I have been with my love for about 6 months. Right now we have a bi-coastal relationship, because he was offered an amazing transfer with his job from Philadelphia to San Fransisco. We have talked a lot about marriage, (he usually brings it up), and we KNOW that it is going to happen. He asked me 3 months ago to give him pictures of EXACTLY what I want for an engagement ring. He even took me to a few jewelry stores to try rings on, because I had no idea what kind of ring I wanted!
My mother has timeshares in Mexico, and has been planning a vacation for the whole family for November 2011. This would include my Mom, my Son, my soon to be fiance, and my two brothers and their wives. Two months ago, my mom suggested to Len and I that we get married in Mexico next year. We both loved the idea, and are so touched at her generosity. She is on vacation right now, and called me yesterday saying that if we need her to, she can book 5 two bedroom units for the wedding if we are serious about it. I called Len to ask him what he thinks, and he picked the wedding date! He is absolutely thrilled that not only do we get our small beach wedding (something we had agreed on from the first conversation about getting married), we get to do it somewhere beautifully breathtaking, AND (thanks to my mother's generosity) we can invite our closest friends and his family to celebrate with us, and all they have to pay for is airfare and meals. (My mom is covering the lodging with her timeshare).
We have looked into the legalities of marrying out of the country, and have decided to have the legal ceremony with traditional vows here in the US, in Colorado (where my dad and his family live, and some of them are unable to travel due to medical reasons) and then have a spiritual ceremony in Mexico where we will write our own vows.
I am so very excited, as is he, about all of this. My mom is thrilled and all of our family and friends are so excited and supportive. My question is this: I KNOW Len is not going to "officially" propose until he has talked to my father and asked his blessing, and bought me a ring. This will not happen until most likely March (when we are planning to go visit my father together). Are we crazy for making plans for the wedding(s) before I have a ring? I asked Len if he thought this was nuts to be making plans before it's official, and his answer was, "Why would it be crazy? We love each other, we KNOW we are going to spend the rest of our lives together, so what's so crazy about planning the wedding? Your Mom has offered to use her timeshares to give us a dream wedding, and if we want to do it next year, what's the problem?"
Are we crazy? Or are we practical? I have helped 3 friends plan their weddings (I even did all the flowers for the one friend) and I know how stressful and time consuming it can be. Add to that we are planning TWO destination weddings. I don't want to lose any time, but should I hold off making the plans until he has officially popped the question?