I love hearing about engagements. I love reading proposal stories and I love seeing how thought out, or how random and spontaneous, they are. In the midst of my latest quest to learn about all things wedding, I've been trawling through photography websites and I always (always!) end up hunting for the ring shots.

Rings are just so personal, you know? They are so different for everyone - there's no one perfect ring. The important stuff is what goes into the purchasing, creating or handing-down of the ring, and that's why they mean what they mean. But then there's the creation itself: what style, what size, what colour, what cost? For some, it's a whopping two-carat piece of bling. For others, it's a simple gold wedding band. Maybe it's both? Maybe it's neither.

I remember the first ring Jason gave me, as an anniversary present a good few years back. It was a beautiful ring, and one that I still own - a white gold band with a gorgeous little diamond stone. I remember sometimes, on the sly of course, parading around with it on my left hand, trying it on for size and seeing what it felt like to have a ring there. I remember thinking how perfect it was, and wishing that it was an engagement ring.

And more recently in my 'woe! I am not engaged yet' phase, I remember hunting down my future non-existant engagement ring. I found one I liked on the internet and eventually went and checked it out in person. In more than one store. On more than one occasion. In more than one continent. (What? We were in the vicinity of Tiffany & Co on 5th Avenue! How could I not check it out!)

If you're curious, this is the ring I lusted over for a very long time.

I know what you're thinking, right? Bling! High hopes much? But believe it or not, I'm not a big girly girl. I didn't specifically want a ring from that store. I just liked the style, and figured it was a starting point. I saved it to my bookmarks. I may have even dropped the occasional subtle (?) hint every now and again. I think I may have even dragged Jase into the Bond St store here in London, casually hinting that 1-carat would be just fine, thanks.

(Oh my goodness, just typing that makes me feel like such a cow. I had no shame!)

It's not the ring that I'm wearing on my finger right now.

The boy tells me that he went and checked out my dream ring and wasn't that impressed with it in person. He then went on to choose one that he liked, and that he thought I'd like too. I have loads of people asking me how he chose it, and at the end of the day - it was all him. I think that's what I love the most. I love that he knew me well enough to know I'd love the ring, regardless of me never laying eyes on it before.

At the end of the day, whether he proposed to me with my dream ring or with a token gesture, my response would have been exactly the same: something along the lines of 'OH MY GOD! ARE YOU SERIOUS? OH MY GOD. QUICK! PUT IT AWAY!' (We were standing near water, people. I was terrified it was going to fling off my hand and into the murky depths, or something.)

I got my token gesture. I wore my £10 ring with pride while my official ring was resized. For nearly three months, I proudly flashed that hand and shared our happy news.

The rest is history.

My engagement ring is the perfect fit for me - in all senses of the word.

I've spent a lot of time in the past few months scouring the interwebs for wedding inspiration. I'm still yet to narrow anything down, but I have a good two months to organise that - until I go home and get planning, that is.

Church? Nope.
Reception Venue? No idea.
Colours? I think they're sorted, but really not sure.
Dress? HA!

As you can see, my searches haven't been very fruitful. I've started bookmarking anything that I'm vaguely interested in, because I figure at some point in the future I'll be more sure of what I want.

Most women are super excited to start the search for their wedding dress. I am not most women. In fact, I'm not ashamed to admit that the thought of finding a wedding dress terrifies me. I'm a big girl. I have boobs and I have curves and I have a tummy. Add that to the fact that wedding dresses run small for even average-sized girls, and well, I'm scared.

When I'm home in April, I would love to have my two bridesmaids checking out and trying on dresses that suit them - but the thought of me trying a dress on? Oh Em Gee. Shouldn't I be looking forward to this?

Here's what I don't want: a dress so tight that even the model can't stand up in it.

"Help!"

"No. Really. Get me up."

I'm really looking forward to being able to wedding plan. At the moment, I'm planning the wedding planning, which makes perfect sense in my head but not much sense when I write it down. I can look, but there's not a great deal I can actually DO, and at the moment that's just fine with me. Okay, I lie: it's more than a little bit frustrating, but what can you do?

Ha! I know what you can do! You can book an impromptu visit home to get a head start on everything, that's what you can do!

Yes, during one random lunch break a few weeks ago, I decided to have a quick peek at flights back to Australia for a visit - and it worked out quite nicely that I had some holiday allowance ready and waiting to be booked in. A few text messages later, and everything was booked: I'll be back down under in April for a two week visit, and I'm super excited.

I know it was literally only a year ago that I was sitting around back home, just itching to be back in London, but it's different now. This time around, I have my shiny Visa, and can head straight back here to my boys nice and easily. And this time around, I have a mission - to cram in as much wedding stuff as possible! I'm planning on stealing my mum and MOH (hee!) and checking out all of the churches and venues I've been ogling online for the last few months.. and maybe even put a deposit down on one that catches my eye. It's going to be awesome!

So in the meantime, it's back to trawling the web for ideas and inspiration, and watching my bookmarks folder continue to expand!