The Venue Menu: The Rejects

Ah ha hahahaha! Venue menu! ...I crack myself up (bet I'm the first one to ever think that up, too! ha).

Well clearly this post is all about the venue search. And oh, boy, what a search it was. I didn't realize when we started looking at venues 1) how crazy expensive places were and 2) how many venues were out there! Even with my specifics of having a non-religious outdoor venue, there were just so many options! Before we got to our top list, here are just a few we looked at:

1. Rejected Venue #1

(Image Source)

I found this venue before Mr. Chipmunk even popped the question. It was dreamy, old-worldly, on the Columbia River, and G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S. I still sigh a little bit every time I look at it. The one negative I knew in advance was that it was about 2 hours east of Portland...not super convenient for any of our relatives. I thought that might all be okay-- I mean, just look at that building! Look at that stone bridge! When I finally contacted them about rates, though, they were simply out of our budget. *sigh* 

2. Rejected Venue #2

 (Image source)

This one was right in the Portland area, so it would be convenient and close for most of our relatives in Oregon. When I contacted this venue, they were also way outside of our price point. I seemed to be hitting a similar chord...clearly our taste was more expensive than what we could truly afford! Time to start retooling the list, and looking at maybe slightly smaller venues.

3. Rejected Venue #3

(Image source)

This beautiful Victorian style house is actually super close to us, and very convenient for in-state family members since it's just one hour south of Portland (most of our in-state family lives anywhere from 2 hours south to 1 hour west of Portland). When I called this venue in October, they were very affordable and flexible...but they had already booked our Sunday date of September 9, 2012. And most other September dates. And most late August dates. We thought about changing our date, but when we went to go visit the venue, we noticed that it's right on the corner of 2 very busy streets. And traffic noises were very noticeable from everywhere within the grounds. Plus, there was something about it being *so* close to home that made it a bit less exciting for us. But we did feel like we were getting closer with this one, so at least we were moving in the right direction!
 

How did you start to figure out your direction for your wedding venue? Did you go through numerous rejects like we did?

So, Now What- And When?

Hurrah! We're engaged!!! ...now what do we do? Well, first, as I'm sure many people do, we called all of our nearest and dearest and let them know that we were officially ENGAGED! I did get a few "It's about times!", and Mr. Chipmunk had one relative whose response was, "Wait, you weren't engaged?", but still, it was pretty exciting. The next question, as again many newly-engageds before me have experienced, was "So when's the big day?" Clearly, everyone was ready to

(Image source)

Well. As you may recall, we I did have some ideas about what time of year to get married in, but we didn't have a date yet! We had just gotten engaged- give it just a little bit of time there people! Fortunately, summertime in Oregon is limited already (read ahead to see how I'm able to look on the bright side of 10 months of gray skies). I already knew I wanted to get married outside, so we had about two month's time in which we could get married with a relatively limited chance of rain. So, our choices were between mid-July to mid-September. So it turned out to be pretty easy to at least give people a ballpark estimate: sometime in late summer. We got engaged in late summer. Would you like a reminder of how freaking gorgeous Oregon is in late summer?

There's our dog again (personal photo- not photoshopped or anything!)

And who doesn't die just a little when they see photos like this?

*drool* (also in Oregon!) (Image source)

So, late summer it was, and soon enough we had a Sunday date in beautiful September- and since it's a Sunday, we felt pretty comfortable picking the date before we figured out a venue.

Did you have an easy time choosing a date, or did you have to wait until you discovered your venue to pick what was left?

