dancing through life: April 2013

Ok, the story you've all been dying to hear in more detail....how Chase proposed!

For starters, Chase sometimes takes a really long time to do things.

Let's go back for a minute, shall we? We met on May 1st of last year (almost a year ago already!). About 2 weeks later after a couple institute and break-the-fast nites, a lame ysa dance in Virginia, and a VERY chilly night at the drive-in with a bunch of people, I was a total goner, he had most definitely stolen my heart. And I was pretty sure he liked me back, but at the same time I couldn't figure it out. We acted like we'd known each other for years and he would tell me things like how he would die if he didn't come visit me in Philly all the time. BUT he kept a clear physical distance away from me. Close enough that I could tell he was comfortable with me and liked me as a human being, but not even a hug or anything at the end of the night! HAHA I remember the 2ish weeks that this confusion lasted seemed like AN AWFUL ETERNITY that I thought would never end, and I had decided having only gotten home from a mission a few weeks before, he probably just wasn't ready for/didn't want anything yet. Either that, or I was on the verge of thinking I had been friend-zoned. Yikes, I thought that only happened to guys. I immediately tried to banish that thought from my mind while accepting it as a very real possibility, because it made me depressed.

But then, FINALLY (as in like a week later) he confessed something to the effect of "sorry I didn't even hug you goodbye tonight...I act all cool but I'm a complete weenie when I'm with a beautiful girl" and a week or so after that I was officially girlfriend-zoned. =)

So even though this whole long process of Chase taking forever to make a move was in reality only about 4 weeks of seeing each other a handful of times aka the month of May last year, the point is, he sometimes takes awhile.

Back to the proposal.

I knew I was gonna marry him last summer already.

He knew he was gonna marry me last summer.

By Thanksgiving, I started thinking to myself that the proposal would be happening any week now. Time went by...

Christmas Eve?

Nope.

Christmas Day?

Nope.

New Year's Weekend/Eve/Day?

Chase suggested spending that weekend in Philly and going for walks and taking a nice camera. AHA! Here it comes!

False alarm!

I felt sad and he wondered why and I finally give in and explained and then HE felt sad for letting me down. But he made me laugh by saying, "Sheridan, you know how long I take to do things sometimes!" and it got the ball rolling.

Or so I thought. I smelled a proposal over every little thing after that.

So another 2 months go by. Chase suggests we go to NYC and find poet's walk since he knows I've been wanting to go there for like 7 years. And then I REALLY smelled a proposal and say "woooohoo ok when?" And Chase thought spring time and warmth would be best, so we planned on Easter weekend, the very end of March. Then I got scared he would ACTUALLY wait that long and I thought I might die. We had already picked a wedding day and he had picked out my ring and I don't even remember what all, but I really was just dying. I told a few people I was getting married in the summer and they were like "You're getting married?!? Are you engaged??" Me: "Well, no...I mean, not officially. But we ARE getting married".

I eventually calmed down and was resigned to the fact that Easter weekend was when it would go down.

On Friday March 8th, Chase came to visit me for the weekend. He had just arrived at my apartment, and we were in my room talking, catching up on the week. I was sitting on the bed and he was standing at the foot of the bed. He nonchalantly kneeled down at the foot of the bed and we kept talking for a few minutes and I didn't think anything of it. Then he told me "come here" and so I scooched over and sat in front of him and continued to blab away. A few minutes later I looked down and the open ring box was sitting in my lap! After that things get hazy because I temporarily was struck dumb, but I think I gasped a little, Chase said "I can't imagine my life without you, will you marry me?", I started to well up, somehow thought it wasn't real life/it was a joke and said "are you serious??" Chase responded "yep babe, that's for you!" And I said "Oh I'm gonna cry", grabbed his face and gave him a big kiss, then realized I hadn't said yes yet and so I said "yes of course!"

He confessed to the poet's walk plan, but he got the ring and decided to just do it on a whim. And boy am I glad he did! Despite being suspicious and on my guard for a proposal CONSTANTLY, he managed to surprise me and it was meaningful and simple and perfect!

Every week that goes by it gets more and more difficult to only see him on weekends though. I will be so happy when we're married to be in the same place all the time. And we'll probably get so annoyed with each other because we're not used to that haha.

As for wedding plans, I have my decorations envisioned and half of them bought, temple, church for reception, and honeymoon booked, dress and all accessories bought, dress fitting scheduled for next week (need to add some modest measures) and catering ideas in head.

Marriage license will soon be in the mail, playlist made, and decoration materials bought. Invites are here and will be sent shortly. Registry created. A Chase job and house to call home hunt is currently happening.

Catering is the only part that is scaring the pants off of me right now. If you know a good inexpensive baker willing to make me a couple cheesecakes and a 150+ count assorted cupcake tower, let me know! I'm considering making my own cupcakes with some help. But also thinking to myself "when the heck would you make this?"

As for the other reception food, we have an idea. It might cost a little more than other things but will be oh-so-worth it and fun and make us both very happy!

Serious question: my reception by no means, is the kind where there's assigned seats and people pick which main course they want to eat and everyone gets fed a very expensive 5-course meal. So everyone who's planning on going, please don't expect that! It's more of an open house. We will have snacks and desserts to feed an army. HOWEVER if we get some food that's more of a main dish, but there won't be enough for everyone if 250 people unexpectedly show up and they all want some, is that rude? I have no idea how many people will be there and when they'll be in and out and if they'll even eat food. And I REALLY want this particular part of the meal there because it's one of our favorites and it's our wedding so we do what we want right? I just don't want people to be like, "oh, you should have come earlier, they had this amazing baked potato bar but they only had 50 baked potatoes. Isn't that rude? There's still some chips left though. I can't believe they didn't have enough for everyone. They invited 200 people, what were they thinking?" To which I will say yes, but darn it only 50 of you officially told me you were coming and not everyone would be bringing a guest, and THEN that doesn't mean everyone will eat either!

First world wedding probs.

Someone please assure me that it's our wedding and we should do what we want, snacks are ok, and the other extra will be for the lucky people who showed up at 6 on the dot/want to eat more/I knew were coming. OR please explain to me that yes Sheridan, that is rude, don't have food that might run out early on. And I may or may not listen to you if you tell me the second. Sue me. ;) I do want your opinion though!

And that's how wedding plans are coming along!

As for our trip to NYC, we still went of course, and decided to have Chase's dad take a few pictures of us there on poet's walk. It was a gorgeous day, Chase was grumpy, I ignored him and got to check off a bucket list goal, and it's actually called Literary Walk. It's directly in front of the Plaza and near the ice skating rink. And I loved it!