Lists and Other Exciting Things..

As everyone knows by now (admittedly, I'm finding it hard to talk about anything else!) Ben asked me to marry him on 14/4/2012.... 

...and I said yes! 

Well... technically, I suppose, I said "yeah"... or at least that's how it sounded. It was actually more of a "ye..." and I couldn't actually finish the word ("..s") because I was just a tad emotional at the time. Which is understandable given the circumstances! Ben told me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life making me happy and over the last few months of our dating he has set himself a high standard to maintain. Our relationship has started out so wonderfully and I have the peaceful yet overwhelming impression that things are just going to keep getting better and better. 

However... 

...taking a step back from all these romantic notions and the joy of getting engaged it came as a bit of a shock to me that in getting engaged that means we're actually getting married. It's not the marriage part that comes as an unwelcome shock to me (fortunately!), in fact, I think I will quite like the joint enterprise and comic banter that will undoubtedly be our lives from here on out; BUT in order to be married we have to get married... and that involves a wedding. 

Before I put a downer on this whole wedding deal, let me just tell you that I am a deeply romantic person. I cry during 'The Notebook', 'My Girl' and even 'Marley and Me' (which is strange... I'm not a fan of canines). My favourite actress is Audrey Hepburn and I love the glamour and romance of old Hollywood. I've fallen in love with many a fictional character; from Noah Calhoun to Rhett Butler. I adore James Stewart. My favourite songs are 'Kiss Me' by Sixpence None the Richer and 'Don't get me wrong' by The Pretenders. So in reality I am a hopeless romantic. You would think that weddings should be the love of my life and that planning my own should be the pinnacle of my existence. Somehow, it's not. 

I'm petrified. There is so much to do and only 4 months to do it in! Not only that, but we have to make sure we've got some kind of plan for afterwards. There are lists after lists being drawn up and after most of the items on the list I've got a big '?'

I am so so grateful for the people who are helping. We have wonderful family friends and Ben's family have wonderful family friends that are all using their talents, skills, time and effort for us. Sometimes I feel like it's a big circus and it's all going on around me but in reality I'm calling a lot of the shots and thankfully I've got my best friend there with reassuring platitudes and the ability to make me laugh. Occasionally he even helps out with wedding stuff! (I'm just kidding- he's really good and he helps a lot... he'll pay me later for writing that!) 

The wonderful thing is that I know that when tablecloths, napkins, platters, dresses, hairstyles, guestbooks and photographs are far behind us we will still have the one thing that really counts: people. So many people are offering their help and support and I'm just so grateful. I'm glad that we are always going to have the people who love us and who we love; and we're always going to have each other. 

Thinking of that is what's going to get me through the whirlwind of the next few months. Well, that and the fact that I have a very organised mother! 

Life is wonderful and fun and exciting and this is my biggest adventure yet.