We are happy to introduce you to our 2nd wedding blogger in two years Gwen (our last blogger Jonesi got married a few months back). Gwen (who’s no stranger to BMWK) didn’t get the memo that successful black women aren’t supposed to be able to find men and recently got engaged. Over the next10 months or so she’ll take us along as she plans for one of the biggest days of her life. Enjoy the ride!
On Sept 5, 2010, I will be a married woman. Engaged to my soul mate as of 10/24/09 at 8:34pm. (yes, I am one of those people).
And it’s about time, too. I wrote the book on finding and sustaining happy, healthy relationships”...literally (check me out: https://bit.ly/5VVHn6 Shameless plug, I know!). So it stands to reason that I should have taken my own advice and experiences, and channeled them into something tangible for myself.
So far, I’ve got my colors, my gown, my venues, my party, some vendors, but I still have a ton of work left to do. Here’s the backstory…
I met my boo over a year ago on”...wait for it”...PlentyOfFish.com. I know what you may be thinking, ’cause I was sure thinking it too. Funny thing is, I met him on a total fluke. While in D.C. for an event, I happened to pass a Hudson News store at the train station, where a Newsweek magazine cover displayed a free dating website that was ranking up a ton of traffic and surpassing paid sites like Match.com and eHarmony.com in terms of reported successful relationships. This piqued my interest for two reasons. 1.) because I work in digital communications, so the online traffic and success rate was super interesting and 2.) because one of my very best friends constantly complains about not finding the right woman, how he’s been single for umpteen years, how he’s tired of the bar scene and sick of paying for online dating sites, only to end up with nothing more than an overdrawn bank account. I immediately called my boy and told him to check this site out. He retorted, again, that he’d grown irritated with online dating. But what did he have to lose? It was free! So, he informed me that he’d only join if I joined. And that’s where the story begins.
Now, I am a complete grammar freak. Nothing irks me more than seeing one of “us” try to sound super educated with a bunch of misspelled words and incorrect grammar on a document, webpage, what-have-you. And trust me”...there was PLENTY of that on Plenty Of Fish. So when I spotted my soon-to-be boyfriend’s page – grammatically clean, error-free and well-written, I had to hit that brother up. (Clearly, it’s little things that turn me on. Ha!) Nothing special or cutesy. In fact, it was extra short and pretty form letter-like. Nevertheless, he took the bait. (Yes, pun intended.)
Over the course of a few months, we talked through the site for a while. That evolved into chatting via AIM, which eventually opted him to ask for my number. We’d talk on the phone for, literally, at least 7 hours every single night. We were pretty pathetic (in a good way). You know how when you’re a teen and you call yourself being “in love””...how you don’t want to get off the phone…so you fall asleep while still on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend? That was us. Except we were 26 and 29.
I could go on and on forever about the little details (which make me smile, but will more than likely make you snore). It’s uncanny how well we fit (even our names fit perfectly together: Gwen + Endion = Gwendion”...corny, I know, but whatevs), how he is the male version of me, how we’re both Geminis (and they say Geminis don’t get along), how our birthdays are two weeks to the day apart, how we’re both so incredibly close to our families, there’s just too much to list, so I’ll stop there.
Now, as you may know, Jonesi was the previous blogging soon-to-be bride, and now that she’s all happily and newly wed, I’ve been asked to pick up where she left off. Whoo, those are some big shoes to fill (not literally, of course). I only hope I can be as fly, funny, cool and candid as she was. Here goes nothin'”...