I’m getting married!

Let’s start from the beginning. My first memory of TJ is when he hosted a stand up comedy and live music fundraiser for a play that I sang, and did attempted comedy for the first time at. He introduced me on stage as Melanie. My name is Mercedes. After my set I sat down in the crowd beside my dad. TJ then came out as a character he plays called The Barracuda. He wore a lime green tracksuit that smelled like a thrift shop, filthy white socks, and had his hair slicked back dippity do style. He chewed gum loudly and told rude jokes in a ridiculous accent. I turned to my dad and said “that’s the guy I’m going to marry.”

Fast forward 6 years.

We’ve traveled, bought a condo, sold a condo, bought a house, loved each other unconditionally, and made a ton of art together; but I honestly didn’t think we would get married. TJ is not traditional. I’m 75% traditional Italian nonna, 25% cool as a damn cucumber and 100% sure I want to be with TJ for as long as our forever permits. A wedding would be fun, but if he didn’t want that would be okay too.

We recently went to his cousins fantastic country wedding in northern Alberta and then road tripped with TJ’s family through the Rockies to Langley, BC where they live. It was so stunning and beautiful it felt like we were living in a painting for 4 days. One stop on August 8th was a little lookout point. The wood barrier between us and the mountains was carved with tons of “Jared + Janet = love” and “Ashley loves Josh 2013.” I was reading all of the names of these people who loved each other and wondered where they were and if any of them got engaged there. Then it happened. the love of my life asked me to be his wife. I cried and cried and eventually looked at my ring and cried some more.  Then I said “are you kidding?” “Um, seriously?” 4-6 times and finally managed to articulate a solid YES. This shot was taken by TJ’s dad right after he asked. It pretty much sums it all up. We carved our names among the others who loved each other in that spot and kept traveling to the next hot springs.

And so, there you have it.

We haven’t made a Facebook announcement or told anyone who isn’t close to us. I didn’t want an engagement party or shower because it seems excessive, but after much argument/conversation with my mom she’s won and we are going all out (or is it all in?). Good news is Nat and I are going to get the chance to blog about all of the details that go into the celebrations be create. People don’t believe that we do what we do on the tiny budgets and short deadlines we have. We rarely include other vendors, which makes what we do a serious time commitment and often an accumulation of sleepless nights. So we are going to be candid with you in sharing the nitty gritty of our world of endless crafting, brainstorming, screw ups, and creation.

For now, here are some pictures I took on my iPhone and edited with A Color Story. I don’t have my DSLR with me so I had to make do, but I’m kind of digging them! I was hesitant to post ring pictures at the risk of seeming materialistic, but frankly I never thought I would have a ring like this. As I said, TJ is not traditional. We’ve talked about getting tattoos and looked $50 thrift shop rings that I told him if he ever proposed would be perfect. So this sapphire with diamonds he had made for me is the most unexpected part of the proposal. Plus it’s pink and that’s just soooooo TPP ;).

These waffles are my mother in laws Norgwegian recipe, which I am going to share with you all soon because they’re so delish. She made them to see if I like them because I asked what kind of Norwegian sweets and food we can incorporate into the wedding. She did however see these pictures and say “Why is there candy on them? That’s gross and would ruin the waffles. My mother would not approve.” She’s right. Candy on waffles is pretty disgusting. They’re supposed to be eaten with brown sugar and butter or fresh strawberry jam.

Sometimes here at The Party Parade something ridiculous needs to happen for cute picture sake.