We Found a Place

Friday was spent visiting potential churches for the wedding. I had seven churches that I was going to try to visit. Of the seven, four were closed. (One was closed all day, one was closed during the lunch hour, which was right when I got there, one closed an hour and a half before I got there, and I really don't know what happened at the other one. There was a car out front, and I tried every door, but had no luck.) I was debating on driving out to Lewisville to look at Vista Ridge United Methodist Church, or stay in Plano and look at St Andrew.

I had performed at St. Andrew before with the Carrollton Wind Symphony and thought the sanctuary was pretty, but too big. I also really liked the organ pipes that covered the back wall of the sanctuary, much like at the Meyerson Symphony Hall. However, as the guest list continues to get longer (we are pushing three hundred invitations) that is less of an issue. I came across the cross road for St. Andrew, and drove to that church. When I came up to the building, I fully expected it to be locked as the other churches had been. However, it was open, so I walked in. I could hear organ music, so I peeked in one of the side doors to the sanctuary. The music was beautiful! I quickly walked to the back of the sanctuary, to the double doors where my father and I would walk in together. I slowly walked down the aisle, and I knew that this was the place I wanted to get married. I wanted that organ sound. I had chill bumps on my arms and legs and a feeling in my gut, I knew it was the right place.

I walked towards the offices, to find someone to give me information about weddings, but since it was a holiday weekend, I was not surprised to find them already gone for the day. I walked back towards the sanctuary and walked in once more. I could picture where David would stand, where my bridesmaids would be, where the minister would be, etc. Now I just have to wait until Tuesday to call the church and get wedding information. I was really excited, I told my mom, then called Heather, who was almost as excited as me! (Yes, we are dorks.)I am so glad that we found a church!

Now, if we could only find a reception site...

How do I know?

Sunday night Dezi and I had been asked to talk at River. River is the youth's contemporary worship service that they have once a month. The theme was spiritual journeys and since we had recently become engaged, they wanted us to speak about our experience with getting engaged and everything. We worked on it and came up with a couple of points that we wanted to leave with the kids. They all sound pretty simple, but they are deceptively complicated.

Traits to look for in a serious relationship

They should make you happy; That does not mean they should make your parents happy or your friends happy. Or that you should be happy because of the status dating them gives you.

You should trust them completely

They should be your equal; Challenge you to be better and make you want to be better. Hopefully their strengths compliment your weaknesses.

Probably hardest of all: You must be a whole person before you can give yourself completely to anyone else; We talked about how we had to be happy with ourselves before we could be happy with someone else.

The Misadventures of Place & Date: Part Two

I have been conducting internet searches of various Methodist churches in the area. (When I say the area, I've looked at churches in Grapevine, Plano, Frisco, Carrollton, The Colony, Farmers Branch and Carrollton. Lewisville is next.) I made a list of the churches close to work and decided to visit those three this week, during my lunch time.

Yesterday, I was at Webb Chapel United Methodist church. It is right around the corner from work. I enjoyed talking with the secretary there. She was very helpful, and let me see the sanctuary. It's a neat looking sanctuary, and has bright red carpet. The kicker was that instead of having a center aisle, it had two aisles. She told me that the church was one of the oldest in the area, and when it was actually on Webb Chapel, it was known as the Little White Church. When the congregation outgrew that church, they used the boards from the old building to create the ceiling for the new building! I like buildings that have a story with them. Aside from the aisle issue, the sanctuary was beautiful and had a lot of charm!

Today, I visited Chapel Hill United Methodist Church. The youth minister was the only person there, he showed me the sanctuary. It was very pretty, a little smaller than Webb Chapel's. However, he said if we needed more seats, part of the wall opened up into the fellowship hall, and we could put chairs there. It had a nice, long center aisle. The really neat part is that (well, and we could do this at the other church, too) we can bring in an outside officiant. At this one, though, I think the officiant could do the whole ceremony, whereas at the other church, they would co-officiate with the pastor at that church. Both churches said we could get married there, and that since we're scheduling our wedding this far ahead, we would have a really good chance of getting the date we want. (July 16th, at 6:00 p.m.) Another good thing about this church, is that the guy I talked to (the youth pastor) is an Aggie, so he and David like each other already.

Well, tomorrow's activities will include a visit to another church, Schreiber Memorial United Methodist Church, in North Dallas. It is on the other side of LBJ from work, but is still really close. So we shall see what they say.

The Misadventures of Place & Date

Well, let the planning begin! I spent yesterday and today looking for ceremony and reception sites. We did a preliminary invite list over the weekend, and came up with around 300 people. (No, that is not a typo. I have a huge family, so I figure close to a third of that is family. So that is definitely a factor in determining the location. We have a close family friend who is the wedding coordinator for her church. I had asked about getting married there, but since we are not members of that church, that won't happen. She was able to give me some excellent suggestions on reception sites, as well as floral shops and bridal shops. Yay! Thank you so much for your help!

My best friend Heather (who will be my maid of honor) and I went to Barnes & Noble Tuesday night, and bought a wedding organizer/planner and also a bridal etiquette book. We had a blast going over the selection of bridal books in the store. Another family friend gave me my graduation present, which is a year's subscription to Bride's magazine. It's fun to look through and start getting ideas for everything.

The neatest part about telling people about our engagement is their reactions. Most people who knew the two of us were not surprised to hear the news. The youth have been really funny. The girls all get really excited, jump up and down and scream, cry and ask for details about the proposal, fawn over the ring. The guys see the ring and are like,"Oh, that's nice." I did have one girl get really excited, and then ask me with total sincerity who I was marrying. Since I thought it was obvious that David and I are together, I was shocked by that question.

Oh well, I guess the next thing to do is nail down a time and place. I hope to have that done as soon as possible. I've been told that after we get that decided, then everything else is just details. We shall see.

Laser Tag is Practical

I would just like to point out that having a wedding reception at Laser Tag would fit in great with our western theme. It would also make sure that all the kids had something to go do.

Alas, I have been vetoed in my bid to shoot my wedding guests. (With laser lights of course)

Bowling, whirlyball, and arcades met a similar fate when they were proposed.

...and so it begins

Hello, world! This is the first post on our new blog. It was created as a way for us to discuss all the facets of planning a wedding. Enjoy!