I started working at the magazine straight out of college and immediately, thoughts of marriage flooded my mind. I had graduated, entered the real world, and being the young woman that I am, I couldn't help but dream about what happens next. If it wasn't one of my coworkers buzzing about her engagement, then it was the frenzy that came with producing our next issue of What's Up? Weddings. Then we launched our weddings website. This was a good year ago (way before I became a fiancé), but no matter. I was visiting it daily eating up the advice our weddings editor dished and ooing and ahhing over floral arrangements and table settings. Finally, this past spring, Pinterest made its way onto my radar. What started out as acceptable – pinning 10 minutes a day for work -- turned into my newest obsession consuming my lunch eak. Pretty soon I had more than 20 boards and not surprisingly, the one I dedicated for (future) wedding plans had triple the amount of pins. It's like Pinterest is catnip and I'm the kitty!r
So by now you've probably gathered that I have a long-standing tradition of being a sucker for all-things-wedding-related. Course, my obsession was tempered by the fact that I kept all of this very quiet. That is, until my boyfriend commented on the mass amounts of wedding pins that were feeding onto my Facebook profile. Darn. The secret was out. Well, even if I hadn't inadvertently dropped lots of hints on social media, the ongoing loving relationship I found myself in with a man I met 8 years ago had much more to do with what came next. After more than five and a half years of dating, my boyfriend popped the question this past summer.
r
Readers, meet Roger. He's from Long Island, NY. He was recruited by the US Naval Academy to play lacrosse. What can I say? He is a stud, but when I first met him at the ripe old age of 16, I thought he'd be nothing more than a other type who could help me fine tune my lax skills. So wrong I was. My family was assigned to be Roger's sponsor and led to many introductions: "This is Alexandra, my sponsor sister." After a year and a half, Roger and I said enough to that and finally admitted we liked one another.
r
It's been a whirlwind ever since. Together, we've experienced graduations, job searches, apartment hunting, deployments, and so many holidays. We've probably spent more hours in the car than on solid ground. For four years following his graduation, he lived in Norfolk, VA, a lovely 4 hours south of Annapolis (WITHOUT traffic). But after all the obstacles and plenty of excitement, we continue to find love and value in our relationship. We want us to work and we care enough to keep at it.
r
I'm so lucky to have met Roger and I look forward to sharing more stories with you as the weeks and months roll on. Share yours, too, please! I've never been engaged before, so I could use some helpful hints when it comes to the ins and outs of planning. We're just under the one year mark of our wedding day, booked for next September, so there will be plenty to tell.
Next up, you'll find out just exactly what a gentleman Roger is by how he asked permission to marry my parent's only child.
