Here Comes the Bride...

So when Katelin asked me yesterday if I would guest blog for her, I said yes - obvi. There are so many great bloggers out there, it's taken me since last September to find a nice lil niche and Katelin was among one of the first that I started reading when I jumped the LJ ship to the wonderful world of wordpress (no offense to all you blogger folk). Anyhow, shame on me, I'm being rude, I'm Heidi from Life in Pink.

So since our favorite gal Katelin is at a wedding this weekend, I decided to talk about weddings. Mostly because a. I'm going to one this weekend in Boston and b. I'm planning my own having been engaged now for almost two weeks.

Time sure is flying.

But really, let's chat about weddings.

Some people...are just tacky. Some people have bad taste. Some people are walking cliché's. I currently have three friends, and three acquaintances that I knew in college - all of whom are planning weddings to occur in the next 1-2 years.

Hot damn.

I guess they're right when they say "guess something is in the air" because really? Jebus. I thank goodness that I likely will be invited to anywhere between one and three of these weddings. I enjoy weddings...I do. When I know people there. Fiancé and I are going to a wedding in Connecticut for a friend of his from high school. Whom he happened to have briefly dated. Granted it practically doesn't count in the way that high school relationships stop counting after one or two serious relationship when you're older but still, it might be the principle.

Or the fact that I wasn't originally invited.

That's just really making me not looking forward to this wedding. We were already going up to celebrate with his parents anyhow, but now we get to spend a morning with small talk, and brunch. Brunch? Really?

No offense to you people who enjoy lunchtime or daytime weddings but unless there's an open bar and I know fiancé and I won't have to drive...I doubt I'll have a spectacular time...because I dunno, something about them just...bugs me. I mean you have people come into town for a wedding and what, by four pm the wedding is over, the newlyweds are snug in a hotel room consummating their marriage and what do the guests do? Twiddle their thumbs? Maybe I haven't been to a good day time wedding, but all the ones I've been to since turning 21 were evening black-tie optional events.

My wedding? 2pm ceremony. 5pm cocktail reception. 6pm dinner/reception. Around 11pm? Shut the place down and roll out to the Irish bar that our hotel that the wedding will LIKELY be at (there are no deposits down yet) and keep the party going. It? Is going to be AWESOME. Hands down, just awesome.

The wedding this weekend? A 6pm ceremony with a sweet reception at a hotel in the Financial District of Boston. It has been described as "big and beautiful."

Unfortunately, fiancé and I, despite the contributions from our parents, will be paying for most of the wedding ourselves. At first I thought I wanted a big affair. Lots of family and lots of friends. But given the fact that our wedding will be away from our respective hometowns in DC, it'll be smaller with close family and close friends. It'll be fun, and classic and elegant in the simple ways. Tea light candles. White lights. Hydrangeas and mums and daisies. Green and Pink everywhere because those? Though I know cliché but my favorite colors.

Way before we got engaged, I started thinking about all this, not so much that it drove me crazy or pressured boyfriend, but in a way that I would look for ideas from other weddings. Usually bigger than what I'd have (i don't think anyone needs a stir-fry bar, a sushi bar, a martini bar, and a carving station at the COCKTAIL hour) , with colors I probably wouldn't choose (pink and red? not so much...) but the thing about it all is, that I'm learning, is that everyone has different taste. And that? Is what should be appreciated. So what if you don't think the purple poofy gowns that looked horrible on half of the bridesmaids was what the bride chose...if thats what she wanted then so be it. So What if the pale pale pink and red carnations and roses were a bit Valentine's Day for you...it was early March and she liked it all. So what if there was too much food and thus you felt you couldn't dance because there was just SO MUCH FOOD...and you were too full...you didn't pay for it and should be honored that you were invited to enjoy it with the bride and groom. But look around - the CD that the newlyweds made as a gift for everyone with their favorite songs? The pictures of the couple around their town with numbers for the table numbers? Those are the little things that differentiate weddings, the little details that make it that much more personal and those are the things I love to notice.

Personally? I can't wait till I can do all this. Fifteen months and counting.

Anyhow, hope you're having a ball at the wedding Katelin, can't wait to hear all about it!!

Don't forget freaders, to stop by my blog at Life in Pink ;) /end shameless plug