In 12 months, I/We.....
* Moved into our first house together
* Took our first major holiday together (and survived)
* Added to our household with another kitty
* Survived holding our first joint christmas and easter in our house
And....
We got engaged.
And after 10 months of procrastination and enjoying the fact that we are now almost officially stuck with each other (though I wouldn't be stuck with anyone else, let's face it), I have learnt a few things
* Just because you make a final decision, doesn't it mean will definitely be the final decision. Someone, somewhere is always going to do something that will un-finalise your plans. A special thanks goes to the manufacturers of my original wedding dress who decided, 4 months after ordering and paying (in full mind you) that they should probably tell my dress shop that they are no longer making the dress. Thank you to my dress shop who came to the rescue and have made me a unique dress from scratch at no extra cost.
* Just because you give someone your business, doesn't mean they understand what their responsibilities are to their customer. And don't like it when you point this out to them. A special mention should go to the new owner of my previous flower shop. Apparently taking the time somewhere in the 7 months of buying the business to ring the only (and I do mean only) client that the previous owner had left behind to tell them of the change was somehow not their responsibility and not their problem. I still don't think they get that this might be the reason why I took my business to their rival who knows how to make the effort to stay in touch.
* Small never means small. I'm still trying to figure out how 80 guests makes a small wedding. That said, I'm amazed that I actually know 80 people to invite.
* You will never have any idea how much your wedding is ACTUALLY going to cost. I'm still staggering over how much my wedding band is going to cost. It's three times the amount I budgeted, and I'm only having a plain band.
* The minute you mention a wedding, it is invariably followed with a question about children. Um, can I please get through the wedding first?
* No matter how much you try to keep everyone happy, there is always going to be someone who disagrees with your decisions.
* Pre-marriage counselling. Most people I have talked to, have called it a load of crap and out of all the couples I know who have married in the past 12 years, none of them did the counselling. I say, do it. We have and it is the best thing you will ever do for yourselves as a couple. You can be together for years, live together even, but I'll guarantee you, there are questions that you have probably never thought about asking each other and discussed - but there may very well come a time when these questions, when dealt with after the fact and waaaay down the track, could cause problems. I'm happy to say that we are going into this wedding knowing as much as we can and being as prepared as we can be. Huge thanks to our priest for suggesting we do this, and a little shout-out for our counsellor guiding us through the program.
* Procrastination. Not a word that should be associated with wedding planning. My fiance and I are both champion procrastinators and now, well, now we are paying the price.
* My final piece of advice - take a day or night each week or fortnight and have that time to yourselves. Do NOT talk about wedding plans or any other kinds of plans. Just have some time to be. It is way to easy to get caught up in the planning and forget exactly why you are doing this. Watch a movie, go out to dinner, play a game. Trust me, you'll thank me later.
So, in 9 weeks and 6 days (eeep) I'll be a Mrs.
And who knows (for those who have already been asking) maybe next years annual post will include a new little person/person-to-be???
