The planning...

The next few months are going to be very complicated, the opposite of the "Simple" life we're looking for. We've both talked about how we want to just start our life, fast forward to that point where we've got the house, and are settled in, building for the future. But for now, there is a lot more to plan and get done. For instance:

Wedding in California, where Darcy's family is. We're going back and forth over size. Our initial guest list had a max of 165, including children, if everyone came. We don't expect them to, especially a lot of the East Coast people. We've considered trimming the list down to 75 or so, but still need to work that out.

Finding a location is difficult. Darcy was out there all last week and looked at several places. We're planning on paying for everything ourselves, so we're looking for bargains. We're finding that most places want you to use their catering and so forth if you book their facility. That jumps the price. Places that allow you just to rent the place, mean a whole lot more work.

Food...make our own, (family style) cater, or just serve Hors Doeuvres and drinks.

Transportation for our friends and family. Darcy is in the travel business, so she's looking to get some bargains for those who will be coming out with us.

Honeymoon.

Not mentioned yet, was of course, the dress, the flowers, the tuxes, all that stuff.

How to do all of this and not amass a huge debt is the challenge. We don't want to enter married life with huge debt because of one day....Should be interesting!

My finances at the moment are looking pretty good. I hope to have a snapshot up near the end of the week showing where I'm at.

Its Official!

OK...so I can break my blogging silence here finally.

My large purchase that I paid cash for was an engagement ring for Darcy. She accepted it yesterday and we're engaged...looking forward to a life together.

With that made official, there is now a whole world of financial planning coming up. We need to consider:

• Wedding plans (likely to take place in California - where Darcy's family and friends are.)
• Honeymoon
• Future Planning (House, etc)

Things should be picking up on this blog in the coming days and weeks. I was a little quiet because I didn't want to give too much information away...