Getting to the Altar

So as I mentioned in my intro, I have never been one to dream about my wedding day.  Well, last night I had a wedding related dream that I though I’d share 🙂

I was walking around with my wedding dress in a garment bag, but it kept coming off the hangar.  I’d stick it back on, and try to find new and unique ways to make it stay put, but it kept sliding off!  Finally I gave up and just put it on.  So off I went, doing regular daily chores and such just wearing my wedding dress!  I didn’t have shoes on, so I kept tripping over the ends, but I didn’t care much. I was so comfy in it that I shrugged and went about my business.

While I’m no dream interpreter, I think it is safe to say that I found the right dress for me!  And, when you all see me in it, you can just imagine how it would look if I was doing dishes in it too!

With just under six months to go… We are feeling good about  how everything is shaping up!  There are only a few more vendors to book and then we can start working on ALL the little details.  I guess that is what happens when you put your mind to something!

Now we can focus a bit on something very fun… VACATION!!  David and I work very hard, and haven’t taken a real long vacation at any point that I can remember.  We only have a few weeks to go until we are Hawaii bound!  And when we come back relaxed, refreshed and tanned, look for lots more wedding updates!

As David mentioned in his post, apparantly everything is centered around your “colors.”  Sounds more like gang warfare than wedding planning.  Instead of walking into the wrong part of town being asked “Where are you from?” I talk to vendors who ask, “What are your colors?”  There is only slightly more hostility if I give the wrong answer… 

Picking colors is hard. It took me about 2 weeks to pick which color of beige I wanted my couch to be!!  And forget about matching colors. I know that red and gold go together (thank you 49ers), but despite my love for that scheme our wedding is too close to Valentines Day for me to want those hues.  I’m going for cute, not cheesy.  Well, a LITTLE cheese is okay.

Hey, our wedding is before President’s Day… RED, WHITE ,AND BLUE!!!

Again, I’m waiting for inspiration to hit me.  Luckily I have no shortage of wonderful women emailing me ideas and links of all sorts of wedding designs.  After meeting with some florists, hopefully I’ll find one who can take the jumble of weeds out of my head and give me a garden 🙂

Like me, Val comes from a very loving family. So loving in fact that her mother would do anything for her. At a bridal show that her mom attended with Val and two of her bridesmaids, there was a contest during one of the fashion shows. Mothers of the brides were asked to be as loud as they could be in order to win their daughter a $125 gift certificate toward the flowers at their wedding. Always ready to step up and do what is needed for her daughter, Val’s mom, Maria, jumped up yelling, spinning and jumping around. Needless to say, she won the prize.

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For days, I have been trying to figure out what to write about for my first entry. It is tough to write about wedding planning from a guy’s perspective. After all, the guy’s biggest job is to make sure to show up to the right place and to show up at the right time. A wedding is really for the girl, right? It is their time to shine. The focus should be on them and we understand that. We are fine with just signing the checks and leaving the decision on flowers, decor, and other such things up to our better half.

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Every little girl dreams of her wedding day… right?   Not so true in my case.  As my family can tell you, my dreams were quite a bit more complicated, usually involving plot twists and epic storylines more suited for a James Cameron film than a little girl’s imagination. 

Okay, so there was ONE wedding dream I had several years ago….  In it I was in a big park with a little chapel in the distance.  I had on the typical big, puffy white dress (veil and all), and was off to meet my groom.  Then, in a shiny silver mustang, pulls up my best friend David.  When I see him my heart stops, and I realize I do NOT want to go into that chapel.  So I go over to him, visibly upset, and tell him that I have no idea why I’m getting married to this nameless other person.  David, being the quick thinker he is, opens the door to his car and simply says, “Get in.”  And off we drive into the sunset…. (enter video of the last scene in “The Graduate”)

When I told David about this dream, months before we were actually dating, I think we both knew what it meant.  Now, here we are, ready to drive into another sunset.

Now, in that dream, I never got to see my reception.  So things like decorations, flowers, music and all that were left behind so I could enjoy my time with the man I love.  Don’t get me wrong, I LIKE all these things, but I don’t consider myself a visionary in the art and design of weddings.  The last few weddings I have been to have been great, and offered me a taste of what is out there and what is really important to have for yourself and your guests.  But those weddings belonged to those couples.  Finding our own style is proving to be more difficult.  All the bridal magazines I’ve seen have gorgeous weddings… but how to pick your own is tough.

As we enter the world of tulle and flowers, join in the journey!  We are approaching this like we approached house hunting… with a sense of humor, as much information as we can gather, and lots and lots of patience.  I don’t expect things to be perfect, because what is the fun in that?  My ideas are all over the place, but with the help of my family and friends, I hope to figure out this whole wedding thing.