Finally, some progress!

For the last few months we have been itching to get something done. A long engagement has its benefits, of course: Plenty of time, less stress, more options for vendors, time to enjoy being engaged, etc. At the same time, however, a 22-month engagement also means we have no excuse to get things done quite yet. While we're still over a year out, we have no need to feel pressured to make decisions or book vendors, which is both comforting and frustrating. But very slowly, we are crawling closer to that year mark, and we can finally make some strides toward planning our wedding!

Last weekend, we ventured up north for a marathon weekend of meetings and appointments. Planning a "long-distance" (which I define as anything that can involve a plane ride) wedding requires serious organization. We have to book appointments far in advance and make sure that we schedule as many as possible. Otherwise, we have to wait perhaps a month or two before we can come up again. So we hauled our wedding binder back and forth between Dublin, Campbell, Cupertino, Livermore, and San Jose. We met with photographers and a DJ, visited a bridal salon (well, not Terry), checked out a bridal fair, and even spent time with some of our bridal party members.

While we didn't make any final decisions, the weekend felt extremely productive. Comparing different photographers really gave us an idea of what we are looking for and what we can expect to pay. Man, photographers are expensive! But as we've said, pictures last the longest and will capture those little moments we want to remember and share with our children. We will likely make our own albums, however, which can save upward of $1,000 through most photographers. As for style, we are picky about finding a true photojournalist for our wedding. We want few, if any, posed pictures; instead, we want the photographer to capture the mood and moments of the day. We also really want two photographers on site for the whole day so that we can get various angles and have plenty of choices for our prints. We hope to book a photographer within the next two months.

One element we are really looking for is professionalism in all of our vendors. Perhaps that's obvious, but we expect a certain level of respect, friendliness, organization, and attention during these meetings, and so far we have been extremely impressed with most people we've met. We also need to feel really comfortable with these people, because we have to feel able to honestly say what we do and don't want. Terry did an awesome job of lining up an interview with a great DJ, so we're off to a great start in two of the most important parts of the wedding!

In other news, we also had to have my ring resized because it was too big. Dropping it off at the jeweler was a special treat for me because I got to see my wedding ring again! Terry did such an incredible job of telling the jeweler exactly how to make it, and I cannot wait to get to wear the whole set next year!

We are busy now trying to plan our next trip up north, during which we hope to put down deposits on a photographer and a DJ. Expect some updates soon on our choices!