Hi guys.

Ahem. This will not be a long post, I just wanted to poke my head in and say hello.

As Therese says, I asked her to marry me earlier this month at a local restaurant we like. We are already in the thick of planning - we are visiting Austin in two weeks, and we will be visiting a couple of prospective venues. We are hoping to have a fairly simple ceremony, with reception to follow immediately. If we get the location straightened out, we can start on menu and entertainment, and be fairly well on our way.

There are all kinds of different approaches to weddings, as I am coming to realize. Some favor keeping it simple and doing for themselves, some people go to Disney World and hand over their plastic. This is what it comes down to for me - a wedding should be fun. So keep the ceremony nice but brief, provide good food and decent booze, and let people eat, drink, dance, sing, tell stories, or just sit and enjoy. It's a party, right?

When my grandfather passed away one of the things that struck me was that a funeral is not for the dead, but for the living. Similarly, but in a happy way, the wedding is more for the community, for the family and friends, than it is for the couple, who would hopefully honor and support each other in any event. So to everyone planning to attend either wedding, let me say right now - I hope you enjoy it, and I hope that you are glad that you came.

Last, please bear with my fiancee. Therese can be a completist in general, and especially about something like this. I am doing my best to keep her from running herself into the ground, so if she is slow to reply to correspondence, please be patient. She has a lot on her plate right now.