12k Wedding Blog» Detroit Love – The Recaps

Our Story/Your Story

DetroitGyrl — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:11:09 +0000

Once you get engaged – EVERYONE – and I mean EVERY one (friends, family, potential vendors, people on wedding boards, women on the street and even BABIES – ok – maybe not babies.. but every one else) wants to hear your love story and proposal story.

Some people write something nice and post it to their website, some send it out in an e-mail – I’ve even seen some couples have something displayed at the shower and/or wedding for guests to read.

I decided to write a rough draft of our story and the infamous proposal and share it with all of you. Of course – the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

The beginning..

My fiance and I grew up in the same community.. both literally and culturally. HIS parent’s house is a 7 minute drive from my parent’s house, my grandmother lives within walking distance of HIS parents and getting to his grandmother’s from my grandmother’s is only a 4 minute drive (that makes holiday season REALLY easy). Our parents are artists… dance and drum have been a mainstay in our lives since day one. I guess our story really began when I was 11 and HE was 13 – that’s probably as far back as I can retain a vivid memory of our friendship. HIS mom, being a fabulous hair braider, braided my mother’s hair for about two years. I would go with her and play with HIM and his brothers for hours and hours until our mothers were finished. That began a great friendship. My “bestests” will tell you that they’ve been hearing stories about HIM since we were little. It was around that time that I determined that HE would be my husband – but I had no idea what that meant at 11! I did know that there was something about HIM.. that I really liked and that I wanted HIM to be around forever. It’s funny how we think we know what we want (and want forever) when we’re children… but to my defense – I was RIGHT!

My fiance and I attended the same high school and college. We’ve watched each other mature over the years… We’ve had the benefit of seeing each other through challenging times, other relationships and have shared many, many great laughs. Through out the years – we tried dating each other – but never really got serious. We figured it was just because we were better as friends. I realize now that it just wasn’t the right time. A little over two years ago we began to talk to each other more and more. We lived in two different states, but that didn’t stop us from sharing our day to day lives over the phone and through e-mail. In December of 2007, on my trip home for the Christmas holidays, we spent a lot of time together – getting reacquainted and actually DATING!!!

At the end of my trip home, I told HIM that he was my boyfriend… I later told HIM that I was only kidding and that HE could be my boyfriend if HE liked… HE agreed. We spent the next few months trying to decide how we could be closer and spend more time with each other. I eventually moved back home and our relationship flourished. The last two years have been nothing but a wonderful chance for me to get to know the man I’ve known I would marry since I was 11. We celebrated 2 years together on December 30th, 2009.

The proposal..

Right after Thanksgiving HE told me we were going to spend New Year’s Eve in New York. Little did I know that I would get to spend a whole week in New York.

The week started out with relaxation and hanging out with friends. We took a few trips to Harlem (got a chance to see the area HIS father and uncle grew up in), Brooklyn (saw friends, checked out a cool museum and hung out in cool club that reminded me of home), and Time’s square early on New Year’s eve (just to see how everything would look later for the ball drop).

For New Year’s eve we partied in the VIP section of Santos, a swanky club in Manhattan, with friends. Once we arrived back home for “bringing in the New Year” party part 2 – I went into the bathroom to change into something comfy. When I opened the door – HE was down on the floor in front of the doorway with the ring out. HE said so many great things about us being together, knowing each other for so long and spending the “rest of forever” together. We talked for about 30 minutes – highlighting all of the great things about our relationship.. and of course HE asked me to marry HIM..and of course I said – YES!!!

The next few days were spent enjoying the city. There was a 4 1/2 hour engagement shoot with my good friend who happens to be a professional photographer. We sipped Chai with a good friend in the West Village and enjoyed dinner and dancing with friends at the Stanton Social. We even managed to get some yummy soul food from Sylvia’s.

It was a great trip – one of the best I’ve ever taken!

Well – that’s our story. What creative ways have you guys found to tell people about your special love and the special way you got engaged??

~DetroitGyrl

Possibly Related Posts:

Technorati Tags: Inspiration, Tradition

Did We Go Over the 12k Wedding Budget?

Mrs. 12k — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:31:33 +0000

Lately, I’ve been getting the same question pretty frequently: Did we stick to our 12k wedding budget?

The short answer is no.

Here’s the long answer:

Before I started planning, I should’ve done more research on how much average costs were for weddings and receptions in our area. I would have had a more realistic view of things. Instead we threw out an arbitrary number based on our first estimate of how much we might’ve been able to save leading up to our wedding date.

We compromised on a lot of things like decor, catering and parking for our guests. But after a lot of discussion, there ended up being some things we absolutely did not want to comprise on.

Like the premium open bar. Everyone enjoyed themselves so thoroughly, which in turn made it a crazy good time for us. And I’m so glad we were able to slip that one in.

In the end we ended up spending about 15k. We saved a lot in a lot of places but ended up going over after all.

It’s one of those things. If I had it to do over again, I’m confident we could’ve gotten a lot closer to 12k but we’re not expecting any do-overs in this lifetime.

Possibly Related Posts:

Technorati Tags: 12kwedding, Bar, Catering, Decor, research, wedding budget

Detroit Love: My Other Dancing Partner

Mrs. 12k — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:38:42 +0000

So I have this little cousin. She’s 5 and she’s great. Sometimes she’s really talkative and outgoing, but sometimes she likes to act shy and reserved. At the wedding, I stayed on the dance floor for most of the night. At one point I saw her on the dance floor and asked her to dance with me. She was being her shy and reserved self and did this really cute thing she does when she smiles and covers her mouth at the same time. Anyway, I kept dancing and she just smiled. And it was great. Like her. Like this picture.

p.s. Never mind my face. I may have had a drink.

Possibly Related Posts:

Technorati Tags: Children, dancing, Detroit, love, wedding reception

Detroit Love: All the Best

Mrs. 12k — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:19:49 +0000

I think I’m going to call these posts Detroit Love. Yeah, it’s pretty fitting. This one is all about all the very best things from our wedding. Believe me, there were a few things that went “wrong”, but in the grand scheme of things, they didn’t matter one bit.

When I think back to our wedding the best things, in no particular order, were:

Dancing with my husband
Being surrounded by family and friends
Seeing people we don’t get to see often
Dancing with my dad
My dad’s speech
My sister’s speech
My red shoes
My bridesmaids’ dance

I think sometimes people worry so much about certain details being so perfect that they forget to stop and take everything in. Or you know…Stop and smell the roses

Possibly Related Posts:

Technorati Tags: dancing, Detroit, family, friends, love, Recap, Reception, speech, Wedding

We Got Married!

Mrs. 12k — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:58:19 +0000

I know I’ve been gone for a looooong time dear readers, but rest assured I haven’t fallen of the face of the Earth. Since we last talked I finished up all the last minute details for our wedding, got married, went on our honeymoon, and have just begun to get back to normalcy.

I’ve got plenty to report on including and I promise I will soon. But in the meantime, if you haven’t already seen it, check out this piece put together by our photographer, Elton Anderson.

Possibly Related Posts:

Technorati Tags: Honeymoon, married, Photographer