The dress

Such a pain in the ass this is. I don't want a traditional dress. This is largely because I think it's insane to spend more money than my entire wardrobe is worth for a one-time-use clothing item. There's stuff you just gotta do for the occasion that you probably won't do again but still. And since when do I do things traditional anyway?

Who knew it would be so complicated. Non-traditional and plus-size and wedding just isn't something the world is prepared for, apparently. The internet is supposed to show me everything I need, but I just can't find it!
I want to look more like this....

Not so much like this. 

Complications- 

• We're going with a renaissance sort of theme, however that's not the kind of dress I want. 
• I'm above a size 12. 
• I'm not going to spend a ton of money. 
• I don't want white. At least not all white. 
• I DO want friggin' sleeves. This apparently isn't a popular option because it's rare. Everything is strapless.
• I want it fluffy but not so that I look like a cupcake. 
• I don't want puffy sleeves, flowy sleeves, excessive lace, or little pearls. 
• I'm hoping to find something I can use again.

I'm trying to keep others in mind while dress browsing since any matching to be done I guess should probably follow the lead of the dress. Right?

And now I have a headache from looking at hundreds of tiny pictures of dresses I can't wear.
I said I was going to wait to look at more until Sheena got here! Ugh. No more today!

Longmont is not for Lovers.

I assume people get married in Longmont every so often. I don't know who or where or how people can afford it, but it must happen.

According to the Huff Post, the average cost for a wedding in the US is $30,000. Manhattan wins for most expensive with an average of $86,000. AVERAGE.

Here are some other things you could spend $30,000 on if you had it lying around:
12 55" HDTVs
11 bottles of 1958 Glen Garioch Whisky
10 solar panels
9 top-secret smart phones
8 450-year-old bibles
7 nights in a beach house
6 micro home-breweries
5 goooolden riiiings
4 years of college (or so)
3 trips to Europe
2 life-sized gingerbread houses
....Are you singing the song now?
1 savings bond worth $34, 848 in 5 years

Or a party for 1 day. Eek.

Anyway, we're trying to not spend as much as it would cost to buy me a new car or pay off my student loans. Two things that I desperately need...hmmm...

So back to Longmont. There are venues here but, in my opinion, they are outrageously priced. The parks are a great option if you don't have weather to worry much about and if you don't want to have any booze.
Booze isn't a make or break thing, but...come on...it's a party.  Anywhere from $800 - $5000 with varying amenities, we're just having a hard time finding what we want. We could downsize the guest list but that seems like an option way down on the list. That's mostly my doing. I know and am related to a lot of people.
We don't need anything complicated, we just want everyone to be comfortable and have fun. Right now I'm hoping to meet someone with a really big backyard.

The engagement

I thought I should start with the nice stuff before I do a little bit of ranting.
So here's the engagement story!

First things first. Jason and I met on Sunday, March 31st, 2013 at Ziggi's on Main St. We met online and had arranged this date a little earlier. He'd forgotten that this was also Easter until the night before. His brother was coming down for Easter to do the family thing and Jason didn't want to abandon the family just to meet up with some chick, but he didn't want to change plans on the chick either. I told him it was OK; we could just meet up for coffee that morning, have the date date another day, and he could go hang with his family. So we walked and talked and that was that. We went on our real date on the next Tuesday, to China Panda and G.I. Joe in 3D. I realized actually that I'd seen him around downtown before I ever met him, but at the time I certainly didn't think "gosh, I'll probably go see G.I. Joe with that guy with all the freakin' tattoos on his face."
The first time my mother saw Jason's picture she thought she'd also seen him at the Festival on Main, which perhaps she had, but she remembered "him" wearing a t-shirt that said something about eating babies....
I asked him if he had such a shirt, he did not, so we're not really sure who she saw. (Also upon seeing his picture someone asked "Is that your boyfriend??" I said, "not yet." and my mother said "you're grounded." Things are different now.)

Mom and Jason were fast friends. They met on her birthday when he joined us for lunch and roaming around downtown, and he brought her a sunflower.
Since then we've met most of each other's families and the integration is a pretty easy one. His parents have all but adopted me and my family has been on relatively good behavior so far!

So let's skip ahead to March 30, 2014. Anniversary eve at Flavor of India...because they are closed on Mondays but he wanted to take me to my favorite place for our anniversary dinner, and we were leaving for our Colorado Springs vacation Monday anyway.
I was banished from the house all day because he had "stuff" to do. I finally met up with him at the restaurant later that night. He was a little smiley and glowy but I just thought he'd had a few beers before I got there.
He had roses at our table and showed me a man-wrapped box (meaning it was a get-the-job-done wrapping) telling me it was chocolates. I didn't know why he was telling me this but whatever. So after eating I opened my giant card- on the front it said "I can no longer picture myself without you!"

Oh but there's a note....

Ah, so that's why I needed to know!

Oh, chocolates! And a party...? I like parties...

THAT kind of party! 

Surpriiiise, it's a dragooon! It's a set actually. They fit together. Like us. :) 

And so it begins..

Or has begun already. The wedding plans.
This is as much for me/us as it is for anyone who wishes to follow the process. If I document stuff it might be easier for me to not lose track of things. Plus, I can look back later and see if I was being a Bridezilla or not. Pretty sure I can avoid it but who knows.
Feel free to leave feedback, suggestions, tips, whatever.