How it all started...

We Got Engaged!







On August 31, 2011 I had been dating Randy for over a year. We met at a 4th of July Party the year before and had been dating long distance for many months before being reunited in February of 2011.  Things moved quickly once Randy returned home.  We knew we wanted to be together, that we were in love, that we wanted to buy a place and to start the rest of our lives together.

Romantic right?

Randy has always liked doing things his way, and although the actual engagement was a surprise the idea of getting married was not.  Randy had to attend three weeks of National Guard duty in August of this year and just like our time apart while he still lived in Texas, we spoke on the phone every night.  After one of our longer phone calls, we hung up and then two minutes later my phone rang again.  Randy had forgotten to tell me about a "free things to do in Chicago" email that he had been forwarded about free wedding dresses.  He told me that he knew that eventually I would ask him to marry me (yes ... this was an irrational belief that he seemed to hold onto).  So he thought it would make sense for me to check out some of the dresses and to see if I qualified for a wedding dress.

So yes, the dress came before the proposal.  Here's how it all went down:

I contacted the organization "Brides Across America" to find out that they had just given out dresses to a ton of Military Brides and the Finaces of the military.  I had missed it by two weekends.  I thought I would contact a couple of the designers that were in Chicago just to see if there was any possibility and to see if I qualified.  One of the designers "DeFloro Fashions" wrote me back.  She not only said I was qualified but that   I should set up an appointment immediately.  I did!

Here are some of the dresses that did NOT work:

You can tell by the look on my face in the last one that I really hated the ginormous Roman-themed dress.  Haha.  Laura Reno and Meredith Conn went with me to check out dresses.  Unfortunately my Maid of Honor and Matron of Honor were out of town, they couldn't weigh in on the selection.  But I ended up selecting a dress that had sleeves (which are being removed) and isn't bright white.  It's also a little tight so Randy and I started Weight Watchers last week.  I need to lose somewhere between 5-10 pounds to make it look right.  And because it was a custom dress that was being given to me for free, the designer had to work with that exact dress.

Anyway, I got the dress I wanted and it was (in fact) free!

Next Post:  The Condo and the Proposal