can we do it all over again?

This time last year I was in the final stretch before the wedding. This year I have new things planned for May and we are going to Hawaii to celebrate our anniversary but I kind of wish we were doing the wedding again. It was such a great week. A new friend Melanie at Mailbox Journey just got engaged and reading her posts makes me want to do it all again as well. If you check out her site on Monday I bet she will announce her venue and you will be able to follow along as she plans out her big day.

So here is what I am thinking...
1. Most of you weren't around last year
2. I wasn't blogging as much and didn't really elaborate on how I did some of my DIY projects
3. I want to relive it all again minus the stress of which there was really very little. Oh and maybe this will give me a reason to put the dress on again. I love that dress.

There are 5 weeks until our anniversary so each week I will post twice about different aspects of the wedding. That schedule might be stressful enough. I hope you enjoy this as much as I know I am going to.

In the coming five weeks here are some of the post topics you have to look forward to:

• flowers
• location
• music
• shoes/dress/suits
• centerpieces
• favors

Let's start out with the engagement and the ring for now shall we...

On our first date we took a walk through San Francisco. We walked through Chinatown and down on the water in front of Ghirardelli Square. With the Golden Gate Bridge as a back drop he stopped and kissed me. Right there on that pier. It was sunny on our date. It was a typically beautiful October day. If you want to visit SF I highly recommend September and October. It rarely looks like this during those months.

It was a very special day and we have been by each others sides ever since. We both knew very early on that we would get married. The first time we really talked about it was during the UCLA vs USC football game in 2010. That is a long story but I saved all the text messages from that conversation. Modern day love letters I guess you could call them.

We moved in together in April of 2011. In the end of October we took our first vacation together, Disneyland and the Ritz in Laguna Nigel to celebrate our birthdays, which are only 2 days apart. During that trip Tom said "I think we should get married sooner rather than later." That was all it took to get the ball rolling quickly. We picked out the ring together. I knew it had arrived and that Tom had picked it up but wasn't sure when to expect it. I knew he was planning to call my dad and ask for permission but I didn't know if that was done yet. My dad is an excellent secret keeper so there weren't going to be any leaks on his end. On one of our days off we went out for a walk and Tom suggested going to where we had our first date. That and the bulging ring box in his pocket were the tell tale signs that would be the day. I was really excited the proposal spot might be right there on the pier and when it was I was very excited. Even with it kind of figured out I was so excited and nervous before he asked me.

We got home and I called my parents. My mom answered the phone. When I told her she screamed and laughed, which is probably because she was trying not to cry, and then turned to my dad who was apparently wearing his "shit grin", as she calls it,  which means he is in on the secret or he really enjoyed what just happened. She couldn't believe he didn't tell her. I think she knew he never would. I knew he would never spoil that moment for us. We made a few more phone calls and there was a little more screaming from Lori and Annie. We sent some texts and then put it on facebook and the world officially knew.

Did you know engagement rings have super powers? You can learn about that and the other things my engagement ring taught me the first two weeks I had it in this post here.

This photo is from the wedding but it is the best photo I have of the ring. It is an emerald cut diamond. My favorite part is the arch of six diamonds just underneath the solitaire. The wedding band matches the diamonds around the engagement ring. Looking at my ring still makes me smile almost a year later.