Hipster Weddings

So I've been incredibly occupied by the school and Bridgette's been travelling, which means this blog has been practically infested by crickets and cobwebs.

My sister just shared this with me, however, and since Bridgette and I are in the throng of wedding planning, it seemed worthy of sharing:

Announcements

Better late than never, we have successfully followed tradition and posted official engagement announcements for printing in our hometown newspapers... which you can view online. <facepalm>

Road Trip

So here we are, rolling along 74 West, on our way up to Minnesota, listening to some classic rock. For those concerned, neither of the above pictured people are currently driving; we have Bridgette's parents playing chauffeur / chaperon for this road trip. None of the four of us has visited Galena before, so that will serve as a nice midday stop, though I'm not sure if we'll spend more than enough time to get a bite to eat and have a look around.

Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement as we continue this adventure to Rochester. We have our first consultation at the Mayo tomorrow afternoon, so no news, yet.

We've been blessed with abnormally gorgeous weather in Springfield, so our first week back in Illinois has been very vacation-like ... except for the numerous calls to the insurance company, doctor consultations, and attempts to distract ourselves from Bridgette's unwanted baggage. We've found a great use of our time in hunting down wedding reception sites in Springfield: maybe a vineyard, maybe a golf course, maybe a brand new park... such suspense! We'll need to lock something down soon because weekends are already filling up for next summer. And we thought we were on top of this game.

Bridgette also left me home all alone the other day while she joined her ladies for a day out dress-shopping. You can imagine my extreme, unbearable disappointment for not being allowed to partake in that. Instead, I holed up in a cafe to attend to some much-neglected emails, and to do a little tuxedo / suit shopping for myself. At the moment I'm leaning towards some nice suits for my men rather than traditional, overpriced tuxedo rentals. Besides, I'm well overdue for a new outfit.

The rest of our time has been filled with lots of family (thank you to both my parents for spending a few days with us "down south"), food, walks in the park, and general R&R. I think we're all, especially Bridgette, ready for the next step.

Wedding Nightmares

The other night, Bridgette was reading some bridal magazine she picked up and I was browsing a wedding-for-dummies book. Our reading turned a bit silly as we started to dream up what kind of hors d'ouevres we would like (chilli pepper watermelon?), drinks to serve (this idea may actually get implemented, so you'll have to wait for the surprise), and a grand buffet of world cuisine (ha!). And somehow a yurt got thrown in to the mix as a possible dinner location. As you can see, our heads were under control of our stomachs during that conversation.

(For those wondering, we're still tyring to lock down a location, so no big news ... yet.)

Reading done, lights out, slumber under way, we both had some interesting sleep. My dreams consisted of a miniature dog in danger of being eaten by spiders, which made me late for dressing for the wedding. I rushed into my bedroom to don my attire, where my brothers were also preparing, one wearing all red with yellow suspenders. Bridgette, that same night, dreamed of a dirty, tattered dress. To make it really a nightmare, she was wearing it and discovered that it minimally covered key areas for decency. So imagine a tattered, mud-soaked gown whose back was more akin to a scanty bikini.

Fortunately, we've recovered from the restless night. Unfortunately, I'm sure it's only the first of many to come.