stinkerpants design

Midway through hair and makeup, my girlfriends (bridesmaids + officiant) oddly started lining up in front of me.  They each held a little box, which they presented to me one at a time.

Here I am asking someone to explain what was going on: each box had a ribbon the same color as their dress.  Y emailed all of the girls to tell them what was in each box, and what order they’d need to stand in.

Inside each box was a rosewood ring box.  The first one had a little note that read, “five reasons I love you.”

One at a time, I opened the other five boxes:

Reason #1: “you’re hot” (this one had a matchbook with Elvis on it, which is an inside joke for us).

Reason #2: “you make me laugh” (with a little rubber chicken)

Reason #3: “you’re just the right amount of granola” (with a little baggie of granola–this refers to what a hippy I am)

Reason #4: “you’re a strong woman” (with a Rosie the Riveter pin)

Reason #5: “you have a heart of gold” (with a citrine heart)

Obviously I thought this was the world’s most romantic gift.  We aren’t into spending boatloads of money on one another–we think the best gifts are the most thoughtful, not necessarily the most expensive.  This project didn’t cost him a ton of money, but it was so thoughtful.  I love these boxes.  They now live on a bookshelf in our living room.  :)

For Y, I spent hours and hours slaving over a DVD.  The first part of it is a short history of our relationship.  You know, a slideshow of how we met, photos from our vacations together, our move to Ohio, etcetera…all leading up to the proposal.  After that, I created something of a video time capsule: all the things that were happening in our lives, our city, our country and our world in August 2008.  That way, we can look back on them in 40 years and be excited and amazed by how much things have changed (hopefully). The whole thing was about 10 minutes long–5 minutes without the proposal videos, which I also included (and instructed him to fast forward through, if he didn’t feel like reliving it).

I then put the DVD in our portable DVD player, wrapped it up real pretty and gave it to Amanda to give him.

I’m not sure why, but I absolutely love these pictures.  Those are the videographers and one of our groomsmen:

And a few more groomsmen, plus Amanda:

I am so glad we went the thoughtful route!  I think we’ll be cherishing these gifts for the rest of our lives.

Next up?  The ceremony!  Yay!!