This is bridetobe081509's Blue Wedding!

Looking through magazines, I chose my dress right away. I found that I was in love with the pick up style dresses that were very big. When I showed my mom the photo, she completely disagreed with me; she did not like the style at all.

We made an appointment at David's Bridal to go and try on different dress styles. I had absolutly no intention of purchasing a dress that day. The idea was to just take pics of me in different dresses so that I could decide which was best for me.

My mom and I looked through the racks while we were waiting for our consultant. I didn't really find anything that jumped out at me, and especially not in my size....since having my two children, I am now a "plus size" girl.

I showed the consultant what I was looking for, using pictures. My mom made sure to add, though, that she wanted me to try on different styles.

The first dress that I was supposed to try on was one that I thought was terribly ugly. It was an off white color and looked like an old garbage bag hanging on the hanger. This dress I had actually completely passed up when looking through the racks because it was so hidious - I remember laughing while I thought 'who would wear this thing'. Now I was about to try 'this thing' on.

I waited forever while the consultant laced up and tied the back, then it was time to walk out. As soon as I saw myself in the 100 mirrors that David's Bridal has, I was in love. I loved this dress SO much, this was MY dress. My mom was even totally convinced that this was the dress that I needed....but it was the wrong color.

The consultant convinced me to try on other dresses but my mom and I still liked the first one and I put it on again. It was still just as amazing at the first time I put it on. Now I needed to find it in white.

The consultant looked frantically through the racks and could not find it. At the last moment, she decided to look on the smaller sized racks and THERE, tucked into the back of the size 4 dresses was my dress! This dress was being discontinued and these were the last two in the store!

By this time, my mom was on the phone with my dad telling him that I NEEDED this dress! He finally gave up the credit card number to the consultant! (we knew he would all along, it just took some talking).

I went home that day, 14 months before my wedding, carrying my wedding dress.

(since nobody is allowed to see my dress, there is a picture of a cake that my mother and I found hysterical since it is a replica of my dress! I assume somebody had this made resembling their dress which is the same as mine. )

When we were first engaged, there really was no talk of a date. We didn't really talk about a wedding at all. When we began to talk about it, we figured out that we had two different visions - each of these visions would take place 2000 miles away from each other.

He envisioned a small, private ceremony on the beach here in Florida. Him in khaki shorts and a nice shirt, wearing flip flops. He saw me in a simple, little, white dress; flip flops for me as well.

I, on the other hand, saw a large ceremony in my hometown in Michigan. We would have all of our family and friends. The ceremony would be a big deal and the reception even bigger. I saw me in a big, Cinderella style dress and him in a full tux.

After we (or me) finally agreed on my vision, we could not choose a date. We went through 4 or 5 dates. First we chose October of 2007, then December of 2007. Next we picked February of 2008. By we, in all of this, I mean me. I then picked November of 2008 at which point my father informed me that he would not be paying for a wedding in Michigan when it was going to be cold! So we, and this time I mean we, chose August of 2009. The date was supposed to be August 22,2009 but when we called to book the chapel, it was full for the entire day!!! So we chose the week before. This is how we came up with our wedding date of August 15, 2009.

The proposal wasn't that fairytail dream proposal. There was no getting down on one knee, no kissing, no tears; come to think of it, there wasn't even a "will you marry me". It was my 21st birthday and we were going to Orlando for the weekend. In his bedroom, he said "turn around" and then when he told me to turn back, he placed the ring box in my hand. I was soooooo excited!!! I knew what it meant even though the words never came from his mouth!! During the drive to Orlando, he said "does that mean yes" when I reminded him that he never even asked he said "well, you know what I meant:". Of course, that first night all I could think of was getting my ring fitted so that I could wear it for EVERYBODY to see!

(the picture of the ring is my set, but with a heart shaped diamond!)