What do we do now?

Okay. The ring is on my hand, we’re officially engaged. What next?
The next day, I drove Mac to Fort Bragg and watched him get on a bus to go to war. Not the happiest way to celebrate your engagement. I settled myself in a routine that would minimize lonely, sad time with my thoughts. As bad as it sounds to not think about a deployed loved one, thinking about them and their safety constantly will drive you crazy.

Wedding wise, I did what every good bride-to-be does: buy every single wedding magazine you can find. I thumbed through glossy pages of satin ballgowns, multi-carat rings, and lists touting everything you needed to do to pull off a successful wedding. I was utterly confused.

Courtesy of www.groomsoldseparately.com

First things first. When and where? These were the first two questions I was asked upon telling folks I was now engaged. Surprisingly, here in North Cackalacky, people also tended to ask about kids. Specfically, how many I had. Nope, sorry. No chitlins for us.
WHEN
I decided that June would the ideal month for our wedding. Why? Mac’s birthday is in March, mine is September, and Christmas is (obviously) in December. June would space things out ever so nicely. Now to convince Mac. We spoke sporadically the first few months he was gone. He was at a rather remote base in the Afghan mountains, and weather and operational black-outs (where the soldiers are allowed no outside communication) limited our conversations. Mac’s only request when we talked about dates was that he wouldn’t come home to a wedding. Deal. I brought up June: nice weather but not too hot, the birthday thing, and so on. He agreed. So June it was. Now to pick a weekend. I’m all for Saturday weddings. Regardless of the wedding location, a fair number of our guests would have to travel. Saturday gave us the best option. I’m kind of a numbers geek, and really like the idea of June ninth. Why? Our anniversary would be 6/9/12. Ahh, multiples of three. I ran it by Mac, he liked it, and, boom, we had a wedding date.


My own creation

But where to host our 6/9/12 nuptials?