So Now I Have No Engagement Ring

Yesterday it finally happened - I snapped my ring guard in half...

Oops.

So we took it to the mall today and ended up at Kay Jewelers. "Ring guard?" said the attendant. "Why not get the ring sized? A ring guard costs $20 and re-sizing costs $39."

At this point I am totally distracted because I know my original ring guard only cost $5. Definitely not $20, holy cow.

End result is we agreed they could re-size the ring. Which means they took it away. I have spent the rest of the day realizing every 10 minutes that I'm not wearing the ring and thinking "Oh my God, where's my ring?" lol

I had to sign things that said what I'd do in the event my ring would be lost or stolen ... they'd better not lose or steal my ring! lol

Now I have no engagement ring, for like 1+ weeks. I'm impatient already :)

Dresses, Dresses, and More Dresses :)

Dresses :)

Wedding Expo 2011

Wedding Expo - Fort Wayne - 2011!

With my grandmother, my aunt, and my cousin






Good food!




Good drinks - in an ice bowl!



Lots and lots of free giveaways! (Perhaps they knew I have been searching for candy hearts?)



Some... interesting... dresses



Fashion Show!



Grooms cakes :)



A motorcycle?



And... for some reason... a cow, lol

And then showers...

We want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to come to at least one shower, so we're going to have two - one in this area and one in Pittsburgh. The current plan means we'll be having wedding showers two weekends in a row.

"Poor Ryan," I said to his mother via email. "He's not going to know what to do with himself, with wedding showers every weekend!"

"Oh, I beg to differ!" she wrote back. "He is going to have lots to do!!!!!!!!"

lol, I say again... poor Ryan... lol

Music, Music, Music...

During dinner, the dj will be playing quiet music - you know, dinner eating kind of music. I have Ryan's approval to request a Celtic Woman song or two during that time, lol.

"The music is all you," he says. "I don't think the music I like is exactly wedding material..."

I disagree - there's plenty of songs we both like. Besides, I pointed out, it's not like people can get off the boat if they don't like it, lol.

"Yeah, but we can't get off the boat either," he replied. "And there's more of them than us..."

He has a point! lol.

Normal music it is :)

(But I'm still requesting Celtic Woman! lol)

Invitations!

They're here, they're here - the invitations are here!!!!

I was walking home from work the other day, which takes me right past the store where I ordered the invites, and all of the sudden I heard somebody calling my name. It was Alex, who I've been working with.

"Your invitations are here!"

Yay! That was fast!

Getting the invitations in February means I'll have time to figure out how to address them... lol

The Engagement Gala

Per dictionary.com, a gala is a festive occasion, a celebration, or a special entertainment ... Per the folks at Crazy Venue II, a gala is an afternoon of meeting with some of their vendors and seeing the ships. I suppose you could argue this is "special entertainment," but still. I find the whole idea that I was at a gala a little amusing :)

Still, they had a chocolate fountain - that's gala enough for me!





















I mean really - how cool is that? I would love to have a chocolate fountain at my wedding! Unfortunately, my parents, Ryan's mother, and Ryan have all said: no. Boo. And I suppose they're right. I mean, I will be wearing a super expensive white dress - not a good mix with a chocolate fountain... Besides, we tended to sometimes drop the food right into the fountain:















One day I will have a party with a huge chocolate fountain ... just not this one, unfortunately.

But getting back to the allegedly important stuff.

Crazy Venue II gave me a pin just for showing up, which ranks them pretty high in my book. I collect pins:



And they were offering free chair covers to anyone who signed a contract on that day. Free chair covers!!! But we have already signed a contract and we were not offered any such perks! Boo. "We should try to negotiate," said my mother. "We totally should," I agreed. We actually attempted negotiations, only to discover we were talking to a woman who worked at the hotel, not on the ship. Oops. About half an hour later, my father disappeared - one minute we were standing at the door waiting for a tour and the next minute he was gone. Ryan found him, can you guess where? Yep, he'd found someone official and he was making a pitch for why we should get free chair covers, lol. We'll see if that goes anywhere :)

(chair covers)

There were several photographers present, but we already have a fantastic photographer lined up. Ryan's sister-in-law is great! :) Still, we peeked at some of the things they offer. I'd love to have a photography book like this:



We also got to see some of the table settings and to see what the set up will look like. And my mother got to meet the person I booked as our florist, so that's a good thing. Hopefully we can all get together for a meeting soon and figure out what sort of flowers we're going to want :)

All in all, it was a very successful day, complete with free mimosas :)