Date

Soon after announcing your engagement, and you get past the congratulations, the first thing people ask is: “when’s your date?”

Two weeks after Will and I got engaged, we went to a bridal expo in Norfolk. In my mind, this seemed like a great opportunity to get ideas on vendors, locations, and a chance to talk face to face with people. Every single vendor asked “when is your date?”

I felt kind of lame saying “we don’t have one yet.” And then I’d get the face like I was a poor bride-to-be with no planning skills whatsoever. And as I tried to set up an appointment, there’d be some confusion because we didn’t have a date. Apparently, TBD is not acceptable in the wedding world.

The thing about it is, Will and I are essentially trying to book the same date with two different venues: the church and the reception. Which mind you, is pretty hard. Especially when you’re getting married at a church three hours from where you live and your point of contact is not there every Sunday when you are there. So yeah, it’s been tough.

But Will and I are looking for Fall of this year. I’m sick of the wide eyes I get in response, because planning a wedding in less than a year is some far-off dream. I’m not trying to be competitive in us getting married in record time. I have always wanted a Fall wedding: crisp weather, falling leaves, cider, pumpkins, the whole thing. It’s also one of Will’s favorite seasons, so what could be better? Waiting until Fall 2018 just seems like…forever.

At this point, we’re looking deeply into September-which is great because that’s the month my parents got married. We have appointments coming up this month to discuss the venue and secure a date (crossing fingers it’s determined before April!)

Once we have our date set-then I feel like the fun can begin. Everything can really move forward from there and I can start to do some real planning.

But mind you, it’s never a race. It should never be rushed, and I won’t settle on some random date just so I can start planning. Prayers please as we try and get this date!!

(Funny story: I’ve tried emailing a couple times with the title “STD” for Save the Date, which I think scared some people off…I was a little slow to pick up on that.)