First Dance: Natural or Choreographed

Mr. Newport and I are both horrible dancers. Mr. Newport doesn't like to dance, and even though I love to, I'm just no good. But we are really good swayers.

Swaying at our senior commencement ball

Awhile back we considered doing dance classes, and by we, I mean Sister Newport and I thought it would be fun to take dance lessons before her wedding last year with our grooms to be. Neither of the guys were crazy about the idea, but were more open to doing it if we all did it together. But, as always things got in the way and we never did schedule those classes.

A month before Sister Newport's wedding, we went to cousin Newport A's wedding. He and his wife did take dance lessons and it was the most adorable first dance I had ever seen. It really made me want to take lessons.

Mr. Newport was still hesitant. Although we both loved cousin Newport's dance, Mr. Newport doesn't like the idea of choreographing ours, he thinks it will be more fun to make it up as we go. He plans to do a few dips and spins, but doesn't want me to know when they are going to happen. He thinks I'll have more fun and let loose if we just let the dance unfold.

I don't like surprises, but I'm going to let our first dance be Mr. Newport's thing and let him take the lead. He's excited about this (or just really doesn't want to take lessons), so I'll have to trust him and have fun in the moment.

Will your first dance be choreographed or are you going to just see what happens on the dance floor?

What's More Exciting?

What's more exciting than planning a wedding? Planning a life together!

For a year and a half, Mr. N and I have been planning our dream wedding. I have been oohing and ahhing over wedding dresses, venues, photography blogs, wedding blogs, all things nautical, cakes, stationery, diy projects, decor, and everything that goes into planning a wedding. I didn't think anything could be more fun.

Then, about a quarter through our engagement, Mr. N and I started to look for a house. We looked for almost a year before finding our dream home. To be honest it was exhausting and I much prefered planning the wedding, until in fact we found the dream home. Now my mind has shifted from wedding plans to life plans.*
Suddenly the registry is one of my favorite parts of planning!

Did you simultaneously go through two exciting life events at once? A baby, graduating school, a new apartment, new home, etc.???

*Don't worry, there are still plenty of wedding plans and projects to come...it may just be at a slower pace!

Proposal Adventures

After Mr. Newport proposed, the real fun began- the pictures!

I happen to love pictures. I take way too many photos, I'm known for my quick facebook photo updates- as in they are up the next morning- before you are. I scrapbook. I stalk photo blogs. I'm pretty obsessed. I thinks it's my obsession with capturing a memory of a second of time that you can never get back. With a photo you get to hold on to that moment forever. Some people are content with their memory, I on the other hand am much more visual.

Surprisingly, after our proposal Mr. Newport was the one to initiate "the photo shoot". I was so caught up in my happiness that I didn't really think to take pictures- so not like me, I never forget to take pictures.

After some time basking in our newly fiancee'd status, the camera started clicking.

First came some photos of the ring..
Then some photos of us.....
Then a facebook special, in which Mr. Newport tagged all of our coupled friends (O yes he did!)...
After the photo fun, came the mandatory calls. We actually didn't do too many right away, just our parents and siblings. My family saw it coming, but his were a little surprised. Which shocked me because the diamond he proposed with was the same diamond his father proposed to his mother with 3o years ago! He said they gave him the diamond, and he just never told them when he was officially doing it. So needless to say, my future mother in-law had the best reaction---she was speechless. I would be too! I would have assumed he'd tell her, but he said he only told my father prior to doing so to ask for his permission.
After the calls to family, we headed to our alma mater, Salve Regina University, to reminisce. We walked through campus stopping at all the places that hold special meaning to us, including Hunt Hall, which was our freshman dorm where we met.
Later in the evening, we had celebratory drinks on the deck at Bannister's Wharf and made the rest of the calls. The woman at Bannister's saw us sitting on the deck and told us we were about to miss a beautiful sunset and recommended we move to the deck on the other side. Gladly we did. We saw the most beautiful sunset while calling all our closest family and friends to tell them the happy news.
After the beautiful sunset and making quite a few calls, we headed to dinner at our favorite Newport restarunt, Sardella's (favorite because in college you can't beat the 2 dinners for $12.00, $20.00 if you include a bottle of wine special every Mon-Wed in the winter, we went at least once a week and it is absolutely delicious!). It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Then....the next day was more Newport fun and of course, photo taking. We headed to an apple orchard in nearby Middletown, went for a ride on Ocean Drive and spent a little more time on the beach and at Salve. Perfect Fall activities.

At the end of day two of our proposal adventure, we headed back home and were greeted by decorations, friends and family. Absolutely perfect.

Was your proposal more than a one day affair? How did you celebrate?

The Proposal

It's been exactly one year since Mr. Newport asked me to marry him, and about a year to go until we say "I do"! This past year flew by and I know the time is just going to seem to go even faster until the actual wedding. Some people were amazed at the length of our engagement, just about two years, but I'm really enjoying this time together.

