I have the strangest relationship in the world. We regularly talk of weddings and have had whole conversations about what we’d dress the kids in, when would be the ideal time, and how we plan on affording it… we’ve even been shopping for my engagement ring - twice. Both times however, I’ve come home empty-handed as I was too indecisive about the style I wanted. Recently, bored of dropping hints on the blog, I finally asked Craig when he planned on actually proposing..

His response? - “I already have… I asked you to marry me a few years back”.

Really? Really?

I know he calls me The Wife when he’s with his mates, I know he shares my vision of a Lake Como backdrop, I know he secretly likes it that we regularly receive parcels and letters through the door for Gemma Mills… I know he did once drunkenly inform me that we were engaged. But where is my actual ring? Where are the ‘engaged’ statuses on Facebook? Where was the “Will you marry me?” conversation that traditionally precedes the wedding chatter?

Oh well.

I do kind of understand why we haven’t followed the traditional route with this. I was pregnant within two months of dating Craig and I feel like I’ve been pregnant throughout the majority of our relationship. With the focus firmly on growing our family, the wedding has taken a backseat to baby preparations and the shock-to-the-system that parenthood brings. Our finances can be described as ‘tight but comfortable’ - we have nice holidays and live in a really lovely home - but we don’t have a spare £25,000 laying around for a wedding. Or, it seems, a ring.

Photo Credit: Carretto Studio

I suppose I always knew our engagement would be a long one, and I’m actually grateful I’ll have the time to work off this baby weight before slipping into something White and Wonderful. We’ve always said 2018 would give us time to save up and time for our children to grow up and understand the significance of the day, and to take a more active role in the celebrations, so I have some kind of a date to work towards.

But the ring would be nice. Even it it only serves as a visual prompt of what the future holds for the next four years.

In the meantime, Craig has handed all wedding-planning duties to me. He’s sat through enough Don’t Tell the Bride’s to realise that his input should be minimal if he wants to keep hold of his sanity. This is ideal as he’s yet to find out I actually have a fit-to-burst scrapbook under the bed with magazine clippings dating back to 1998. Even I’m scared of this book as it’s too crammed full of ideas to make any sense out of it.

Well now seems the time to finally transfer some of the dreams in my head (and dog-eared images from my book) into some kind of cohesive plan. It can start with a Pinterest board and grow from there. When we’re ready to rev up our plans we can refer to sites like weddingsite.co.uk for advice, inspiration, to do lists and invite trackers to ensure we don’t forget anything (or indeed, anyone). The budget tracker will also keep my Craig happy. I honestly don’t know how anyone planned a wedding before the days of the internet!

So expect this blog to take on a new lease of life as we plan the ultimate wedding. With a four year wait, I have no excuses to not produce something truly spectacular. Oh and at some point in the next four years I suspect there’ll be a engagement ring post… but not quite yet.

I was aided in writing this post but views are 100% my own.