So while the rest of the world is celebrating Christmas, Jason and I are celebrating Christmas + Our Anniversary! The funny thing is, my parents got married on Dec. 18th, and my entire childhood, I remember them trying to squeeze in a nice anniversary dinner or short trip during the hussle and bussle of Christmastime. My mom always said that it was too busy of a time to get married- but that it was cool because it seemed like the whole world was celebrating along with you…

Well lo and behold, what did we do – but also decide to get married at Christmas time! Our wedding was on December 20th, 2008 – well before I fully entered blogging land. So I thought it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane. Plus my two favorite bloggers of all time Young House Love and Bower Power also do a wedding week – and their wedding posts are some of my favorites. Check them out HERE and HERE.

So here goes: Jason and I met freshman year at the University of Georgia. We dated all throughout college – I pretty much knew I was going to marry him about a month into our relationship. The first 2-3 years of our dating relationship was lots of fun  and care-free, with no talk about marriage. I still love the fact that we kinda grew up together in college and knew each other as much less mature college students :).

During fall break (Oct. 2007) of our Junior year was when he popped the question. We stayed around in Athens the first day of fall break – so it was pretty much like a ghost town. We had planned on going on a date to Harry Bisset’s downtown (that restaurant is sadly now closed). Before dinner, we planned to walk around North Campus. He proposed in a little garden right behind Old College – across the lawn from the Main Library. He said that he proposed there because it was one of the only little garden areas that didn’t have a fountain (and all the fountains were turned off due to a drought ). So we were walking around North Campus and Jason asked me if I wanted to sit down somewhere – at this point, I will admit that I was starting to expect him to drop to one knee…simply because we had talked a lot about the timing of engagement, had gone ring shopping multiple times, etc. If anyone knows me, they know that I am too much of a planner to really enjoy being surprised- sad I know. But honestly, I enjoy the planning aspect of things so much that being surprised can take some of the fun away!

But anyways, as we were walking along, he kinda gave it away when he pulled out a wad of paper towels from his suit jacket and began to wipe the nearest bench dry (since it had been raining all day that day). I knew that it was pretty un-characteristic for him to be THAT prepared. And sure enough, he pulled out a letter he had written for me, and proposed then and there. I remember being super happy – but what I really remember was how surreal that moment was. I remember feeling like I was watching a movie or like the little scene was being played in in slow motion.

We don’t have any photos of the actual engagement- which is fine by me since it made the moment special because just the two of us shared it. But here is a photo that we snapped at dinner afterwards – notice me in all of my braces-at-22-years-old glory. I always tell people that I know Jason really loves me because he proposed to me in braces- when I honestly looked like a 14 year old most of the time.

That night we went back to Jason’s apartment, called our parents, and then played Guitar Hero – lol. The next day, we celebrated by hiking at Toccoa Falls and Tallulah Gorge. Here’s some pics:

And of course, you can’t ever announce an engagement without the obligatory “ring picture” – much more of a phenomenon now on Facebook than it was 3 years ago…

After hiking, we made our way to Atlanta, where we toasted with my parents to our future together!

Finally, the last immediate celebratory event was meeting at Fuddruckers in Atlanta with Jason’s parents- who at the time lived in Valdosta, GA. It is crazy how little my younger siblings are in these pics!

So that’s it – the first stop down Wedding Week lane. Next up is a post about our engagement party! Merry Christmas everyone!