My Head Is Spinning!

Oh the wedding plans!

Courtney made a very astute comment the other day (as she often does). She said that planning your child's wedding is like performing surgery on them: it shouldn't be allowed, and for the same reasons: it's painful for all involved, and it is absolutely impossible to be objective.

Fortunately, my Mom and I are not biting each other's heads off. In fact, we're actually enjoying the planning process... but boy, oh boy, is it ever a process!

So, we have the color for the bridesmaids dresses picked out: dye lot #5055. (French blue.) We're waiting on a J. Crew dress in the mail to see the cut, then we'll be able to finalize the style choice and get pricing estimates. Whew!

We've confirmed that my Dad's childhood-friend-turned-LYC-Fleet-Chaplain will be marrying us, which is a HUGE relief. I'm really not a fan of the monsignor at our church, so I'm very glad that he won't be performing the ceremony. Now I just need to call him and tell him we've found someone else. That's gonna be fun. Really.

I've got the church organist and a trumpeter signed up, and the church choir has let me know that they would really like to sing. (I've been singing with them on and off for four years.) I'm going to add either a flute or a violin, depending on the final music selection. So far, I've got two hymns on the list, as well as pieces by Handel and Vivaldi. (Lots of people have Schubert's Ave Maria sung at their wedding, but as I'm frequently the one to sing it, so I feel like it would be weird to have someone else sing it when I'm the one getting married.) The big issue is what I'm going to walk down the aisle to. I have a song in mind, and Courtney has been a doll to arrange it for the instruments we're going to use, but it's unconventional and I'm really not sure if it will do. We'll see.

Mom and I have met with two photographers, and are making appointments with one or two more. We're trying to get a balance between photos of us doing totally ridiculous things and super-uncomfortable posed shots. (Does any bride really run on a beach in the most expensive dress she's ever likely to own, and if she does, is it really on her own volition?)

We've ordered the invitations and should see a proof soon. Of course, we are still debating the font color (french blue vs. marine blue) and whether or not to include a motif, but at least we've made real progress on that one.

The florist we were supposed to see last weekend had to go to a wake, so we're seeing him next weekend. Our wedding is turning out to be pretty formal, and I love daffodils and daises, so we're dealing with a disconnect here. My grandmother is a floral genius, so I'm looking forward to picking her brain on this one.

And then there are bands. We need one. We're hearing one Saturday night, and hopefully we'll love them. All I know is that we're going to be very specific about the song list. No songs that will provoke line dancing, grinding, the forming of letters with arms, or anything along that line. (This is a personal quirk, but I've never been in a conga line that didn't make me feel like an ass, and I'm going to be the center of attention that day whether I like it or not, so we're not doing one.) I guess the bottom line is that (as much as I will always love American Pie) if they played it at either the LYC Jr. Race Week dance or at Hommicks Ice Rink "Teen Nights," we're not having it at our wedding. We're thinking a lot more American Songbook- Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, and the like.

Greg and I are working on selecting readings. We both like First Corinthians, but we've heard it. We're hoping to find something a bit more off the beaten path. I did a reading at Kate's wedding that I thought was the sweetest thing- it was from a children's book, and it was personal and special and just right. Unfortunately, our church won't let us use non-scriptural readings, but I'm hoping we'll be able to find something with the same sentiment as "love is patient, love is kind," without actually saying it.

Whew. Do I sound like Bridezilla yet? I swear, I'm really not. And if I've accidentally offended anyone who really was hoping for a fuchsia bridesmaids dress or loves "Achey Breaky Heart," please don't take it personally. They work really well for other people, just not for me.

Once things are rolling in the right direction and I'm confident that there will be no Village People, I'll be fine. (If I seem concerned for no reason, be aware that I was actually at a wedding last summer where the D.J. announced that everyone should get out on the dance floor; the next song would be a polka!! No, I'm not kidding.)

I don't think I'm that picky, I'm just interested in a very traditional day with lots of personal touches but free from anything cliche or (forgive me) tacky. (I hate that word and the snobbery it construes, but it really is what I mean.) I do know that everything will be fine, and I'm actually enjoying the planning process. I'm a lot less stressed than I sound, but there are SO MANY DETAILS!

I told Greg last night that when we have kids, we're having boys, so we can avoid this whole drill! Enter the conversation about "they will both be boys" versus "they will all be boys" and the putting of the cart before the horse. :-D The good news out of all of this is that Greg and I focus so much more on planning our marriage then we do on planning our wedding. He's interested in the details of the various appointments and is very supportive, but our conversations tend to be more about where we're going to live, our careers, our (eventual) family, and so forth. Greg calms me down like no one else can. The wedding will be perfect, but it will come and go in a flash. It's nice to know that once the happy day is over, the ensuing life together will be happy, too.