Jim & Rhea

This past weekend (Aug 2-3, 2008 ) I went to Charlotte with Elaine to visit Robin. This trip was planned way before I got engaged, so since in the mean-time I had gotten engaged, we decided to use the trip as an opportunity to look for wedding dresses..and bridesmaid dresses too..and moreso than anything, learn about what’s out there and how things work.
It was definitely very educational. The first shop we went to was David’s Bridal, it seemed appropriate, but we didn’t know anything. Turns out you have to have an appointment to try on wedding dresses (not bridesmaid’s dresses)..and they didn’t have anything available on Saturday so they said I could come back at noon on Sunday.. so we decided to do that. The girls tried on some cute bridesmaid dresses I liked .. I’m excited cuz they’re gonna look so nice too! I want them all to feel comfy in what they wear, so I’m making sure they try things on and see how THEY feel in the dresses. After a few of those we went to a store called Noble Brides in/near Pineville. It was a giant house that had been converted into a one-stop wedding shop type of place. Downstairs was all wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses and the upstairs was videography, photography, and men’s tuxes. The people there were SO NICE. The guy, Scott, said he usually does appointments but his next one hadn’t arrived yet, so he took the time to educate us on wedding stuff. Things like basic terms for wedding dresses, process of ordering, and some great tips about choosing a dress..which I’d like to share, for anyone reading for information, and also so I have a log of it

1. Trust yourself. If you think you like something and you know you like it better than anything else you’ve seen/will see, then it is “yours”. Don’t second guess yourself. (He said this applies to all wedding decisions-not just the dress)

2. If you find yourself comparing all dresses you ever see/try on to a certain one you tried on before, then that certain one is “your dress”.

3. You only need to go to about 3 shops for dresses. 5 is a bit much and anything over that is excessive. After a while all styles are the same besides the beadwork/decoration and certain details.

4. Find the style you like first, then pay attention to details. If you like a style, see if you can get that with the details you like.

5. Only 3 dresses in the dressing room at a time. After that everything will get cluttered in your head and in the room physically.
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a few other things I learned from my own experience (and advice I found online):

1. Take pictures of everything you try on! Lots of reasons for this.. you get to see what you tried on, because you will never remember everything; you will get to remember what does NOT look good on you and what does; you also get to see what photographs well. I found that certain dresses made me feel and look beautiful, but they didn’t photograph well.. and in the end that’s what people (& you) will remember; and of course it’s a great documentation of the fun!

2. Take a waterbottle. Every time I tried on dresses I got thirsty and I always forgot this.. I definitely recommend it.

3. Take helpers/friends in shifts. Don’t take all your friends and sister and mom at the same time. Everyone will have different opinions, so take the people you trust the most first, narrow it down to what YOU like and then take the other people later for second opinions if you can’t decide on something.
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anyway! back to the story..
I tried on some lovely dresses at Noble Brides, but they were quite expensive. There was one that looked amazing and extravagant but it’s pretty expensive and I’m not sure yet that I should spend that type of money on just a dress… but I’m also still trying to decide if that’s the one I am comparing everything to, ya know?
So that was fun and the lady who helped us, Marcy, was actually the videographer and she was being trained to help with the dresses. She was really fun to work with and very helpful. I left that store with a good feeling and a few model numbers of dresses I liked. Although I’m not sure they even come in my size.

The next day was David’s Bridal, and I tried on so many dresses! The lady there, Kristen was also very fun and super helpful. She even asked me to narrate the engagement story, so I told her that
I narrowed it down to 3 dresses after about 1.5-2 hrs, and I came away feeling successful. The thing I like about David’s, besides cost is that if you buy the gown there, the other people’s dresses/accessories can have a discount. Also the colors at David’s match up exactly with Tuxes from Men’s Wearhouse… so matching won’t be a problem…and I think there are even some discounts on those tuxes.

