The First Stages
Wedding planning so far has been, as I predicted in my last post, alternatively stressful and fun. Fun part! Knowing who your bridesmaids are immediately (little sis Dorkus is my maid of honor, my good friend L from my Dyn-o-mite! days is my bridesmaid). Stressful part! Realizing you know way too many people and happen to be related to a good chunk of the world’s population (I exaggerate, but . . .). Fun part! Looking at pretty venue pictures in Ann Arbor. Stressful part! Looking at pretty venue banquet prices. I know we’re more than year out at this point, but I can’t help myself — besides, the day will come soon enough and I want to be ready, don’t I?
Kidding. But the thing is, this is very exciting. IP is taking a more relaxed attitude towards all of this, but he’s definitely doing his part to help. Last night, he put together all the pictures that we have of us, or that we’ve taken of each other. He’s also drafted his first guest list as we tackle trying to figure out the final list (we have already realized that maybe having that 50 person wedding we were talking about was a tad unrealistic). I’ve been working on our wedding website (sorry, interwebs — no link for you!) and IP has offered to write his parts, so I’ve given him the username and password. He’s also very analytical when it comes to banquet menus — the planner in me isn’t coming to the fore when I look at these things right now. All I see is people having a good time, eating well, and drinking booze. It’s helpful to have someone who’s on top of such details. I know the planner within will kick in eventually, especially when I visit venues, but for now, I’m all googly-eyed.
Spreading the news today was fun. At work, when I first arrived, there was no one around. I actually kind of pouted — who would see and admire my emerald ring, damnit!? I eventually chilled while answering two-week old emails and chatting with my sister over Yahoo Messenger. When people did start to drift in, they all congratulated IP and me; they were pretty excited to see us engaged after seeing us move ever closer to this day for two and a half years. People gave me hugs, pumped their fists in the air and squealed in delight at having been right. I actually made one person cry with our proposal story.
I then called my mother just for the heck of it — it’s nice to have her so excited for IP and me. Her first question was about the mariachi band we’d always dreamed of having. Would IP and I be doing that after all? I balked a bit. I personally don’t know of any mariachi bands in Detroit (though there must be some), and the cost is probably pretty extravagant. Mom offered to audition bands that she could find (by going to restaurant managers) and told me that the band need only be at the site for an hour. “It’d be wonderful if you could have something from your tierra,” she said. My land. I agreed — I always imagined my parents doing an anniversary dance to Parece que fue ayer. My parents are angling to pay for something, anything, and would gladly shell out for an hour of mariachi music. My dad is insisting on paying for my dress, too. They’re too cute.
I topped off the day by calling my Dyn-o-mite! buddy to let her know that I was engaged and to ask her to be my bridesmaid. She accepted immediately, saying she was so honored — I think it’ll be a lot of fun to have her in my party. I know she and Dorkus get along great. I honestly don’t expect much from my maids — I want them to have fun, pick out the dress they want (I just ask they stick to the color scheme), have a fun spa day and luncheon with me, and enjoy the day. I’ll write them both an email shortly in which I link them up and promise not to become a bridezilla; my goal is to be as low-maintenance as possible. I will ask them to collectively bitchslap me if I do so.
So go the first few days of planning. As IP said, if I keep this up, I won’t have anything to do for the next year! (I know that to be false, though — I’m sure plenty will pop up!)
