I’m Getting Married!!!!!!!

Hello!!  It’s been sooooo long!!!  I’ve missed so much- including my one year blogaversary!!!  Ahhh!!  I will have a giveaway for that soon- hopefully sometime this month, so stay tuned!!

It’s been crazy here and now you know why---  I’m finally getting married!!

Matt and I have been together since 04/05/06.  We met at work when I was terribly adverse to having a relationship, much less dating someone I worked with.  But it must have been the eyes….

We were engaged one morning, in bed, in January 2009.  Matt wore the ring on his pinky all night- lol :)

And now we have been blessed by my parents and are able to have an actual wedding!  My dad passed in 2001, but him and my mother set aside a wedding fund for me and my sister.  My mom turned 60- today actually- and had waited until she could access the fund to let me know.  So it really has been very recent since we found out we could have a wedding!

The reason we have to have a wedding next spring is because I am losing my job at the Research Institute on Addictions because my boss’ grant runs out.  So I will be without a job after next June or July.  And then we will probably have to move so I can have a *real* job- he he.  We didn’t want to have to come back to have the wedding if we had already moved…. soo…. time to rush!!

I’ve already picked out my dress!!

I hope I can lose all this weight so I can look like this in it!  lol!

  This is the back of it- I just fell in LOVE with the train!!!

I also picked out the bridesmaid dresses:

These look kind of white, but they are blue with a gold lace overlay!

And the tux:

Tomorrow I am going to put the deposit down on our ceremony and reception venue:  The Avanti Mansion

This is the mansion, however, they are building an entirely new facility that opens in August of this year.  Inside will be a library and a ballroom.  We are planning on having the reception in the ballroom, which will be gorgeous with antique style furniture and faux marble floors and also a huuuuge staircase entering into the ballroom!  Plus, the bridal suite will be upstairs with a balcony overlooking the ballroom which I think is sooo cool! 

Unfortunately, we will not be able to go into the real mansion the day of the wedding (because another party will rent out the tent that has been in use for receptions all these years) or the gardens over there because it belongs with the reception tent, but I don’t think that will be too big a deal.  There will be a tiered ceremony site along a little creek on our side and we will also have a patio outside of the ballroom that our guests can use to dance under the stars!

And, we are going to have such a cool dinner service!!  They do a live grill there- so everything is made to order and you can eat as much as you want!  Plus, dinner is served to all guests in 10 minutes, so no waiting around for everyone to get their food and be able to eat!

I’m sooo excited! :)  Finding a reception venue has been very stressful, so I’m kind of glad that part is over.  On to funner stuff!!

Don’t you want to come?!?!  Lol :)  I am definitely inviting some of my blog friends- ones I’ve met in real life and ones I haven’t met yet- and I would just be in heaven if everyone could come!  So look out for your Save The Dates!  :)  Tomorrow I will be back with a Set-In-Stone-Date!  Have a wonderful week and thank you for sharing in my happiness!