While going through the re-branding process, one of my top priorities was that Mr. & Mrs. become much more personal overall. I want it to become a supportive community for women of all styles and personalities throughout their wedding planning journey. The solution sort of fell into my lap when Spencer proposed, as now I really do have real sympathy for our brides. In an attempt to promote this, my goal is to start a weekly post in which I honestly depict the adventure from not only the coordination standpoint, but also as a bride myself. I can promise it won’t always be glamorous, but my hope is that it will be encouraging. So here’s my honest truth about getting engaged and the two weeks that follow:

First, it’s a whirlwind. Spencer’s proposal was a complete surprise to me, and as someone who doesn’t cope well with being in the spotlight, it was a bit of an adjustment. I blindly assumed that everyone would be just as over-the-moon excited as we were. Unfortunately I was I wrong. While some really were thrilled, others were bitter, and a few just plainly didn’t care. This was difficult for me. We recounted the story about a thousand times and quickly learned the art of copy and pasting a text message to multiple people. We got engaged late on Friday night and chose to spend Saturday calling only our close friends and family. Then on Sunday we finally posted to social media to let the rest of the world know. Looking back I’m so glad we decided to take this approach. The most beautiful part was that it felt like falling in love all over again. Those feelings of excitement and romance which aren’t always present in every minute of regular life came rushing back. We are already an affectionate couple, so I’m sure those first two weeks we were absolutely unbearable to be around. No shame!

The other thing that happened was that everyone assumed that I already had the entire wedding planned. Like some secret file I’d be keeping just waiting for a man to stick a ring on my finger. While I do have my fair share of wedding knowledge, no such plan existed. What’s more is that I didn’t want it to. Even though I have seen most of the wedding venues in St. Louis, we still devoted the time to touring them all (quite literally) so Spencer could participate in the decision making process. I’ve seen many brides who have kept their grooms out of the loop until the last minute, only giving them the key details (“Be at this church at this time”), and then are shocked when they aren’t pleased with the end result. So instead we are diving up the to-do list and conquering it together, one step at a time. The amazing part is that Spencer has absolutely risen to the challenge, which I think is true for most men when given the opportunity.

I’d love to read other engagement realizations, so feel free to leave a comment below. And be sure to check back next Friday to read more!

Cheers,

Megan

*This post is part of the series From Miss to Mrs, one wedding coordinator’s personal journey from the proposal to “I do”, and everything in between.