It All Works out in the End

We are at the age where we see many of our friends and peers getting married. My heart immediately goes out to any bride in their planning stages. Except for the ones on those reality TV shows like “Platinum Weddings” and “Bridezilla”. It’s awfully difficult to watch train wrecks like that. I digress.

However, I admit when the wedding bug caught me, I spent countless hours online researching every little aspect of our wedding. I would get upset if TheKnot.com hadn’t updated any of its pages within the last several hours – I need new ideas and new info! More info! Had I not transitioned to part time at work as the wedding planning progressed, I would have docked my own pay for time spent on online.

Admittedly, I had always thought of a spring outdoor wedding in my head, with acoustic guitars serenading guests as they wait in the garden. I had to take a detour from my original vision when we learned that Erik was soon leaving for Japan in the summer of 2007. That left us with a prompt decision for a holiday wedding – the only time we knew he would be back in the States for sure.

Lessons learned:

• Have plenty of good food.
• Have plenty of good drink. Even regular drink will do. Trying to create a special signature drink for your wedding? Guess what, no one will talk about it the next day. Save yourself the time and money.
• Let your bridesmaids pick whatever they want to wear – pick a color and let them have it.
• The seating chart is just for dinner.
• If something ends up costing an extra couple dollars than expected, it’s worth it to have the decision done and over with.
• Remember that half the people don’t even eat their slice of cake.
• Let your friends and family dote their love upon you – it’s what they want to do. They wouldn’t be there if they didn’t want to be there.

It worked out in the end for us: Having harped for years that the New Years holiday always fell towards being anticlimactic, we now have a reason for a second kiss at midnight as we celebrate our anniversary. Also, the one-stop-shop of having the ceremony and reception at a hotel ensured that our guests were well taken care of for the winter’s night. That meant drinking and dancing was even more abundant. What we once feared was settling for boring and basic was indeed a magical night for us.

So for all the brides in planning, know this one sure thing: Everything will turn out just fine.