Joleen & Kenneth's PJ&TR-6/7/08 Lcl Wed & Disneymoon-Updtd 9/21 Honeymoon ROCKS On!

[joleen76]

Where to start?

Well first of all hello fellow Brides to be and DIS'ers!

I'm a lurker on this board but rarely post. (Yes I'm one of them) So I thought it was about time to return the favor and share my planning too.

I guess I'll start with how we met and how we got engaged.

We "officially" met at church at the end of September 2007. I say officially because he and his family had been sitting in the pew behind my boys and I for a year. We had said "hi" many times but never introduced ourselves. We talk about it now and we had both "noticed" each other and wanted to introduce ourselves but for whatever reason didn't. For the official meeting I'll tell it from each of our perspectives. (I sure do seem to be saying official a lot) It was a Wednesday night service.....

His perspective: He was talking to his best friend about this lady he always sees but doesn't know her name. He tells him he really would like to get to know her. The best friend tells him well quit waiting....introduce yourself already...talk to her. He vows he will, I mean it's a challenge now!

My perspective: There is that guy again. He seems really nice. I wonder why we always say hi to each other but why don't I know his name? Maybe I should introduce myself? That's really not like me, but should I follow my instincts this time and take a chance?

After the service I walked up to Kenneth and said, you know I see you all the time and we say hi, but I don't know your name. I'm Joleen. He said I'm Kenneth it's nice to meet you. I said it's good to meet you too. And we said something like I'll see you Sunday. I was so nervous, I can't remember what else was said. He must have been too, because neither can he!

That was it for the first "meeting". Then on Sunday when he sat down behind me, he made sure to get my attention and say "Hi Joleen". I know it's cheesy, but it meant a lot that he made it a point to let me know he remembered my name. After service he stopped me in the foyer to talk to me. As it turns out he has 2 boys too. Of course that thought went through my head...oh my that would mean 4 boys together! lol As it turned out our boys knew each other already.

We talked for about 45 min's there. Then we decided to go to Mc Donald's to let the kids play and maybe, just maybe we could talk. This date turned into an afternoon of us hanging out. Then they came over that night. And we saw each other every night after that.

I know I'm probably giving to much detail! SORRY!

About 6 weeks after we started dating I decided it was time for him to meet my mom. So we went to the zoo with all the kids, my sister, niece, and my mom. This is a picture of that day.



Little did I know the next day he was going to ask me to marry him.

What's funny about everything is I never understood "those" couples who meet and two weeks later are married. I do now. From pretty much the first date I knew he was the one. He tells me he knew too. When he asked me to marry him, it was the most natural thing in the world to say yes.

He wasn't really prepared, he didn't even have a ring! You know what that means though! I got to help pick it out. WHOO HOO!!

Here are pictures of the set we picked out for me.







Up next.....do we elope.....do we plan a wedding....and where/when do we honey moon?

[mla1977]

After waiting for almost 6 years, I wish I had a whirlwind courtship like that. (Okay, I've probably only been waiting for 2 of the 6 years, but we've been together that long anyways!) Congratulations!

[caryndisneydiva]

hello fellow texas bride! congratulations on your engagement! can't wait to hear about all of your plans!

[michellem1118]

Crap, now I wish I had put all these cool details and pictures in *my* disneymoon PJ. Guess I'll have to add another post to it. I love the picture from the zoo - is that the Dallas Zoo or the Ft. Worth Zoo? I haven't been to either in over 5 years, since I've lived out of state... but John proposed to me at the Bronx Zoo! Guess I'll go put those details below... after I pack to go to TX for the weekend!!!

[Lynn5700]

Congrats!!!! Gorgeous rings!!!! The picture of you guys all at the zoo is so cute

[joleen76]

Originally Posted by mla1977

After waiting for almost 6 years, I wish I had a whirlwind courtship like that. (Okay, I've probably only been waiting for 2 of the 6 years, but we've been together that long anyways!) Congratulations!

Thanks! I waited for 7 years to meet him. The whirlwind part completely took me by surprise. (Not complaining at all!) It was nice to not have to wait twice in a way.

I'm sure a ring will come your way if you guys have been together for so long.

[joleen76]

Originally Posted by caryndisneydiva

hello fellow texas bride! congratulations on your engagement! can't wait to hear about all of your plans!

Hello fellow Texan! Thanks! Glad to see I didn't ramble to much.

Originally Posted by michellem1118

Crap, now I wish I had put all these cool details and pictures in *my* disneymoon PJ. Guess I'll have to add another post to it. I love the picture from the zoo - is that the Dallas Zoo or the Ft. Worth Zoo? I haven't been to either in over 5 years, since I've lived out of state... but John proposed to me at the Bronx Zoo! Guess I'll go put those details below... after I pack to go to TX for the weekend!!!

I wondered if I was putting to much information in my post. Glad to see it was okay.

The zoo picture was from the Fort Worth Zoo. I always have liked it better than the Dallas Zoo. So much more there I think.

How cool you'll be coming to Texas for the weekend. Enjoy your mini holiday!

Originally Posted by Lynn5700

Congrats!!!! Gorgeous rings!!!! The picture of you guys all at the zoo is so cute

Thanks so much! Thank you on the rings too! Of course I like them, but that's because I got to help pick them out. I saw your wedding gown on the gown thread....stunning! I love it!

