Check off another TD and write another fat check: We have purchased all of our bridal party attire. It's not that any one article of clothing cost so much ... it's that we have six per side, and there you have it. Last night we shopped for the last shirt (his sixth groomsman is a 2XL, a size the stores seem not to carry, so we had to purchase it online.) While in line to check for the shirt at Ala Moana Macy's, we stood next to another couple buying four of the exact same shirt.

"Getting married?"

Nods all around.

The shirts are on major sale, and thank goodness because the expenses, now, are really starting to pile up. A Short List of Big Things that have gone on our wedding-sanctioned credit card in the span of a month of so: flowers down payment, six groomsman shirts, the limo, and many a sanity-reclaiming caffeinated beverage for me. (Just passed the four-month soda-free mark on Nov. 5 so no, I'm not drinking soda - it's 99 percent iced teas with the occasional hot cocoa thrown in for fun and Vitamin C(hocolate).

$ad

I just booked the limo and confirmed our flowers. I think I'll go eat some candy. Because it's free.

At least we didn't actually need a freakin' bus.

Invitations WILL go out this Saturday. Come hell or high postage.

I yam off to see the florist. I am fully prepared to strike about a thousand things from the long list I made last time in order to stay within the budget we didn't really finish making over grumpy pancakes and omelettes yesterday.

Did I seriously think we were going to be immune to the whole fighting-over-wedding-stuff thing? I guess I did. Because there are so many things I really don't care about. But I guess, actually, the not caring is what is causing these issues. Not caring = not getting stuff done early = getting it done late(r) = major anxiety for S. Me, not so much. I am a worrier when I shouldn't be, and when I'm told I should worry, I don't.

Anyway, I'm not worried. Well, I occasionally worry that one day long after the wedding has come and gone, I will wake up and be sad that I didn't care more about things like cake and tulle. I've been getting more and more into the whole thing, but not enough to start obsessing.

Last week he said he wanted us to write our vows. By his own admission he is not an enthusiastic writer and so I was very surprised by this. I think it was the night of Peahen's wedding. He had said several times that he'd loved my MOH speech, and before we drifted off to sleep, he said it again, along with something like, "My vows are gonna suck compared to yours."

They're not, of course, and truthfully I just love the fact that he wants to write and share something from his heart. Now if only the church would get back to me so that we could seriously get going on this stuff.

a literal headache

Longest day of Wedding Tasks ever. Groomsmen's attire, check. New ideas for table decorations, check. Budget discussion, check. Photo order, check. Periodic snippy arguments about all of the above, check.

Also got some invitation work done.

Two consults tomorrow after a work meeting.

Wedding planning - who in their right mind would do this for a living?

two hundred days

Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?

My consultation w/the florist was the most fun I've had W-planning since the day I selected my dress. We sat down, envisioned, planned loosely, jotted notes, and suddenly I had my first Authoritative Bride moment. I had a list. I had a plan. I had a vision of ... Gerbera daisies?

I surprise myself sometimes.

I wish I could post more details.

I think I'm sort of the opposite of the cautionary tale, the girl who spends so much energy planning a wedding that the marriage part falls to the wayside, and, subsequently, sucks. I have put all my heart into our relationship and just sort of neglected the wedding part, and am just waking up to how fun it can be.

P.S. OK I had no visions of Gerbera daisies, which is why I am convinced that this is the floral designer for me. I threw out adjectives, she suggested specifics. Some surprising, most spot-on. I love her already. I hope we don't break up when she hits me with the estimate tomorrow.

expolicious

It turns out that I have up till one month before the wedding before the first gown fitting. Oh sure, that's practically tomorrow, but uh ... at least it's not today?

Yee ha!

Speaking of fittings and gowns, I need a dress for my Peahen's wedding. My BEST FRIEND from high school is getting married next week ... and I am following suit with the ball-and-chain action, it's finally all sinking in. I need to find a dress and some decent shoes, write the speech, try like hell to get the day of her shower off. Suddenly I am uncomfortably busy.

I think I remember doing this a couple of months ago: sitting down and writing out a tentative schedule for the wedding day itself. Now that more of those spaces, faces, and places are being filled in, the picture is slowly coming into focus.

It is a little bit scary.

First of all, we're going to need a freakin' BUS to transport the entire wedding party from place to place. (Not just any bus, a freakin' bus. You got that?) Where am I gonna get a wedding bus? (I said two groomsmen and two bridesmaids were all we needed; Everyone Else said that was kind of smallish for a wedding the size of ours. It's a fine day to start playing the Blame Game.) I'm kidding, of course - I don't regret the decisions we made regarding our bridal party; we love our friends. But I'm not kidding about the Freakin' Bus.

Second. The honeymoon concept is not even on the horizon. Let's get this wedding shindig planned, executed, and paid for before we throw around the H-word, methinks.

Third, now seems like a good time to reiterate (with updates) the cake caveat. It used to be that cake-in-face equaled on-the-spot annulment. Now that we are beginning to invest actual time and actual money in the planning of this endeavor, that seems like a waste (but so does $100+ for makeup being upset by red velvet) ... so now cake-in-face = year-long bedroom lockout. Oh sure, he can still use the bathroom, but the bed is strictly off-limits.

Hee.

For now though, we have yet to order the cake, style his groomsmen, decide on centerpieces and favors, blah etc. blah.

So, off to the Expo I go.

BTW, happy one-year engagement anniversary to us. Um, back on the 13th of this month. Hope we're better at remembering our wedding anniversary!

---

A short list of Expo successes:

Favors
Centerpieces
A flower contact
Cake

YAY.

Still to figure: Limo. Apparently I wasn't all that far off on the bus thing. The only one that would seat our entire bridal party was ... a VAN. No vans, thanks. I think stretch Hummers are preposterous but I'd ride in one of those before booking a VAN.