Adventures of a Bride-to-Be

Adventures of a (Second Time) Bride-to-Be

January 25, 2011

I should probably go back in time a bit and talk about how Lawrence and I met. In June of 2010, I was given an email address of a gentleman that a friend of mine thought I should send a note to. I had been divorced and dating for about a year by then, unfortunately without promise of a Prince Charming or anything close, and I was discouraged. I told her I would contact him, but I didn’t hold out much hope.

Well, the old adage of “when you least expect it, expect it” is true. My friend indicated that Lawrence lived out East, so I was pretty sure nothing significant was going to come of the “meeting”; he lived too far away and long distance relationships are difficult at best. I truly expected our “conversations” to last no longer than a week.

Alas, two weeks of emailing incessantly and one five-hour telephone conversation later, Lawrence traveled to Chicago for the weekend to meet me in person; it has been a whirlwind ever since. From the first email, we found we had many things in common, plenty to talk about (to the point where we joked about needing a “talking stick” so that one of us doesn’t monopolize the talking time!), and just an ease in our relationship I hadn’t felt in years. Handsome, a true “southern gentleman”, and just an all-around interesting person with adventurous life experiences I had not had, Lawrence had my heart from the weekend we first met. Our first date was to a Chicago Cubs game where the day was warm, the beer was cold, and the company was great. Oh, and the Cubs won! :) (For any of you long-suffering Cubs fans, we always enjoy flying the blue & white “W” flag!).

Soon thereafter, we spent a week together and talk gravitated towards us, as a couple, and being together permanently. His children were older & he was able to move to where I was; I was unable to relocate because my girls are young and their dad lives nearby. A mere six weeks after we began communicating, but unbeknownst to me, Lawrence actually wrote out his marriage proposal to me.

A wedding was a topic of conversation by August, but not wholly serious because his desire was to first talk my dad and get his permission to ask me to marry him. Southern through-and-through, and the first man to ever do so, Lawrence asked him at the beginning of a Los Angeles Dodgers game on September 3, 2010. This is a photo of the two of us from that game; see how silly we are together?

My dad said yes, but Lawrence didn’t instantly propose to me (and thank god, nothing on the JumboTron, either…not my style and definitely not his). I didn’t mind; he wanted to do so in an “event” and I wanted a story to tell all my girlfriends anyway…

However, was a proposal coming soon? Was I engaged by default? I had a wedding to plan! Alas, it didn’t matter, now all I could think about was…

DRESSES and SHOES and INVITATIONS, OH MY!

Even without a ring & a story (yet!), that same weekend I looked for wedding invitations on any site that came up in my Yahoo search results… (Sorry Google, this “old girl” is still “old school”.) Thankfully, I came across Laura Hooper Calligraphy’s website and was instantly DUMBSTRUCK & SPEECHLESS, an occurrence that does not happen often let me assure you. :)

After a few email exchanges with Laura, who is as sweet as she looks!, about my wedding & working with someone who lives 1800 miles away, I hired her & her team of wonderful people to design my UNBELIEVABLY EXTENSIVE (right, Laura?) wedding suite before we even left Los Angeles.
Yes, some parts of wedding planning ARE just that easy!

More to come. Until next time…
“Just in time, I'm so glad you have a one-track mind like me.
You see, I can be myself now finally, in fact there's nothing I can't be.”
~ Train

xoxo,
Alycia