Jonathan & Ashley's Wedding Journal

40 Days and Counting...

2006-06-27T19:33:00.000-05:00

Well, the planning is finished, tuxedos picked out, the invitations have been sent, and now we are just waiting for RSVP's and wedding showers. We are so excited... and that is such an understatement!

I can not believe it is finally here! 39 days and counting...

Next step is working on the itinerary for the days leading up to the wedding... Yay!

Your continued prayers are greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Jesus!

Check, Check, Check...

2006-05-01T12:33:00.000-05:00

Ceremony location... check.

Reception location... check.

Food selection... check.

PHOTOGRAPHER... CHECK!!!!!

Everything is coming together, finally. Now there are just so very many things that need to be finalized, I can't find the memory space in my head to remember them all. Ever have that feeling that there was something that you were supposed to remember? And of course, you can't remember what you were supposed to remember when you need to, well, remember it...

Yeah, that's how I feel!

I'm getting married, and that is really all that matters.
He's simply amazing!

The Beginning of the End...

2006-04-21T19:28:00.000-05:00

...Of the planning that is.

We have found the place we will be married. It is the United Methodist Theological School (MTSO) in Delaware, Ohio. The campus is beautiful. I just love it.

The only other thing to attend to would be meeting with our photographer. That should hopefully take place next weekend. Yay!

I'll keep you all posted! (Thank you for your suggestions!)

Love, Jon and Ashley

Dedicated

2006-04-17T10:31:00.000-05:00

(This post is dedicated to all of the "adopted in-laws" out there of the soon-to-be Mrs. VanValkenburg... with heartfelt apologies for my lack of journaling.)

Now with that said... Hehe... We have found a place!

The Jessing Center here in Columbus off of SR 23... It is beautiful. We do not have a church to get married in as of yet, but I know the perfect place will present itself.

The picture, of course, does not do it justice. The Jessing Center is located on the grounds of the Pontifical College Josephinum. Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful.

I am off to church hunt. I greatly apreciate all of your love, support, and prayers.

In Christ,

Ashley

Valentine's Day

2006-02-14T23:01:00.000-05:00

We celebrated it twice, Saturay the 11th and today, the 14th.

The first round was laid back and casual. I was in my sweats... so comfy. We got take-out, and rent a couple of movies. (Side note: Over the weekend, we watched "Just Like Heaven" with Jon's family. Great movie. I loved it.)

The second round was this evening. I left work early, and so I made dinner and we cuddled on the couch and watched American Idol.

So basically, this post is just to say that I love my Prince Charming. He is amazing, and I thank God for him everyday.

It all comes down to this one thing...

2006-02-03T14:27:00.000-05:00

The phrase, "All you need is love" has been echoing in my head lately.

Through many situations, trials, and circumstances that arise, I am finding out many things about myself, my relationships with the people around me, my relationship with Jonathan, and above all, God.

If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times... "All you need is love." Depending upon the day, or even the week, I have stood fast to that, and other times, thought it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. I could not even begin to define my stance on it at the moment, mostly because my day so far has been relatively peaceful and calm. However, I still would like to pick those crazy words apart for a moment.

You may be saying, "I thought this website was about wedding details." And yes, you are right, but I have decided to make it "behind the scenes" friendly as well.

DISCLAIMER: So here is my opinion, hypothesis, or whatever crazy word you want to add in... this is it. This is open to debate on some level, but the word "opinion" is italicized for a reason.

In order to survive, I know and am sure of this... I need the love of my Father, Abba God, to make it through each day. That is, His never-ending grace and mercy to cover me, so that I may walk upright and forward in the calling that He has for me. In that case, yes, all that I need is love.

As far as human love is concerned overall, that is what is controversial. I know that I want and long for the love and support of family and friends. But, human love is imperfect. There are no guarantees.

