Introduction

When I got engaged during the summer of 2003, I dusted off my wedding planning notebook which was a collective of bridal dress pictures ripped from magazines and wedding ideas I'd gathered over the years, beginning with my formative youth. Yes, I was one of "those girls" whom would imagine up to a certain extent, what I wanted my big day to look like. Little did I know that life would take me down a different road than I ever imagined!

By the time I'd found the man I wanted to get on with the rest of my life with, I was in my early thirties. A far cry from the bride of 26 I had always imagined I would be! My fiance was nine years my senior and had been married before (divorced for ten years prior to our engagement). So after he spontaneously asked me to marry him, after a blissfully perfect afternoon on the solstice that June in 2003, I asked him: since you have done this already once before, what would you [like to] do differently, this time? His pensive answer included only inviting the people he really wanted to share in the specialness of the day (and not because he/we had to invite certain people) and to make the day what we wanted it to be.

I couldn't have agreed with him more!

We both loved fall and decided that fall of 2004 would be the perfect time to have our wedding. This also gave us an advantage with over a year and a half to save and prepared to pull off the biggest and obviously, the most expensive party celebration of our lives. Being older, we didn't expect our parents to help foot the bill. And as I share the details and planning of what transpired, you may agree with our philosophy that there are many benefits in paying for your own wedding yourself, however you choose to pull that off.

Our tale is one of creativity, necessary resourcefulness, ingenuity, and not without its fair share of drama. Since I did my own fair share of idea borrowing for our big day, I am a huge advocate of sharing our wedding details (and instructions) with you so that maybe you can use them as a launching point for your own wedding day plans. Sometimes, it's just one thing that maybe you didn't think of or think could be available to you that you can glean is now, in the grand scheme of things. And as my mantra would soon become throughout our entire wedding planning period, "I'll learn to do it myself!" maybe this will inspire you that all things are possible in achieving your dreams, however cliche that sounds!

Our Engagement

The day my now husband proposed was Saturday, June 21, 2003. It was the summer solstice.

We woked up that morning, a beautiful summers day in the desert, and made rosemary scones with peach butter, which were eaten while we watched "The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys".

A nap followed after which we went downstairs in the early afternoon to have cocktails.

Egads - We were out of lemons!!!

This meant we couldn't make my favorite, the Lemon Drop.  Boo!

So we set out for Eddie's house (aka "Casa"). While we were there checking on his cats, we sat down to watch "Moulin Rouge" (one of my favorite movies, still, to this day).

We finally tore ourselves away from the flick to head off to the grocery store to buy lemons, commenting to each other what a perfectly blissful, wonderful and lazy day it had been so far in every aspect.

Upon returning to the "Hutch" (my digs) we made proper cocktails: a Lemon Drop for me, Bombay Sapphire martini for Eddie, with homemade Bleu Cheese stuffed olives. While sipping our drinks, we flipped through the days mail and catalogs together.

Then, needing something to nosh on with our beverages, I made a goat-cheese appetizer to enjoy with our drinks. We realized later, along with the perfect day thus far, that the appetizer cwas the catalyst for Eddie to spontaneously pull me into his lap at the dining room table and propose marriage!

I replied quickly, yet emphatically with,"You Betcha!"

Eddie then made me sit in his chair and he got down on one knee to ask me the official and old-fashioned way.

Same answer as before...

I then asked him if this meant I could now, officially, buy wedding magazines at the store?

Yes, yes it did.

And so, it was settled.

And realizing that we were very happy, and not really very hungry any more, we went upstairs to watch "Brazil" on DVD.