The Proposal - Here There Be Ring Porn

First, dear readers, I must apologize for being so MIA in the last few weeks! I wish I had one specific thing I could blame (we were out of town! I've been working 80 hours a week! My car broke down!), but really, it was just normal life things taking up a bit more time than usual that made blogging fall to the wayside. I can't promise that it will never happen again, but I do apologize for it! To make up for it, let's leap into the post that truly started all of this planning:

This is totally what we were wearing. Oh, wait, no it wasn't. (Image source)

It was early September. Several important dates when I had thought Mr. Chipmunk might propose had already passed by: my birthday, finishing nursing school, my class's graduation party. We were going on vacation to the Oregon coast for a few days, and Mr. Chipmunk had been dropping hints like crazy that he might propose...hints like, "If you were going to be proposed to, how would you want it to be done?" It definitely got me squealing inside (see my giddy weddingbee post in the waiting bee thread here), but I tried to play it cool in front of Mr. Chipmunk. I didn't want him to think that I was onto him:

...but in a good way! (Image source)

Anyway, we got out to the coast, and the very next day got up and decided to take a hike with our doggy out on a cape that jutted out into the ocean. It was a gorgeous day (the rest of the pictures in this post are all personal photos):

Sun rays!!

Oh yeah, Oregon is magicland, didn't anyone ever tell you? (Can you spot our dog?)

Look how high we are!

The trail out to the lookout point at the end was really cool, since it wove back and forth on the cape from one side to the other. On the north side, it was actually really foggy, and so much moisture was collecting in the trees that it was dripping on us. On the other side, it was bright and sunny (see above photo). It definitely felt magical and amazing! About halfway down the trail, at a point when Mr. Chipmunk was in front of me, I noticed a rather...substantial bulge in his right cargo pocket. Like, a ring-box-sized bulge. Secretly I was again squealing inside, but I kept my cool (other than to grin madly when Mr. Chipmunk wasn't looking). When we got to the end of the trail, we had a little snack of breads and cheeses and fruits that some wonderful man (coughMr.Chipmunkcough) had brought along in his backpack. When we were done, he turned to me and said, "Now that we're through eating, I have a question I need to ask you." And with that, he reached into that bulge-y pocket and pulled out a ring box(!!!!!) and asked me if I would marry him!! Although I don't remember saying it, apparently my first response was "Really?!?!" followed by an excited "Yes!!!" Mr. Chipmunk said he was worried about the "really" because he thought he was doing something wrong (what a sweet and silly man), but I assured him it was because I was so excited to finally be engaged to him!!

As promised, here are some photos of my beautiful ring. I wanted a moissanite solitaire with a yellow gold band, and had showed Mr. Chipmunk some different options so that he could choose *some* of ther ring...and then he went and picked the one I liked best! Here she is:

Later that evening, we went down to the beach and played on the sands in newly engaged bliss. We playfully wrote on the sand, and I think it sums up the day pretty well:

Did you suspect your fiance was planning to propose? Were you able to hide those suspicions?

<3 chipmunk

The Waiting Bee

Sometime in the late winter of 2011, after moving in with Mr. Chipmunk and his friend, and then moving out into our own apartment, I realized that I definitely wanted to be married in the summer of 2012. Mr. Chipmunk and I talked about it, and agreed that we were both ready with that idea and that timeline. I then let him know that I also wanted about a year to plan a wedding. This meant that, if Mr. Chipmunk was on board, he would need to propose *sometime* around the summer of 2011. Although he made sure to not make any promises (he wanted the proposal to be as much of a surprise as possible), I couldn't help myself. From that time on, there was only one thing on my mind:

(Image source)

Readers, I looked at so. many. rings. I was kind of obsessed! I visited ring stores independently, took Mr. Chipmunk with me to stores, fell in love with one style one week and another style the next. Sometime in the melee of this ring obsession, I discovered weddingbee.

(Image source)

I had visited several other wedding sites, and some of them were not terribly encouraging of the pre-engaged wedding obsessions that some people (coughmecough) can develop. Weddingbee was different. They even had a whole forum dedicated specifically for waiting girls, who were dubbed "waiting bees." Although I wasn't terribly active on the forum, it was always super helpful to be able to read through other people's similar hopes and dreams for their relationships. When Mr. Chipmunk did propose, I had been waiting for about 6 months...but that is another story for another post ;-)

Were you a "waiting bee," or did your SO totally surprise you with a proposal? Or did you say to heck with waiting, and pop the question yourself??

