The Engagement Shoot

I apologize for the delay in this post. We've all been busy with the holidays, and vacations, and trips, and illnesses, and game launches and play openings that I just have not had time to write up the most recent step in wedding planning. About a month ago, we had our engagement photos done!

I hadn't even considered getting engagement photos done originally. Shortly after our engagement, mom said she wanted Kate to take the engagement photos and that she'd cover the costs. Well who was I to say no to a free photo shoot? I arranged it with Kate and about a month ago, she and her brood (her husband Matt, and her two children Cassie and Allie) came down to Mass for the day. The plan was for everyone to go down to the park in which Jeff proposed and the shoot would take place there. It's a beautiful park, even if it was a little cold that day, and everyone had a blast!

At first - due to scheduling conflicts - we were worried that we would not have Naomi for that weekend, but it turned out that we did - and I'm so glad it turned out that way! When these three little blond girls all get together, the cutest things tend to happen:

While on the walk, the girls all lined up on this log and posed for a picture without any prompting from anyone. That's Naomi on the left, Allie in the middle and Cassie on the right. I do wish that these girls lived closer together and could see each other more often. They all have so much fun when they're together.

In addition to Kate's clan being there, my parents also joined us on the trip. It had been a while since I'd seen them and I was glad to have them along. Also, they brought the dog!

Naomi loves animals, and she spent a good deal of time on this trip walking Sammi. Sammi is an Australian Kelpie, and quite a senior dog. She was very well behaved with Naomi. 

One of the things we did on the shoot was re-create the proposal. We went down to the little 'beach' area, and Jeff put down the white stones in an X again. 

But it was November, and this area of the woods was very muddy. And of course the girls could not resist playing in the mud:

See the mud on her nose?

Of course the main point of this trip was engagement photos, and we will eventually be choosing one photo to put on our Save-the-Date cards. I will leave that one as a surprise, but put here some of the other photos that we loved.

This one here is by far our favorite photo, but we really can't think of a good use for it:

The Talons

I'm a nail biter. Not only am I a nail biter, but I'm also a nail picker. I admit it. Some may think it's a nasty habit, but it doesn't bother me at all when I do it or when others do it. It's a habit I've had since - I assume - my fingers have been dexterous enough to do it. Many of my family members have attempted to break me of this habit to no avail. "They'll bleed," I've heard, "They'll get infected," "They'll start to be in-grown." None of these arguments have ever come to pass. My nails are fine and always have been, regardless of the way I 'trim' them.

We've scheduled engagement photos to be done this weekend (more on that in a future post), and since I know my hands will be a focal point in the shoot, I have been resisting shortening my nails. It has honestly not been a difficult task. I've done it before just to see if I could and it's pretty easy. It's not stopping the habit that bothers me. What bothers me is the length of my nails now. I hate it. It's the worst, and I don't know how any of you people deal with long nails. You're all crazy!

I can't type well now. Typing is slower and with every keystroke I end up hitting my nail instead of using my fingertip. There's the sensation in the shower when the water goes under my nail and hits the soft, sensitive fingertip underneath. It's frickin' weird. I constantly have to clean out dirt and food from under them. Whenever I have an itch, scratching it actually hurts! And my nails right now aren't even that long compared to what's popular among the ladies. Jeff and I plan to hit the rock gym next weekend, and just the thought of a nail accidentally scraping against the cement wall is enough to make me grind my teeth. Luckily the photo shoot is Saturday, and then I can go back to the bliss that is short, short fingernails.

Well, until the wedding that is...

The When and Where: Updates

Confirmed! The wedding will be taking place on Saturday, May 16, 2015. It will be an evening affair at the Beardslee Castle in Little Falls, NY. Save-the-Date cards will be going out early next year once we have done the Engagement Photos and make up the invitation list. Watch your mail for them!

