First things first!
THANK YOU for your kind comments on yesterday's post. Even a week into the decision I still question it and wonder if we are doing the right thing for us and for Agathe. Your reassuring and sweet comments helped me to feel peace.
I AM SORRY for not telling you all that I nixed book club for November and December. My life just exploded and I couldn't keep up. I figured that most of you are probably in the same boat. November we are supposed to read Wonder and December we are supposed to read the Elizabeth Smart story, so very cleverly titled My Story. If it's alright with you, I'm just going to postpone both of those and they will be our first two reads of 2015- Wonder in January and My Story in February. If it's not alright with you, you can send me a mean letter in the mail and I'll never read it because I've gone and lost my mail key. Ha! Jokes on you!
IF YOU WANT TO ORDER some scentsy products for Christmas the last order day to be guaranteed Christmas delivery is December 18. Let me know if you have any questions- they make such fantastic gifts. I am convinced that heaven smells like "Eskimo Kiss" or maybe "Silver Bells". If you live in Utah county let me know before you order, and I can get the shipping for free as long as you're willing to meet me somewhere to get your stuff. Also, if ordering within the week, please order under the Tayler Party. Grazi! Click here to check out all the goods.
Now, that we've gotten all of that out of the way, let's talk about getting engaged. And what a truly horrific experience that is!
Sometimes I get carried away.
And now I present to you....
1. Details, details, details! I hate details! I don't care how the flowers are arranged. I couldn't care less what the table arrangements are. Do we put the registration info on the invitation? Or a separate insert? Or not at all? WHAT DO WE DO?!?! Suddenly stuff I have never cared about before seemed so incredibly important and there were so many CRUCIAL decisions to be made. I wish I would have relaxed more. I was so concerned about the stupidest details- the flowers, the invitations, and we can not have our reception in an LDS church cultural hall or I will die! I mean, really. How's that for stupid? So much grief over decisions that two years later nobody cares about and nobody remembers.
4. Limited time. Greg and I were engaged for a mere 11 weeks. (Because of the torturous nature of the experience, I have often concluded that the engagement was 11 weeks too long.) Due to #3, we wanted the engagement to be as fast as possible- every day dragging the engagement out was misery. HOWEVER, the time crunch did present a problem. Visiting a friend in Seattle over New Years, we stopped at a wedding dress store and when I asked about having the dress altered in time for my wedding in March, the sales clerk laughed in my face. The earliest earliest EARLIEST they could have a dress fitted would be May. Everything was more stressful because of the time crunch- decisions had to be made quickly, reception centers were booking up, the flowers needed to be ordered, etc., etc., ETC.!
5. I was engaged for January, Feburary and March. The deadest, ugliest months of the year. The cold, the snow, the dark drive to work every morning... It all somehow made the engagement seem so much longer. I am convinced that if I was engaged in the summer it would have floated on by like a dream.
6. The dress. For some reason I had an EXTREMELY specific type of dress I wanted. I knew exactly how it was supposed to look. And it was nowhere to be found. I went to wedding dress store after wedding dress store after wedding dress store. Not even trying on the first dress was fun for me- it was just pure stress. Every gown brought out my incredibly middle of winter paleness or drowned me in lace or made me look flat or was too "Mormony". After each dress I was more depressed than the one before. Not to mention the prices. Holy shizzle! My mom was footing the bill (thanks again, mom!) but we're a conservative folk. I refused to spend over $1000 on my dress and finding one exactly how I wanted for that cheap... not an easy task. Even when I DID find the dress, I went in weeks later to try it on after adjustments and suddenly hated it. All of those miserable details can be found here. Looking back on pictures I wonder what the heck my problem was- the dress was gorgeous. I've concluded that being engaged just made me crazy is all.
7. School. It was my first year of teaching and I was doing a 45 minute commute. On top of that, my principal asked me mid year to pick up an extra class- creative writing. I had never taught or studied creative writing and I knew nothing about it. Like a fool, I said yes. Suddenly I had no prep time to grade the endless papers, and three different classes I was teaching for the first time. I put in long hours at the school and spent even more time home frantically trying to grade essays and stay on top of lesson plans. I even made my sister drive up to the school with me six days before my wedding to grade essays (read it here!). I don't think I have ever been so stressed and miserable in my whole life. Fo rizzle.
