Dressed to Kill...

If you'd have told me a year ago that I'd be driving four and a half hours to buy a dress, I'd have said you were crazy. Anyone who knows me well knows what a dude I've always been. No, seriously - jeans, metal band t-shirt, Sauconys, etc. Bailey says that's one of the things he loves about me, but I also remember him saying, "You know, it's okay to be a little girly sometimes." Obviously he was intimidated.

Either way, one could say I took that statement and ran with it. I now have five adorable dresses hanging in my closet and more than one pair of heels I've actually mastered walking in... and that's saying something. So now that I've transformed into a total girl, what better time to get engaged and, best of all, shop for a wedding dress?


Ah, Brinkley, Arkansas - home of Low's Bridal... and not much else. While in town, we saw a kick-ass antique shop (we didn't go into, unfortunately), a small funeral procession, a couple of cute dogs at the gas station, and a Sonic. But even the Sonic wasn't much to write home about... the ice cream machine was broken. Blah.

Who would've known this place would be home to the wedding dress of my dreams.

I met up with my Mom and my best friend Ashley in Alma, and we made the road trip to Brinkley. Between the three of us, there wasn't a silent moment in the car, there or back, not that that's a surprise.

Anyway, it was a long time coming, and our Garmin did most of the work, but after a few wrong turns, we found it.

What a cool-looking place. Low's is an old Victorian hotel, redone into three stories of wedding mania.

As soon as my Mom walked in, she'd already spotted a dress she loved.

"Look at this, Lisa! It's so you. Let's just buy this one and we can go to the antique store," she said.

I was busy introducing myself, and telling them I was there for an appointment. Apparently that shook things up a little bit.

"When you walked in here, everyone was looking at you, saying 'Whoa, who is that?' I was saying, "Man, I know I'm getting that girl!'" said Lupe, my consultant (who is awesome, by the way. Ask for Lupe if you ever go to Low's.)

"What? You don't get a lot of loudmouths in here?"

"No. Never! Most girls don't know what they want. It's nice to have someone who does."

If there's anything I know, it's what I do and don't want, and I'm not afraid to tell anyone about it. My only requirements for the dress: no lace, no sparkles, no beads, no sleeves. This left me with six dresses in the entire (huge) building. I tried on all of them. Guess which one I bought. The very same one my Mom saw the moment she walked in. How do they always know?

Lupe let my Mom & Ashley take photos of me in the dress, but I can't post any on here. I don't want Bailey to see it before the wedding. Bad luck. My Mom did send one to my Daddy, though. He sent a text back saying, "She is beautiful." That's all I needed to hear. That dress I drove four and a half hours for is now the most important piece of clothing I'll ever own. I just hope Bailey says the same thing.

Change is in the Air

A chatterbox by nature, a writer by trade, you'd think this blogging thing would come naturally to me... but I'm trained to tell an entire story in 20 seconds, so please bear with me - I'm not used to this yet!

Ah, life in a college town... and one in the south at that. As Bailey said, we were hoping for a wedding date in September... or at least I was.

"I want to do it tomorrow!" he's been saying. I wish.

But a lot of you girls know how long it takes to plan all this crap (pardon my French, but as a bit of a dude, I have to say a lot of it is just that hah).

As any Hog fan knows, the football schedule for each year comes out in February... and that means no picking a definitive date until at least then. No problem, I say - I'll just wait and pick the date of an away game... but then my friend Matt Turner made a good point.

"Lisa, you do realize that everyone's going to be checking their cell phones during your wedding to see the score of the game, right? And they're gonna leave as soon as they can to get to the nearest TV."

Problem.

So we've just eliminated September - November... but there are a couple of other issues at hand, too. First off, in the media, you have what's called "sweeps" - our ratings periods. These are the holiest of holy, which means if you want off work - too bad, so sad. That knocks out four months of the year. I don't want it to be too hot or too cold - so there go another three months. And I can't forget about my gorgeous cousin Courtney and my beautiful friend Dana getting married in June - another month gone.

This leaves us with April. I've never wanted a spring wedding - too likely to rain, I say. But at this point, what choice do I have? I've decided I'm with Bailey.

"If you just can't wait, we'll do it in April."

"It's not that I can't wait, I just want to be married to you as soon as possible."

What girl can refuse that?

April it is... if we can get a place booked, that is. We've decided on our first choice... but we don't even know if they'll let us rent it. It's not a place anyone has ever gotten married in, I can guarantee you that... but we're going to try. Wish us luck!! We'll keep everyone updated. <3

The Proposal as told by Bailey

I remember waking up early one June morning and thinking, "Okay. This is it. This is the day that I'm going to go get myself into insurmountable debt to prove my love." Let's run through the check list really quick.

Willingness to commit? Check.

Unconditional love? Check.

Unwavering confidence that she will say yes? Check.

Enough available credit? eh....I'll make it work, Check.

Now that I have the ring, it's time to plan how I want to ask the most incredible woman in the world to marry me. I've actually known how this was going to happen for quite a while. I've been planning this out in my head for quite some time, waiting for what I think is going to be the perfect time. If there is one thing that Lisa and I appreciate together, it's feeling like we're on top of the world. Knowing this is what made me decide that I was going to get rooftop access to the tallest building in town, a modest 15 stories, but it will work for us. She'll love it. I somehow convinced the manager of the Cosmopolitan hotel to let me do this.

"You're not going to jump are you?" he asks.

"No sir," I reply trying to not sound hesitant. I'm sure he thinks I'm a complete nut, but I don't care. I have this idea and I'm going to make it happen. He finally concedes and I have over come the biggest hurdle in my plan. Now the question is, when exactly do I do this?

I eventually decide that two days after Lisa's birthday would be the perfect time. It's on a Saturday so she won't be working and I can involve family and our friends, especially her friends from the Ft. Smith area. The stage is set. I arrange for us to have a table set up on the balcony of our hotel room so we can have a nice dinner over looking our beautiful city to the north. On the day of, I blind fold her and tell her that she can't peep.

The hotel is about 2 blocks away from our house, however, I decide to drive her around for about 30 minutes so that I can throw her off. In doing so, I almost make her throw up. We get to the hotel and I lead her to the elevator, up to the 15th floor, and into our room. She is still blindfolded and quite nauseous by this point. The waiter is standing in the room waiting for our arrival and welcomes us. This startles Lisa. Time to remove the blindfold. Quite annoyed when she finds out that she is still in fact in Fayetteville, she exclaims "You jerk!" We both have a laugh and end up having a beautiful dinner.

Soon after dinner I call for the maintenance man, who I affectionately refer to as "Scruffy the Janitor," and he leads us up to the rooftop. There is a bucket with a bottle of champagne, two glasses, and a rose. I take Lisa to the edge and pop the big question. She says yes and I am a happy man. We stay on the roof for a little while longer watching the sun set and I let her know that there is one more surprise.

We take the elevator all the way down and walk into a ball room. There stands all of our friends and family for a surprise birthday party/engagement party. I've never seen Lisa so thrilled. We announce our engagement upon our arrival and spend the rest of the night with friends and family.

At this point we have decided that we will be getting married in September of 2010. This blog will keep our friends and family updated as to our progress in the planning process of the big day. Stay tuned. For now, enjoy some pictures from the party!