Phew!

Planning a wedding in just three months is a herculean feat.  I now realize why most people take a year.  Since getting engaged to Shannon just over a month and a half ago, we have been in full planning mode, and my new motto is that any couple that can survive planning their own wedding, especially from different continents, can survive anything.  In just a matter of weeks, we (any by we I mean mostly Shannon) have arranged nearly everything for the wedding on January 21.

The first step was to secure the wedding venue, the Washington D.C. LDS temple. This was probably the easiest part of the process because it only took one phone call.  The only challenge was knowing what size room we needed.  Because many of our guests will be traveling from out of state, its hard to determine exactly how many people will actually show up.  To be safe, we went with the largest room and can always downsize if needs be.  I think we're probably going to be the only people in all of DC getting married in January and there are 14 sealing rooms in the temple, so we should have plenty to choose from.  (In full disclosure, Shannon had already reserved a date at the temple before I even proposed, with my knowledge of course.  That made the actual proposal a little less stressful.)
    
 Next we had to find a reception site.  Wanting to participate as much as possible in the wedding planning, I did several hours of research to locate some possible venues and caters.  Shannon and her mother stepped in and visited several of the sites, many of which were either too big, too small, or too expensive.  We eventually settled on the Audubon Society's Woodend Mansion by the temple, a large historical property that was designed by the same architect as George Washington's Mount Vernon.  Ordinarily, in peak wedding season the site would go for well over $10K, but got it for a fraction of the price because like I stated previously, no one gets married in January in DC. The venue requires that guests use a caterer from a preapproved list, so I spent some time calling around getting estimates.  Shannon and her mother narrowed in on two, and we selected one that has a pretty good reputation.  

Meanwhile, Shannon was able to find a wedding dress, we selected wedding bands, got the marriage license, collected addresses, designed invitations, printed, stuffed and mailed said invitations, designed a wedding website, reserved a block of hotel rooms, arranged a photographer, bought airline tickets, reserved cars, planned a honeymoon in New York, and scheduled a rehearsal dinner.  Also, I traveled back to DC twice within a few weeks from Venezuela to assist with the planning.  On my first visit, I had to get my ring finger measured, and Shannon and I put together a wedding registry.  In my naivete, I assumed doing a registry would be fun and simple.  Quite the opposite.  I discovered that two separate people trying to decide on sheets and color patterns is more stressful that one could imagine.  Shannon also traveled to Venezuela one weekend for the Embassy's Marine Ball, before which we took engagement photos around Caracas.  

In all the craziness, I was able to travel with Shannon and her family to the Outer Banks, NC for Thanksgiving. (See pictures) Shannon's father rented a beach house in Corolla, a small town near the Virginia border.  I flew to the U.S. the night before, but due to flight delays caused by the entire air traffic control system in Curacao failing, and then a phobic passenger demanding to get off the plane, I missed my connection in Miami.  I had to stay the night in Miami, then connect out the following morning.  We got to the beach house just as the sun was setting on Thanksgiving night, but a delicious feast was waiting for us upon our arrival.  Over the next few days, we spent time on the beach, went for walks, explored a local lighthouse, played lots of sports, and overate.  It was a great trip.  And, Shannon and I even managed to not talk about wedding planning for at least a portion of the trip.

Overall, I think the reality of Shannon and I trying to put together a wedding so quickly in order to be able to get our follow-on assignments with the Department changed so we can be together has tamed our "engagement" honeymoon period.  Here's to looking forward to our "actual" honeymoon period which should be a lot easier.

M