9 Weeks and Counting

I am getting married in 9 weeks. That's 65 days...give or take a few. How is this happening so soon? And can't I just push it off a few more months? I don't feel ready.

But do you ever, really, feel ready?

It's nothing to do with Chris or our relationship. I'm confident there. It's all about the wedding - the ceremony and party part worry me. We're keeping this thing super-low-key and yet I'm still worried! There's something seriously wrong with that. Maybe my parents were right. Maybe we should have just eloped. Wait, didn't they want to be there for that too? That's not really eloping if other people are there...right?

Anyhow, there's a wedding to be had in something like 9 weeks. You're probably wondering how we got here. OK, you're not wondering but I'm going to tell you anyway. I'll start with a diagram of the journey.

So when all of this started, Chris and I wanted to go to the justice of the peace in Phoenix and get married. Then we wanted to have a party in Texas to celebrate with friends there. Then we'd have a party in Phoenix to celebrate with our friends here. When we announced these plans to our parents at Christmas and they had plenty of reasons these things wouldn't work out. Mostly logistics which after a little time made sense. Suddenly I had to find Plan B!

So I spent half of Christmas vacation coming up with an alternative plan. Plan B got out of control really quickly. It included a public wedding, a museum rental (which alone was $2000+), dinner, dancing, etc. Before long it was the traditional wedding that I never wanted. But for a few days it seemed like a good idea. Especially because our friend, David, was having a show at the museum and being surrounded by his art would be really special.

After Christmas we came back to Phoenix and back to real life. I went over Plan B and ran the numbers again. And again. Then I broke out into a cold sweat. Then I woke up with nightmares. Then I checked myself into an in-patient program. Not really. Though I realized how crazy it would be to spend all that money for a party that would only last 5-6 hours. I decided for sure that I couldn't have that kind of wedding when I calculated how many months (MONTHS) I would have to work to earn enough money for those 5-6 hours.

It was easy convincing Chris we had to do something different, but I was horribly stressed about what the family thought. You know what everyone says - the wedding isn't for you but it's for your family. I wanted to make everyone happy, but knew I had to be true to myself too. So I moved to Plan C.

As you can tell from the diagram, Plan C is where my journey ended and it's close to the original plans. I feel good about the amount of money we're spending. I'm confident that it's our speed - special but laid back. (Is that a speed?) I'm actually excited about it! I just hope I can pull everything off since there's tiny pieces that still need to be glued together.

The Wedding Weekend*:
1. Friday night - Small, private ceremony for family and a few close friends in Chris's parents' backyard. Dinner following.
2. Saturday afternoon - Open house at my parents' house. Plenty of food and drinks. People can come and go as they please. A public event without being out of control. A celebration!
3. Saturday night - Informal party at a friends' house. (I hope I still have the energy to attend this one.)
4. Sunday - Small, private brunch to get a few more hours with family and close friends.

*All of this takes place in Arlington, Texas, our hometown.

Oh yeah, and all this happens at the end of May. In 9 weeks. 9 weeks. I'm lucky to have come full circle and am getting the wedding that I want. I'm so happy that the family is supportive (even if they are a little nervous about all this non-traditional stuff). Finally, I'm happy that I've only started to freak out at the 9 week mark. I'm glad that I haven't been freaking out for months already.

Now, on to the stuff that really needs to be done to get this wedding thing happening. I'm off to make more invitations!

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