We're getting married. See, there's a WEBSITE.

It's funny how different the process of getting engaged and married is today from way back when.

When my parents got engaged, they put an announcement in the newspaper which we still have today in a photo album. The newspaper (I like to think of it as the old-timey alternative for gossip magazines) also covered the wedding, describing the type of gown my mother wore and who the groomsmen were, etc. My mom and dad had one snapshot taken for their engagement picture. That's right - ONE. And they couldn't even check it digitally to see if someone's eyes were closed.

We have a few (twenty or so) pictures (and no videos) of my parents' wedding which we store in a photo album and look at every so often when feeling nostalgic. None of the pictures are particularly "funny" or "artistic" - they are all about showing what happened, who was there, and how people were really feeling at that time. I love looking at that photo album because my parents look so happy and beautiful.

Nowadays, there's a lot more you have to do to get the word out. First you've got to e-mail and Facebook the whole thing. I don't think it really clicked for me what a big deal getting engaged was until I suddenly got my Facebook wall plastered with comments from people I hadn't heard from in years.

Next, you have to have an entire photoshoot (maybe more than one!) for your engagement pictures, not to mention another one for your bridal pictures, then another one for your temple pictures and reception pictures and family pictures etc etc etc. You may also want to get some videos.

Then you also have to have a SLIDESHOW at the reception, with mandatory pictures of you and your spouse as cute babies, ugly kids, awkward teenagers, and super-cool young adults. Do you know how difficult it is to sort through a million pictures (both of our families have six kids - that's a LOT of pictures) trying to find a sufficient number of photos that fall into these prescribed categories?

But that's not all. You have to create a website to share your story. Which we did. Because I love to write, I enjoyed this part. Maybe too much - my version is SIGNIFICANTLY longer than his version. But hey, it's not like I'm making anybody read it, right? (Now go read it NOW.)

I do love technology. I'm not sure how well I would get along in a world without computers and DVDs and cell phones and e-mail, especially now that I have to spend approximately four days a week away from Matthew and would basically die if we weren't able to text each other every day. But I also think it was kind of nice and simple and quaint in the old days, when all you did was make an announcement to your family and maybe in church, and let the newspaper take care of the rest. When all's said and done, the important thing is that you're getting married to the right person, and that thankfully stays the same over time.