As far as colors go, I was looking at Red and shades of Purple originally. After the girls tried some stuff on, purple just didn’t look that great on them. I like the color they call Apple, it’s like a duller version of State Red, and there’s a color called Wine, which is a darker red/maroon/burgandy color. I like the wine a lot, it’s not too girly and it’s elegant, and I think appropriate for a Fall wedding. (we’re looking at Fall ’09).

On Tues I went with Elaine, Veera and mom up to David’s at Southpoint (Durham) to show mom the bridesmaid dresses I like and the 3 gowns that were my top choices. She ended up liking the one I liked in 2nd place…and actually that’s the one that photographs the best. I think I would be happy with it, but I’m not yet convinced that its MY dress. It’s super elegant (yet not too princessy) and I think Jim would like it too . Maybe after looking around more and not finding things, I would decide that it IS the ONE… but still not sure yet.

*phew*
that was a really summarized and condensed version of everything we did, but I wanted to document everything important

stay tuned…

Today, after 3 recommendations at another couple’s wedding shower (on Sunday), I joined www.theknot.com. It’s a very visually busy site, but there’s a LOT of good info on it! After only looking at maybe 3 categories/pages so far, I’m pleased. There’s a place for guest list and all the things that go with it, from thank you notes checklists to who you want to invite! I’m impressed.
Hopefully it will serve us well… considering I have NO IDEA where to start :-0
That’s about it for now. Till next time..

Jim and I were planning a road trip for a while, to go to the beach on a Friday night and wake up early the next morning and see the sunrise and take some pictures and then on the same day, drive to the mountains and take pictures of the sunset! I knew this was a trip he really wanted to do this summer, and we finally scheduled it for this past weekend. (Little did I know this was the trip he wanted to propose on!) So after being “on-site” from work, in Greensboro all week, I came home on Friday (6/27) evening, unpacked and re-packed for this trip, and we left within a few hours to drive to the beach. He had rented a Jeep Laredo so in case we needed to camp in the mountains we could just sleep in the car..so we piled all our stuff into it and left Friday night at almost 9pm. We got to the hotel in Wilmington and went to sleep soon after. We woke up around 5:30am, sunrise was a little after 6, so we got everything together and rushed out to drive to the beach, about 20-30 minutes away. We got to the beach just as the sun was coming up and it was this beautiful red color! There were a few clouds in the sky but past a point you could see the sun coming up and it was just great!

The sand was cold on your feet and there were very few people on the beach, so it was quite scenic. We took pictures and as the sun started to come up higher and higher it was getting hotter, so Jim put the camera things back in the car and we strolled on the beach for a while, and then we went back to the hotel to pack up our stuff for our Cross-state trip to the mountains! we headed out for our 6-7 hour drive to the mountains. We started at Exit 403 and got off 1-40 at 44! We made our way up Mount Pisgah on Hwy 151 and that was quite the winding road straight up the mountain! Our ears were popping all the way up.

So Jim knew there was a Restaurant up on the Blue Ridge Parkway that had a little Inn and Campgrounds. At about 6pm we got up to the restaurant and Jim knew that they closed at 9pm. Sunset was around 8:30. This was going to be cutting it close. We wanted to take pictures of the sunset, but we also needed to eat, as that was the only food place unless you go back down hwy151 to Asheville. After much deliberation I decided that taking sunset pictures is more important than food, because that’s what we came there for! and we could drive back to Asheville if we had to for food. So we drive up and down Blue Ridge Pkwy looking for the best and most scenic place to take sunset pictures. Some of the overlooks are facing East and some West, so we obviously needed something facing West. Jim was insistent on finding a place with very few/no people around. In my head I was like “okayyy it really doesn’t matter.. we’re just taking pictures..” (but in hindsight, I’m SO GLAD it was that way.. I had told him before that I would like to be alone when and if he ever proposes ) anyway! We find a spot that is just perfect! We have a great view of the sky and there is no one around. So we pull over and set up everything. If you know Jim, he has his camera with all the fun accessories so he set up the camera on the tripod and as he was setting everything up, another guy pulls up and gets out of the car to take pictures. Jim says to me, “Gosh! I can’t believe he stopped here!” and in my head I was like “uhh ok.. its JUST a picture, its not like he’s going to get IN the picture” But he just took a few pictures and left. *phew*

