Wedding Stuff to Date

I promised that I'd keep up on wedding developments as they, uh, develop. Since I proposed to Kate in October, we've gotten a fair bit taken care of. Some things we really can't decide or start until a little later but here's what we've got as of today:

1. We've agreed to go through with this thing. That's the big one. :-)
2. We have a date: Sunday October 16th at 3:30pm. We weren't sure if we'd be allowed to have a ceremony on a Sunday but it's apparently okay.
3. We have a place: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish here in Fort Collins. This is the church that Kate and I have been attending for the past two years. It's not a fancy one with pews, kneelers, and stained glass...but we like it!
4. We have an officiant: Father Larry Christensen who is the head priest at SEAS Parish will be conducting the ceremony. We've always liked Father Larry's style of speaking during Sunday Mass. We're glad he agreed to do the ceremony for us.
5. We've signed up for marriage prep classes. These'll be the Sundays of February in the afternoon. It's required by the Church to take these classes. We'll also be taking NFP (Natural Family Planning) classes as soon as we find a set that fits with both our schedules.
6. We have a rough guest list. This was tricky because Kate and I both have big families and an extensive network of friends. The toughest part was the decision to limit how many of our co-workers we would invite from the Fort Collins Public Library. We'd like to invite them all, but we just can't afford it. I've already we dropping hints about this and it sounds like most folk are understanding. Whew!
7. We've robbed the Fort Collins Library of nearly all its wedding books! Kate and I are intellectuals (mostly) so of course we have to research this whole wedding thing! My parents were also gracious enough to send a couple of handy books as an early Christmas present. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
8. Kate has started a wish list for the wedding gift registry. I know, I know, it's tacky to bring this up (at least that's what the books say), but I thought I'd mention it. We didn't think we'd have much to put on the registry.
9. We've decided on a honeymoon: a cross-country train trip to Washington, D.C. Some people I've mentioned this to have given me an odd, disbelieving look. Why not a tropical island? Or a Carribean cruise? Well, Kate and I aren't the types who like that sort of vacation. Some time on the east coast seeing museums and landmarks...that's more our scene. :-)
10. We've made general announcements. We weren't sure how to go about this, so we just eased the word out. We told our parents right away, of course, but we waited on everyone else.

Okay, a quick side story. We waited before telling our friends and co-workers at the library (where we both worked for many years) just because we wanted to see who would notice the engagement ring first. At one point, Kate even flashed it practically in one of the other Circulation supervisor's face and she didn't notice. Tsk-tsk! Finally, our friend and co-worker Debbie asked Kate how things were going between Kate and myself. Kate figured this was close enough and showed her the ring. Debbie hurried out to give me a hug and congrats. Our department supervisor Lynda overheard, questioned, and confirmed....and within an hour or so everyone who was working at the two library branches knew what was going on. It was an exciting day; we had congratulations filtering in the entire afternoon. Lots of fun! :-)

I'm certain I'm missing something but that's what I have for now. I'll endevour to continue updating as things develop!