Welcome to my blog: The Chicago Wedding Locations and Bridal Blog by a real live Chicago bride. I just got engaged to my boyfriend Steve on Saturday 9/30/2017 and I am thrilled! I wanted to blog about the process that we are going through now to plan our wedding. It is also something I wanted to do because I wanted to archive this time in my life because it passes so quickly. I have 3 other blogs already so it made sense to write about this aspect of my life on a new blog especially if it can be of help to other Chicago brides and couples looking to research this very happy yet expensive time. I plan to write about all the companies and vendors I meet and how we plan on getting this whole event together for less than the average amount of money it costs to get married these days.
I am still not sure if everything has hit me yet. I am not giddy or crying or a mess. I can recall though how my boyfriend popped the proposal question:
Most guys try to do something unique like capturing the moment by hiring a secret photographer to follow them while he asks or taking their girlfriend to a super fancy restaurant to propose and have the ring presented in the champaign glass or something. I am not sure that expensive equates with special or love but some people are into that. Steve and I are kind of simple and direct about things and we try not to spend a lot of money on things that don’t last a long time. So, he didn’t do anything elaborate or fancy when he asked.
We had a small party on Friday night for my birthday and got up late the next morning. We were eating cold leftover pizza and considering looking at some marketing plans for his business since that is what I do for a living. He said instead he wanted to give me my birthday present. I was a little unsure of what that was because Steve isn’t the kind of guy that knows what gifts to get people and he didn’t ask at all about what I wanted or needed for a birthday gift this year. I thought this meant it might be the big question but I was almost too scared that thinking about it would jinx it. So, I was avoiding any proposal related questions or topics for the last few weeks.
Steve first gave me a sweet birthday card that said I was the one, and some very cute things about spending our lives together. I told him that I wanted that too. Then he just asked, Well I wanted to know if you would marry me? And I asked if he was really sure he wanted that because I had been the one saying that if he wanted to ask the answer was yes, and it was a no risk question. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t projecting my wants on him and that he wanted this on his own. And he did. He really wanted this and made the decision based on his feelings. Then I told him that yes I would marry him of course and said that I would always do my best in the relationship and that I was thrilled. I was a total crying mess, but then again I am a bit emotional about big things like this. It was happy tears. He didn’t have an engagement ring because he didn’t know anything about jewelry or what to choose so instead he borrowed a ring from his mom to give me as a temporary ring and I am wearing it right now. It was his great grandmother’s wedding band. It was sweet of him to do that and still have a ring at that moment while letting me choose what style I want. (and I have no idea yet) We figure this may take a few weeks to get settled and decided.
The other part of the story that you probably don’t know is that we are older than most engaged couples. I am 33 and Steve is 36. Neither of us have ever been married, nor planned a wedding. (nor lived with anyone else before) So, this should all be quite the adventure. I think we are both somewhat surprised that we found each other later in life but we feel lucky at the same time.
The other thing is that we are both first born kids in each of our families and are pretty headstrong and each used to being right about things. We will see how much conflict that creates in planning a wedding or if we will find a way to reach middle ground on everything. Neither one of us is very argumentative, and we are similar in tastes so hopefully this means that it will be somewhat less painful than some engagements that I have seen. I am also determined to be a calm relaxed bride rather than a bridezilla.
Everyone has told us to just chill out and enjoy our engagement but at the same time we are being barraged by questions about where and when we will get married. Ack! I know nothing about all that yet, nor do I know how to plan a wedding. This will be very interesting!!