A Royal Wedding

Ok, so the big news this week is that Prince William and Kate Middleton are getting married... like tomorrow.  But they're time is weird so it's about 4am our time tomorrow.  You have to wonder what is going through her head right now?  Then I wonder (because I'm pretty self-oriented) when I think about my wedding day, what's it going to be like?  The hours leading up to your wedding?  When pondering this question I try to liken it to elementary school when we had special days.

Is it going to be like one of those mornings in 4th grade where you know you have an all day field-trip to downtown Portland and you get to ride the max and listen to a symphony?  You're so excited that you don't sleep well and wake up way before your mom comes into your room?  And you know it's going to be a long day so you want to eat eggs or something sturdy like that for breakfast, but you're so excited that your stomach can't take much so you pack a granola bar for brunch?

Or is it more like one of those typical mornings where you wake up like it's any other day and then when you're brushing your teeth you remember that you have an afternoon assembly!  One where people come and dress up and do skits about not littering and saying no to drugs!  And, even though you didn't remember the assembly until now, you're so excited that you get ready really quickly because you want to get to school as quickly as possible because the afternoon assembly can't come fast enough!

Maybe it's neither?  Just like any other day?  Or one of those dreaded test finals days?  Those mornings where you wake up and remember you'r supposed to do an oral report on the Vatican and you aren't ready at all?  I hate to throw that one in there because I'm like to be optimistic, but I know a handful of people who don't like the public speaking thing, so it could be a daunting thought for them.

I really can't imagine it, and I'm really curious.  If there are married ladies out there who want to chime in about how their 'morning of' was, please do!  Could you sleep?  Could you eat?  On a scale of 1 to 10 how nervous were you?  Or was it, "let's get this the heck over with!  I've got plane tickets to somewhere!"

The baby I never had...

Christian and I are doing pre-martial counseling with a great couple!  They have been married 40+ years, have a very successful family and professional life, and are by no means "shy" when it comes to talking about what comes naturally "in the bedroom"... (for Christian's sake, that's the most suggestive I'll ever be in this blog).  Joking aside, they are neat people and an ideal couple to counsel with. 

Part of our pre-marital-training includes a 164 question test.  Christian and I were to each answer the questions and do it separately so we couldn't cheat.  It should be an easy task, it's multiple choice and there are really no "wrong" answers.  However, if any of you are familiar with Likert scales (any Psych students out there?), an ideal test gives you answer options that range from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree" making several stops along the way to answers like, "Paritally Disagree" "Neutral" "Somewhat Agree" and "I don't bloody know"  This test had, "Agree" "Disagree" and "Uncertain", that's it.  There's no gray area.  There's, "Yes I think my future spouse's parents are interfering" (I don't, by the way) "No, I don't even think my future spouse has parents" and "I have no idea what you're talking about."  I like gray areas, they give me space to answer a questions and feel 100% right and 100% awesome at the same time!  Since I felt like I could not do that I found myself frustrated for 164 questions. 

As luck would have it, my frustration turned to sheer amusement a few days later.  Remember when I said there were no wrong answers to this test?  We were wrong.  Which one of us failed?  By a landslide... it was Christian.  Our counselor called up Christian and after some small talk casually asked, "Why didn't you tell us Danae had a baby from a previous relationship?" 

Yes, Christian had accidently pressed "Agree" when asked, "My future spouse has a child from a previous relationship."  And just like that, I now have a love-child.  I wish I had time to come up with a good back-story for it (I haven't decided if it's a boy or a girl yet, must be traumatizing to the poor thing...).   

I think it was a Freudian slip suggesting that Christian wants to have a child ASAP, he told me he'll be slipping birth control pills into my cereal for at least 5 years once we tie the knot. 

We'll see. 

All about the Groom

This weekend was as productive as it was short.  And I'll tell you what, things are starting to really cook!  We got some of the "medium-big" things taken care of like Christian's ring, his attire, honeymoon plans firmed up, and I took some mental notes on what I wanted to say for my wedding vows the other day while I was driving to Starbucks.  Which is about as good as that's gonna get. 

We landed on the "black tic" suit that you can see on the left, and no, Christian isn't Asian.  But he loves the color orange, so there you go.  On the right is a sweet looking ring by Scott Kay.  Imagine those two lighter stripes on the outside of the ring as more of a "blond" or "white-man-flesh-tone" and you'll get the picture. 

In an act of complete serendipity (which I actually believe means "a holy coindicence") at Helzberg Diamonds we met the bride-to-be who will be having her reception at the same place we are having our reception (Urban Studio)... wait for it... THE DAY AFTER OUR WEDDING.  So wedding bells go off in my head and I'm wondering, "what rentals can I share with this nice lady?" ... I'll keep you up-to-date on those developments.  But this may become a tip for future planning brides: to save money, track down the couple who are getting married the day before or after you, you'll probably stumble across them in a mall somewhere. 

 Um... also I got a kindle for my birthday. 



Wrapping up the big stuff...

I'm excited to announce that we have landed on a photographer that we're both super excited about.  On Sunday after a fun lunch with Christian's folks we met Lenny from Studio-98 and chatted, looked over books and talked shop.  Turns out he's getting married this summer too, so the commisserating over planning, details, and an empty pocketbook was comforting. 

This is the final big thing to fall into place... I've got the dress, we've picked our colors, the date, the venues, a loose timeline, so having the photographer ties things up into a nice package.  I have to say though, the process of planning a wedding has entirely too many details for someone like me to deal with.  It's like playing wack-a-mole.  One decision gets made and 20 more pop up.  We've got a photographer, so when does he get there, where do we go around Portland to get the fun pictures taken, what are the different family pictures... blah blah blah.  I keep hearing that the day will come so quickly so enjoy the planning process.  I suppose when all is said and done I will probably offer the same advice to another engaged couple, but still, I haven't gotten to the point where wedding planning is more fun than stress. 

Check out our photographer here.