website

I started our wedding website:

http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AshleyDawson&NathanJohnson

I think this might become a wedding planning blog...:) I love wedding planning but I think all I am doing is coming up with more and more ideas but nothing that has been put into motion. Oh well. We have the location for the ceremony and reception (my parents cabin on the lake) and the officiant (a long time family friend who is an awesome Lutheran pastor in Minnesota) which I think are big things to cross of the list! Oh and a tentative amazing photographer if she can make it to the U.S.. But major things still hanging include: the other half of my bridesmaids (actually I have only asked one person...and I need 6...I know 2 others for sure, I hope they say yes!), the colors, the food, the favors (although I think we just settled on some truffles after my great Maid of Honor and best friend had some shipped to us from a pastry chef she knows), the layout of the tent, tables, chairs, the vows, the wedding bands, the groom's outfit, my dress, the bridesmaid's dresses, the groomsmens' dresses...yeah...just about everything. But I have a binder full of ideas and price quotes and a few more magazines to go through...so I think we're okay.

My mom is always calling with new ideas and we will be in Boise next week to discuss details with Nathan's mom and sister.

plan plan plan

The craziness has begun! Not even 3 days after our engagement all the questions started coming about flowers and colors and dresses and dates and locations and times and food and music and on and on and on! I wish we could be engaged a little longer so there would be time to just soak it all in. We have almost nine months exactly from our engagement date which isn't THAT bad but summers in Montana = wedding season and already one of the photographers I had considered as a back-up to my number one choice only has 3 dates left for the entire summer!

There are a few things I am not willing to scrimp on-namely an excellent photographer. If everything works out, we will have Mandy Mohler whose work and style I absolutely love. She took pictures of my brothers and me last year and just keeps getting better and better. I think the artsy wedding pictures she does are awesome. Beyond that we also will be having a lot of people (our guest list is at 220 right now) so we need good entertainment in the form of good food and good music. We might end up with just an iPod shuffle to save money but it will still be good! And food may not be gourmet but we will definitely be feeding our guests and showing them a good time-Montana style.

I just got back from a girl's weekend in San Francisco where I tried on a few dresses for fun. They were way out of our budget but I was more just trying to get an idea of what's out there. I want to wait until my mom can be a part of it all before I go crazy but I am getting more and more ideas. That process is kind of crazy in itself, a little bit emotional!

Beyond all the planning though I just feel SO happy. My cousin told me she just was "glowing" after getting engaged and I totally get it. I am still just up in the clouds and head over heels in love with my new fiance'. I can't seem to wipe the smile off my face and I get so excited to see him in the morning and come home to him at the end of the day. He's been a major part of my life for 23 years but now his role is changing and he has become such a huge part of my WORLD...I just love him so much.

One of the things I was most excited for after getting engaged was buying my first bridal magazines. It was something I refused to do until becoming engaged because I wanted to save the excitement. Now I have a few from which I rip pages of ideas and add to a binder. Right now it's just all fun, eventually I'll get serious about the planning.

August 7, 2010 is our date.

engaged!!!

Nathan proposed this weekend!! WE'RE ENGAGED!!!!!!!!

So...I kind of had an idea this was going to be happening soon, in fact I knew it would because we have both been so excited about it all that Nathan has not been good about keeping secrets. About 4 weeks ago he told me he bought a ring from a place we had once just casually looked before. Knowing the rings take about 4 weeks to custom make I had a feeling what his timeline would be. BUT I still didn't know for sure. He suggested we go to Victoria B.C. for the weekend of Halloween and booked us a really cute little hotel and tickets for the boat ride over.

Before we left he suggested we share a bag together to pack all of our stuff. At that point I started to think there was no way he had a ring because he could not hide it from me in the same bag. We ended up with separate bags anyway but there was still no sign of anything.

We were having an awesome time in Victoria, it is SO pretty and so fun to try good restaurants and shop and just walk around. There is this one hotel that has a big garden in the yard. Nathan suggested we go over there and walk through. As we walked out the door he started walking faster, getting sweatier and kept his hand in his pocket the whole time. We got there and walked through, just casually talking and walking. At one point I turned around to tell him something and looked to see him down on one knee with tears in his eyes. It was so cute! Of course I jumped up and down and we were just so excited we sat on a bench for like 30 minutes just giggling and hugging like little kids...it was good.

The whole week leading up to the trip he was extra sappy and extra cute with everything he said. I think it was all the things he would have said in a little speech to me if he wasn't so nervous. It's funny he was even nervous because we've known each other 23+ years but I'm sure it's different when you're holding a fancy ring and asking someone to be with you for 23+23+ more years. There's no question in my mind this is going to be great. We've known each other forever (our moms are best friends) and I had the BIGGEST crush on him when we were younger, I always dreamed of marrying him but it just a little girl fantasy that I never thought would come close to true. And it did!

We wanted to call everyone in our phone books right away to tell them but then realized we were in Canada and would be paying extremely high international rates! We called our parents and siblings and best friends but then just had to sit with the excitement until we got back to the states. It was great though, I still feel like I'm walking around on a cloud. I want to just enjoy it for a little while but I already feel the pressure to plan! We felt like we had to pick a date because we already have 4 other weddings to go to this summer/fall so we needed to fit our's in there. August 7 2010 at my parent's cabin on Ashley Lake is the plan. I want to have kind of a Seattle meets Montana style, maybe with more modern looking dresses and decorations but then a lot of just good old Montana charm. Most importantly we just want a big party with good friends, good food and good music.