October 15, 2011
When Chris and I got engaged, I immediately began talking about the fall wedding of my dreams. It had to be in October. It had to be outside. Those were two things I refused to budge on. Luckily, my darling fiance understands my stubbornness and agreed that we could in fact have our wedding outside and in October. Yay!
West Virginia is a breathtakingly beautiful state and has no shortage of parks, forests and all around beautiful places to get married. So where did we start? Locally, of course.
When we were in high school, Chris and I used to go to Coonskin Park in Charleston and make out (sorry mom!) This park also has a wedding garden and directly across the street from the garden is a clubhouse with two reception rooms. Perfect!
After we figured out where we would get married, we did some research and found out how much it would cost us (not too much). In the course of this research, we found out they only booked up to a year in advance. And our wedding was 26 months away!
So we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Until I finally decided I didn't want to wait anymore. So we e-mailed the nice lady at Coonskin and she said October 2011 was wide open and the sooner we booked, the better. So we decided to wait until payday and then drive up to Coonskin after Chris got off work. It was a day I had been looking forward to for a long time. Setting a date means planning things. And planning things means buying things. And buying things meant my wedding was closer!
But I woke up that morning and felt sick. Not like I ate something bad sick, but like I was extremely nervous sick. I had a knot in my stomach that came back every time I thought about going to Coonskin and reserving the site and a day that will forever be our anniversary. Oh boy.
After almost losing my lunch several times during the day, Chris finally got off work and we set out for Coonskin. When I'm nervous, I begin to experience one or more of the following things: I have to pee, I want to puke, I might cry. On the 15 minute drive from downtown Charleston to Coonskin Park, I was experiencing all three of those. I really can't explain why I was nervous. I wasn't nervous when I agreed to marrying Chris and stress/worry usually roll right off me. But this time was different. This decision is literally life-altering. This is saying I'm going to marry this man on this date at this place. Period. Final. Case closed. End of story.
But man is that nerve-racking.
When we finally go to the clubhouse and walked inside, I was really scared. I was making a huge decision. But luckily Chris was there (only because I made him go) and even though he really didn't say anything he made me feel better. Although it was a huge decision to set the wedding date, I knew it was the right decision.
Now when people ask me when my wedding will be, instead of the arbitrary October 2011, I can give them a real date they can actually mark on their calendars. Even though it made me extremely nervous at first, I have a real date with my future hubby =)
West Virginia is a breathtakingly beautiful state and has no shortage of parks, forests and all around beautiful places to get married. So where did we start? Locally, of course.
When we were in high school, Chris and I used to go to Coonskin Park in Charleston and make out (sorry mom!) This park also has a wedding garden and directly across the street from the garden is a clubhouse with two reception rooms. Perfect!
After we figured out where we would get married, we did some research and found out how much it would cost us (not too much). In the course of this research, we found out they only booked up to a year in advance. And our wedding was 26 months away!
So we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Until I finally decided I didn't want to wait anymore. So we e-mailed the nice lady at Coonskin and she said October 2011 was wide open and the sooner we booked, the better. So we decided to wait until payday and then drive up to Coonskin after Chris got off work. It was a day I had been looking forward to for a long time. Setting a date means planning things. And planning things means buying things. And buying things meant my wedding was closer!
But I woke up that morning and felt sick. Not like I ate something bad sick, but like I was extremely nervous sick. I had a knot in my stomach that came back every time I thought about going to Coonskin and reserving the site and a day that will forever be our anniversary. Oh boy.
After almost losing my lunch several times during the day, Chris finally got off work and we set out for Coonskin. When I'm nervous, I begin to experience one or more of the following things: I have to pee, I want to puke, I might cry. On the 15 minute drive from downtown Charleston to Coonskin Park, I was experiencing all three of those. I really can't explain why I was nervous. I wasn't nervous when I agreed to marrying Chris and stress/worry usually roll right off me. But this time was different. This decision is literally life-altering. This is saying I'm going to marry this man on this date at this place. Period. Final. Case closed. End of story.
But man is that nerve-racking.
When we finally go to the clubhouse and walked inside, I was really scared. I was making a huge decision. But luckily Chris was there (only because I made him go) and even though he really didn't say anything he made me feel better. Although it was a huge decision to set the wedding date, I knew it was the right decision.
Now when people ask me when my wedding will be, instead of the arbitrary October 2011, I can give them a real date they can actually mark on their calendars. Even though it made me extremely nervous at first, I have a real date with my future hubby =)
