So my boyfriend and I have been together for five years, known each other for nine years, and we are now officially engaged! <3
I say "officially," because we have essentially been engaged for a long period of time (and some friends and such were already aware of this), knowing entirely that we wanted to get married for years, but we always wanted to be more settled into life before getting married.
We have about a year to go, since we decided the date to be October 13th of 2013 and have began announcing it to everyone~ Well, really, my mom is doing all the announcing for me. I didn't even get the chance to spread the word farther than my brother and her before everyone already knew from my mom. xD;
I've even been proposed to twice, not denying either time, and likely will be for a third time, but it's a little odd of a story. The first proposal was done when we were ballroom dancing in a random hallway to a song on my ipod, with him slipping the ring on my finger in a spin with me being entirely oblivious at first. That ring, however, had the unfortunate fate of being stolen from my house, when I lived with my parents, during a huge Christmas party. I regret talking it off my finger so, so much. I thought it would be safe where I put it, and surely no one in my family would do something like that, but I was certainly mistaken when I found it missing at the end of the night.
So he proposed again after spending a whole day together just as we likely would should we be married - cooking our meals together, shopping together, going to work separately, coming home for an evening movie on the sofa. It was sweet, that way, and certainly different from the first. But with that ring being so precious, having been a ring from his mother that passed away two years ago with her specifically wanting the ring to be mine, I'm afraid to wear the ring on my finger. It is a size or two too big and I don't want to defile the ring by re-sizing it, and I don't want to lose something so valuable to us. I loved her quite dearly, considering her my second mother. I wear the ring on a necklace for special occasions, but even then, I'm afraid of losing it or damaging it.
As that is as it is, we've been looking at rings together, so he can, as he says, get an idea of what sort of thing I might want. And so I, too, can get an idea of what he wants.
As for wedding plans, it looks like it will be a themed wedding, with my take on "Alice's Adventure's In Wonderland," my ultimate favorite book and one which has inspired many things in me, from characters, to clothing, to even decorations and flower arrangements in a class of mine. It was my boyfriend's suggestion, as he knows my vast love for it, and I was immediately ecstatic. Right now, I am trying to convince him to wear bunny ears for the ceremony, to be the "White Rabbit," to my "Alice." Without the White Rabbit, Alice would have never made it to Wonderland. (Though the Cheshire Cat and King of Hearts/Red King are also options.) This is the dress I am currently eyeing, but since it is a product custom made for the buyer, I will have to wait until closer to the wedding date to order it so that all the measurements are correct to my size at the time. (Something that tends to vary a lot from year to year.)
Aaaand, I have said quite a lot. I'm really excited and, even though we've wanted to get married for a long time, it feels really surreal that things are finally in motion~ So many things to plan!