Welcome!

Hello everyone and welcome to my wedding planning blog!

I figured that I don't spend enough time wedding planning as it is (yeah right) so I thought it would be a fun idea to chronicle my journey to the altar.

For those of you that don't know me...here's the run down
I am a 26 year old Wisconsinite living in Milwaukee with my fiancee (J for short), our two dogs, three cats, a Guinea pig, a turtle and a roommate (the roommate being the most troublesome). I am a grad student at UW-Milwaukee with hopes and dreams of graduating in August. My research (the short version) looks sulfur assimilation in algae...yes, algae...and don't judge me. After I graduate my plan is to go to medical school. J is finishing up his undergrad in history at UWM and plans on going for his PhD after he's done...inter-war Germany (I smile and nod a lot)

J and I got engaged on October 4, 2008. It was a completely surprise engagement and so done well done on J's part. J and had decided back in July to get pictures taken in fall with the dogs, just to use as Christmas pictures or whatever. We had the pictures scheduled for a Sunday but the Friday before the shoot the photographer called and asked if we could change it to Saturday..better weather, etc. Since J wasn't working and I just working in the morning I cleared it with him and we were set for Saturday.
On Saturday I had to work from 530 - 930 am so I asked J if he could take the dogs for a walk to tire them out. I got home early and J headed out with dogs. I was busy getting ready so I didn't realize until 1030 that J wasn't home yet and pictures were set up for 11.
J finally came through the door at 1050 and I was furious. Literally stomping around the house, swearing and yelling (which I don't usually do). He got ready and we ran out the door. We got to the park a little late, but the photographer was completely understanding. We walked around the park and took some great pictures....I had no idea anything was going on. The only thing that was weird was that the dogs were so hyper even though they'd just had a long walk.
Near the end of the session J found a fence to sit on and do some single pictures with the dogs and another family picture. I was sitting and J was kneeling next to me. After the last picture I jumped up ready to go when J said he wanted just one more. I turned around and there he was with a ring! I was completely shocked. I was in a daze and overwhelmingly happy! Of course I said yes!
We finished up and I got the whole story of the morning. Apparently J had planed to buy the ring on Saturday but with the last minute change of plans he had to do it on Friday night (he had to wait to the last minute to buy it because otherwise he knew I'd find it). When he went to the store to pick it up they told him they had sold it and the last one in stock was at another store which had already closed. His only option was to get there when they opened on Saturday morning and buy it. So Saturday morning J didn't really take the dogs for a walk...he threw them in the car and drove to the jewelery store, bought the ring, got stuck in traffic and came home...that's why he was late! I was so surprised and happy.

If you'd like to see photos from the "surprise engagement" photos you can visit the photographer's blog here

That's all for tonight, but stay tuned for all the wedding planning fun