The madness begins

The Decor

Excited to start planning my dream wedding I stopped at Hobby Lobby, Target, and Bed Bath and Beyond, before even calling my parents to announce my engagement. 11 months before the wedding, yes 11, I was informed of place card frames that were on clearance at Target. Having already decided on a buffet dinner, I didn't find them absolutely necessary, BUT THEY WERE ON CLEARANCE. I had to act fast or these unnecessary generic frames would fall through my fingers! My fiancé and I went to 10 Targets to get enough, 10! At number 9, yes 9, I also found these purple candles I had to have, don't judge me, candles are expensive. So we continued back to the 8 others, and finding zero at some kept on trekking until we hit every Target in Colorado with varied success. At the second to last one the lady asked me if I'd like a list of the Targets that carry these candles. I politely responded with, "That would of been nice 15 Targets ago, but now I can tell you with certainty how many candles they all carry, none, I bought them all." Miraculously we got just the number we needed one candle at a time (NEEDED-since then my parents have invited the mailman, the milkman and the grocery store clerk. We no longer have enough). After this charade I thought what a spectacular time to read the FAQ's on my venue's website; 

Q: Do you allow candles? 

A: Yes! As long as they are flame-less, dripless, and contained.

.....Well now I am just confused as to the definition of a candle. 

That's part of the wedding budget I will never get back, goodbye photo-booth.

The party  

We thought it would be fun to have an engagement party to ask our friends to be our attendants. We asked for volunteers to throw us one and had no takers. So we decided to throw it ourselves. We had decided on beer and brats, maybe even buns and condiments if we were feeling fancy. I informed my parents the party would be at their house but we were taking care of everything. A week before the party my mother says to me, and I quote, "I cannot believe you are only giving me a week to pull this party together." Umm.... Oh kay? Below are photos from the party. I do not see brats anywhere. There was, however, beer. Thank goodness, how else would our groomsmen of dranken too much, making us wonder what speeches would be come toast time at the reception. All sarcasm aside it was a beautiful party. 

My Inspiration

Hello, and welcome to my blog.

Aren't weddings wonderful? The flowers, the elegance, the romance, the attention and OH GOD that moment when you finally get to shout, "Yes!" to the perfect dress while your dear old granny dries her tears with your old blue borrowed handkerchief. It makes since that despite the divorce rate, and the knowledge that a marriage is a three-ring circus; the engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the suffering, girls still line up down the block to get married whether they have found that special someone or not.

Weddings seem wonderful, they do. Even I, whoever I think I am, fell victim to these fantasies. It took, oh I don't know, about a day of being engaged to realized planning a wedding is a nightmare at worst, and quite humorously dire at best. All of the sudden you have all of these relatives, who are they? And your parents have all these demands, who ARE they? And $10,000 seems like pocket change.
As my fiance so eloquently put it, "Romeo and Juliet were lucky they killed themselves before they planned a wedding."

And yet with all of this madness, and mistakes, and pressure, it is wonderful. All the hard work and headaches are worth it when you get to look into the eyes of the one person you can stand on this planet, as crazy Aunt Mirdle, and your jealous bridesmaid who didn't want to wear green even though green is your wedding color, and everyone fades away as you say two magical words binding your lives together.

With this crazy wonderful business that wedding planning has become I felt I had to document my experience; the good, the bad, the blues, and the wrong purple hues, because having a wedding is just to wonderful to not laugh at the horrible planning process.