Hi and hello! My name is Ashley and I am new to the Dream Weddings on a Budget team. I’ll be writing a little bit here and there on budget friendly ideas that you can use as inspiration for your own dream wedding! First, let me tell you a little bit about myself and how I came upon Dream Weddings on a Budget.
This past May, my incredible boyfriend and I got engaged! A little back story to catch everyone up on our history together: Daniel and I met my freshmen year in college in choir. He asked me out a handful of times and I said yes but always flaked. Bad me. I tell him it’s because I knew once we started dating we wouldn’t stop. He says it was because he was post-Chemo looking with pale skin and growing back his hair. Maybe it was a little bit of both…? 
We did eventually date on and off until just before Dan’s graduation in May 2008. We officially began dating then and have been together for just over one year! All the waiting was well worth it
On the weekend of my college graduation Dan, his mom, and my family all traveled into town. We went out to lunch in Laguna Beach at this incredible beachfront restaurant called Las Brisas. Before we ordered, Dan said he wanted to go out to the little gazebo overlooking the ocean. My heart dropped into my stomach; but still I thought, no way.
He and I walked out to the gazebo where four ladies yelled for us to look out and see the dolphins! We saw two dolphins’ fins glide over the water. (Later, my stepmom told us that dolphins are good luck in Hawaiian, Mexican, and Native American cultures…hilarious but we’ll take it!) Without planning, all of the women left the gazebo so Dan and I could enjoy our favorite beach together. The waters were crashing onto the rocks below and we just stood together talking about how beautiful it all was. I also mentioned how starving I was. I probably said “guacamole”” at least three times.
Our waiter brought out a bottle of wine to me and said a man at the bar bought it for me. Dan acted upset….I smiled Inside the bottle was not wine, but this poem that Dan wrote for me about the magic of our relationship. I turned around and there was my Dan, on one knee, asking me to marry him. Y.E.S., I said, and proceeded to put my head in my hands and jump up and down. I threw my arms around my FIANCE only to have him ask me if I wanted to see the ring! It takes my breath away still.
Now we are living in New York for the next few years as Dan completes his masters degree at The Juilliard School. I am from the San Francisco Bay Area and we are planning on getting married there in the summer/early fall of 2011. We’re looking for casual elegance in a predominantly outdoor venue. The next two years will be full of planning, dreaming, and saving for our special day! I look forward to sharing our adventures along the way and hope to be of some help for all of you, too!
