New England Bridal Show Expo: Portsmouth, NH Ethan Allen

I was a little wary of a bridal show expo hosted at a furniture store instead of a restaurant because I figured the food wouldn’t be as good.  But when I walked in, it was actually very pretty.

There wasn't LOTS of food at this bridal trade show, but what they did have was very good.  They had clam chowder, which I like.  And lobster bisque.  I never had it before; it a little looked gross to me (pureed lobster in a cream base...eek.)  But it was DELICIOUS.  So creamy, with a buttery lobster flavor.  I wouldn’t mind having that at my wedding reception!  It was so rich that even though we just got these tiny little samples of it, that was enough (at first; I had to get seconds after the next hour, haha).  There were wedding cakes too, and I tried 5 of them, haha.  One place at the bridal trade show was just so so, but the other place had a very unique (and good) carrot cake, and a REALLY rich chocolate wedding cake.

There were no raffles at this bridal trade show (well, I'm sure I'll "win" stuff through email, hah) but I did get a present a pretty nice gift!  When Adam visits at Christmastime we can use them for New Year’s.

We can use them to have our champagne on New Year's!

As we were looking through some sample wedding albums, a photographer was chatting with us.  Somehow my engagement photos came up, and he asked where we had them done, so I said England, and he said, "Oh, so no one I know!"  Heh.  He asked where and actually had heard of Kettering (or lied and pretended to hah).  He asked why we got them in England, and asked if I was "bi-coastal" or something, and I said, "because my fiancé lives in England."

Now, usually at this point, the pat answer from vendors at a bridal show expo is, "Oh, wow."  Or, “That's cool," or something happy and positive, smiling cause the customer is always right and needs to be patronized or whatever.  Instead he said, "Oh!  That SUCKS."  

Hahaha!  I LOVED that!  I said, "It DOES suck!"  Haha  I want Adam to BE HERE during our engagement but I can’t have that.  Instead I’m spending my engagement with these same vendors over and over at each bridal show expo.  So it felt good to just have someone voice that, instead of me smiling and pretending like it's all rainbows when I just really miss Adam.  It validated that it’s okay and normal to feel lonely without him here with me. 

Making the Long Distance Relationship Work

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 If you asked me in April of 2006 if I wanted to be in a long distance relationship, I’d have said “Not a CHANCE.” Heck, I’m engaged to Adam now and I still don’t want to be in one.

I knew really early on when I first started talking to Adam that we were headed for a romantic relationship. He was just so easy to talk to, attentive, easy on the eyes. And the whole time I thought “this is great, I really like this guy, but how does this work with him in England and me in Massachusetts?” I really had to search my soul to figure out what to say, and what to do when the time came for us to take it to that next level. Did I want to be in a long distance relationship? No. Did I want to end things with this guy who I had a real connection with and was the highlight of my evenings? No.

Well, as you can guess I wouldn’t be writing a wedding blog about the two of us today if I opted out, so the day he told me “I love you,” I told him I love him too.

It hasn’t always been easy. When a year went by since we started talking and he didn’t feel ready to meet in person, I started to lose faith in us. I understood his reservation. Meeting could have been a disaster. We could have had no chemistry in person. Maybe online dating really was just an illusion like some people say, and reality wouldn’t live up to the fantasy. But for crying out loud, a YEAR. That’s a long time to wonder and wait. I did come close to breaking it off one dark cold wintery evening after a year and a half. I let him know this was too hard. I just didn’t want to do this anymore.

“So you’re breaking up with me?”

“…no.”

“Well then what choice do we have?”

Besides being helpful, Adam is VERY straightforward. I can get cranky and moody and indecisive, but he is much more black and white. And of course, he was right. Obviously. But it wasn’t until that moment that I really took it to heart that it was either long distance or nothing. And it didn’t make sense to end the relationship because I wanted MORE. That’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

And now I felt even more impressed with him, that he’s that patient that he was willing to wait. And he's that confident in our relationship that he never worried about the little detail of being so far away. Either that or he’s incredibly strong to not let on that it’s hard on him too. He’s my rock.
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