8. Larry. This man arranged Greg's and my honeymoon. In nice terms, he royally screwed us over. Five days before the wedding, he called Greg and told him our honeymoon cruise had been "cancelled". Within time, we realized it was all a big lie, but we believed the crook at that moment. He got us on another cruise, with less preferable destinations, length of cruise, and type of room... and then tried to steal $600 in the process. Six months and one lawyer brother later, we got the money back (Read all about it here!)
9. Offending people. I like to make people happy. And I don't like to hurt people's feeling. And yet somehow, I believe I managed to offend every single person close to me in the process of getting married. I offended Greg when I said he couldn't have a say on the dinner details because that was my terrain, I offended my mom when I said I didn't care where was easiest for her and her family, I wanted the ceremony in Salt Lake. Greg's family was offended when we didn't want their opinion on anything, my family was offended when I didn't keep them more in the loop, my bestie was offended when I didn't ask her to be a bridesmaid, my cousins' cousins were offended they weren't invited to the ceremony, and probably every one of the 300 guests at that dinner were offended by Greg's dad's speech about how difficult it was to conceive Greg (use your imagination!). To every person who was offended by my getting married, I sincerely apologize.
I am almost to the point where I can just laugh about it now. Almost.
That's a lot of people to keep happy! And this is just my siblings and their kids!
10. My dad. The hardest part about the whole engagement was the fact that my dad wasn't there. I met Greg a few months after my dad had passed away and by the time we got married it had been a little over a year. It felt so fresh, so raw, and I was still barely getting a handle on my grief and how I worked through it. I know my mom missed him terribly- he wasn't there to keep her sane and to help her fight the battles that were so important to her (all extended family MUST be invited to the dinner!). In some ways I began to kind of dread the wedding day and the hordes of people that would be there when one of the most important people in my whole life would be so noticeably absent. He wouldn't be there to smile proudly at me, to tell me I looked beautiful as a bride, to dance the daddy daughter waltz with me. All those things raced through my mind before the wedding and I worried so much that without my dad there the day would be seeped in sorrow. I'll always be grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who answered my prayers and let me know that my dad was there with me that day.
And that is the story of how my engagement sucked. But, the good news is it was all worth it! Here's what I wrote in my journal the night before my wedding:
March 11, 2012 "The real reason I'm writing tonight is so that I can look back on the night before my wedding and have my kids read it and know how supremely happy and one hundred percent confident their mother was before she married their father. I've never been so sure of something in my life; I have absolutely no doubts. When I think of the future I feel joy, peace, and overwhelming calm and assurance. I know that marrying Greg is the right decision and I am so excited. So so so so excited. And happy. Sooooooooooooooooo HAPPY."
Ah, shucks. You thought this post was gonna be a real downer, and then it ended being all sweet and gushy on you. How's that for a twist?!?
THANK YOU for your kind comments on yesterday's post. Even a week into the decision I still question it and wonder if we are doing the right thing for us and for Agathe. Your reassuring and sweet comments helped me to feel peace.
I AM SORRY for not telling you all that I nixed book club for November and December. My life just exploded and I couldn't keep up. I figured that most of you are probably in the same boat. November we are supposed to read Wonder and December we are supposed to read the Elizabeth Smart story, so very cleverly titled My Story. If it's alright with you, I'm just going to postpone both of those and they will be our first two reads of 2015- Wonder in January and My Story in February. If it's not alright with you, you can send me a mean letter in the mail and I'll never read it because I've gone and lost my mail key. Ha! Jokes on you!
IF YOU WANT TO ORDER some scentsy products for Christmas the last order day to be guaranteed Christmas delivery is December 18. Let me know if you have any questions- they make such fantastic gifts. I am convinced that heaven smells like "Eskimo Kiss" or maybe "Silver Bells". If you live in Utah county let me know before you order, and I can get the shipping for free as long as you're willing to meet me somewhere to get your stuff. Also, if ordering within the week, please order under the Tayler Party. Grazi! Click here to check out all the goods.