So how did he propose? Well....

Mr. Newport proposed almost exactly five years from the day we met. To be honest, neither of us remember the date we met, but it was in October of 2003 at Salve Regina in Newport, RI. (I'll get to that story later) Five years after our first introduction, Mr. Newport took me back to the very place we met.

He planned the whole thing out perfectly. When we arrived in Newport, the weather was perfect. It was a beautiful fall day. It's my favorite time of year and my favorite kind of weather.

I kept thinking it was the perfect time to propose. Newport is my favorite place, it was five years from the date we met (seems like a good time to propose to me), it was my favorite season, and I had been bugging Mr. Newport for awhile. I told my mom, my sister and a few of my closest friends that I thought he was going to propose. It just seemed so perfect. I had thought quite a few times ( a couple different trips to Disney, other trips to Newport, a trip to NH on our four year anniversary, Christmas, etc. etc.) before that he was going to propose, so telling my friends and family I thought this wasn't anything new. Even though I told them, part of me still wasn't sure because I had felt so sure the other times, too.

The one thing that made me a little more sure this time was the fact that Mr. Newport told me his parent's were giving him the diamond his father proposed to his mother with. Up until a couple weeks before the trip, I thought there was no way he would propose because he and his parents hadn't seen each other in months and there was no way to get the diamond. Then I saw a message on his cousin's myspace page about going to Jersey. That's when I became about 75% sure it would happen. His cousin lives in MA, so do we. She was taking a trip with her family that Mr. Newport never mentioned, he usually tells me when his aunt and cousins visit in Jersey. I thought they must be getting the diamond. Then, Mr. Newport never went to visit them, or so I thought. I went back and forth on whether it would happen. I searched for more clues. I know, I'm terrible. I hate surprises. I find more joy in figuring things out before they happen than actually getting surprised. Poor Mr. Newport, he tried really hard!

Then no clues came, Mr. Newport was being really sneaky. I didn't want to get my hopes up since I had so many times before. Then a couple days before our trip, Sister Newport kept insisting that she and FBILN meet up with us for dinner the first night we go down. That's when I started asking her for clues, but I got nothing other than the fact that she said she wanted to be there if he did propose. Which led me to believe that it was going to happen. At this point I became 85% it was going to happen.

Then came the morning we were to leave for Newport. I knew we were going to have a picnic on the beach. I figured I'd wear something comfy, since it tends to be windy and a little cool in October on the water. I asked Mr. Newport if sweatpants were ok, he said I should wear something a little nicer. Note: Mr. Newport fell in love with the girl in sweatpants and tells me I look beautiful in them all the time, so I was surprised. Then I saw what he was wearing- a nice button down shirt and jeans- a little fancy for a picnic on the beach. At this point, I was 90% sure it was going to happen that day.

So after a long drive with much anticipation, we arrived in Newport. We stopped at our hotel to check in, then headed off to grab some sandwiches from our favorite cafe for our picnic. We got our usual of two griddled English cheddar sandwiches. We drove to the next town over to our favorite picnic spot.

As we got out of the car, Mr. Newport told me he had to get something and to go ahead. I was 95% sure at this point that he was getting the ring and about to propose. Yet, I still tried to block it out of my mind, as I had been so sure many times before.

We walked down to the beach, which was nearly secluded (one other person on the far end) and Mr. Newport laid out a blanket. We ate our sandwiches and reminisced about some of our favorite times in Newport. After our lunch was finished we were rambling on about our childish fight that we've had for 5 years- who love's who more (yes we are that couple, and yes we say it everytime we hang up the phone....I love you more...no I love you more...click)), Mr. Newport at this point said I love you more and I'll prove it.

Mr. Newport knelt down on two knees....at this point I was 100% sure it was about to happen. At this point the story gets fuzzy. I know he gave a little speech and I remember it being sweet and being utterly happy. Yet, I have no recollection of any of his words other than his first of proving he loves me more...and his last..."Will you marry me?"

At which point, I told him your only supposed to get down on one knee. Blah, yeah I said it. And yeah, my family made fun of me. Then we laughed. He got down on one knee, and.......the phone rang.

One of my bridesmaids called at 10:00 on a Wednesday morning. She just had to ask me something, aka she wanted to know if he had done it already.

We ignored the call and I said yes.

We spent awhile on the beach savoring the moment. It sounds cheesy, but it really was the most amazing day of my life so far.

Even though I was X% sure it was going to happen leading up to the proposal, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I had originally wanted him to do it sooner, or in other places, but if he had I wouldn't have gotten my dream proposal, the dream proposal I hadn't known I wanted all along. So many times I told him I don't care how it's done, I just want to be your wife. But, once I had the amazing proposal in a place that meant so much, I am happy he waited and did it perfectly. The poor guy just had to deal with a lot of nagging and disappointment along the way.

Did you know when your fiance was going to propose? Did you have to go through some disappointments before getting your dream proposal?