Hello from Miss NationalHarbor !

Wow! I am so late to the introduction party! I have been absolutely swamped at work and kept putting off writing my introduction until I could really put some time into it - but I see now that that is not going to happen---as the hits at work just keep on coming. So I will just get to it...

My name is Jennifer. I am 34 and work as a technical writer in Ballston. Mr. NationalHarbor is 32 and works for an architectural company in DC. We just moved to a condo in NE last month and we are also feverishly saving for our wedding which is taking place on Halloween night. No- it is not going to be a masked reception filled with werewolves and witches. I have just loved Halloween ever since I was a child and when I sensed Mr. NationalHarbor was close to popping the question I merely hinted that it sure would be awesome if I could meld my favorite holiday with a marriage to my favorite guy. And so he got the picture and here we are!

I will tell a little about the engagement since I find the story vastly amusing. Mr. NationalHarbor had been planning to present me with a ring on a weekend getaway at a hotel in DC which shall remain nameless. He had enlisted the help of my friend, Claire and had the whole thing planned when I threw a wrench in the works because frankly- I could not stand the hotel he had picked and since I had no idea he was planning to ask me to marry him that particular weekend I promptly suggested that we stay somewhere else. Which of course ruined everything since he had already spoken to the staff and had a whole evening of loveliness planned. Long story short- he did switch the hotel for me. After I had put the kibosh on his plans he had called my friend on her cell, begged her to take a long lunch with him and had dragged her to 3 or 4 new possible hotel choices in the city asking her to help him choose one I would love. Later that day he picked me up from work and took me to a fabulous suite filled with roses and champagne at the "engagement hotel" they had worked so hard to find that very afternoon. He was so nervous that we had no sooner entered the room before he sat me on the couch immediately and started talking. Sadly- I cannot really recall much of his proposal because he had gone deathly pale and was actually swaying on his feet as he talked. I was so intent on making sure he did not fall over that I was not really listening to what he was saying. It was only when he fell to his knees in front of me that I got the picture. That and the little black velvet box he was opening drove the point home. I have to admit I love telling that story and get a good laugh whenever i think of it. He was just so cute and endearing- but that is why I am marrying Mr. NationalHarbor.

Now I will give the lowdown on the ceremony so in the next posts I add here I can just get down to the nitty gritty and not have to give background details. Mr. NationalHarbor and I are getting married at Oxon Hill Manor in Oxon Hill, MD. Hence, my blogger name. We are having about 110 guests and have opted for an evening ceremony. We already have contracted the venue, the wedding planner, the photographer, a lighting guy, the DJ, a string quartet, the cake, the officiant, the caterer, and as of last week- a company to supply the alcohol. We are currently tackling the whole room blocks issue- which I will defintiely have to cover in greater detail and we are trying to lock down plans for the rehearsal dinner. And yet- I still feel like I have lots to do. I cannot seem to corral my bridesmaids into one place to pick dresses for them. We are making our own menu cards and invitations and escort cards so I will definitely have to convey my trials and tribulations with that. We have not gotten settled on tuxes for the groomsmen yet. We have not met with the florist yet and after 2 failed attempts at trying to find a make-up artist I have no idea what I am doing on that front. We still need to have the engagement shoot and since we are getting married in the evening- how does one take outside pictures at 10pm? There will be no natural light and the grounds will be covered in darkness. I have to find a way to get pictures on the grounds of the venue with my wedding party during the day. The only problem is that someone has contracted the venue in the afternoon before me and I can't very well push myself onto her day and ask " can i just interrupt your special day take a few pictures with my people near the fountain while your folks are eating? thanks so much." No. I simply have to come up with a better plan.

Ok. Well I think I have rambled enough for now. If anyone has any ideas about how to get around the picture issue please let me know! Next post I will tackle my room block drama. Who knew blocking rooms could lead to such difficulty! Oh, and if my posts tend to sound a little too much like a novel I apologize in advance. My friends are always making comments about that in every email I send to them. But since I write for a living how can I not be overly verbose? That's what they pay me for!

