The Future Plans...

Hi Friends!

In order to help you better understand our request for monetary gifts, I would like to let you in on some of our goals and dreams for the not-so-distant future:

Jaron in Paris, 2012

The first conversation I ever had with Jaron was about travelling. He had stopped in Paris on his way home from a missions trip in Africa and had a rekindled dream to travel to Europe and learn french. He approached me a while after to ask me about my previous 3 month experience in France. Ever since we started dating, we've been dreaming of eventually travelling to France together as a married couple...


I am currently finishing my second year at University of Waterloo as a French major. I originally chose this program because there is an opportunity to study 1 year abroad during the 4 year degree. I originally planned on going my third year, however with the wedding and other things going on, we decided fourth year would be the best option. This way, Jaron and I can go together! I have a love for the French culture and language and would love to perfect my french before I dive into a related field. Jaron loves travelling and adventure and we had such a blast exploring the south of France together when he came to visit me in 2013 (I was back there again for a 6 month DTS school).  If all goes as planned, we would leave in August of 2016 and return the following year. While in France, I will continue my studies and work part-time and Jaron will work full-time.

So, how does this apply to our request for "monetary gifts"?

This means that we will not be looking for permanent housing until we are back from France. We plan to rent a place for just over a year until we leave. At this time we are unsure of where we will be living;  so we feel asking for specific household items or furniture does not make a ton of sense in this season of our lives. Monetary gifts will go towards a specific fund for household items (ones we need right away but also ones we need when we return from France). We would also appreciate any contributions to our honeymoon fund. Jaron is planning it, so feel free to ask him for more details!

If our plans for France change, or we head in a totally different direction, anything we receive will still go toward that same fund!

On our way to an island off the coast of Cannes, France

Overlooking Nice, France

French ice cream and café

Beautiful stone streets

Have a wonderful day!

Love, Hannah and Jaron

First Things First…

The crazy thing about being engaged is that it is so different from dreaming about being engaged. Why? Because now you actually plan stuff. I was very much the girl who didn't want to plan anything, or make any phone calls before actually being engaged (besides Pinterest of courssee). And, seeing as I was definitely not expecting to be engaged until Christmas (thanks to Jaron's not-so-suttle hints.. ), I was pretty surprised and slightly overwhelmed at the fact that I wasn't expecting it, and here it was.
See, I'm someone who likes to know when everything is happening, so I can plan out my schedule. So as much as I love surprises, they take me off guard. All of this to say, here we are, engaged! The excitement is high, and we start the planning.

What do we do first? Well.. logically, I decided we would sit down and write out our guest list. When calling venues, I wanted to have a number in mind. So, that is what we did. Jaron started. After only 4 names, I piped in and asked him why those people. He explained, and I argued it. After FOUR names only.. you can imagine how this task went. "Why them? You don't even hang out with them anymore." We literally had to stop because we were both getting frustrated. Here we are, planning, and already fighting. I realize now that this is often a point of conflict in planning the wedding for many couples.
I literally thought, oh crap, we are going to get to 300 people in no time the way Jaron is going. Jaron wants a big wedding, and I want to keep it small. We didn't exactly discuss this before we got engaged.

So, we picked up the list a few days later, and somewhat finished it. I decided I would let Jaron write down everyone he wanted, as we could always go back to it later and cut people out if need be. I still found myself glancing at his list and not understanding why he wanted to invite _____ if he doesn't even "know" them (according to me). My list was quite small..

In the end, I learned some things:

1) Jaron had been thinking for a while about people he wanted to invite. Sometimes your guest list involves those who have left an impact on your life. This doesn't necessarily mean you are best of friends at the current moment. There is a difference between acquaintances/long lost friends and those who you have really connected with on a personal/emotional level. I can relate to this completely with my girlfriends from my France trip. We connected on very personal and vulnerable levels, they are not shallow friendships. Invite these people, they are important, and this is an important day in your life.

2) If I didn't understand why a certain person was on The list, I would ask in an accusing way. However, I learned to ask with the intention to actually understand. Jaron put them on the list for a reason. Maybe there isn't a connection, and they can be crossed off. Maybe there is. It's important to look deeper, and to be sensitive. I don't know all of Jaron's friends of the past, he doesn't know all of mine.

3) Have fun! Making the guest list can be fun, it doesn't have to be a point of conflict, but we willing to accept it could be, and THIS IS NORMAL! Both parties have different expectations of whom the guest list should include. It's a matter of working this out, asking questions, and compromising.

xo Hannahleigh