I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. As always, my opinions and sentiments are my own and I express them freely, regardless of sponsorship because I partner with brands I love.
Engagement and wedding
Over the course of the past several months, I have been posting more about my engagement and upcoming Minnesota wedding to Bob. If you’re following me on Instagram, you know that we’re getting closer to the big day and have been sharing more about our journey as a couple and as we plan our big celebration. Many of you are eager to know more about, well, everything!
I’m starting to put it all together here so you can learn more about the two of us, our engagement, and some of the wedding planning.
this photo was taken in fall 2015, within our first 10 dates
How we met
Bob and I met in September 2015 after we both swiped right on Tinder. That’s right, we’re a Tinder success story. In all candidness, I was on multiple online dating sites at the time so for a period, I couldn’t remember which one it was. I had tickets to a playoff professional baseball game and needed someone to go with. Bob lived in a hip, revitalized neighborhood in Saint Paul called Lowertown and the ballpark is in the same neighborhood, so I thought I’d ask him if he was free. We met up at a bar nearby with great craft beer, called the Ox Cart Ale House. Five minutes into the date, I thought he was pretty shy and I wasn’t sure I’d want to see him again. We still laugh about this from time-to-time.
About us
Bob was born in Minnesota but moved to Tennessee for his dad’s job when he was pretty young. His parents and sister (and her family) still live in Tennessee, so we don’t see them all that often. Bob went to Purdue for college and is a HUGE sports fan, so, you’ll find our house decked out in gold and black for the majority of the year. Boiler UP! He works in finance and is one of the most disciplined, hard workers I’ve ever met. He works hard to better our life together, which is really heartwarming and something I am so grateful for.
For those of you who don’t know much about me, I am born and raised in the Twin Cities. I even went to college here, at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul. I did my undergraduate degree in PR and broadcast journalism and went on to earn my MBA there as well (focused in marketing). I’ve worked mostly in education, but decided to switch things up in 2016 when I began working for a large global hotel chain in marketing. I still work there, in case you’re wondering whether I’m blogging full-time.
So, do opposites attract?
YES! In our case: I am really loud, he’s a little bit more reserved. I love olives, he hates them. He’d eat onions on everything, I despise them. He loves pop (soda), I favor coffee. He has a big dog, I have a small one (well, now they’re both ours). I’m a spender, he’s a saver. But, it works, because there are lots of things we have in common, too.
We have season tickets to the Minnesota Twins and enjoy going to spend the season with the Boys of Summer. We are both big sports fans, which is one of the reasons we started to click (our first date was a baseball game, too!) There’s something great about being outside in April through September in the massive climate changes we experience in Minnesota during that time period. One of our favorite activities is cooking together. Every week, we meal plan, go shopping for groceries (my parents NEVER did this together, so this was odd to me at first), and then one of us cooks while the other one cleans up. We make a great team in the kitchen and it’s always a really enjoyable time together. We try to also make time to eat out together once a week (or less, dependent on our budget and schedule) as a date night, where we’re focusing on each other and our relationship. There are many things we do independently when it comes to responsibilities and chores, but, it’s much easier and more fun to have a partner do it with you.
The proposal and engagement
Let me preface by saying that I wasn’t always entirely sure a proposal would happen. Bob is majorly sarcastic and when we’d talk about the future, he would always say, “maybe we can consider engagement in five to 10 years.” Trust me when I tell you that at first, my response was a half laugh and eye roll. As the response stayed the same and time advanced, the laughs and eye rolls were cast aside and straight annoyance moved in. At some point, I think he told me I could start looking for what I thought I wanted in an engagement ring and my annoyance lessened because that gave me some hint it wouldn’t be five to 10 years. I found a ring that I loved and I shared the details with him. I waited some more, and then he asked me about a customization I thought would look cool on the ring. He shared the engineer’s mockups with me along the way to make sure it was exactly what I wanted, so I knew it was coming at some point.
Bob was in his cousin’s wedding in Indianapolis in October 2017. This was a big event, because it was the first time I had met his sister and most of his extended family in one fell swoop. We had a great time — the wedding was gorgeous, the DJ played awesome music, and the people there were fun. We came home the following day and Bob took Monday off to get things done around the house, while I went to work. When I get home, both of the dogs come bounding toward the door and that day was not an exception. Bob was in his sweats (or house clothes, as he calls them) and he told me to take a look at what he got Kirby (his dog) that day. I figured it was a bath, a new collar, or something of the sort. It was dark in the house, so I couldn’t really see and began to rattle off guesses about what it could be. He told me to flip on the light and I did, but didn’t see anything.
I looked closer and I saw something moving around on his collar but I wasn’t sure that what I thought I saw was correct. As it hit the light, it most certainly WAS an engagement ring! I was genuinely surprised, because I track every delivery that comes to our house and this one never even showed up as a blip on the radar. It’s tough to surprise me, but this one was the best. Bob told me that Kirby wanted to know if I would be his mommy and I of course accepted. The tears didn’t even start coming out until after I put the ring on my finger and studied it for a few minutes. It was even more beautiful than I had imagined it would be! Bob told me that as he contemplated how to propose, he decided that at home with the two of us and the dogs was the best way possible because it was simply us. It was perfect.
Preparing for our wedding day
I have very simple recommendations when it comes to planning the wedding: go with your gut. I’ve heard stories about couples who can’t agree on small details, shopping for dresses at 12 stores, and more (and how stressful that was). I haven’t had any of these things happen to me because I haven’t been overthinking things. Use my cheat sheet to decision making below for some help if you’re engaged and not sure where to begin.
Bob and I sat down as our engagement began to talk about our budget: what we had to contribute, what we knew parents were contributing, and what the most important items were in the grand scheme of our wedding day. Once we agreed upon those things, we talked about what he wanted to be involved in and what he deferred to me for decision making. It has all come together from there. Many people have said, “oh, you’re so organized!” “I can’t believe how much is done — you must have really spent a lot of time on this.” It’s really because we had successful, open discussions, resolving any points that we didn’t see eye-to-eye on, and going with our instincts. One of the most fun activities we did together was going to complete our wedding registry.
As part of our marriage preparation, we completed a marriage retreat. So many of you have been curious to hear my thoughts on that part of prep, so I’ll be covering it in a separate post going up tomorrow.
Until then, leave me a comment about what the best part of your engagement, wedding (or someone else’s), or honeymoon was. I always love to hear what people love the most!
Update: we’re married! Have you read our wedding day story yet?
Comments