This is getting real!!!!

Last night Neal and I dropped the invitation at the post office...what a relief!!!!  Now we can coast through the next 6 weeks making decisions as they come, confirming and finalizing all the plans that we have been working on for the last 10 months. 

As, my sisters and I assembled the invitations I kept having waves of joy and excitement.  The invites make the day seem that much more real, not just because it is getting closer but because I got to see the very large number of people that will be supporting us.  As I placed invitations into the envelopes I would look at to whom it was addressed.  This started out as double checking for correct spelling and addresses, but quickly turned into, "I hope they will make it."  I couldn't help but feel blessed at the number of people that love and support me and Neal!  Not that I was lacked confidence in our love for each other before, but to be surrounded by a community of people who support us and wish us success in our Marriage, just adds to the confidence....and of course the excitement!!!!

I feel soooooo lucky to have met Neal, and to have such amazing people in both of our lives!

How We Met...

...the beginning of the end for our single lives!

The short version....we are introduced at O'Dowd's, 6 months later we meet again at a mutual friend's BBQ.  Two days later Neal invited me to dinner for our first date...the rest is history.

Thank You Emily Crupper for taking our first engagement photo...even if it was a joke ;)

The long version is much more entertaining so here we go....

One Friday night while I was still working at Oak63, waiting tables, my friend Colleen 

(Colleen in front and Right)

calls me, begging me to go out with her!!!! She simply CANNOT go to O'Dowd's without me!  I was tired and probably a little sweaty, and still in my work clothes when I enter O'Dowd's.

We are quickly met by.....

Billy, Emily and Neal!

I had of course met Emily before, and Billy maybe a couple times, but this was me and Neal's first encounter.  The night progresses, and people are quickly "coupling" off, Billy&Emily, Billy's friend Brock&Molly and Colleen was doing her usual running around and talking to as many people as possible, leaving me and Neal with no one to talk to but each other.  We began making fun of the other couples together....it was our common ground since we were both single.  By the end of the night, Neal and I were engaged, had a daughter we had given up for adoption in Russia so she could be an Olympic gymnast and had plans to marry another night.

That night was about 6 months later when.....

.....Becky hosted a BBQ, luckily Neal was working with Eric at the time (both pictured above :)

Again with Colleen's pressure to come because I had work the next morning....I finally arrive.  I say a couple "Hellos" as I pass a few people, about 4 hellos in I receive a, "Hey Leah, it's Neal!" I didn't recognize him until he said his name and then I recalled our previous meeting and replied, "shouldn't we be married by now?"  Which quickly turned into our inside joke of the night.  In fact,  we convinced a party goer that we were in fact married, and had previously had a child together that now lives in Russia.  Neal and I joked and had fun all night.  By the end of the evening he had my phone number and he called me that Sunday to make a date for dinner that week....and now 2 1/2 years later we will be getting married!

Tying Up Loose Ends

With less than 50 days to go, we find ourselves at the point in planning were we are just finishing things up, making the final touches and preparing for the BIG DAY!!!!  Last week we finalized the invites, gave the envelopes to the Calligrapher, and maybe found the guys ties.  The loose ends that still require some thought and planning are the readings for our wedding, the songs for the reception and the  layout for the reception.

As the day approaches my level of nerves and excitement continue to increase.  Definitely not nervous about getting married, that is the exciting part!  Nerves about, have I planned everything? Did I forget something? is something missing?  If you know me very well, you know that I have a slight (understatement) tendency to worry.  Luckily, Neal tends to be very calm and does a good job of assuring me we are doing everything we can at this point in time.  Thank goodness he does not add to my natural inclination to worry.  

We do a pretty good (understatement) job of taking care of each other, and supporting each other through calm and worrisome times!

Less Than 2 Months!!!

Wow!!!!  This popped up fast!

The other day as we discussed the wording for our invitations, it sank in just that much more, this is really coming up fast!  We are sooooooooo excited!  Now it feels like a waiting game, waiting for the invites to be printed, waiting for the suits to come in, the guys to get measured, my dress to be finished (hopefully only 2 more fittings.)  I imagined this time in my life to be exhilarating, but honestly I didn't imagine it would be THIS exciting!  The most beautiful day of my life, as happens to be the day that I get to marry the love of my life!