True love pays a price, it does lay down its life. Love is a sacrifice. Love is a double edge sword. I have not a single doubt in my mind about the way Jonathan loves me. I know it is real, I know it is sacrificial, and I know that Jonathan would lay down his own life for me. That is his understanding of God's love working through him. I am just honored to be the recipient of such an amazing love.

I'm not 100% sure how I am ending this at all, but in this moment, I realize that All that I need is Love. I have the Love of a Father who has only my best interest in mind, who sent His son to die for me, and paid the ultimate sacrifice so that I can be with Him when He returns for me. He has blessed me with Jonathan, who is the best gift that he could give me for a husband and best friend.

So Lord, thank you for putting such an incredible support system around me. I thank you for blessing me with such incredible friends and family. Thank you for revealing that You are the reason that I live. Thank you for showing me what true love is and who True Love is.

I love you, Jesus!

Dress shopping... WHAT?!?!?!?!

2006-02-03T04:40:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, my mom, sister, and MOH went to do the unthinkable... shop for my wedding dress!!! Ahhhhhh, the horror...

Well, not really. I had an appt. at one boutique at 10:30 am... found absolutely not one thing. I tried one dress on just to flatter the sales girl. She was very nice. I will give her that.

After swearing off David's Bridal as any sort of option, because of previous rude encounters with their staff, I did the unthinkable and made an appointment there for 11:30 the same day. We rushed over to David's and as soon as we walked in, I turned around. My mom, sister, and MOH are nowhere to be found. After peering through the hoards of bridezillas and frantic mothers, I spotted my calm entourage "oooh'ing" and "ahhh'ing" over this dress that they later insisted that I try on.

We browse aisle upon aisle of dresses, loading any prospect on my sister who then hands them to my bridal consultant, Andrea. (Now she was divine! Ohhhh, was she great! I couldn't have done it without her!) Back to the fitting room I go. Boys, you need to give us girls some more credit. It was a jungle in there! With my sister and MOH in the fitting room with me, we trip over many dresses, slips, strapless whatnots, and such when my sister says, "Wait... you have to try this one on first!"

I step out of the fitting room, and no joke, everyone turns and looks straight at me. (There must have been 25 people there.) My mom began crying, my sister and MOH began boasting, "It's perfect," before I have even had the opportunity to see it myself. I step in front of the mirror and, yes, it was true. It was perfect. For the sake of not having a single doubt, I tried on two other gowns, but neither compared to "the One." As I looked through the endless walls of accessories and shoes, my mom bought me my fairytale dress.

I cannot wait to see Jonathan's reaction on our wedding day. If it is anything like the reaction that I got in that itty bitty fitting room, it will be priceless. Simply priceless.

Honeymoon, Shmoneymoon...

2006-01-14T17:14:00.000-05:00

We are planning on Cancun... a beautiful all-inclusive resort that we have heard is far too amazing to pass up!

I'm sooooooooo excited, I can hardly stand it.

Yay!!!

And the heavens opened...

2006-01-14T16:53:00.000-05:00

Yes, it really feels like the heavens have opened...

As many of you know, between family craziness, hectic work insanity, on top of the holiday schedules, the wedding plans are underway!!!

So we set a new date... August 6, 2006... We actually met the first time on a blind date of sorts on August 12, 2005... so a year later, we are walking down the aisle!!! Only God could ordain such an amazing thing.

I am sitting down with my Matron of Honor tonight to go over a few dates for our couples shower in July. We are going for the Hawaiian theme. It will be a blast. There will be plenty of room for the boys to play football and use some energy while us girls fuss over wedding colors, bridal registries, and honeymoon plans. I love being a girl!!! I know we really do have more fun!

I want to take this chance to thank you for all of your prayers of support for our family these past few weeks. You all mean so much to Jonathan and I.

Keep leaving your comments and let us know how this site is working for ya'll...

God bless.
Ash

Christmas in July...err...Maybe August...

