Ryan, Tessa, and I are the only ones who are showing any engagement/wedding enthusiasm. Hopefully all y'alls are just waiting until the official engagement so that it seems more of a big deal despite not being a total surprise. My mom didn't seem particularly excited either, although she was quite taken aback when I described my future ring. Hopefully the lack of excitement was just due to seeing it coming.

I called GFS yesterday and left a message with their event coordinator. No word back yet, I'll probably follow up with an email later today. In the event that it doesn't work, upon further investigation there are plenty of pretty garden type places around. None have quite the uniqueness factor of GFS, but it's not like we've even searched that hard yet. Ironically, of my favorite two others so far, one is in NY and one is in PA, despite NJ being the Garden State.

Ryan is quite into all of the planning. Not just "involved for a guy," and not just because he's worried about spending too much money (we will probably be paying for most of it. . .cross fingers for winning an NSF in 2 months). I guess that it's a good thing since I don't have other people close by to consult. I think it's just his personality- he does want to be a project manager at L0ckheed, one who keeps the team moving along the timeline and staying in budget. So far, I've had a lot of fun doing wedding scheming. If I didn't loathe talking to strangers on the phone, maybe I'd drop out of school and become a wedding planner.

The aesthetic I have in mind (and I'm pretty sure Ryan will agree with most of this) is streamlined and sophisticated. We're going for quality over quantity (good thing Ryan's mom isn't catering) and dispensing any traditions, frou-frou, or hoopla that doesn't particularly appeal to us. Therefore: small guest list (don't worry, you faithful readers who I know in real life will be invited), small wedding party, good food, good drinks, and naturally beautiful locations with little additional decor needed. For our unfussy yet classy affair, there will be no obscenely poufy skirts, flower girl, bouquet toss, or especially garter toss. We're not sure what we're going to do about music, but there will probably only be minimal amounts of dancing. We'll think of something to fill the extra time. Maybe we'll just have lots and lots of toasts in our honor. You might want to get started writing those.