Now, that we've gotten all of that out of the way, let's talk about getting engaged. And what a truly horrific experience that is!
Because yesterday was Greg's and my four year engagiversary (How's that for an awesome word?!?) and because I have two good friends who got engaged over the weekend (Tis the season!), I thought I would share my thoughts (Because I always have so much to share!) and let you know about how horrific my engagement was (Mostly my own fault, not because of any person involved) and let others learn from my mistakes of being engaged (have you noticed how long this sentence is?) or let those who have already been engaged laugh in agreement (And are you digging these paranthesis or what) or think I'm a freak for putting myself through utter hell during my engagement.
PHEW.
Sometimes I get carried away.
Here's a couple of excerpts from my journals as PROOF that I was not making this up. Engagement is rough!
A journal entry from January 9, 2011: "I am a stressed out mess every time the wedding gets brought up. I seriously can not handle it."
Journal entry from February 9, 2011: "4 weeks and 2 days. Not that anyone's counting down. I swear I'm never getting married. The wait for something has never been so long in my life. I'm dying. Absolutely miserable. I can't handle the stress. The planning. The never ending details. Not seeing Greg every day. The sexual frustration. I would say that being engaged is on my top five list of worst experiences. Dating Greg was amazing. Being married to him is going to rock my word. The engagement, however, is like cruel and unusual punishment." And now I present to you....
The most depressing post ever.
AKA
REASONS WHY BEING ENGAGED SUCKS.
1. Details, details, details! I hate details! I don't care how the flowers are arranged. I couldn't care less what the table arrangements are. Do we put the registration info on the invitation? Or a separate insert? Or not at all? WHAT DO WE DO?!?! Suddenly stuff I have never cared about before seemed so incredibly important and there were so many CRUCIAL decisions to be made. I wish I would have relaxed more. I was so concerned about the stupidest details- the flowers, the invitations, and we can not have our reception in an LDS church cultural hall or I will die! I mean, really. How's that for stupid? So much grief over decisions that two years later nobody cares about and nobody remembers.
2. Not living with the person you are engaged to. This one is different depending on your situation, but Greg and I didn't live together until we were married. Meaning constant phone calls over wedding decisions, trying desperately to find time together with two hectic schedules, and not even being able to crawl into the same bed at night. This one also leads to...
3. Sexual frustration! Us Mormons don't do the deed until we're married. While I will be forever grateful for that decision and may even write a whole post about why I made that choice and the positive effect it has had on my life... it makes for one hell of an engagement. (Sorry Mom for the curse word) (And sorry you are reading this paragraph. That can't be fun for you.) Once you are committed to someone and you know they are the one it's pretty hard to keep your hands off of each other. I don't think I would revisit those months of tension for anything in the world.
I always laugh at this picture because HELLO, can you not see the sexual tension written all over our faces?!?
4. Limited time. Greg and I were engaged for a mere 11 weeks. (Because of the torturous nature of the experience, I have often concluded that the engagement was 11 weeks too long.) Due to #3, we wanted the engagement to be as fast as possible- every day dragging the engagement out was misery. HOWEVER, the time crunch did present a problem. Visiting a friend in Seattle over New Years, we stopped at a wedding dress store and when I asked about having the dress altered in time for my wedding in March, the sales clerk laughed in my face. The earliest earliest EARLIEST they could have a dress fitted would be May. Everything was more stressful because of the time crunch- decisions had to be made quickly, reception centers were booking up, the flowers needed to be ordered, etc., etc., ETC.!
5. I was engaged for January, Feburary and March. The deadest, ugliest months of the year. The cold, the snow, the dark drive to work every morning... It all somehow made the engagement seem so much longer. I am convinced that if I was engaged in the summer it would have floated on by like a dream.
