Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get maAAAaarried

...Goin' to the chapel of looooooooove.

We're getting married. Tying the knot. Going in to the little room and never coming out again (my mom's image of marriage). Puttin' on the old ball & chains.

We proposed to each other on our 8th monthiversary! How equitable is that?!?!? I mean, why SHOULDN'T I get to propose, too?? We had talked about it before and got our rings (my engagement ring and both wedding bands) mid-December, but wanted to make it through the holidays and planned a weekend at this awesome, awesome place called Beall Mansion (voted #1 bed&breakfast in Alton, Illinois, a mere 45 minutes from STL). It was to be 9 months from when we first started talking and 9 months to our wedding. Then Tuesday (January 9th), Brian said he just couldn't wait anymore. Independently of the engagement, we had made plans already to go to his mom's for dinner on Wednesday nite, and he really, really wanted to go public and make it official. As I did not anticipate my answer would hinge on three days in one direction or the other, that was fine with me.

So we went to his mom's, who was very pleased albeit a little wowed. We had dinner as planned and it was really wonderful. We wanted to tell my mom next but she and I didn't have anything planned so she was out running an errand when I called. To make time, we went to Cafe Balaban to have dessert - very romantic. After that, we stopped in at my mom's and gave her the news. She had a bottle of champagne left over from New Year's, so she brought that out. Next came our sisters; Brian, his mom, and I conspired to get them out to dinner without letting them know was up. Here, we've got the one reaction of true surprise (his older sister's jaw dropped). Everyone else has pretty much seen it coming.

We went to the Beall anyway, and had an absolutely marvelous time in a time a way from time. The mansion was a turn-of-the 20th-century wedding present from this really, really wealthy man of railroad fortune to his son. Unfortunately, when he passed away some five years later, his daughter-in-law had his son committed (the first of five husbands who died or were committed shortly after marrying her. One friend's opinion when he heard this story: She probably had very attractive ankles.) Anyway, the place has since become a haven for old and young alike; the guest book was filled with romantic stories and anecdotes, so all her bad kharma is gone, I'm sure.

On our way back in, we stopped to tell Brian's gang of friends, none of whom seemed remotely surprised, either. In fact, we heard they had a pool going but we fooled them all by picking a less obvious date than Christmas, New Years, Valentine's or St. Swizen's. bwa ha ha ha ha [evil laughter].

All is well. Love is in the air.