The Where

The night we became engaged I was chatting with Naomi, and I asked her in what kind of place her daddy and I should get married. She replied with an enthusiastic: "A Castle!" What a brilliant idea! I wish I'd thought of it. The more I thought about it, the more I fell in love with the idea. Jeff mentioned that there was a castle in Connecticut, Gillette Castle. I Googled it and found that it's on a state park which would be affordable, but it's closed for the season. We wouldn't be able to tour it until Memorial Day of 2014.

I continued to search for "castles in new england" and "castles for weddings" and one place in particular kept appearing at the top of the searches: Beardslee Castle. The photos of the location are so gorgeous that I stopped looking at it. I just figured it would be too much money and moved on, slightly sad that I might have to wait until the spring to tour the castles and find the right one.

The next morning I called my mom and told her Naomi's idea. She took it upon herself to google it and came up with the same result, Beardslee. It turns out that Beardslee is really close to my parents' house. They like the venue, and are willing to help pay for it!

I've since scoured their photos, their FAQ's and all the information on their website. I'm super excited about it. Naomi is super excited about it. Jeff said he's always thought it would be incredibly romantic to get married in a castle. So we're all agreed. Plus with it being in Little Falls, it means most of my family will not have to travel very far.

I have not booked it yet, however. It is unclear whether they accept event bookings more than a year in advance, as we are aiming for May 2015. I have attempted to get in touch with them, but it seems they are only open Thursdays through Sundays, so I will have to try again later in the week.

The When

Not even one hour after we became fiancés, I called my parents to tell them the news. The first question was "Is there a date yet?" Interestingly, that was the first question Jeff received from his parents as well. So the short answer is, no. Not yet, officially. We are tentatively thinking about May 2015, but I don't want to say anything official until we are able to book the venue. Don't worry. As soon as we book it, we will be sending out save-the-dates. I am unsure at the moment whether this venue will accept event bookings any later than a year in advance. Rest assured though, when I know, you'll know.

The Ring

Earlier in our relationship I told Jeff who my favorite jewellers were: Wexford Jewelers located in Cadillac, Michigan. It's a family owned business - not a corporate chain - and I've been continually impressed and awed by their designs I've seen online. I simply told Jeff that they were my favorite and that I don't like yellow gold much. He picked out the design. He complained so much about their costs, that I honestly did not expect a ring from them! But, in retrospect, I think he may have been trying to throw me off the scent.

Here is Wexford's image of this ring design:

They call it a Rose Garden Ring with Diamond. They also advertise that if you buy a ring from them as an engagement ring, they will make a fitted matching wedding band for you at a later date. So our wedding bands will likely be coming from them.

The Proposal

It was the first weekend in a while I didn't have anything to do. Roar of the Greasepaint, Smell of the Crowd was over. I just wanted to sit at home and relax, perhaps take my scooter out for a fall foliage ride one last time before I had to think about putting it away. Jeff had a lot of work to do at the office. He had worked on Saturday while I stayed home. He insisted I come to work with him on Sunday. He missed me, he protested. He wanted me there. I agreed.

I had some work to do anyway. We got there about one o'clock or so, and I began working. Around 3:30 I noticed that Jeffrey was away from his desk, and had not been at his desk for a while. I assumed he was just in the restroom or something and shrugged it off. When he came back he said, "My brain is melting. Want to take a walk?"

Across the street from our office there is a small lake with a dirt nature trail looping around it. The entire  path is about three miles in length, and is an absolutely gorgeous walk. Often you will find people walking their dogs, jogging, biking, even fishing along the path. The best season - in my opinion - to walk this path is in the fall. There's very few mosquitos, it's cool, quiet, and colorful.

Along the path around the lake, there is another side path on the opposite side of the lake. This side path is a short off-shoot down to the Charles River. When we first started dating, we walked around the lake and often went down this path to take pictures. It's secluded except for the occasional kayakers. This time we walked down the path to the Charles and I saw on the beach there was a large X on the ground in white stones - not indigenous to the area.