Moving In

When I last left off, Mr. Chipmunk had returned from Americorps NCCC and we decided to meet up and see how we felt about things. We were both pretty nervous: what if one of us wanted to date again and the other didn't? Turns out we didn't have anything to worry about! It was like when we first met. Within hours Mr. Chipmunk told me that he wasn't sure what the future held and he was afraid of taking chances on the unknown, but that we were worth it and he wanted to take a chance with me. I agreed :-)

(Image source)

After that, we did our typical move-slow-with-everyone-except-each-other. Mr. Chipmunk found a job near Portland and moved into an apartment there with a friend who had an open room at his 3-bedroom apartment. I was still living with my parents near Portland. Within just a couple of months, one of Mr. Chipmunk's roommates moved out, and Mr. Chipmunk and his friend needed a third roommate. We had already been talking about moving in together in a few months, so we decided to move our plans up a few months and in I moved with Mr. Chipmunk and friend!

A month later, after much talking on and off about getting a dog "some day," I woke up one morning and told Mr. Chipmunk I was going to do something really stupid: I was going to the Humane Society to look at a dog I had seen online. His response? "So I guess we're getting a dog today then!" I assured him that I wouldn't bring a dog home without his approval, so when I saw the dog I placed a hold on her. He went to see her later that day (I was working evenings and he was working days, so we couldn't go together), and he told me that we could get her!

A very nervous dog from her first week with us! (Personal photo)

The poor 2-year-old was skin and bones, almost furless on her belly, and very nervous. She's gained 10 pounds with us, has a nice and healthy tummy and (although still neurotic) is very much a part of our family!

Did you get a furry family member soon after moving in with your SO?

The Break-Up

In 2008 we graduated from college- hooray!

At my graduation ceremony! (Personal photo)

And then... we were kind of stuck. We had dated for 4 years, but weren't at a point yet where we felt ready to get married. Heck, we weren't even ready to make sacrifices for each other like moving somewhere for the other person! I ended up getting a job in Portland, and Mr. Chipmunk lived with his parents in Salem (Oregon) for a few months until he started work in Americorps NCCC- in Maryland.

(Image source)

For those who don't know, Americorps is kind of like a national version of Peace Corps. Mr. Chipmunk was stationed in Maryland, and got shipped out across the East Coast to places ranging from New Orleans to Maine in order to help with disaster relief, impoverished communities, and environmental services. Americorps NCCC jobs last 10 months. I had just gotten a job in Portland Oregon, and anyway, even if I had moved to Maryland with Mr. Chipmunk, he was shipped out for 1-2 month stints so frequently that he was away from Maryland more than he was there. When Mr. Chipmunk left, we decided to try long distance-- after all, we had done it for four months while he was in Germany and for another four month while I was in Quebec. This time, though, was different. Within a month of Mr. Chipmunk being gone, we had a long open talk about how we both felt a need to do our own things-- it wasn't the relationship that was wrong, so much as the timing. It was the hardest break up I think either of us had ever gone through.

(Image source)

Although we remained long distance friends, things definitely changed. We didn't share as much, and definitely kept quiet about any type of romantic things going on with other people-- after all, we were broken up, and didn't see any need to make the other person uncomfortable! At the end of the year, Mr. Chipmunk's job in Americorps NCCC ended, and he moved back to Oregon. We were both single, and we decided to meet up and see where we stood with each other. So how did it turn out? Tune in next time to find out! (HINT: this is a wedding blog!)

Did you ever have to break up with the man you loved in order to grow independently as a person?

How We Met

The short story:
In college!

 Go Ducks! (image source)

The slightly longer story:
It was the Tuesday of the second week of our first term of college. I only remember it was a Tuesday because I had no class that day, and I remember talking with a friend over AIM about whether I should be shlubby or sexy cute on my day off. She voted for sexy. It was one of those few October days in Oregon that was still actually sunny, so on went the short teeny tiny black ruffle skirt:

Remember when everyone had this skirt? (Image sourge)

I went about my day, merrily showing off my legs and my cute skirt. In the evening, I was talking with some girls down the hall from my dorm room, and somehow it came out that I hadn't been down to the boy's floor yet. *GASP* It was the second week and I hadn't even seen their hall?! Well, in my defense, the boys had been coming upstairs, so I hadn't felt any need to go. This wasn't good enough for the girls on my floor, though, and so downstairs I went. Turns out there was a boy down there who hadn't been up to the girl's floor yet (or if he had, we had passed each other in the night). Can you guess who he was?

