So... we're engaged!

Actually, Nick got down on his knee before me and popped the question on Christmas Day 2009. Since then, we've both been happy and content just celebrating the fact that we're engaged. Neither of us are in a hurry to have a baby, which seems to be the only reason one might expedite getting one's names onto a marriage certificate. So... two months later, we haven't even set a date yet. At the moment, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the details to attend to. I just got Bridal Planner in the mail today from The Buffalo News, which suggested having a webpage regarding our wedding. I thought that seemed like a great idea, so... here I am.

Day one of planning. Let's see... So far, I have started a wedding guest list. Nick and I share "google documents," as we both have gmail accounts, so I have posted the list there to make it easy for us to both add names as we think of people whom we'd like to be present. That in itself, seems to be a huge, overwhelming task.

I wrote up my list of family members for starters, which already puts us at a count of 40. Nick's mom has 9 sisters, so you can guess my 40 will seem trivial in comparison to his family.

And as for friends? Seeing as I grew up in Maryland, went to college in Ohio and have lived in San Francisco for >10 years, my friends are all over the country. Nick, being from upstate New York and having lived in Wyoming, and now San Francisco, also has friends all over.

Now as for location, I think we've settled on Buffalo. Nick's grandparents live there and would be burdened by a flight to San Francisco. One of my uncles won't get on an airplane and he lives in Vermont, so upstate New York (where Nick's grandparents live) is looking better and better. My family could feasibly drive there from Maryland. And I have a cousin in Canada who would be able to easily make the commute. And although, it's a long drive from NYC, at least my friends there are in the same state (including my dear friend Jenny).

Speaking of friends... So how many of them from out-of-state (especially California) would be willing to travel to Buffalo for our wedding? This has made figuring out bridesmaids challenging to say the least. How do I ask someone to be a bridesmaid and then ask them to fly to Buffalo to be part of the wedding? It would be one thing if it was a destination wedding, like Hawaii, but... as much as I liked Buffalo during our one trip there, I'm not sure it could match Hawaii as a tourist attraction. Though please, Buffalo folks, help me sell this location to those traveling from far away, would you?