Hello everyone
I've already posted on here with a 'should we, shouldn't we' have a Disney wedding but as I've just got engaged and am super excited, I thought I would start my planning journal! Hurrah!
This is going to be a long ride from start to finish but as there will be technically two weddings to plan, there will be a lot to talk about and a lot of planning to do!
About Us
We are a couple from Halifax, West Yorkshire and have known each other since play group. Yeah, I know, we really need to get out more
This is us in our first year at Primary School.
I am a lecturer in a University in Yorkshire (probably best not say where haha) and Neil works in Investments. We live in a beautiful village just outside of Halifax and, aside from going to University and the like, have lived in this village with our respective families, all our lives. It is a beautiful village. One of those idyllic Yorkshire ones where everyone knows everyone and people say 'Hi' to each other on the street. One of those where you can't really go to the local shop without seeing someone you know. We love it and I can't imagine us ever moving. We're not really creatures of change.
How we got together
This is usually a 'how we met' story but that doesn't really work for us as we've known each other since Playgroup.
Neil and I have been friends for a very long time. We went to primary school together and secondary school together. We were in different classes at secondary school. I was in Neil's set for History at A Level. He was a rebel who never did his work, I was a geek who always did (three weeks before deadlines etc etc. - I was always a
planner!) We weren't particularly friends in school as we hung out with very different people. But through where we lived, we always saw each other at family dos and family friends' birthday parties and the like. Our parents all knew each other very well. As we got older, at said parties, we became good friends. We would find ourselves talking to each other quite a lot at these parties or pub visits or whatever.
Then we went to Uni and that was that. In University holidays, because of our mutual group of home friends, we seemed to spend more and more time together. At my oldest friend's 21st birthday party, I was talking to Neil pretty much all evening, until he walked me home home at 4 in the morning
Nothing happened between us at this point but my tummy had that little nervous twinge!
Couple more years passed and every time I saw Neil, I started to feel that feeling. You know, the one where your fingers start tingling and your stomach swoops when they walk into a room. Yeah, I started to feel that. At a NYE party of one of our friends, we ended up talking to each other all evening again. After that, we started texting, getting more flirtacious. I asked him to attend my oldest friend's wedding with me, as my guest. This was the same friend who's 21st it had been. While this may sound a bit 'WOAH, that's a bit too soon' it really wasn't with us. We spent that much time together at these sorts of events with family friends, people genuinely wouldn't have batted an eyelid!
After this invitation and continuous flirtacious texts, we finally went on a date. Although neither of us labelled it as such, obviously. At the end of the date, Neil gave a me a long hard gaze and thanked me for a wonderful evening and made to leave... I wasn't having that. I'd waited years, so I just said, 'Neil...' and he walked up to me and kissed me. It was so amazing, I get goosebumps thinking about it even now.
And that was that. We've been together ever since. Friends and family weren't in the slightest bit surprised. Turns out, they had known that it would happen before we even did
I genuinely believe that Neil is my soulmate. I'm not usually for all this stuff, having had two bad relationships before Neil, I always sort of thought that you just have to work at relationships but we are genuinely two halves of a whole. We have the same sense of humour, laugh in all the wrong places in movies, we both LOVE movies. Our DVD collection is inexplicably large, we both love good food and wine but most of all, we just *fit*. What seemed strange for both of us is that when we started going out, having gone from friends to lovers very quickly, it just didn't feel strange at all. It just felt like, 'Why haven't we been doing this the whole time?' We wasted a lot of time with the wrong people.
The Proposal
Everyone always dreams of their perfect proposal. For some, it's just at home over dinner. For others in sky writing, for others, on Christmas morning. I had always envisioned getting engaged in Disney. Being a Disney fanatic in every way possible and always secretly wanting the whole Disney wedding thing, it just fit for me. And by the time we had this July 2014 holiday booked, me and my entire family were convinced that that was where Neil was going to propose. Neil had other ideas and has since said that because that's where everyone thought he was going to do it, that's where he would never have done it. And in hindsight, I am so thrilled that he didn't do it there.
We booked to go to Kirkby Lonsdale in January of this year for our five year anniversary. I booked us into a beautiful place called the Sun Inn.
Highly recommended if anyone fancies an amazing quiet weekend break. It was just amazing. Big comfy beds, fluffy white robes, open roaring fireplaces etc. On my Mum's recommendation (as her and Martin go to Kirkby a lot) I booked us into a restaurant called the Avanti. Again amazing.
We had lunch in Settle on the way up and generally enjoyed a wonderful day together in Kirkby Lonsdale. Had a couple of drinks in the gorgeous quaint pubs, did a bit of shopping, then got ready to go out for our meal. This is the Avanti restaurant.
We had an amazing meal (no pictures sorry but it was far too dark anyway!) and at the end, Neil went to the loo. Or so I thought. Apparently, he accosted a waiter, told him he was planning to propose and that he needed to get two glasses of champagne to our table in about five minutes.
Neil comes back to the table. I still have absolutely no idea what is about to happen.
Then he begins, 'We've been together for five years now, and I can honestly say it's been the best five years of my life.'
I smile shyly.
Neil says things like this sometimes, but usually just when we're cuddling together in bed. Not in the middle of a restaurant. But you know, it's our anniversary. He's bound to be romantic. Right
But then...
'And it's from these five years that I know for absolute certain that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.'
And he reaches for his coat pocket...
Me:
My hands clasped over my mouth as he shifts out of his chair and gets down on one knee right there in the restaurant.
'Tracey, will you marry me?'
And he produces this ring, this beautiful ring that I can't even believe. I sob even more. This picture is from the next day by the way, I didn't go to this gorgeous restaurant in a denim jacket.
The tears fell shamelessly down my cheeks as I just sobbed 'Yes' and gave him a massive hug and kiss!
Sorry, I don't have any pictures of us on the night. The Avanti is really dark though so I don't think they would have come out anyway!
Right on cue, the waiter comes over with the champagne and then the rest of the restaurant suddenly realises what's just happened and starts to cheer and clap. I'm still sobbing with happiness at the table, Neil's just thrilled that I said, 'Yes.'
I stick my hand into the hair showing off my sparkler and a group of women in the corner of the restaurant (think they were celebrating a birthday) suddenly started singing 'Chapel of Love.'
It was genuinely the most amazing moment of my life.
Then we began the long and arduous task of telling everyone we'd got engaged. Which was difficult in Kirkby Lonsdale where there is literally no signal :angry:
My Dad already knew, as Neil had done the gentleman's thing and asked my Dad for permission to marry me! Major brownie points scored for that one! And Neil's parents knew as his Mum had caught him looking at rings in the town centre!
TBC