Post # 1

Member
7300 posts
Busy Beekeeper
Engaged: An engagement is a promise to marriage, and also the period of time between proposal and marriage which may be lengthy or trivial. During this period, a couple is said to be affianced, betrothed, engaged to be married, or simply engaged.
So Mr. Tattoo and I have decided to get married on June 16, 2012. What Mr. Tattoo hasn’t done is present me with a ring or proposal. I know it’s coming because we have finally caught up with our bills and paid down our debts, but I feel like it’s almost not real without a ring. I know! It’s super shallow of me! On the other hand, I have a type A personality so I want to get things done yesterday! Mr. Tattoo doesn’t understand my way of thinking to want to get everything written down and planned so we don’t stress about it at the last minute. I was already forced into a panic attack by a day of wedding coordinator [see: DOC] who said she was booked every single weekend in the months of April through November until 2013! I called another venue I thought I would be married at, but they were also booked through 2012!
With visions of no available vendors, a lot of fast talking, and a morning shower meltdown, Mr. Tattoo let me go to Hartwood Acres to check out the grounds.
I fell in LOVE! Some brides have that IT moment when trying on their dresses. I had my moment walking around these grounds! I was so emotional! I cried during the tour and the wedding manager said I was the first person to actually cry. I think it was because I could see everything on the grounds from the white garden chairs, to the gerbera daisy centerpieces, the rose petals,ect.
So guess what? The 2011 season was already booked up, so we booked for June 16th, 2012! That’s how I became a soon to be June Bride!
Venue-check!
Ring and proposal-not so much, but it’s getting there!!!!
One million more things to do!
Have you been planning without being “engaged” first?
Post # 3

Member
330 posts
Helper bee
I know how you feel! I don’t have a ring but we are going to look at the end of this month (Yippy)! We’ve also been looking into venues but haven’t booked anything yet. It’s going to be quite hard since we are aiming for a June 2011 wedding :/
Post # 4

Member
147 posts
Blushing bee
@Miss Tattoo: Oh yeah. I’ll tell you the truth – my Fiance asked my father for my hand in marriage, we had a lovely dinner with my parents…and no ring. I know it’s coming, I got to choose my engagement ring, but it’s also a little strange saying I’m engaged without being able to show off my ring, lol.
But we ARE engaged!
So far – all without a ring – we’ve booked the venue, booked the chapel, hired a photographer, and I’ve bought my dress. π
Post # 5

Member
7300 posts
Busy Beekeeper
Mr. Tattoo ALREADY has the ring! He’s not a sneaky man and left the UPS slip on his desk! It wasn’t like I was snooping around. I was collecting dishes (Yes, he leaves his glasses and plates at his computer all the time) and I just happened to see the slip that they had been by the house one day a few weeks ago and they would come back at a certain time and day on another day. They wrote who the package was from (moissaniteco.com) and that it shipped from NV! OMG! So now I’m just WAITING! I know he knows I know! lol So he’s making me wait!
Post # 6

Member
1184 posts
Bumble bee
we set a general date (or at least month) well before being officially engaged. like, a good year before. i did some research and a ton of weddingbee reading in the interim period but didn’t book any vendors. i told him we needed at least a year to plan this thing, and he graciously gave me a whole extra month, so we’ll end up being officially engaged for just over 13 months. i had to rush the venue search but we still got our dream venue and everything else has been fine.
Post # 7

Member
365 posts
Helper bee
Ha ha so funny my SO and I JUST did this. He had the exact same opinion as yours did about planning now (but we want to get married next October!) until we got an e-mail from the venue we both really liked saying she had 5 couples ask about October dates 2 weeks ago. She was kind enough to give us a week to decide and we decided it wasn’t worth giving up just because we didn’t have a ring. Ha! So we booked it on Monday night! I know exactly how you feel and it’s SO exciting! Congrats to you and your soon-to-be FI! π
Post # 8

Member
507 posts
Busy bee
Oh, my Fiance and I definitely started planning before he officially proposed. It felt a little weird at first…I didn’t want him to think I was overzealous. Fortunately, he thought it was super-cute and he was excited that I was so excited. I even took him dress shopping with me once! And at the start of the school year, we introduced him as my children’s stepdad. So since I had his backing, combined with all of that, I felt like it was OK to start planning. I kept it on the downlow with friends, though.
I think other Bees have expressed the sentiment that if you and your guy have decided to get married, you’re engaged, even if you don’t have a ring yet. I certainly felt that way!
Post # 9

Member
147 posts
Blushing bee
@Miss Tattoo: LOL – that’s awesome and awful all the same! I don’t know what I’d do if I KNEW the ring was in Mr. Royale’s paws and he was making me wait even longer. π I think I’m going to get a proposal on my birthday, truth be told – it’s next month, the end of November.
Damn-it, I wouldn’t mind a proposal like…tomorrow? Ha ha. Let us know when you get it – I’d love to see it. π
Post # 10

Member
1184 posts
Bumble bee
@Miss Tattoo: exciting!
@Lassroyale: Fiance asked my dad’s permission like 3 months before he formally proposed, which made for some very annoying “are you engaged yet” phone calls from my parents for a few months…
Post # 11

Member
147 posts
Blushing bee
@STBSchmidt: OMG – we’re date twins! Hi hi.
Post # 12

Member
7300 posts
Busy Beekeeper
@STBSchmidt: I wanted October of 2011 but the place was booked! π Plus, the weather hasn’t been too kind to us during the month of October of the last two years.
Post # 13

Member
1893 posts
Buzzing bee
Aw MAN! My Fiance had the ring for 6 weeks before he proposed. Thank god I didn’t know or else I would’ve killed him. You guys have already booked a venue and set a date. You are so TOTALLY engaged. π
Post # 14

Member
7300 posts
Busy Beekeeper
@Lassroyale: Yeah. I think he wants to wait closer to the holidays or maybe after. I don’t know what he’s up to! He knows I’m a detail person, so he may be coming up with something super crazy that involves some planning on his end. I am patient most days, but some days I want to look at him and say, “ASK ME ALREADY!!! I DON”T CARE ABOUT THE DELIVERY!” but then again I would care if he just handed me the ring box while we were sitting on the couch or something.
Post # 15

Member
1184 posts
Bumble bee
my Fiance had the ring in his possession for a whopping 36 hours before he proposed and he said it was the longest 36 hours of his life. it took a few days to get insurance on the ring and apparently he was completely paranoid that something was going to happen to it in the meantime. he didn’t want to leave it at home because he was positive i would stumble upon it i work from home so i’m here all day alone, and i do a lot of the cleaning/laundry so it’s hard to hide things from me) so he carried it with him everywhere. he said he took it out like every 10 minutes at work to look at it. he was so crazy. right after we got engaged (like 3 minutes later) he said “i am so happy to be engaged, but i’m even happier to have you responsible for the ring now and not me.”
Post # 16

Member
7300 posts
Busy Beekeeper
@pb and j: lol that’s awesome! I can totally see it happening. Sadly, my male is good at hiding valuable things. I give him everything because I lose anything! He knows where anything is in the house at any given moment. Like “Hey, where are my glasses?” and he’ll say, “in the bedroom on my nightstand behind the alarm clock.” O_O Wait..I was just there and didn’t see them….oh…BEHIND the alarm clock! lol