24 Days 'Til the Wedding
Sometimes I wonder what you're supposed to feel like when you're wedding is in three weeks. Stressed? Irritated? Excited? Sad? I don't know! I feel a little calm. I have a lot to do! LOL Story of my life it seems like. Story of this engagement! I've had "a lot" to do since I became engaged last March! Something is seriously wrong with me, people. If you have "a lot" to do for more than a year then something is really really wrong. But you know what's good about not working? Even though I have a lot to do, I finally feel like I'm doing things. I am really going to cherish this next week and a half. It's practically all I have left before I go back to the office and wedding planning has to compete with a busy workday. OK so, what we did:
- We're on the books! Ben and I went down to the courthouse and made things semi-official. We signed paper work, we raised our right hands, we said yes, we signed papers again, then we waited. Five minutes later...we had our marriage certificate! I'm a little slow, and apparently so is Ben, so at our "celebration dinner" with Jocelyn at The Burger Joint we had to keep asking each other if we're married or not. We're not married yet, but the state now knows of our intentions. We still have to get it signed by our officiant, my second cousin Rev. Dr. Sallie Cuffee. She'll sign it after our wedding ceremony. Then we'll be married. The next time I go there will be to change my name! Gasp! Last three weeks as just an Edwards, before I enter the realm of hypenate-dom.
- Ben ordered yet ANOTHER suit! I won't even get started on this. But this is the last straw. As long as he looks good and feels good, I'm good.
- We reviewed our budget! This is one of my most hated activities but it has to be done. We've paid three vendors fully, which is great. But there's more to come. I guess the cool thing about these vendors is that most of them only take cash. Which means there's not a super high credit card bill to pay after the wedding. At first I looked at this as such an inconvenience. But one year later, I'm thankful, because once the wedding is over I'll finally have money and be able to save like I really want to. And as a newly married couple, Ben's and my "What We Want to Save For" list is pretty long.
And now for something we did that no one should have to do ever again in their lives: we started working on the seating chart for the wedding. Luckily, we finished. And as a result of that process I've developed my tips for putting together a wedding seating chart when you're having a big wedding:
Tip #1: It's kind of a nice thing to put all the parents together, with their parents, if it works out. We're seating 10 people to a table. And even a part-time wedding planning cynic like me can see the benefits of sitting some of the most important people to the bride and groom at the same table.
Tip #2: If you're having a big wedding, 150 plus according to DC area stats (where the average wedding is 100 people), it's good to divide everyone into categories. Some of our categories included "AU PPL" (my friends from college), "Old Friends" ( people not in the bridal party whom I've known forever), and "People with Kids." The purpose of this was to make sure we didn't put certain types of people at tables where they would be uncomfortable. For example, I chose to sit all the people who brought kids at the same tables, while my college friends are mostly divided up at tables with people who are in a similar age range.
Tip #3: It's nice to put people who know each other together, but sometimes it really doesn't work out. This is especially difficult when someone is coming by themselves and is only really close to one person at the wedding. At the end of the day, you just hope that everyone is nice to everyone at each table.
Tip #4: Try not to stress out about who's sitting where and whether or not they're going to like it. When I worked on the seating chart by myself, while I was recovering from surgery at home, I did this a lot. And not much got done. But as soon as Ben jumped in, it was like the seating chart was completed in 10 minutes. That's because Ben is no-nonsense! And we really don't have time to stress about who's going to be uncomfortable in what spot. That said I think we took a lot of people's personalities into consideration when making this list, and for the most part, no one should be scrambling to try to find a seat. Since it's a wedding, I'm sure there will be at least three people who will complain. But if we only have three complainers out of 180 people, I'll take that. I'd consider that a win.
Next Up...
Jocelyn and I will spend the next week completing our DIY projects and I've got a few more payments to mail off and several emails to write. I guess there really are no more big things to do. No more research, really. Just a lot of emails, online ordering, and typing up timelines/schedules/emails to vendors. I'm feeling good about this wedding. Things might just go OK.
In other wedding-related news!
My best friend since high school and one of my bridesmaids, Sajia, is getting married this weekend to her boyfriend of 10 years!!! Sajia and I have been through several of phases of life together. And now, we're about to enter a new phase together, wife-dom, which is super exciting. I can't wait to watch Sajia get married to her longtime love this weekend and get tons of advice from her about married life since she'll be ahead of me by three weeks! I'm so thankful for her friendship, and can't wait to see how God blesses her and Imran's marriage.
The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.
~Elbert Hubbard
We've both changed a lot, and I'm glad we still like each other :D
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