In an exclusive interview, The Paw Print’s Christina Krecji sat down with English teacher Alex Shaw to learn more about her plans for summer break.

Christina: How did you know that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with your fiance?
Alex Shaw: That’s a tough question to answer. Okay so I gave Andrew the run around and we didn’t start dating for a really long time, even though he wanted to date me. We had known each other for a really long time and once we started dating I kinda knew we were going to get married. There’s a lot of things that are the same and different about us and we kinda balance each other out.

Christina: How did he propose and on what day?
Shaw: I don’t remember what day. People asked me that at my bridal shower and I was like… uhhh it was on a Saturday! Well I was really stressed out because of work and everything and so over Spring Break last year he took me on a trip to Geneva. Not very exciting but he took me on a spa weekend because he didn’t want to just tell me to go get my nails done because I never get my nails done. But it was one of the services that were provided there. So I got my nails done and we went out to dinner and then he proposed.

Christina: What’s the date of your wedding?
Shaw: June 30th, 2018.

Christina: What are you most excited about for your wedding?
Shaw: The food is going to be really good! Andrew planned out the menu and we got to taste it. I’m also looking forward to seeing my out of town relatives that I never see like my one cousin. She just rsvp’d and she’s coming to visit. I haven’t seen her in 10 years and I never met her kids so i’m going to be really excited to see them.

Christina: Where do you plan on getting married and why?
Shaw: The place is called Bramblewood Farm in Pittsburgh. I’m really into the outdoors and simple things and I didnt want to do a crazy ceremony like everyone wants. It’s like beautiful and elegant but it’s toned down and chill. It’s also in Pittsburgh where I grew up so that holds a special significance. It’s also like five minutes away from where I grew up.

Christina: What’s the most unique thing about your wedding?
Shaw: We are going to troll all the older relatives. Andrew hired a string quartet and they’re going to play our music because there’s no electricity outside but they play all modern music and it sounds really fancy. They are going to be playing like Beyonce and all that type of music but no one’s going to know. All the older people are going to be like ‘this is such beautiful music’ but all our friends are going to be like hanging out.

Christina: What was the most fun detail to plan?
Shaw: I don’t know yet. There’s still so many. I really enjoyed planning my honeymoon. I also enjoyed planning this weekend getaway with all our bridal buddies because no one knows each other. We are going to do team building activities and things that will help people be friends

Christina: What was the biggest struggle while planning your wedding?
Shaw: My mom! Can I say that? I guess the hardest thing while planning a wedding is that i’m super chill and I don’t really care about a lot of stuff. Other people in my family care way too much and they would get really sensitive and upset and it’s hard to make decisions when you know you’re going to make someone mad no matter what you pick.

Christina: How would you describe the style of your wedding?
Shaw: Everyone keeps asking me that and I really don’t know. The website literally has an option where you can select do all the decorations for me so I don’t even know. The color is red!

Christina: What type of music are you going to play at the reception?
Shaw: I don’t know. We haven’t really thought about that yet. We can make a list of plays and don’t plays. There won’t be the electric slide. I can tell you that.

Christina: What type of food are you planning on having at your wedding?
Shaw: Appetizers are stuffed mushrooms and artichoke and spinach dip, then there’s a salad with spinach and strawberries and feta. There’s chicken piccata, prime rib with this mushroom risotto, and asparagus, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts with bacon.

Christina: What’s your favorite part about your cake?
Shaw: We told the guy kinda what we like about cake which is kinda dumb; we didn’t do a cake testing. He made us one and it was lemon and instead of putting raspberry filling like all fancy cakes have, he put whole raspberries in it and i usually hate raspberries so I didn’t think I was going to like it but with the lemon and the raspberries together it was so good.

Christina: Where do you plan on going for your honeymoon?
Shaw: Jamaica! I’m afraid of flying and it’s a way to go on a tropical honeymoon that’s all inclusive which means we won’t have to pay for our meals and all that. Also it’s not that long of a flight so it’s all good.