Weddingbee Blog

Although I am in the thick of wedding planning, I have to admit that most of my recent daydreams have involved buying a house. I read the Weddingbee boards in the home tag; I browse through listings in our zip code on Trulia; I keep a sharp eye out for Sunday open houses in our neighborhood.

I have been a renter all of my adult life, thanks to the high cost of real estate in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. I have to say that we found a pretty awesome rental place here in LA. Our apartment is about 1,100 square feet without any shared walls. We have our own parking, laundry room, and workshop/storage area downstairs. Most importantly, we have our own fully fenced backyard. This feature was especially important to us. Since we are living in California, we wanted to enjoy barbecuing and sunning outside. Also, we have discovered that our dog loves hanging out in a yard as well.

Here is a pretty sweet life.

Due to the nature of the real estate market, we are most likely going to remain renters for another few years. Mr. Mole bought a condo in Chicago a couple of years before we met, and the time just isn’t right to sell it. And, of course, it would be hard for us to come up with a 20% down payment until that property is sold. So we just have to wait.

I have realized, then, that this apartment is one where we will happily live for years. This will be the apartment we return to as newlyweds. This will be the apartment where we host Thanksgivings. This will be the apartment where we celebrate our first wedding anniversary. This will be the apartment where we bring home our first (and maybe even second!) child. This is where we will nest.

The nesting impulse—the drive to make a house (or an apartment!) into a home—is generally one that is spoken of post-marriage, pre-baby. But I am discovering that the impulse to plan a wedding is also tied with the impulse to plan our life together. Even a cursory glance at our joint checking account will illustrate how intertwined these impulses are. A debit for a hair and makeup artist follows a charge for a new bed.

Tate bed from Crate and Barrel / Nitto linens from CB2

A check for a photographer follows a charge for a new glider (the ultimate anticipatory nesting purchase).

Shay glider and ottoman from Room and Board

A Paypal check for a customized wedding-dress hanger precedes a debit for a KitchenAid mixer.

Apple green

(You may be wondering if that mixer was purchased from one of our wedding registries. It was. We bought it. Whoops! Patience is not one of my virtues when it comes to the means to make things like meatloaf or sea-salt fudge brownies.)

Our wedding is a sign of our desire for permanency and stability in our relationship; our home-goods-purchasing history is a sign of our desire for permanency and stability in our relationship as well. We are settling down and, at the same time, settling into our home.

Have you experienced a similar connection between the desire to wed and the desire to nest?