Since I’ve started this gig as blogger for NCE I’ve been toting around my blackberry like an extra appendage. Don’t get me wrong, I love being connected, the world wide web at my manicured fingertips and all that jazz. But there was a time the other night, in the middle of my favorite TV show, that my hubby, lovingly though it may have been, put his hand on my pecking thumbs and said, “Ok, put it down. We need some non-blackberry time.”

Wide-eyed and embarrased, like I’d been caught stealing cookies, I said, “What? I didn’t hear you.”. Uh oh.

So, this whole scenario took me right back to wedding planning days when I was, well, you could say I was obsessed with planning our nuptials. These were pre-blackberry days, thankfully, and I was more obsesseed with spreadsheets, to do lists and the like than I was about my new fiance. I quickly learned, however, how important the “engagement” period is to your new lives together. Planning your wedding is an amazing experience that helps you grow closer with friends and family involved. But it can also be incredibly stressful and all consuming if you let it.

That said, my advice to all you blushing brides out there is this: set aside some precious time with your fiance where wedding talk is prohibited. Allow yourself some time to enjoy being engaged without the stress of linens, colors, flowers and invitations. You’ll miss these days when you’re an old married woman like me.

I’m kidding. I’m not old-yet. But I am married.