Ahhh, the joys of wedding planning. I’m a professional event planner and have told myself for years that I won’t stress someday over planning my big day. In fact, all the little details really don’t excite me, because I realize that they’re just something to be enjoyed for a few moments, and I’m much more excited about enjoying Mr. Right for a few decades (63+ years).
Within a week of getting engaged, I had booked the chapel, the reception venue, the DJ, the cake lady, the photographer, and my caterer/florist. A week after that I had found my dress, jewelry, bridesmaid dresses, and their jewelry. And now a month later I’ve done just about everything there is to do, minus finalizing the ever-growing invitation list and designing the invitations (but they’ve been written). Heck – I even cleaned out half my closet so I can get used to squeezing my clothes into a smaller space before I start sharing.
It was all relatively enjoyable and pain-free, and yet there were several moments last month that were so overwhelming that all I wanted to do was curl into a fetal position, shut my eyes tight, and disappear for a few hours. I’m not sure what it was – I think it might be the hundreds of wedding blogs I’ve been following that emphasize the great need for perfect table reservation cards, or wearing a pair of shoes that have some sort of great symbolic meaning. Carrying a handkerchief that your great grandma’s cousin’s neighbor wore in her wedding in the 1400s, right after she came over on the Mayflower. If I don’t have something nostalgic like that, will my wedding still count? Oh, and don’t forget the paper lanterns. If you don’t have paper lanterns at your outdoor wedding… well you might as well just go back home. That, and bunting that spells out something clever, like “Eat, drink, and be married.” It’s everywhere, people.
But during those silly, overwhelming moments, I am so thankful to have Mr. Right to reassure me that he doesn’t care about paper lanterns or the perfect handkerchief or any of those things for that matter… that like me, he just cares about the getting married part… the part where we get to spend the rest of our lives together. Instead of curling up in the fetal position, I curl up next to him on the couch and let him wrap his arms around me, and I thank God that I got a good one who can bring me back to reality, who loves me in my silly, stressed out moments.
I can’t wait to marry him.