I have now been engaged for two months. These two months have flown right by! I always thought I wanted a “shorter” engagement, meaning about six months. But having now been engaged for two months, I can’t fathom a shorter engagement. Being engaged is a lot of fun and excitement and truthfully, I can’t imagine it coming to a halt that soon.
Our wedding day is September 21, 2019, so it is about 11.5 months away. There is so much time to prepare emotionally and spiritually as well as time to prepare everything for the ceremony and reception.
Here’s what we have covered so far.
Venue: We thought this would be the easiest decision in the world. After all, we were introduced in a church sanctuary. However, we ultimately went with another venue where we could hold everything in a single location. The venue also has an amazing coordinator, which was a relief and I know she will be beneficial as the day nears.
Dress: I looked at dresses very early on. I scheduled an appointment at a bridal shop that I did not have much success at, then decided rather spontaneously to check out Bridal Elegance in Richmond. I was helped by Cathy and quickly found the most perfect dress. As I have found that many brides say about their wedding dress experience, I went with something very different than my intended silhouette and style.
Bridal Party: This was perhaps one of the most difficult decisions so far. For a hermit, I have a lot of friends. I selected two of my second cousins that I am very close with to be my maids of honor. For bridesmaids, I chose my oldest friend who I’ve known since 2004, my best high school friend, and my two college roommates. I also chose two of my second cousins to be flower girl and ring bearer.
Colors: This was a struggle for me. I always thought I’d want burgundy for my bridesmaids, but in the end I wanted to do something a little more classic and neutral. My main colors are black and white with touches of gold and olive green. I think that this is a color scheme that I will look back on and not see as dated or too trendy.
Bridesmaid Dresses: I have elected to not choose a bridesmaid dress. To me, this seems unnecessary. I have selected six bridesmaids that are each unique and different from each other in many ways. I want to celebrate that. I have asked for them to select a semi-formal, floor-length, solid black dress with not a whole lot of cleavage showing. I expect to have them wear gold or black shoes. I also don’t care how they do their hair. It just needs to look appropriate for the dress they wear and the dress they wear needs to look appropriate next to mine, which is on the more formal side.
Music: I am not completely done with song selections, as I am still waiting on my dad to suggest a father-daughter dance song. However, our first dance will be to “our song,” which is “Hold You in My Arms” by Ray Lamontagne. My fiancé will be dancing with his mother to “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, per her request. I will be walking down the aisle to Faith Fisher’s rendition of the John Mark McMillan song, “How He Loves.” I also am kicking around a couple ideas for a song within the ceremony. I know that I would like my college bandmates to play, but I’m not completely sold on what song yet. A real contender at this point is the Delta Rae song, “A Long and Happy Life.“
Officiant: We were introduced by our Executive Pastor, so naturally we decided to ask him to marry us. He will also be taking us through pre-marital counseling. I have some anxiety about that but I’ve known long before I had a ring on my finger that this would be a part of our story.
As far as food, we visited one of the restaurants that is on our venue’s list of approved caterers a couple days ago, and we still plan to check out a couple of options before making a move. We’ve also made some progress on the groomsmen attire. I really want to nail down who’s going to shoot our engagement session and wedding pictures quite soon, as Jonathan and I both envision early November pictures in the mountains.
We really are doing well for being just a couple months into our engagement and being so far out. I have enjoyed keeping Jonathan as involved as possible in this process and I look forward to making some more big decisions about our big day with him.
SARAH HARPER 