Candle Ceremony

Tonight I finally revealed my engagement to my sorority sisters during our candle ceremony. Candle ceremonies are common among many sororities and are traditionally held for sisters who have either been pinned/lavaliered/dropped by a fraternity member, are engaged, or are pregnant... Some don't always include the last option. The ceremony represents the official "announcement" of your exciting news, and you reveal it by blowing out a candle that is passed around and signifies whichever milestone you have achieved. Then, for engagements, the groom-to-be brings in five pounds of chocolate for everyone to enjoy... a task which fell to me since Collin was obviously unable to be there. Let me tell you, five pounds of chocolate is hard to conceal...

But honestly, several girls already knew my secret... I don't hide things very well, nor do I like to lie, so those who did any prying were able to find out pretty quickly. It didn't take away at all from that moment when I blew out the candle, though. The only other time I was this excited happened a little over two weeks ago in New York, and it was the reason for this occasion. I just couldn't believe it was actually my turn to be the bride - my turn to blow out the candle. Like the proposal, it felt so surreal. My sisters are like a second family to me, so seeing their sincere happiness for me made me feel even more excited and blessed than before, if that's possible. I must truly be the luckiest girl in the world to have such support all around me. Plus wedding planning is going to be so much more fun with my sisters involved. :) Not to mention I'm sure Collin will appreciate me having more people to talk about it with, haha.

For an update on venues, my entire week is already booked with appointments! I started panicking a little because I received phone calls that a couple of the places I really wanted got booked over the weekend for my preferred date. So I took immediate action, and hopefully we will have the reception venue secured by the end of the week! For the ceremony, I am 99% sure I want to have it at my home church, Clearview Baptist, in the newly built chapel. They are very open right now on availability, thankfully, so I will book them once I have the date for the reception site. Again, all of this will hopefully be resolved by next week.

I'll keep you posted on how the visits go this week. Wish me luck!

P.S. I'm super excited that my engagement is now Facebook official!! ;)

C & A