In this last couple of months to go, Neal and I have started our meetings with our "Lead Couple."  I would be lying if I said that I was excited about these meetings.  I mean, what are we really  going to be able to learn from a couple that I have never met before, and me being a little more judgemental, thought and especially from a middle-aged couple living in Mission Hills...like we have lots in common, Neal and I were definitely skeptical!  We couldn't have been more wrong, our lead couple is welcoming, inviting and create a presence of learning and sharing that I could not have even imagined. They are open and answer questions that we have about "for better or worse."  We were surprised at how much we actually enjoy hearing this particular couples stories, and their understanding of what marriage is, and their openness to hearing our thoughts on what kinds of marriage we want.  Overall, a fantastic experience, thus far. 

We can't wait to kick off the Christmas Season with a celebration of our love 

with family and friends!!!!

Less Than 4 Months!!!!!

I have recently realized WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!   Of course I have known this for 8 months now, but it is becoming so real.  As we made decisions months ago the wedding still seemed sooooooo far away that we didn't have the same level of excitement we have now.  Now we are making choices about the day, the specific little details that will make our wedding special to us.  Last week for example, I had our meeting with the Florist.  Before last week people would ask about flowers and I would say, "we have our florist, The Fiddly Fig, " but now we have our flowers!!!  The specifics, the colors, shapes, sizes, season....now I can envision the beautiful bouquets that my Bridesmaids and I will be carrying, I can imagine in detail the boutonniere that Neal will have pinned to his suit, and that is what makes it exciting!

We now get to start looking forward to the festivities beginning as well.  We will attend our first shower this month, hosted by Neal's family in Frankfort, IL.   Which also happens to be my Birthday weekend, so that will be a fun way to celebrate!  Going to a few showers recently makes me even more excited to have my own.  Celebrating the love Neal and I share, with people we love and who love us......how fun! 

5 Months And Still No Dress

It is hard to believe that our wedding is less that 5 Months away!  We have accomplished sooooo much but still feels like we have quite a ways to go.  We have the Church, Reception site, Photographer, Cake Lady, Florist and 2 of 6 bridesmaids dresses, so the ball is rolling, but I still have one major problem. I am finding that one of my big problems is determining, "our wedding style."  I think part of that problem is that I don't have a dress yet!!!!  I feel like so much of the style of a wedding comes from the Bride and her personal style for the day, and I don't have that yet.  I have tried on several dresses to get a feel for what I want but I haven't tried on MY dress yet.  

My dress is currently with a designer being created, from my Grandmother's turned Mother's wedding dress.  The gown is beautiful as is but I wanted to update it a little....or a lot!  I am so excited and blessed that I was allowed to join this lineage of great women, I hope to do the dress and them justice. The gown is going to be just beautiful I know it, but I haven't gotten to try it on.  I keep looking at the sketch the designer emailed me, and I can tell that I am going to love her creation, she knows exactly what I want and has maintained the integrity of the original flawlessly! But a sketch is only 2-Dimensional, I want to get my hands on it! I can't wait for the moment that most Brides to be talk about, when you finally find YOUR dress.  The excitement of the glimpse into your wedding day, the nerves because this is the one and so is He, and OMG this is really happening for me, happiness for the future, your relationship and all the love that surrounds the couple and both your families, I just can't wait!

Love, Love, Love

Neal and I completed our 3rd and final registry.  I am so in love with everything we have registered for and am so excited for our future home furnishings!

A Few Of Our Favorite Things!

Our Crystal.

Waterford Ballet Ribbon Platinum

Neal played a big part of selecting our crystal.  I just wanted simple and didn't have as much of an opinion as I thought I would, and Neal had a lot of preference.  Some etching or embellishment, but not too much...so when we found Ballet Ribbons it was perfect for the both of us!

Everything at Crate & Barrel!

Our Dishes

Paisley Dinnerware

We were basically the opposite of the Crystal decision making.  Neal was concerned about the size of the cereal bowls and I was more into the appearance.  I love the colors and the paisley design and feel like they will just be lovely in our kitchen!