Engaged!

First, let me just say how much I love that some of you guys didn't know whether to believe me! It truly warmed the cockles of my heart that we have become such delightful pranksters that you're never quite sure no matter how matter of factly the facts are presented!  I LOVE ALL OF YOU FOR THAT!!!! 

BUT, no matter, YES, this is real, YES we are actually getting married in 23 days.  ACK!  Let's talk some of the FAQs.  There wasn't really a proposal.  It was more the fact that we've wanted to get married for more than a year and we ain't gettin no younger, we might as well do this.  KIDDING!  We did not use Jagged Edge logic to make this decision.  But we decided last Thursday that we don't want to wait.  We want to be married now.  Tomorrow even.  We almost went to the courthouse Friday.  But I have this thing about going through a metal detector on my wedding day... I don't wanna.  (Plus a few days before that I had a dream about getting married on the spur of the moment and being sad because I didn't have a pretty wedding dress... so I was gonna need a dress!)  There's also not a traditional ring at this moment.  Just another expense.  We're doing simple bands, I LOVE MINE (and his LOL) and getting the prime time diamond later.

Why so soon?  We don't want to wait anymore!  We said we were getting married in 2011 and having a longer engagement is just going to make the guest list balloon out of control.  More on that later.  Plus I love the idea of spontaneity!  Like you just want to get married.  All other forces fall to the wayside!  We are ready for the next stage in our lives!

Where?  Most likely Charlotte with a restaurant dinner party afterward.  Our moms will host receptions in their respective cities in the months after the wedding to get in all the people they know and love who can't be there.

Dress.  I bought one.  Classic, timeless.  YESSSS!!  You most certainly will not be able to squint at my wedding pictures and say with a self-satisfied smirk, "Hm... 20...11, right?"  Rashan asked me if I cried when I put it on.  LOLOL!!  Stop watching so much tv!  I couldn't stop smiling!  And my mom and this other lady who was there with her future daughter-in-law couldn't stop talking about how awesome I looked in it.  Wheeeeee!  That's all I'll say about it since Rashan wants to be completely surprised.

Bridesmaids.  Not having any.  It's just 70 million more details to think about and more money to spend.  But I have plenty of friends who want to help.  Too bad I don't even know what help means.  I mean really.  I haven't told my two friends from middle school I still keep in touch with who originally would have been my bridesmaids because they haven't bothered to call me back since Sunday.  Makes me delighted that I'm not having bridesmaids, though.  With this timeline, I absolutely cannot be the bridesmaid wrangler.

And of course the little girl who's loved weddings her entire life (come on... you're not actually SURPRISED I'm that girl are you??) needs daily talks from Rashan to keep this thing small.  Only I would go from our moms to 40 people in 3 days.  And can I say thank GOD I have someone who will do this?? And help with the budget?? THANK GOD!!  Can you believe I'm trying to figure out how to cut this guest list and there are just 40 people with 0 members of my LARGE extended family (8 uncles, 5 aunts, 36 first cousins to recap, not to mention their dozens of SOs and children)?  Can you believe I still have only told the one uncle I wanted to marry us (can't, too short notice) out of all those people?  I haven't put it on fb because I don't want to deal with all the people who aren't invited.  Awful.  I'm avoiding the inevitable.  But by not having ANY aunts, uncles or cousins, it makes it a lot easier.  Also, all of our parents and grandmothers and my godmother are completely excited and support our decision 100%.  HUGE help. 

Details.  I've always told people I will not care about wedding details when the day comes.  That I'll just care about a dress and a big party and it turns out no one believed me!  And I'm so serious!!   OMG!!!  Y'all!  I do not want to haggle over 19 shades of white.   JUST PICK ONE!  I don't want to fight with you over ANYTHING that is immaterial to me becoming Rashan's wife.  #cmonson  At Crate and Barrel I was going back and forth between the shape of two wine glasses for MINUTES and then I was like, "WHO CARES?!?!  No one is going to look at my wine glasses and say, 'Can you believe she picked the slightly peaked bowl instead of the ever-so-slightly peaked bowl??? The horror!'"  After that, registering became fun again.

Know what I love though?  One small and silly thing and then one other, less small, thing.  Picking out our stationery (sending hand-written invites because I love my handwriting and so do many others... plus I thought I would have far fewer to write! LOL)!  I loved ordering something with our names together!  And I found the perfect embossed stationery for us together after we're married and for me with my new last name.  Oh yes, professionally I'll have both last names (not hyphenated, though) and I will not, cannot, care about whether people call me by two or just the new last name.

The best thing I love?  In 23 days I will be Rashan's wife.  EEEEEEEE!!!  I'm SO excited about that!!!!  And that's really all that matters!