Did the title scare ya? I graduated on September 23, 2006 from The Art Institute Online with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interactive Media Design. I spent 3 1/2 years working on it and am glad to say it’s finally over. Crystal has been patient and understanding of the lack of time I have had to give her, so now I’m sure she’ll want to catch up on everything we’ve had to pass up because of me being in school. I guess I don’t have a good excuse to get out of wedding-planning stuff now huh? HA!

Crystal is still the smartypants with her Master’s degree…but I refuse to call her “master”…

It’s no secret that I’ve been rather, um, horrible at helping with the wedding planning and getting things to Crystal in a timely manner. She often asks me to do the simplest things and I will completely forget an hour later. I could blame it on having a full-time job and full-time school (as I often do), but I just can’t stay focused on anything about the wedding unless I write it down. I admit it…I’m probably the worst groom-in-training ever. haha (Crystal probably isn’t laughing)

The fact is, if it wasn’t for Crystal we’d probably be getting married in a drive-thru chapel in Gatlinburg somewhere (no offense to anyone who has done that). She’s been amazing with the whole wedding planning tasks and is so organized with everything that I feel like a kid that’s just tagging along and going with the flow. I’m just going to show up and try not to get in her way at the wedding. hahaha

I also want to say thank you to everyone that has helped out with everything. There are so many names to list that I’d be here all day typing, but you know who you are. I’m amazed by all of the people that have pitched in their time, energy, talents, resources, etc. I wish I could take ALL of you to Maui with us…but you’re going to have to settle for free food at the reception…unless of course your Crystal’s parents. 😉

I just finished uploading the rest of our engagement photos that Victoria DeLoach took, so there are now something like 50 photos of us to look at. You can see then all be clicking here. Once again, we’d like to thank DeLoach Digital Photography for taking these images of us!

Victoria (our photographer) sent us a few more pictures, which I posted to the gallery. Just click on any of the images over to the right to see them.

Crystal called me this afternoon somewhat stressed about the wedding planning. I thought everything was going well…I mean, shoot, I’ve been breezing right through it! (That’s sarcasm for those in the back since I haven’t done much with the planning) I have to collect addresses of my friends and family, so if you’re reading this…and you’re my friend or in my family…send me an email with your name, address, and the names of the people you want to drag bring with you to our wedding. It’ll be a good time that you don’t wanna miss! Besides…there will be free food there! Well…free for you. I just hope you like spam sandwhiches.

You hope I’m kidding about the spam sandwhiches don’t you. Well, you’ll just have to come and find out and when you see it isn’t spam sandwiches, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with whatever it is! 🙂

Crystal and I have never spent so much time in front of a camera as we just got our engagement pictures taken in Rome, GA. Most of you that know me probably understand how weird it was for me to be in front of a camera as I usually spend most of my time behind one. I was completely comfortable though as Victoria and Eric Deloach of Deloach Digital Photography put me at ease knowing that she knew exactly what she was doing. Victoria did an amazing job of finding scenes, using various lenses, shooting at different angles, working with natural lighting, etc. She went to the places that we wanted to shoot at which were Broadstreet, the Clock Tower, and Berry College. Those three places are among the first “dates” that Crystal and I had so they were somewhat special to us.

Victoria took hundreds of photos while we cheesed it up, goofed off, hugged, kissed, talked to geese, and gave piggyback rides! The weather was great and we just had a great time making these photos. Victoria surprised us by quickly emailing us a handful of shots, which you can see by clicking on the photo of us above. There are soooo many more photos that I can’t wait to see and share!

If anyone out there is planning on hiring a photographer for any occasion I definitely recommend Deloch Digital Photography! They can be reached through email by clicking here.

Realizing that many people might not have a Sears or Bed Bed & Beyond near them, we created a registry at Target so now you have 1 less excuse for not buying us anything another option for a place to shop! There is everything from bedding to board games on the Target registry, so think about that if you ever plan on staying with us…you’ll have some nice new pillows and some board games to play! 😉

THANK YOU in advance to anyone who helps get our lives started.

If you could have only seen the look on her face when she saw the last page of the book where it said “Will You Marry Me?”!!! WOW!!! I barely got to see the look as she covered her face with her hands and boo-hooed like crazy, but I caught a glimpse of a huge smile and a huge glow that I’ll never forget. That alone made all of this preparation and effort worthwhile. I have to thank everyone involved for keeping this a secret and helping me throughout the entire planning. All of you have been so supportive and encouraging as Crystal and I have both made this huge decision in our lives. We are both blessed with amazing sets of family and friends that enrich our lives every single day and I thank God for all of you.

That little ring on her finger shows what a blessed and happy man that I am to have her in my life. I love that girl. 🙂

I’ve been hearing Crystal ask “How much do you love me?” lately. As bad as I want to say “You’ll see” I don’t want to give anything away. Luckily I was woozy from taking Tylenol Cold PM last night so I was able to get out of answering that question. I just have to make it one more day and she’ll know exactly how much I love her. Maybe then she’ll stop asking! 😉

Here we are 3 days away from the “big day” and Crystal comes into town tomorrow (Thursday) to stay until Christmas Eve. We will be spending Christmas Eve here with my family and then driving back to GA that night…that is when she’ll get all of her surprises. There is just one problem…keeping the secret.

My family seems to have spread the word to other family members about the proposal and I’m worried that someone will say something during the big get-together on Saturday! I will have to dodge all of the questions like “So where is the ring?”, “I thought you were proposing today?”, or “So when is the wedding?!” If I can make it out of that house without spoiling the surprise, I should be home free.

The other part of keeping the secret is hiding all of the stuff! I have things on my computer (the images and pages used to make the book, online receipts, etc) that I don’t want her to see yet. I also have notes, papers, etc hiding in my dresser and file cabinet that has info about the ring, proposal, flight, etc. There are just so many things that can spoil the surprise. She may have to sleep outside! Ok, I kid…maybe.

On top of all of this I have to somehow fake some presents to put in my vehicle to make her think I am taking gifts down with me. I will probably put junk in a couple of big boxes and tell her not to touch it. Then I have to hide the ring somewhere…probably in my coat pocket. I also have to hide the perfume I got her as it came in after I gave her parents the box of gifts. I’ll have to sneak and plant that while she is distracted. Maybe I can just stick a picture of Matthew McCaughnahey in her stocking to distract her for a bit (I know I spelled his name wrong, but you know who I mean 😛 ).

Needless to say, the next couple of days are going to be more nerve-wrecking than the actual proposal!!!