This guy! (Personal photo)

There was instant chemistry between us, and we stayed up talking together until about 5am. Needless to say (but I'm going to say it anyway), we were both very tired at our Wednesday morning classes! Even though we both normally take relationships kind of slowly (as evidenced by our 6-7 years of dating before we got engaged), we started dating within a week.

Sophomore year at the pumpkin patch (personal photo)

And the rest, as they say, is history...or is it?

<3 chipmunk

So who are these crazy kids?

Okay, so in my last post I mentioned that we're nerds, and told you that I love animals. Shall I do a slightly more thorough introduction?

A bit more about me (all photos are personal unless otherwise noted):

It's the circle of (salmon) life, yo

I'm 25 years old, and work as a registered nurse in a hospital. Before I became a nurse, I did a double major BA in Spanish and French, so I speak pas un, pas deux, mais bien catorze trois languages:

See minutes 1:25-1:40 for my above reference. (Video source)

I've lived pretty much all over the awesomesauce Willamette Valley in Oregon, but I have also had my share of travels. Aside from animals, wine, and cheese, traveling is one of my most favoritest (yes that is most definitely a word) things ever. Fortunately for me, Mr. Chipmunk shares that love, and is an awesome travel buddy!

More on Mr. Chipmunk:

King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, sovereign of all... corn maze

Mr. Chipmunk (also 25) is a home brewer who majored in philosophy, volunteered in Americorps, and worked in a small winery before he decided that he wanted to become a doctor. Along with traveling, he shares my love of wine and cheese. He also happens to have a soft spot for dogs. Enter chip-pup:

Luna, the adorable mystery dog!

We have no idea what kind of dog she is. The shelter thought lab/kelpie mix, but she doesn't have many labrador qualities. We've thought maybe part whippet, maybe part Australian cattle dog (like a kelpie), maybe part McNab. Whatever she is, she's 100% adorable and totally has us wrapped around her little paws!

Finally, our household also has one grumpy old man named Silver:

Bonus points if you can guess what kind of critter he is!

So that's us and our (household) family in a nutshell! For some fun last tell-alls, I shall list the ways in which we are nerds:

-We both love video games (FF and Zelda ftw!).

-I love the fantasy genre. My favorite movie is a toss-up between Howl's Moving Castle and The Last Unicorn.

-Mr. Chipmunk really digs chemistry and can wax poetic about microbes for hours.

-We both kind of love Star Trek and Star Wars (um, the original Star Wars, anyway).

So with that, I leave all my fellow nerds with just one question: Do you like Kirk, or do you like Picard?

(Image source)

<3 chipmunk

Hello, world!

...and thanks for coming and taking a looksee at my lil blog! It's my first time around this part of the internet, so you'll have to indulge me as I work through any kinks and, um, learning curves that may be associated with starting up a blog ;-)

A little bit about me!

Look out, world, I'm comin' for ya!

I'm kind of quirky, SUPER nerdy, and a big softie for pretty much everything (except spiders). I <3 animals, most especially chipmunks, squirrels, octopuses, tigers, chinchillas, unicorns, butterflies, grasshoppers, crocodiles, dogs, dinosaurs, bunnies, tree frogs, owls, lionfish, hedgehogs, and dragons. Did I mention I was kind of a nerd? I mean that only affectionately, of course. Nerds rock.

This blog isn't about nerdiness or awesome animals, though! It's about weddings (hurrah!)! With my amazing and equally nerdy fiance, I am planning an outdoor garden wedding in September in beautiful Oregon. As my about me section says, we're definitely crossing our fingers for no rain! We'll make do if it does rain, though. We *are* Oregonians.

 This might be us! (Image source)

So join us as we work through some DIY, some DI-someone else, and of course some DI-store bought wedding goodness as we plan out our mostly secular wedding infused with some Jewish customs from my own heritage! I'll be seeing you around!

<3 chipmunk