RTW takes on a whole new meaning

For the past five years, my life's focus has been to pare down, work hard and save money so I could travel around the world (RTW). After Greg & I started dating in February, 2009, in addition to building our relationship, the emphasis was on getting us both prepared for the actual trip. Now that we're home after traveling for 9+ months (but really almost two years if you include our "living experiments" in Seattle, Honolulu & Portland), I guess we needed something new to occupy our time and energy. Enter the new meaning of RTW:  "Ready To Wed!!!"

my stepmom Debbie shot this picture of us at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin, TN

As I described in my last post, Greg & I are now engaged. I have to say it's a good thing that neither of us are employed at the moment because planning & preparing for a wedding is a FULL TIME JOB!!! Luckily I have lots of experience organizing & planning events from my previous career as an Executive Assistant. But I am already thankful for the willingness of family & friends to help out, and especially for offering to host some of the "celebrations."

When Greg & I initially discussed getting married, the emphasis was on simplicity and strictly what we wanted. We seriously considered a quick trip to Las Vegas (Greg loves the concept of the drive-thru wedding chapel!). But we realized even a brief, three night stay would cost us upwards of $1500. That was also before our families weighed in and expressed their desire to be part of the ceremony, no matter where and how brief it might be.

A Little White Chapel Tunnel of Love in Las Vegas, NV

We had always liked the idea of just throwing a big celebration party as opposed to a fancy, formal wedding. But another stumbling block was the short notice we were giving people. After announcing our engagement in the week following Memorial Day, we also said that we wanted to be married, have the party, etc. by the end of July. We prefer sooner than later because we want to make plans to travel and do volunteer work (not in TN) as soon as possible, before we move to the West Coast and get jobs.

After over a week of what I'll call negotiating with the majority of people involved, we ultimately decided to have multiple, smaller, celebration parties in various locations versus one huge party that many people would not be able to attend due to pre-existing conflicts. So now, from late June to early August, there is at least one party every week, and sometimes two! This means in some cases (Indiana, New York City) we are the ones traveling instead of asking our friends & family to come to us. The concept of the smaller parties also allows us to spend more 1-on-1 time with the attendees instead of being overwhelmed by more than 200 people at once!

The actual wedding ceremony is going to be a small, private event on July 29th in Nashville, TN. Our grandparents, parents, siblings and two best friends will be in attendance. My best friend Amy helped me pick out my dress yesterday and, much to my amazement, it is way more traditional than I ever expected I would want. But it is perfect, and I can't wait to surprise everyone on the 29th!

nice dress, wrong color

Greg & I also ordered our wedding rings this past weekend, so we continue to check things off our "to do" list. However, as soon as one thing gets crossed off, I think of something else to add!!!

I do get to take a break from the wedding planning this weekend as Amy & I are off to Denver for a few nights. Amy refers to it as "Girls Deployment" (her wonderful husband, Eric, is currently serving the U.S. Army in Afghanistan). I'm looking forward to cooler temps, great beer, and just chilling out for a few days!