Mawwiage

My best friend Lindsey is getting married. I will be the Maid of Honor.

We have been dreaming about this day out loud for about 19 years. Or maybe just 12 because we used to hate each other. But I digress.

I would just like to say out loud, to the blog world, that planning a wedding is not really as much fun and games as you think it will be when you're 15. Because when you're 15, making plans for this weekend on Thursday is totally planning ahead. But a decade later, making plans in June for September is late. Also, in fantasy wedding land, the bride isn't a full-time grad student and the MOH (I have succumbed to silly wedding jargon) doesn't have a full-time job.

So this morning I sent out an email to all the bridesmaids with a glorious little spreadsheet with all the pertinent contact info along with some engagement dinner/couple shower & bachelorette party plans I had already discussed with the bride-to-be. (Sidenote: I really like to make lists.) I will be hosting the dinner in the town where we grew up at my parents' house and I proposed a date that felt far off enough for me to not freak out with the planning.

The date I'd like to do this is September 12th, which is a Saturday. How does that look for everyone? I'm sure it's going to be impossible to find a date that works for every single one of us, but we'll do our best! I'm so excited that we all get to do this together! Please feel free to give me your input on the plans!

Do! you! sense! my! excitement!?

The chain of emails that has ensued is out. of. control. I'll leave out the in between parts, but I'll give you some pieces of my latest response and you might get an idea of how this whole thing has been going:

Take some deep breaths for me and then stop going overboard with the ????????!!!!!!!!!!?!?!?!!??! :) ... And I can actually handle those RSVPs if you want, that way you can study, so there will be less of this (?!?!?!freakin' the hell out?!?!?) and more of this (....calm....). ... Collective deep breaths now. ... Nobody freak out about the Bachelorette dates. Freaking out makes things no fun & we want FUNNNNN!!! Don't worry your pretty little head, dearest, just pass grad school.

I say all of these snappy little quips with all the love in my heart,

Hope

Seriously. Deep breaths.

I really am excited about this. I really can't wait to go to the restaurant on Saturday morning and check out the catering menu for the dinner I'm throwing. I've made a notebook with tabs and calendars and labels and to-do lists and guest lists and pretty sample pictures. I've joined theknot.com so I can access all of their great wedding-planning resources. I've saved all the invitations for anything and everything wedding related for the past several months so I can have real-life samples. I've pulled out all the wedding books and magazines that I bought during high school and college (that's no small collection, friends). I really, really love looking at my best friend in a gorgeous white gown and I even love arguing with her fiance about how the groomsmen can NOT wear sweaters with ties (yes, you read that right, sweaters with ties) instead of suit jackets for the ceremony.

So don't mistake this post for a complaint. This is me doing what I do best in our circle of friends-- saying out loud the stuff everyone else is thinking, and trying to make it funny while my best friend loses her mind because she's planning a wedding in the middle of grad school.

See how cute she is?! How could you not want to plan the most glorious wedding of all time for that face?


And lest you think I'm a bad friend, here's part of her response to the above email: LOVE! Thank you for making my life easier...I have finals next week, so stress is setting in! Ok...breathe...got it. Love you!

See? We wuv each other. It's wuv, true wuv!