Wedding plans are rollin'

Yes indeed, I have somehow found myself planning a wedding. I don't know really how the heck I got to this point, to be honest, but Pete reminded me the other day that when he first met me, he told me never to underestimate him....and the he intended to marry me someday. I laughed in his face, thinking he was just full of himself, and told him so. But here I am, planning this shin dig, and my head is spinning.

Suddenly I've got a ring on my finger, and every day I wake up and discover it there, it surprises me a little...I'm still not used to it. I look at it like I've never seen it before, and then I remember, "Oh yeahhh, that's right...I'm engaged now...wow..."

I never expected to marry Pete. Not at all. That wasn't even in my periphery of the narrow view I've had about my future all my life. I mean, I figured I would be a lonely spinster with lots of dogs, living alone, in poverty, and that was that. I didn't much care about it either, figuring that the world would end before I even get close to uttering silly nuptials of any kind.

But, so far I've got the wedding dress, the rings, the clergy person, the location, a wedding decorator to help me get the place ready, the cake is going to be ordered through Sam's Club, I'm making all the decorations myself, I've made my veil, all the bouquets, the boutiniere's for the men, the corsages for the mom's, I've got heart-shaped rice that's safe for birds to eat, little plastic ziploc bags to put a scoop of it in, and tiny gift bags to slide those into...I've got bubbles, and we're also printing the invitations and programs out ourselves, plus the save-the-date magnets...we've got about 80 people on our invitation list so far, we've got about 5 different hotels nearby that they can choose from, we'll have the rehearsal dinner here at our house, and basically everything is done except the food, the souvenir Gilligan hats (did I mention that our reception theme is Gilligan's Island?! Yes indeed, it should be a friggin' HOOT)...let's see...we are doing the food ourselves...we might hire a steel drum band for the ceremony & during dinner......oh yes, I've been rather busy lately doing all this stuff, it keeps me happy.

And I lay down on my recliner chair at night, (since I can't sleep in the same bed with Pete due to my back pain), going through all the things I've already done, listing them in my head, and then I think about all the things that will still need to be planned and decided and done, and then my head just spins, and I wonder how the hell I'm going to get all of it done by next July. Pete thinks I'm crazy for starting so soon, but I know it will take me awhile to get things made and ready and it's all in the little details...the details make the wedding special. So, I mean, really, the majority of big things are already in the works and that makes me feel good. We've just signed the contract for the location, (it's right around the corner from where we live), and there's a gorgeous POOL there, and a fountain, and an archway of greenery over the pulpit area, and a long aisle with pillars lining it on each side, there's a covered pavilion with tables & chairs, a huge kitchen, etc., so it should really be cool.

But how the heck did I end up in this situation?! That part, I still can't quite figure out. I wonder sometimes if it's the right thing to do, but mostly I figure, "YEP, I'm not getting any younger, let's get this show on the road." So, I'm going for it. Pete says he loves me more than the universe and everything in it, and that he'll take care of me forever, and that makes me feel happy and secure and relieved. I will be a 42 year old bride for the first time. At first he was getting a bit peeved at me for going to the craft stores buying wedding stuff (but in my defense, it's all 70% off or on clearance), but then he said, "Ya know, I realized that I am your FIRST husband, and that this is super special for you, so I want you to have your special day." The previous two women he was married to before had already been married once before him, so he was their second husband. He said he spent less than $2000 on each one of those weddings, and I said, "See? You get what you pay for my friend, and you've gotten more out of ME in the one year we've been together than you did in the whole time you knew those two bimbo's." I also reminded him that an average wedding costs $27,000 nowadays, and that I won't go anywhere NEAR that number, nor even HALF of that. So that made him feel better.

But I do want to do things myself...I have never spent much time in my younger years, dreaming of this day though. Most girls have already got some kind of plan in their heads when they get hitched, they've dreamed about it for years, they've written ideas down, etc....I did do that myself when I was 18, but then the guy dumped me for his ex, and I was heartbroken and vowed never to get married....so that whole idea just went POOF in my head and I never gave it much thought after that. So right now I"m just making it all up as I go, winging it, hoping that it all turns out to look pretty and elegant and special. But I've got NO CLUE what kinds of hair-do's I want the brides maids to wear, much less their shoes...I have NO CLUE what to do about the music, (though Faithfully by Journey will be our first dance song, THAT much I know)...and I have NO CLUE what kind of candy to put in the favor boxes....stuff like that....I never once thought about it in all my 41 years of life on this planet.

So, I'm rollin' with it, thinking about it, doing research on web sites, looking up ideas, printing out pretty cakes that I like, growing my hair long so I can do something "up" with it maybe...and I'm trying to figure out all the logistics of the day too, like how the hell are we supposed to decorate this huge place in one hour, AND pick up the cake, AND get my nails & hair done, AND organize everybody to pitch in to help with setting up stuff, AND make sure everybody's having a good time, AND AND AND....it just makes me dizzy to think about it.

Well, I'm off to the glue gun again. I sit at the dining room table most days, talking with Pete's mom, and making stuff for the wedding. I'm making centerpieces, utensil holders, placecards, unity candles, a bird cage for cards, I've painted black wrought iron candle holders an off-white, and will decorate those too...we've got the invitations ready to roll, but need to print them... I've got some "Gilligan" ideas also, like small wooden captain's ship wheels with each of the bridal party's faces in the center of them, glued to their champagne glass at their seats...cute, eh? And the theme is "Little Buddies Forever," with our faces in the center of a large wooden captain's ship wheel, above the bridal party table...and framed photos of Gilligan characters all around....it'll be kinda fun.

That's all for now. I'm keeping busy, I'm being creative, and I'm having a good time doing it all so far.

Bye for now.

Love, Sassy Girl