Featured Bride, Shayne M. Wedding Location: Minneapolis, MN | Wedding Date: September 17th, 2011

Wedding planning with a soldier.

My fiancé and I got engaged in September of 2010, and are planning to be married in September of 2011. As every bride-to-be knows, the amount of stress that is involved in wedding planning is very high. Now imagine planning a wedding with your significant other being half a world away! Andrew was deployed to Afghanistan in August of 2010 and is scheduled to come home mid-July of 2011. Things weren't extremely difficult at first when it came to the wedding planning.  I was able to make the big decisions easily such as the venue, the church, and of course the dress.  I actually preferred being able to just choose things that I wanted without anyone else giving me their input!  But now that time has passed and I am needing to make more detailed decisions, it's hard to do things alone.  I am able to communicate with Andrew while he is in Afghanistan, but it is very limited communication, and the last thing he wants to talk about is wedding details while he's dealing with a war.

The challenges:

I think the most difficult thing I've dealt with so far is trying to get our wedding guest list together.  My side was easy, but trying to include everyone Andrew wanted to invite was very difficult.  We had to rely on email and facebook for addresses, and since Andrew also has limited free time, everything was quite a mess! It would be nice to have him around at this time, when things are fairly calm a few months before the wedding. He was given a two-week "rest and relaxation" period to come home in February 2010, and while he was home we were able to get some engagement pictures done.  It was kind of a struggle to get him excited to take pictures when he has been in the desert getting a "soldier tan" for the last year, but he sucked it up and we got them done. We plan on taking a few more pictures outside when he comes home for good in July.  In February, when we took our engagement pictures, it was freezing, so we had to be inside for most of them. We want some pictures in nice sunny weather too!  Now we're just counting down the days until he comes home, and then until our wedding day!

~~

Good luck to Shayne and Andrew as they approach their wedding over these next three months!  And an extra special "Thank you!" to the groom and his bride-to-be for serving our country. ~ Wedding Shoppe, Inc. Follow Shayne M. and her wedding planning journey here on My Wedding Chat.  If you are interested in becoming a My Wedding Chat Featured Bride and sharing your wedding story with brides and wedding-lovers alike, email blog@weddingshoppeinc.com for more information! Other Posts You’ll Love: Featured Bride Shayne M: The Proposal Meet New Featured Bride Shayne M. We're Married! Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Jilek Clinging to What Matters - 11 Days to Go Wedding Planning & Wedding Inspiration Board Updates From Anne M.

Join Our Community:
	Let’s Be Friends!
	Follow us on Twitter
	Follow our image-filled wedding planning boards, on Pinterest
	For more expert wedding planning advice, tips from real brides, information on the newest bridal collections, & more – subscribe to the My Wedding Chat blog feed.
	For more information (like updates on the best upcoming bridal events and wedding fairs), PLUS exclusive promotions, subscribe to the Wedding Shoppe Inc. newsletter.