreal cave wedding, my cousin Jeremy's wedding to Sara a couple years ago, the Dempseys' backyard wedding, my uncle Tom's and Kaye's wedding, and Libby's older sister Missy getting hitched to Chris 'Biff' Wenzler all reasonably fresh in my mind (I don't remember my aunt Nancy's wedding to Phil when I was 3), I've put together my own idea of what kind of wedding I would want. Then add in all the stories from my parents' wedding and I've got a pretty clear picture. And of course, being a girl, Emily has had her own preconceived notions of her wedding ever since she knew what a wedding was. ;)
So we just threw around some ideas. And if marriage is about compromise, I think our wedding will reflect that. Emily's own Episcopal upbringing is in rather stark contrast to my own (rather lax) Methodist upbringing. In an upcoming post, you can see how I feel about churches... Fortunately for me, Emily has always had an outdoor wedding in mind, which I think would be awesome. So we talked about maybe having it in Savannah, which if you've never been to, you should go. It's a beautiful town with a rich history and tons to do. Just don't go in late July, it gets breath-stealingly hot down there. Neither of us want a really big wedding with tons of people or a traditional "by-the-book" sort of service. I'm not personally opposed to having a minister/priest marry us, but we discussed having a civil ceremony as an option too. I decided a long time ago that I would be writing my own vows. The biggest problem there will be keeping them under an hour long. I tend to get a wee bit palaverous sometimes when it comes to things like that. We decided it would have to be between late March and mid August so it didn't interfere with either Georgia Tech football or basketball. And I really loved what Jeremy and Sara did with making a CD to give everyone, and I know between the two of us, Emily and I would have no problem filling a CD. We talked about what else to give out as favors and what kind of cake we wanted (chocolate, duh). I dunno, I mean, I guess we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. We're not engaged yet, and maybe it's just residual wedding-energy from Laura's wedding, but I'm genuinely excited about the idea of marrying Emily and about planning our own wedding.
When Holly asked me a couple months ago if I thought Emily could be "the one" (not to be confused with Keanu "Neo" Ted Theodore Logan Reeves), I was sort of caught off-guard by it, and my mom was standing right there. To avoid any parental freaking out, I stuttered out something like "it's a definite possibility." I think if you asked me that anytime after I started working though, my answer has been a resounding "yes!" In my mind, it's no longer a question of if, but a matter of when and how. Of course, that's still up to me to propose, and for Emily to say yes. I'm not taking that experience away from either of us. I love Emily. I am in love with Emily. I can't imagine a future without Emily in it. And I plan to formally ask for her hand in marriage when the time is right.
