The End

Well, I’m at work. I’m married, freshly married just five days ago, and I’m at work. Such is the life of a fall sports coach I guess. At least the awesome party memories should tide me over for the next couple weeks of getting up early and getting home late, dealing with homesick freshmen and kids who didn’t work out once over the summer, and the fact I am not on some exotic honeymoon. Sigh. At least I have an exotic honeymoon to plan for…and save for, oh dear.

Oh, if you want to know about the wedding, it was great. Just what we wanted. That’s about all I’ll divulge, but it is something I would do again in a heartbeat, although let’s hope I don’t have to…

Today's the Day

Yes, I am on the computer the morning of my wedding. How shameful. When you sleep three hours and get up before 7 and all your friends are [smartly] sleeping it off, there’s not really much else to do. I just sent a work email. Yikes. Last work email as a single woman, wow. Wow again. Last breakfast as a single woman, coming up. And hopefully staying down.

Almost there

Tomorrow’s it; I’ve got less than 24 hours to change my mind. Luckily, I haven’t actually once thought about changing my mind, but I sometimes enjoy reminding myself I can, just in case. What if I wake up tomorrow suddenly in love with someone else? Runaway Bride—which was unnervingly on tv the other day—(and Julia Roberts for that matter) is a good example of a last minute exit. I mean, I’m sure Julia feels better happy with some long haired ginger kids today than married to Keifer Sutherland however many years ago, right? Even if she probably felt like a pretty big jerk at the time and all.

So far I’m not panicking, but I am starting to get that overwhelming feeling of “oh man, how can I possibly deal with all these people wanting to talk to me?” And there’s the thing about standing in a church in front of 150 people, but I guess I’ll get over it. Tomorrow when it’s done, anyway.

Accumulating Junk

I have never been shopping so much in my life. Granted, I’m not much of a shopper. TJMaxx on a Tuesday morning is about all I can handle; I have the patience of a 3rd grade boy in ballet class when it comes to shopping, but still, I have put my record to extreme shame. Every morning we sit down, write a list of crap we need to do and buy, and then we spend the late morning and early afternoon tracking down such nonsensical items as “second back up, third type of bug spray-wipes only” and “gluten-free, sugar- free, vegan something or other for crazy, annoying cousin we only invited because she’s family” and fighting with the people at Staples to get the gosh darned copies right. It is pretty embarrassing when the Walmart greeter calls you by name and the supermarket check-out person asks you how your last purchase from yesterday turned out. Whatever. It’s my wedding and I don’t have a wedding planner so here I am.

Hint to future brides: expand your credit limit a couple months before your big day.

Last Minute Comparison Time

After arriving home late last night—or early this morning, if you look at it that way—from yet another wedding, I passed out dead asleep. I woke with no recollection of any dreams, but I would bet good money I had plenty of them. The myriad wedding thoughts, good and bad, comparing and even non-judgmental—believe it—, floating around in there must have tried to do something in my head while I slept. In fact, I would bet I had some night sweats and tremors about it all. Good thing I slept through them. This whole “biggest day of your life” thing is starting to get to me.

In any event, one of my old childhood friends tied the knot on an island near where we grew up. We had a special ferry for the guests, so I got to show Fiancé my old ocean stomping grounds, including the beauteous power plant perched on a prominent edge of a prominent island. I am fond of it only because I saw a humpback whale out there in 3rd grade when I skipped Sunday school and went out on the boat with my dad. Something about the unnaturally warm water spewing a few hundred yards off shore…Fiancé’s enormous fear of sharks didn’t seem to bother him, and when we got to the wedding we forgot about our own impending party and visited with old and new friends in the sunshine, having fun as is sometimes hard to do when you’re focused so much on planning fun for everybody else.

Attire, check

My final dressing fitting was today, and since all went well, I actually got to take the dress home with me. I think the seamstress saw the panic on my face when she asked if I wanted to take it because she immediately offered to keep it for another few days. There are so many things I could do to screw it up. I’m not exactly Diane von Furstenberg’s assistant or anything. I mean, what if I hang it wrong? What if my house burns down and I can’t sprint up the stairs through the rising flames to grab it? What if I spill something on it, because even though it’s in a special bag and behind closet doors in a room I never go in, you know that could happen?

Anyway, the dress is home. It feels fabulous and if you will indulge me, I say it looks pretty swell too. You really can’t go wrong in your wedding dress. Well, I’m sure someone in the history of weddings has been able to mess up the whole glowing bride bit but it probably doesn’t happen that often. Now, I really need to get enough sleep and avoid having panicked late-night, stress-induced binge sessions so I can fit into it and maybe not look like a vampire when the time comes. Oh, the pressure!

Here it comes...

T-minus two weeks. Man, it really sneaks up on you. I have definitely never been a part of planning such a huge event before, but I now know I could never become an event planner: I’m going to be so bummed when it’s over. Ten months of phone calls and emails, harassment and “helpful hints” from family and friends, silly details, paranoia over anything and everything, curiosity about the turnout and excitement about seeing all my favorite people—and yes, getting hitched—seem like nothing. With two weeks to go, I wonder how we will get everything done but I also wonder how I can prolong the moment. I mean, what’s the point of planning an enormous, awesome party that will be over as soon as it starts? Sigh.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful to have this opportunity, to get to see everyone I love, have a raging dance party, be the boss for a day, and so on. There definitely is something sad about it though, knowing that the bajillion hours we put into this will be over before we know it. Maybe after the next two weeks I’ll be ready for the end though…I guess I’ll wait to see what happens before I get all weepy and emotional.