Hello out there -- This is the first wedding related blog entry that I will be posting and i want to give a little bit of background to my engagement situation so that you know where I am coming from as I divulge my many experiences to you. Ok, the duration of our engagement at its finally will be about 5 1/2 months, so I have had to work steadily to make sure that everything will be ready in time, and I am planning the wedding from a different city than where the wedding will be held so a lot of the prep. has been phone calls and emails. Now that I have set that up for you I will get right into it. I have decided (after great thought) that the topic of my first 'Wedding Blog' will appropriately be - 'Engagement Butterflies'
Ok well Engagement Butterflies can be defined in a whole lot of ways and the definition also changes as the engagement progresses. I am aware of this and so I have decided to narrow it down to the few main definitions that have applied to me over the past 5 months.

Butterfly stage 1. -- Woah this was the best kind of butterflies I have ever felt. The proposal that began my engagement took place on the golf course, as I went to retrieve my ball after putting it into the last hole to my extreme surprise there right beside my golf ball was a little black velvet box as I looked up at my boyfriend he was down on his knee reaching for my hand -- 'loss of breath and complete astonishment' is how I define the first stage of engagement butterflies. This stage lasted quite some time, breakfast after the event at which neither he nor I could eat more than a bite, lead to complete silence as we drove up to the cottage (nathan asked me if i was all right about 5 times, a quiet non talking girlfriend is quite out of the ordinary to him), as this stage began to wear off I began to enter
Butterfly stage 2. -- excitement expressed through verbal overload. Yes once the shock wore off I could not shut my mouth, every person I saw immediately became victim to the engagement story being spewed from my mouth. I got on the phone to all of my closest friends and shared the news with them. There was no way that story would get old to me. I admit i tried to play the not so excited no big deal card but I'm sure it didn't work as I was completely unable to hide the huge grin upon being congratulated. This stage has been a reoccurring one as various big events have happened throughout the engagement. Buying my wedding dress, My first shower, buying our wedding bands, things like this have caused nathan to say 'oh maan look at your face'.
Butterflies state 3. -- Now as the engagement has progressed, there have been some nervous engagement butterflies. While working through the many details and plans I have had some nervous stomach butterfly moments. When receiving the quote from the caterer, a bit of nervousness there in terms of budge expectations, while making lists and lists and lists of all the minor details that need to be done i definitely felt a bit nervous that things would not get done in time, or nervous about who I could ask to do the various tasks. Nervous about having to keep everyone happy, and at the same time trying to be conscious of my bridzilla scale. (trying to avoid exceeding a 3 or 4 on the scale). As I am drawing near to the end of my engagement I would say that the one piece of advice I can share is to make lists of things that need to get done within certain time frames. I made a list for each week of what needed to be done and did not even glance at the next list until the next week. This helped me to manage the number of things i was working on at one time and allowed me to give my full attention to the items that needed to be done at that time. This also ensured that nothing would be left too late. Caterer needed to be booked 4 months in advance, so it was on the 4 month list, flowers on the other hand 1 month so they are on a different list and I have not looked at them until now. This stage will probably become the most stressful and overwhelming one, however with lots of hot baths, delegation, and micro management the stress can be kept to a minimum (seriously no lie)
Butterflyies stage 4 -- the last stage i would say is a much different one. just the feeling of contentment and excitement for the future. I am down to the last month or so and we have found our house that we will rent, know where we want to live and have received some items for our home (from showers and such). These events have made it feel very real and close and as the planning draws to a close I am amazed at how content I feel. Knowing that the new stage of life is fast approaching the craziness can whirl around as I stand and watch it all happen. Everything somehow gets done and sometimes I feel like i don't even remember making it happen... as I prepare to move, find and start a new job, all pivotal moments in ones life i can't help but thing how well it all seems to be fitting together.