What First?

The date, of course...

August 19th we got engaged... By August 20th we had already started talking wedding things.  I (like the vast majority of females) had been thinking about this for most of my life.  Of course, over the years, my ideas have changed more than a few times.  Prior to our engagement, we had decided that we wanted a small wedding... As small as possible given I come from a not so small Italian family.  But the guest count would have to wait for now. 

From day one we talked about how we wanted our wedding to be special and intimate, a place and time when we would be surrounded by our closest friends and family.  And then, after we were "official" we wanted to go on an amazing honeymoon.  Since, after all, the wedding is wonderful, but we want to enjoy this time in our lives, just the two of us.

We just wanted to pick a day, pick a time in which we would become husband and wife.

Paul did NOT want a summer wedding, which is totally understandable given that neither of us are big fans of the heat.  We thought about September, but that was a no go considering there is a possibility that I could be starting nursing school in the fall.  And really, what fun would it be to get out of class, go get married on the weekend, and have to be back in class Monday morning?  Not so much fun.

So, I suggested May.  Originally I suggested the third Saturday (I was literally just throwing it out there), and Paul said "how about early May?"  Early May it was.  Next thing we did was whip out the BlackBerry to look at actual days.  We decided on May 7th.  We could not be happier...

That is until we went to our site visit for the venue (a fabulous winery) we wanted.   Of course, May 7th was already booked, by none other than the wine maker's daughter.  Being that we had no attachment to 5/7/11 we were more than happy to push it back a day to May 8th.  This little switch would actually come into play and be a blessing in disguise, but more on that another day.

As of right now, we will be married in a late afternoon ceremony in a beautiful spring vineyard on Sunday, May 8, 2011.  We could not be happier!!!

 

Clearly that is not us... But seeing the beauty of this makes everything real, and so SO exciting!

For Now...

Given that we are now engaged, this blog will serve multiple purposes... Aside from telling our story, right now it will serve as a sort of wedding website.  Our family and friends can feel free to bookmark our blog to keep up with what is going on and all the fun details.  We are so excited to be engaged and even more excited to get married.  We have the rest of our lives to look forward to! 

The Proposal

Sometime at the beginning of the year, we had discussed how this year we would make a point to go on vacation... Something other than the weekend getaways that involved no more than a four hour car ride.  We were going to getaway, far, far away.  So, we opted for a cruise to ALASKA!  Yes, yes, it is well known as a cruise for older people, but, it seemed so amazing we couldn't resist.  We booked it a few months later, and then the waiting process began!

Being that we were leaving on a Friday porting out of San Francisco's Pier 35, we decided to start the vacation early and head up the night before.  We looked online for the best hotels, wanting to do something different, something unforgettable.  We narrowed it down to two, and drove up one day to check them out in person.  (We all know how misleading the internet can be.)  We ended up choosing to stay at Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito, on the North end of the Golden Gate Bridge.  The views from this place were amazing, and the lodge itself was equally as amazing.  So, it was the one!

So the day FINALLY came, and we packed our bags and headed up to start our vacation.  We were both very excited to be getting away and having just over a week to ourselves, just the two of us.  The break was something we had both been looking forward to, we just wanted to sit back, relax, and enjoy the views.  We arrived at the hotel, set our stuff down, and proceeded to go exploring on the property.  (Come to learn later that Paul was actually scouting out places to propose!)  The fog was starting to come in over the hills, it was beautiful, super windy, but beautiful.  We went to dinner a little later at an amazingly delicious Italian restaurant called Poggios in Sausalito.  Then it was back to the hotel to relax and get ready to head to Alaska the following morning.

Since the fog had come in heavy that night, it was cold and wet outside.  It didn't feel anything like summer.  So we opted to stay and hang out in our suite and enjoy the pretty fog from the inside.  An hour or so later, somehow Paul got suckered into giving a back massage, actually take that back, he volunteered.  Then came time for his back massage.  I was not quite as excited to give one as I was willing to receive one that night.  However, I turned around and there Paul was, sitting on the bed with the ring box open, and simply said, "Will you marry me?"  There was no second thought, "Yes!" was the only thing that came out.

We spent the rest of the night just smiling and so happy to be engaged, and knowing that we would really be spending the rest of our lives together.  It is really an amazing feeling.  So happy, so complete.  Just perfectly happy in love.

A Brief About Us

Both of us grew up within an hour of each other, but met through friends in a town we both worked in at the time a few years ago.   We met over coffee one day in September 2008, went on a date the next, and the rest is history.  Within months, we both knew in our hearts that this was the real deal, this was our great journey to great love. We got engaged in August of this year and are working on planning our wedding for next year... We are hoping for May 2011!

We both are lucky enough to be working in areas where we have always wanted to be.  Paul is in law enforcement and Niki is in the medical field.  Working in these fields is incredibly time consuming, but we have maintained the mindset that we make it work, no matter what.  There is always time, and if not, we make the time.  Because in the end, love is always worth it.

Once Upon a Time...

I suppose every story can begin with that classic stater, once upon a time, so why not here.

Once upon a time, there were two people who by chance, or maybe not, came together to embark on the greatest journey they would ever take.

These two people are Paul and Niki.