6. The dress. For some reason I had an EXTREMELY specific type of dress I wanted. I knew exactly how it was supposed to look. And it was nowhere to be found. I went to wedding dress store after wedding dress store after wedding dress store. Not even trying on the first dress was fun for me- it was just pure stress. Every gown brought out my incredibly middle of winter paleness or drowned me in lace or made me look flat or was too "Mormony". After each dress I was more depressed than the one before. Not to mention the prices. Holy shizzle! My mom was footing the bill (thanks again, mom!) but we're a conservative folk. I refused to spend over $1000 on my dress and finding one exactly how I wanted for that cheap... not an easy task. Even when I DID find the dress, I went in weeks later to try it on after adjustments and suddenly hated it. All of those miserable details can be found here. Looking back on pictures I wonder what the heck my problem was- the dress was gorgeous. I've concluded that being engaged just made me crazy is all.
7. School. It was my first year of teaching and I was doing a 45 minute commute. On top of that, my principal asked me mid year to pick up an extra class- creative writing. I had never taught or studied creative writing and I knew nothing about it. Like a fool, I said yes. Suddenly I had no prep time to grade the endless papers, and three different classes I was teaching for the first time. I put in long hours at the school and spent even more time home frantically trying to grade essays and stay on top of lesson plans. I even made my sister drive up to the school with me six days before my wedding to grade essays (read it here!). I don't think I have ever been so stressed and miserable in my whole life. Fo rizzle.
8. Larry. This man arranged Greg's and my honeymoon. In nice terms, he royally screwed us over. Five days before the wedding, he called Greg and told him our honeymoon cruise had been "cancelled". Within time, we realized it was all a big lie, but we believed the crook at that moment. He got us on another cruise, with less preferable destinations, length of cruise, and type of room... and then tried to steal $600 in the process. Six months and one lawyer brother later, we got the money back (Read all about it here!)
9. Offending people. I like to make people happy. And I don't like to hurt people's feeling. And yet somehow, I believe I managed to offend every single person close to me in the process of getting married. I offended Greg when I said he couldn't have a say on the dinner details because that was my terrain, I offended my mom when I said I didn't care where was easiest for her and her family, I wanted the ceremony in Salt Lake. Greg's family was offended when we didn't want their opinion on anything, my family was offended when I didn't keep them more in the loop, my bestie was offended when I didn't ask her to be a bridesmaid, my cousins' cousins were offended they weren't invited to the ceremony, and probably every one of the 300 guests at that dinner were offended by Greg's dad's speech about how difficult it was to conceive Greg (use your imagination!). To every person who was offended by my getting married, I sincerely apologize.
I am almost to the point where I can just laugh about it now. Almost.
10. My dad. The hardest part about the whole engagement was the fact that my dad wasn't there. I met Greg a few months after my dad had passed away and by the time we got married it had been a little over a year. It felt so fresh, so raw, and I was still barely getting a handle on my grief and how I worked through it. I know my mom missed him terribly- he wasn't there to keep her sane and to help her fight the battles that were so important to her (all extended family MUST be invited to the dinner!). In some ways I began to kind of dread the wedding day and the hordes of people that would be there when one of the most important people in my whole life would be so noticeably absent. He wouldn't be there to smile proudly at me, to tell me I looked beautiful as a bride, to dance the daddy daughter waltz with me. All those things raced through my mind before the wedding and I worried so much that without my dad there the day would be seeped in sorrow. I'll always be grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who answered my prayers and let me know that my dad was there with me that day.
And that is the story of how my engagement sucked. But, the good news is it was all worth it! Here's what I wrote in my journal the night before my wedding:
March 11, 2012 "The real reason I'm writing tonight is so that I can look back on the night before my wedding and have my kids read it and know how supremely happy and one hundred percent confident their mother was before she married their father. I've never been so sure of something in my life; I have absolutely no doubts. When I think of the future I feel joy, peace, and overwhelming calm and assurance. I know that marrying Greg is the right decision and I am so excited. So so so so excited. And happy. Sooooooooooooooooo HAPPY."
Ah, shucks. You thought this post was gonna be a real downer, and then it ended being all sweet and gushy on you. How's that for a twist?!?
P.S. I tweeted this earlier today, I just couldn't keep something so good to myself,
"Student giving report on sex ed: The thrill of sex lasts seconds,
minutes, hours, or days, but the effects are forever.
#days? #DAYS?!?"
minutes, hours, or days, but the effects are forever.
#days? #DAYS?!?"
If you're not already following me on twitter, you should be!
Post originally published December 2012.
Post originally published December 2012.
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