After everything is set up, we take lots of pictures with the timer, he sets it and comes over to be next to me.. multiple times, and then there was one picture where he came over and was right next to me, kind of hugging, but my head wasn’t pressed up against him or anything, and I could HEAR his heart pounding! It was so loud! I could hear it standing next to him! So I said, “I can hear your heart pounding really hard! are you ok!?!?” and the picture had just clicked and he was walking back to the camera and he said “yeah I’m fine.. *mumble*mumble*..” he blew it off.. We took a few more pictures and then..

This next picture was going to be posed as well, so when he set the timer and came over, I was trying to get him in position for it and I kept moving around, and wouldn’t stay still; so finally he grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around; at this point I was really confused.. and he pops open a little box with a ring in it, and I step in for a closer look while he’s getting down on one knee, and he says “I’ve had a really wonderful day with you. The only thing I would change is to make you my wife; will you marry me?” and I was just in shock! I saw the ring and it was just gorgeous! breathtaking! and I said “ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!?” I think I said that a few times.. and not about him asking me, because let’s face it, we all knew it was going to happen eventually but I was in shock that that ring was made for little ol’ me! So of course I didn’t even have to think and I said “YES! YES! Of Course!” and as he put the ring on my finger I kept thinking “this is tooo beautiful to be on MY finger!, like I don’t deserve this!” But I was just smiling so hard! “ear to ear” as Jim puts it and we took some pictures of the two of us and then some of the ring on my hand..and I could not stop smiling.. and the sun was pretty much setting or set by this point.. it was starting to get chilly and both of us were so jumpy and nervous, we were just shaking all over the place! so we snapped a few pictures and then packed up everything in order to try to make it to the restaurant on time. When I got in the car I was like “man my face hurts from smiling soo much!”

But we rushed up the Parkway to get back to the Pisgah Inn Restaurant, I made it inside at about 8:55pm and got a table for the two of us; and they seated us right next to the window where we could see the mountains and we could see why it was called Blue Ridge Parkway! The mountains and the air were totally blue as the sun was fading away and there were candles on the tables at the restaurant, it was just picture perfect. It was what I had always wanted and could never describe. The staff was amazing, after about 9:15 customers started leaving and the place cleared out, so we had the whole place to ourselves! We had told the server that we just got engaged and over the course of the evening various people of the staff came over to congratulate us. The whole dinner experience was just great!

We also tried to call our families and got through a little bit enough to say that we had gotten engaged (of course both sides knew it was going to happen); but cell phone service was scarce and we kept dropping calls, so we just decided to enjoy our evening .

So everything to dinner was planned by Jim and everything after that was up in the air.. we didn’t know if we were coming back home or going to stay up there.. but in the middle of dinner it started storming really heavily outside. We could see the lightning outside the window. We knew there were camp grounds nearby and we did NOT want to drive down that windy road in the middle of the pitch black night (no street lights) and rain pouring down. So we decided to see if there was any spots available at the site and then we would just sleep in the car. We found a good place and laid down the back seat of the Jeep and both of us fit in there nicely. It was nice that we didn’t have to drive 4 hours home (since it was already about 11), and nice that we got to sleep with the sound of rain right outside.

We woke up in the morning with the sunlight and got ready to head back. We went to the campground office and paid for our site and headed out. Jim said there was a Basilica in Asheville that we stopped by for mass. It was nice that that was pretty much the first thing we did after getting engaged.

After that we headed home, engaged!

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And yes, the entire thing was a complete surprise to me, I had NO CLUE, and that’s exactly how I wanted it. And in general, I was convinced that when that time comes along, someone will spill the beans and the surprise will be ruined, but I’m quite impressed with everyone’s ability (who knew) to keep it a secret.
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For those of you wondering, have we set a date yet, the answer is no we just got engaged! we’re going to revel in this for a bit before we get bogged down with wedding details