The Wedding Blog

I am getting married on June 16, 2012 to a really handsome fella. He's 6'2, with broody eyes and ravishing good looks. His name is Matt and he is my best friend.

But, you all already know that. This blog is not about my deep and undying love for Matt - I have written plenty of those :)
No. This is the frilly, girly, I am sooo getting married entry.

Prepare yourself.



This is the kind of invitation we want to mimic (with our own names, of course). I being a book nerd and desperately in love with this idea.



This is the center piece idea (of course, I will put my own twist on it...and I can hardly wait).



This is the bridesmaid dress (it comes in two styles)!! They love it, I love it, its practical and affordable. Hooray!



This is our venue. Yep! THIS is where we are getting married, and it's beautiful. We are so happy with our venue that we can hardly stand it.



What's that, dear reader? Oh. Yes. I know. This is not a temple. I don't care :) It is my wedding. I will do what I want. Don't like it? don't come....and I don't mean that in a rude way.



It's really beautiful, and surprisingly affordable.

These are the beads I want to wear on my head:


And this is the bouquet I will (make) have....:


As for the rest, it is still in progress....but you can bet that more is yet to come.

And now, to address the topic of my marrying a nonmember: There is a stigma that if you marry outside of the temple, you will not have a happy life. For some reason, some people who are married in the temple or plan to marry in the temple are of the opinion that non-LDS or partially-LDS families do not love each other, their kids, their friends or themselves are much as a temple-wedded couple. This stigma has always bothered me. Why is this such a common opinion in the church? I have met many a non-member family that love their kids and spouses just as much as (if not more than) a temple-sealed family.

I have seen temple wedded families fall victim to abuse and divorce, just like non-temple wedded families. I have seen eternally sealed families go through the motions of the temple marriage, without truly believing it...it's just a chore on their "to-do to get to Heaven" list.

If people don't value the experience or try to keep the covenants they make, then it isn't valid anyway. So, no. I'm not sad or unhappy that I'm not getting married in the temple.

I am marrying a man who loves and respects me, and who will love and care for our children. A man with no vices, and a man with faith. I'm marrying a great man. And, no, you do not have to be Mormon to be great.

Life Is Like That

I think I am living in the slow lane.

A few years ago, every person I knew happened to be getting engaged. "Great!" I thought. "This means lots of parties, shopping for embarrassing bridal gifts, helping plan weddings!" Then...I got tired of it. Engagement after engagement after engagement! Every time I received an engagement announcement I would say, "And another one bites the dust."

At that point, the jealousy over the fact that I wasn't living in the fast lane hadn't kicked in yet. I was like 19...marriage wasn't at the forefront of my mind.

Then came all the weddings. Happy couples holding hands, kissing. White dresses, little flower girls, beautiful receptions...love so thick you could cut it with a knife like a wedding cake...

The jealousy didn't really start sinking in, though, until people started emailing and posting up pictures of their new homes and lives together. "Our first married meal!" "Our awesome hotel during our honey moon." "Our new couch!"

All of a sudden, I wanted that. I wanted the happy home, the new furniture, the life long companion to travel, laugh, cry, eat and have creative cooking competitions with.

Little did I realize how quickly ideas can change in so few years.

I feel like I am living in the slow lane. I'm still waiting to take exit #1 "engagement..." when everyone else has now moved on to exit #4 "have children..."

While I am overjoyed that my friends have found such immense amounts of happiness, I find myself wondering when I'm going to get to feel all that happiness for myself?

Boundary Waters.

Imagination:

• Pronunciation: \i-ˌma-jə-ˈnā-shən\
• Function: noun
• Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin imagination-, imaginatio, from imaginari
• Date: 14th century

1 : the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality
2 a : creative ability b : ability to confront and deal with a problem : resourcefulness imagination and get us out of here> c : the thinking or active mind : interest imagination>
3 a : a creation of the mind; especially : an idealized or poetic creation b : fanciful or empty assumption

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There are some things that I am very private about. I don't tell people about my feelings about a lot of things, because so many people feel entitled to tell me how I should behave, act, feel, etc about certain things.

Instead, I opt to share things that aren't that close to home. For instance, I am a fan of Chef Ramsay because he is a loud, arrogant, hilarious, vulgar, brilliant chef. He is old! He is English! He is handsome. But God forbid I say that "I love Chef Ramsay." No no no! We live in a world of realism. Stop thinking, nikki! Stop! You MUST snap back into the real world.

NO. No, world. I won't. I will like,love,hate,enjoy,envy anything I want - real, fake, etc.

I mean, what comes next? A lecture on why I shouldn't date a Lutheran?

Shut the eff up. It's none of your business. If you can't keep things light hearted, friendly - or don't know how to communicate, then go away. I don't judge you, so stop judging everyone else.