More wedding details coming soon!

Stoked!

I am stoked to join all of the lovely DCNearlywed ladies as "Miss UVA"!

It's funny...I don't feel like a nearlywed at all. Mr. UVA and I have been engaged since last March (that was 15 months ago) and we still have 13 more to go. But I'm sure it will be here before we know it.

Mr. UVA and I met each other at the University of Delaware almost 7 years ago through a mutual friend of ours. I will state for-the-record that I did not like Mr. UVA all that much when I first met him. He intrigued me - maybe. But somehow, towards the beginning of our sophomore year, Mr. UVA got to me and fast forward a few years, we are the the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. UVA.

Mr. UVA and I are both originally from northern Virginia and after graduating from Delaware ended up back in the area. We lived in Woodley Park for a little while before Mr. UVA decided his brain needed a little stimulation - try a 5 year PhD program in Economics. Now we live in Charlottesville, VA with our munchkin of a dog in a house the color of a key lime pie. While Mr. UVA expands his brain with theorems, proofs, and numbers, I get to have fun crafting and planning our July wedding in Charlottesville.

I can't wait to share all of our exciting, stressful, and fun adventures as we plan our big day.

<3 miss uva

A Big Ole "Howdy" from Miss Glen Echo

Hi! Hello! Hola! What's Up! Aloha! and a big ole Howdy ya'll!

I am Miss Glen Echo. I am totally excited to be able to share all of my wedding planning ups and downs with people who actually are volunteering to listen (or rather read in this case). So, hmm...how do I begin to share...I guess I will start off with the 5 basics: who, what, when, where and why. So, here is the "who."

Who: Me and Mr. Glen Echo. This is a pic of us...so cute!

source personal photo

I am a full-time litgation specialist at an insurance company, a part-time (but feels like full-time) evening law student and an all-the-time soon-to-be bride totally obsessed with planning her wedding. Mr. Glen Echo is a phD candidate at George Washington University and, what I like to call, an academic "hustler." He contracts with the government to do research, he adjucts, he teaches the bass, and he is finalizing his dissertation. We are very busy people. No wonder we met on the internet!

Our story is not the typical internet dating romp. I actually was cruising for dates on MySpace *gasp* and saw his picture. I immediately thought, "well, hey now..." and sent him a note. We talked on line for several months (I think it was something like 6 months almost) about all kinds of random things....24, hockey, friends, Kings Dominion (I actually bought a candy apple back from Kings Dominion in the hopes that I would meet him and could surprise him with it)...but after all of that, we never actually met in person.

After 6 months of talking through MySpace email and me slipping hints that I wanted to meet in every note, he finally agreed to meet me. My go-to spot for blind dates was Cornerstone (a bar I used to work at in College) mainly because it was cheap, there is a ton of booze and food and if my date did not work out...I could potentially meet someone else there (which actually happened to me once). But after five minutes, I knew there would be no need to meet anyone else. He was impressed with my charm and good looks, I was impressed that he still liked me after several Ketel One and tonics...what was clear is that this was not just any internet blind date. After that, as they say, "it's all she wrote."

There are many reasons why I love Mr. Glen Echo, but if I had to pinpoint one thing, it would be the fact that he loves me like no one else has. He puts every piece of himself into "us" and loves me with no reservations. He makes me feel beautiful when I feel like I belong at the Brookhaven Institute. He always tries to make me laugh when I feel like I want to laser beam people and destroy the earth a la Cyclopes in X-Men. I totally love his shiny head and everything that is inside of it.

As for me...well you will get to know me, we have so much time together.

So, Mr. and Miss Glen Echo, that is the "who" we are...a soon to be bride and groom!

The New Girl: Miss JeffMemorial

Hello, all! Miss JeffMemorial here. I'm the newest addition to DC Nearlyweds, and I'm very excited.

