For those that have been on th engaged encounter

lindzi375

Ours is planned for this weekend...however, I broke my wrist and cannot write. A lady called earlier and said we do a lot of writing and personal reflection and then share it with our fiance. She said I might be able to bring my phone and type it on there instead of writing. Do you think we should just reschedule it when I can write? The reschedule date would be about a month and a week before the wedding so idk if that is cutting it too close or not.

mica178

There were people at my EE that were only 1-2 months out from their wedding.  I think it's less ideal to push it so close because if you do find some incompatibilities, there's not a lot of time to make decisions.  Also, it's that time in wedding planning that can be most chaotic, so it might or might not be a good thing to take a break from favor making and table arranging to have a weekend focused on your relationship.  If you have a lot of DIY projects up in the air for your wedding, you might not want to do EE so close.

I would not have been able to do the EE on my phone, but I don't have a smartphone.  If you're good at writing on your phone, that might work.  The more important thing about EE is to really talk about your answers with your FI, the writing just starts things off.

[Deleted User]

We went on the EE weekend. I am with mica on this one. I say just leave it for this weekend. You can always think about the questions in the booklet and write them out later once your wrist heals completely. Typing all that info out on a phone would not work for me either. While I type fast, I don't have a smart phone either. And then I would think that would make your other wrist really sore and tired since you would only be using your other hand.

Our priest told us it was best to do the EE weekend 4-6 months before the wedding. We did ours in late January and got married this past June. Like mica said, it really gives you some time to think and pray over things. While we knew we wanted to be married and shared a lot of the same values & beliefs, the EE weekend really helped us see marriage from a different perspective as well. The couples on the weekend were great at telling stories and giving us helpful info. I think a lot of it is just listening and you can reflect in your head and write out your thoughts later.

Calypso1977

what about typing on a laptop?

id keep it for this weekend regardless.

newlyseliski

We didn't write a lot at ours!  It was more one-on-one discussion than anything...  You could always designate your fiance as the scribe and nudge him anytime a speaker says something that you like!  If you have opportunities to discuss things together on your own, that would be another good time to write thoughts down.

Our w-date is just a week after you and we're getting pretty crazy with things right now!  We did our EE in mid-January and probably could have benefitted from doing it even earlier than that.  Ditto PP's and just go ahead anyways this weekend!

lindzi375

I guess I'll have to go to understand what y'all mean when you say 'make decisions'. Right now that sounds like deciding to marry or not but I know that is not the point of the weekend. That isn't even a question in my mind. I've heard it's intense but I can't imagine what exactly that means.

I'm going to keep the date bc everybody I've asked (posted on my regular board too) said to keep it. I'll probably keep a laptop in the car just in case its difficult but also bring a recorder just in case. Plus your right, a month before the wedding is cutting it too close!

Thanks for the input.

chrissyann02

FI & I kept our answers short & sweet on paper... but did discuss each question once we had time to reflect w/one another. If u could just write a few key words so you have a response/comments in mind when it comes time to the reflection, you should be okay.

BrideBling82

My Fiance' and I went this past weekend (11th-13th) and yes it is a lot of writing but it doesn't have to be. I like the suggestion about bringing your labtop...I think this would work the best for you. My fiance' isn't a big writer....so the questions he felt he needed to answer he did and the other's we discussed face to face. The weekend is used to open the lines of communication. I personally would go the weekend your supposed to....our wedding is mid- July and if I could have went to EE the begining of the year I would have. Another option would be to bring a tape recorder to record your 1 on 1 talks and then later when your wrist is better you can write in your journal. Just a thought...but it's good experience and the earlier you go the more you'll have time to enjoy it.

rlytton87

Why not a laptop? I have an iphone & I type fairly fast on it, but I still wouldn't want to type more than an e-mail on it. I don't know if it would work, but might be worth a shot. Good luck

lindzi375

We went this weekend and it went really well! I just brought my iphone and it wasn't a problem at all! Glad we went this weekend

bibliophile2010

I'm so glad that it all worked out well for you!

eco1103a

Glad it went well! We went to ours in November 2010 and are getting married June 2011. I often refer back to our books and use the term 'life-giving' too often haha! As in "hanging up on me is not very life-giving!!!"

chrissyann02

yay, thank you for the update! Glad it all worked out

MissAngel

Yay!  I'm so glad it went well.