Now be honest with me here; hands up how many of us have got a secret, or not so secret Wedding Pinterest board? I have and it’s no secret to anyone who follows me over there and it’s definitely no secret to Alex either. I have friends who created bridal inspo boards before they even had a partner and likewise before they were even engaged. But what is being engaged? We all know that congrats are in order when the big proposal happens. Down on one knee, ring in hand and the declaration of how happy that other person makes you but what if you don’t have a ring on that finger yet?

The other week Alex and I ventured back up North for a Glastonbury-esque family party that you may have seen on the vlogs and as always the topic turned to marriage. Often the topic is welcome and Alex and I love to daydream about how our perfect day would ideally go, how we would create a wedding day that represented both of us and how we would choose to celebrate after the ceremony, which let’s face it is the exciting bit! While we were chatting my Uncle said something that totally made us rethink our situation.

‘So you’re engaged then?’ Our answer was of course no. There’s no ring on my finger and Alex hasn’t proposed to me. ‘But you’re getting married and you’re planning your wedding?’ Our answer was of course yes. ‘So you’re engaged then!’ Maybe he’s right. Maybe we are another version of engaged that doesn’t warrant an official question and a diamond. I chatted about marriage in my Conforming post and shared how I feel you should be able to make your own pathway. Marriage is a choice and so is an engagement. Even though I advocate being ourselves and not needing to follow a traditional path, maybe I’ve accidentally created a new path with our relationship. But what is right for us may not be right for another.

Do we really need labels and to fit into certain boxes? Maybe my Uncle is right and we are just who we are, ring or not. All I know is we are happy and that’s what matters.