"Oh look," I said, "X marks the spot." Jeff then went to the X, went down on one knee, mumbled something about me being his treasure (he really did have a whole speech prepared, he says, but it fell out of his head the moment we got there) and proposed. I cried. A lot. (Out of surprise and happiness, of course!)

Jeff says:
Sarah makes it sound so effortless, doesn't she? What she hasn't mentioned are the many, many trips I took down that lakeside path to plan everything out - from the location itself to the time of day to the duration of the walk (.7 miles out, 12.5 minutes one way... 'don't forget to double these measurements!' I told myself... frequently); the trip to Home Depot to get white stones suitable for making a Buried Treasure X ('Oh, these are for the garden patch behind the condo!' I said, thinking quickly. She told me after the Proposal that she wondered why the bag remained in the basement, unopened). The night before, while Sarah was running the lights for her show, I transferred everything I would need into the car: heavy backpack full of white stones and two umbrellas in the back seat (bought just for this occasion, in case of rain!). I also checked the ring (a constant habit in the months since it was picked out) and put its box in the pocket of my vest. The vest was casually draped over the back of the couch in the basement, so in the morning I'd be able to go downstairs to 'check on the laundry' and put the vest on, complete with hidden ring already in-pocket and ready for the big day.

For some reason I was really proud of myself for the vest thing.

Sarah and I usually walk the path around Cutler Lake during lunch or after work, since it's so near to the office, and I assumed that on a Sunday afternoon foot traffic would be even less. Not so! My initial attempt to set everything up took place at 2:30 on Sunday, October 13th, but I chickened out when I saw the half-dozen bicyclists unloading equipment from their cars in preparation for a lakeside tour. I came back an hour later, at 3:30, and with no sign of the sigh-inducing cyclists I started down the path, engagement in sight.

Also in sight: two slow-moving German hikers and their dog. They were traveling the same direction I was, and I was tempted to slow down so I could ensure they did not stop at the same lakeside clearing at which I planned to leave my treasure marker, but their dog was so interested in the plants along the side of the path that it seemed the 12.5 minutes (times two!) I had allotted for the round trip would rapidly become inaccurate. Instead I tried to remember enough of the German I took in college to say 'Please continue, I am about to propose to my girlfriend' if they did catch up to me while I was setting up my treasure marker. We're lucky they didn't turn down that side path, because I don't know how to say that!

When I arrived at the chosen spot, a team of kayakers were drifting by. I pretended to check my phone until they were safely past, and then unloaded enough stones from the heavy backpack I wore to make my Buried Treasure X. When I stood back up and surveyed my handiwork, it looked even better than I had expected it to look. I walked back to the main path and saw the German hikers just disappearing around a bend -- they had not come down the side path after all! I had worried for nothing. With a spring in my step, I then began the .7 mile, 12.5 minute journey back to the office, there to get Sarah and casually suggest a walk around the lake.

Oh no. More people coming toward me! What if they turn down the side path? What if they see the X? What if they kick the stones away? What if we get back there and there's just a scattering of white stones all over the place? I had been worried about the German hikers? I hadn't seen anything yet! On the way back to the office I passed:

Two women energetically walking.
A jogger, male.
A man and a woman, walking.
A woman and her dog.
A few more walkers.
A man on the phone walking two dogs, with THREE boys of about eight or so years old.

I was convinced the X would be gone by the time we got back there, and was despairing of the whole plan. In fact, while Sarah and I walked the .7 mile, 12.5 minute walk back to that lakeside clearing, I was desperately trying to come up with something romantic to say about a scattered mess of white stones by the side of a lake.

But as you know by now, as with most things involving Sarah and me, everything worked out fine -- the X was still there (despite the incredibly high foot traffic around the lake that day), and even if it hadn't been, it wouldn't have mattered. All that mattered to me was that she said 'Yes,' and because of that, our dream of the future can come true. I couldn't be more excited!