Weddingbee Blog

After the engagement was “official” and we had moved into a bigger place and life had started to settle in a bit more, we decided to “think” about getting a dog. Sweetie Scone and I both missed having a dog, and she wanted some company. (She works from home/her mobile mechanic’s van.)

We talked about what kind of dog would be a good fit—not too big, not too small, just right (ah, Goldilocks). A small/medium-sized dog that liked people would be perfect. So one Sunday in August 2010 we walked into a Petco during an adoption event. We hadn’t even finished walking through the doors when I spotted a white fluffy dog that looked to be the perfect size. When we approached him he was friendly; they offered to let us take him on a walk so off we went. It seemed like he had no issue with other dogs. He was sweet, and we decided we could love him. WE HAD NO IDEA HOW MUCH WE COULD LOVE HIM, aaaaaahhhh. Oh, and my parents love him. (Like, they threaten to keep him when he comes to stay with them.)

He is our dog-child, and my parents call him their granddog. He went from the streets to an unhappy foster situation to being overly loved by everyone—seriously, the dog trainer, the vet, the family, our workplaces. He is loved, not sure if you can tell.

Would you like to get to know him better?

All photos are personal.

Day 1

When he gets hot he likes to lie down in the bathroom.

He’s a happy boy.

A Giants fan!

Very interested in cows…

He loves lying down on the beach…

Sometimes he tries to re-enact Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

But his absolute favorite is running on the beach!

Darby and the bigger rental were part of our plans; we had budgeted for both of these changes and we had been diligently been budgeting for the wedding. We did not want to take on debt to finance the wedding, we weren’t sure whether our parents wanted to contribute, and while visions of a low-cost affair danced in my dreams…we are ending up with more of an “average wedding cost.” Because our wedding won’t be legally binding, we really want as much of our community as possible to be present to really support our marriage, kind of like a backbone.

So we had been really frugal and saved up and saved up. At Christmas last year my parents wanted to talk about the wedding and finances. They offered to contribute a very generous amount (considering we had no expectations). Then one Saturday morning in February, Sweetie Scone’s parents offered to contribute the same amount as my parents (which is a majority of our wedding costs/budget).

Let me just pause…we are both so incredibly in awe that our parents were so generous. It seriously changed our life plans, and it still leaves me speechless sometimes when I think about their generosity.

Since we had already saved up most of our budget before the generous offers from both sets of parents, we decided to buy a house with the extra fundage. Originally we had planned to get married in 2012, purchase a home around 2014, and try for kids around 2016. This was a serious life-altering thing because we were able to buy a house in 2011 and settle in before the wedding!!!

Would you like to see a sneak peek of the house?

Image via Google Maps

Not only are we so happy to be settled into our house, but Darby the dog-child grew soooo much when we moved in. It was absolutely the right decision, and we are still incredibly thankful that our parents were both so generous!

So our best laid plans ended up leading to something so much better!