Why a Blog?

I am engaged. I find myself saying this over and over like I am trying to convince myself, and I love how my oldest friends and family react when I tell them. "Katie is engaged," they say to me, as if I'm not actually the girl about whom they are talking. About 30 seconds of silence always follows while they wait for those words to settle on them and on me. Its hard to understand why their reactions are all so similar, but the ones who have known me the longest do this (it seems) to see how my historically volatile independence will react. And the answer: I am happy. So happy. I am ecstatically engaged. Its true and its incredible...and its wild.

Now I am told that I need to plan a wedding. Some say it is a headache, a burden, an unnecessary evil - and while that may be true, I have to hold that planning a wedding is also an awesome opportunity. Which gets us closer (in part) to why I have chosen to keep a blog in the first place.

I have read a couple of different monetary figures meant to reflect the size of the American wedding industry (Fairchild Bridal Group, WeddingBrand Report, Anderson 2007). And here is what it boils down to: The amount of money spent on items and services directly associated with weddings was right at around $58.5 billion. In 2005 U.S. spending on items directly and indirectly associated with weddings was $125 billion. In 2006 there were 2.2 million weddings, with the average estimated cost of each at $26,400......breathe*breathe. If you have ever heard the phrase, "voting with your pocketbook" then maybe you are getting closer to understanding why having a wedding is actually an opportunity.

There is ultimately $125 billion circulating in the American market that reflects the voice of the bride, the groom, and the people planning their weddings. When that kind of money moves in any direction the market will respond. If the brides, the grooms, and the people planning weddings use their voice, their "vote," to demand more ecologically friendly and socially responsible products, that respect God's children and His creation, they can really make a difference. (See Emily Anderson's book EcoChic Weddings for a discussion of this)

So that is what I want to do, and that is why I have started this blog. I want my wedding to be one of integrity, simplicity, and style, that takes seriously the impact weddings and the wedding industry make on the world and its people. This is my "friendly" affair. There isn't much out there about how to do such a thing from beginning to end, and I certainly don't claim to be an expert. I just feel like I have a huge responsibility to try and understand how I can pull this off, how I can best use my vote. Over the next year I have decided to publicly plot my process from start to finish, from knowing nothing to doing something. I will keep track of resources I find and books I read. I will write about the questions I am asking myself and those inevitably tough decisions I'll have to make.

Why in blog form? Well it's not all selfless. I want to have fun and have a place to laugh with my friends and family about all of this despite being way up here in Chicago. I think that a blog might help me feel more connected to home during a time as categorically HUGE as being engaged. But also I know that as I stand at the precipice of planning the single largest party of my life, desiring to do so responsibly, it would be pretty great if I could read the memoir of another bride who had done the same. Especially if she were a bride who, like myself, was from a place as steeped in tradition, etiquette, and propriety as the Eastern Shore of Alabama (my home). My hope is that this blog could ultimately be a resource for those run of the mill brides, my friends, and my family who see a friendly affair in their future. After all, finding a balance between beauty, responsibility, and propriety is possible and I'll do it - watch me.