While I am a DC Native (yes, we do exist), Mr. JeffMemorial is from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Oddly enough, Mr. JeffMemorial and I have known each other since we were about 18 years old. We never dated. We weren't terribly close, but we got along and were friends. Last year he reappeared in my life; I had moved home to DC after spending six years in Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, and North Carolina. We reconnected and got swept away last December. We just fell right into the relationship, like we had been together forever. But I knew instantly, even before the relationship began. I called our friend up and told her in confidence that I was freaking out, because he was the man I was going to marry. I just knew it.

And I was right.

He proposed in April, and I said yes. While it surprised everyone, all we received were well wishes and support. Anyone who knew us said that us getting married was a wonderful thing.

Mr. JeffMemorial and I now live in Capitol Hill, at Potomac Avenue, with our Scottish Terrier, Horatio.

Now we are doing the unthinkable. We are having a wedding IN Washington DC without putting anything on a credit card and with a budget of $5000.

Some may think I'm joking.

I'm not.

Some may say this seems impossible!

Much to my surprise, it isn't.

While we'd love to adhere to tradition with my family chipping in, it's not possible. The money for a big wedding isn't there on either side; so we're being very 21st century and paying for it all ourselves.

Now I'll admit that the budget restrictions have not always been a source of smiles and rainbows. The wedding has been through a number of incarnations as ideas went from feasible to unreasonable. Throw in a money-eating family emergency for good measure, and you have a recipe for a bride wanting to run off to Vegas and never look back.

Thanks to one superstar bridesmaid and the support of another (who happens to be Miss Gallery Place!) we're not eloping. We're pulling off the impossible, and we have just a bit over a year to do it, with our wedding being on October 10, 2009.

Our vision was to have a wedding that showcased why we loved Washington DC so much. So many write DC off as a fake city, but it's our home, and it's my favorite place.

We've been through art gallery receptions, church hall receptions, you name it... we've tried to plan it. And that's when the idea came up, thanks to my Super Bridesmaid.

Why not have the wedding on the West Lawn of the Jefferson Memorial?

We're looking at a tiny itty bitty cost for permits, as opposed to the astounding non-member fee structures at our church. Not only that, but the scenery is beautiful for our guests, a number of whom are from out of town! Also, Washington DC in the fall is so romantic to me.

Now it isn't officially our location yet, as we cannot purchase permits for use of the memorial more than a year out from our date. Needless to say, on the morning of October 10th I will be calling the Parks & Rec department, check card in hand!

Coming up...!

Can a plus-sized bride find a reasonably priced dress of her dreams?

And!

How can one throw a fabulous reception in Washington DC on a small budget?

In all seriousness though, I'm happy to be here and sharing planning with all of you!

Greetings NearlyWeds!

Let me begin by introducing myself I am the new kid on the blog and have been dubbed Miss Mitchellville since I will be getting married at the romantic Newton White Mansion located in Mitchellville, Maryland. Before I dive in to the whirl wind that has become my life since becoming engaged on Christmas 2007 I’d like to tell you a little bit about us. I’m an interior designer from Los Angeles living with my fiancé in Chevy Chase, Maryland and working anywhere the job takes me. My fiancé (we’ll call him Doc) is a 1st year resident also from Los Angeles whose idea of the perfect wedding involves heading down to the justice of the peace tomorrow for a cheap quickie. Although he is not thrilled about the estimated 30,000 dollars to be spent on our nuptials he has taken comfort in the fact that my idea of the perfect wedding while not at the court house is not the “platinum wedding” we’ve seen on TV (sometimes more isn’t better it’s just more; more on that later…) We’ve set our wedding date for October, 2009; since neither of us got to experience Autumn before moving to the east coast from California it's become our favorite season, boasting beautiful colors and perfect weather, we hope! I look forward to swapping ideas, sharing my experiences with DIY projects, tastings, dresses, and getting much needed feedback and support from other DC brides to be!