2006-01-10T12:28:00.000-05:00

Ok, so Ashley and I went registering this past week. We've hit up two locations thus far -- ZGallerie and Crate and Barrel . Let me say this - I love registering! It's like putting together a Christmas list...for Summer!!! We're still working on a possible date change due to some scheduling conflicts, but we're still enjoying every moment we spend together. For all of you who may not know, Ashley's grandmother passed January 4th of this year. That's definitely put a damper on the excitement for the past week, but I'm confident that in a week we'll be back in full swing. The pictures are of the facility we want to have the wedding. We're taking a tour of it soon to make sure it's what we want, but we're fairly certain nothing's going to change. I'm constantly excited about what's coming up. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy helping plan the wedding. Not because I don't like planning things with Ashley, but I thought my inner "manly man" would take over and scream for help. However, I find myself enjoying the process. It may not always appear so to the passerby's perception, but I really am. Ashley is so amazingly patient with me. She puts up with me the times I do get all flustered. (Of course, that was tested earlier on with Michigan playing so poorly this past season.) It's just amazing how well we fit together. Her weaknesses are often my strongpoints and vice versa. I guess that's what makes us work so well.

Not much of an update...

2006-01-04T12:40:00.000-05:00

But I know you will understand. Just a few days after the exciting engagement, I got disturbingly sick with one of the many strands of "yuck" going around. Now, after missing numerous New Year's Eve parties, and rescheduling a holiday party of our own, I am beginning to feel somewhat myself again.

Another discovery...
Any of you girls that have done the whole planning thing can identify with the "wedding horror" nightmares. The latest came in the form of our honeymoon resort being destroyed by a fire. Ahhhh! I am oh so grateful for a full nights rest last night.

Now that I am on an upswing, (Thank you, Jesus!!!) we are back in planning mode!

Special thanks not only to my Mom for taking care of me, but also to Jonathan for his 5,873 phone calls to check on me throughout the day as well as numerous trips to my house just to tell me that "Everything is going to be okay. You'll be better before you know it."

I will now resume the "updates" and such... but for all of you wondering about pictures, that is Jonathan's territory... I am after all, computer illiterate.

More to come...
Ash

An Engagement (as told by Ashley)

2005-12-28T22:21:00.000-05:00

Honestly, it all seems blurry now. I will tell you exactly what I remember, so please bear with me. Jonathan's family came up to spend Christmas evening with my family. We had already eaten, and were settling into comfortable conversation. Anyways, I'm sitting in the recliner in my living room, Jonathan is sitting on the floor beside me. Our families are in other various places in the living room. Jonathan turns to me and says that he has another Christmas present for me. So, he is getting this "present" out of my Coach bag where it was temporarily hidden, and I of course being as curious as I am, lean down to try and figure out what he is doing. He leans towards me (so that I can't see what he is doing) and whispers "I love you, Baby!" in my ear. At this point, I am just starting to catch on. As he leans back, I see this white box... the box, the RING BOX!!! He takes out the most beautiful diamond ring that I have ever seen. He somehow uttered the words, "Will you marry me?" Of course I said, "YES!!!" So what did I do next? I stuck it on my thumb and hugged him. Yes, my thumb. We embraced for a few minutes, and then I put it on my finger. After its purchase all the way back in October, it has finally found its home.

An Engagement (as told by Jonathan)

2005-12-27T21:49:00.000-05:00

It was a lovely October afternoon when Jonathan began to form a master plan to foil Ashley's record of never being surprised. The ring was perfect for her, and he knew it as soon as he saw it. Two months and quite a few close encounters later, the look of suprise on her face as the ring came into view was unforgettable.

That was two days ago, Christmas day. I gathered both of our families together for an evening meal at the Stephens. The food was delicious, the company was delightful, and soon after eight-thirty we were engaged. I got down on one knee beside her, pulled the engagement ring from the Coach bag I'd given her for Christmas, and (as Ashley says) the rest was a blur of emotion. I still barely remember much after 'yes' escaped from her lips. Solely the joy of having that secret burden gone for good survived in my memory.

July 1st can't come soon enough.