We joke about our family now with all the kids. We are out numbered and me most of all being the only girl. Sometimes we jokingly call ourselves the Brady bunch, or that family with all the boys! lol

Thanks for reading my PJ ladies. I'll be sure to post more tomorrow!

[AuroraBorealis]

What a sweet story! Congratulations on your engagement! Can't wait to hear more.

[BayouPrincess]

Great start Joleen!! He sounds like a keeper. I'm loving your PJ.

[lov2b@disney]

CONGRATULATIONS! Sweet story!

Here's to a house full of boys!! (We have 3!)

Looking forward to hearing more!

[Fantasia Sam]

Congratulations - beautiful ring set - yayyy for getting to help choose

I love whirlwinds and I can just hear in your PJ the whole you knew it was right feeling, you know?

[joleen76]

Originally Posted by AuroraBorealis

What a sweet story! Congratulations on your engagement! Can't wait to hear more.

Thank you! I couldn't believe it was happening to me. I still can't believe it is!

Originally Posted by BayouPrincess

Great start Joleen!! He sounds like a keeper. I'm loving your PJ.

Thank you! He really is a great guy. Not perfect but, perfect for me...

Originally Posted by lov2b@disney

CONGRATULATIONS! Sweet story!

Here's to a house full of boys!! (We have 3!)

Looking forward to hearing more!

Thank you! Yay boys!! I'll be sure to write more as soon as I get a free 10 min's or so.

Originally Posted by Fantasia Sam

Congratulations - beautiful ring set - yayyy for getting to help choose

I love whirlwinds and I can just hear in your PJ the whole you knew it was right feeling, you know?

Thank you! I love that he wanted me to help choose my ring!

You are absolutely right about knowing it was right. I knew from pretty much the first date. He says he did too. What's really funny is that on our first date, I was brutally honest with him and told him if he made it to a second date then that was a really good sign. I had this philosophy that if I didn't see a future with someone or at least a possibility of maybe a future I wouldn't date them. I didn't believe in wasting each other's time. Hey, he asked! LOL I'm one of those people don't ask me if you don't really want to know. It turned out he LOVED my honesty and it set us on the right path from the beginning. Yeah, you can't tell me I wasn't suppose to meet him!

I'm rambling again!

More soon!

[joleen76]

As promised more of our story.....

So now that he popped the question so spur of the moment, we had to get my dad's permission. My dad had been hearing about Kenneth for weeks now and was wanting to meet him already. Luckily dad was planning on coming to my eldest son's basketball game the next weekend, so the perfect meeting. In the meantime before the meeting. I could tell my mom, who was beside herself. She's been waiting 31 years to plan a wedding for me.

Kenneth and I had been talking and decided with our beliefs and that since we were practically living together already we should elope and then plan a wedding for the families to attend. Which I've always wanted the church wedding and my dad walking me down the isle etc.

When Kenneth met my dad and asked if he could marry me my dad was so touched he cried. Which of course made me cried.

Everyone was really supportive of the quick wedding date as long as we had the "real" wedding for everyone to come to.

So we decided to get married 2 weeks after we got engaged! What will I wear? Who will marry us? Where do we get a license? All we knew at this point was 11/11/07!

More to come......

[joleen76]

We decided to get married in our preacher's office with just us, no family for now. As we were going to have the "real" wedding later. Since we decided on November 11th we didn't have much time to get things in order to get married.

Oh I forgot to mention why we decided to do it so quickly. See for Thanksgiving I had planned a surprise trip to Disney World for my two boys. We had lost some very close family members in 2007 and it was really hard on us. I just couldn't think about our first holiday without them. I wanted their first holiday without them to be special and happy. So when I thought about it, of course the happiest place I could think of was Disney World. I had booked the trip back in August before I met Kenneth. Unfortunately Kenneth couldn't take off work to go with us. I didn't want to leave on this trip and not be married to him. He didn't want that either. So we picked the weekend before we were to leave to get married.

I knew I'd get my "dream dress" for the "real" wedding, so I went shopping for something acceptable on such short notice for the elopement. I was so excited! We had gotten his ring when we got mine. (sorry I don't have pictures of it, but he's wearing it!) It matches mine well. It's white gold too, with 5 round diamonds straight across. We had to next get the license. We had to go down to the local court office and pay the $35 fee and fill out the form and wait for 72 hours then we could be married! Yay!

I picked out a basic sweater top to wear and a linen cream skirt. Here is a picture of us on our wedding day. It's not a great picture (my MIL took it and wasn't familiar with my camera)



We knew as soon as the boys and I got back from our Thanksgiving trip to Disney World we had to start planning the "real" wedding. Oh but here comes the big questions! Dad, what's my budget? What's the date? and Where's the Honeymoon?

Here is a couple of pictures of the boys and I from our Thanksgiving trip!

Sorry for the big pictures....I don't know how to shrink them yet!

[BrcsDisneyPrncs]

Thats such a sweet story. We are getting married the same day! 6/7/08! We are getting married at home and then honeymooning in disney as well. Congratulations, and i can't wait to hear more!