Our Wedding by the Sea

I meant to write this post yesterday, but didn't get a chance to do so.  I woke up yesterday morning in a panic.  I had another wedding nightmare that felt so real and was a total train wreck.

Chris' best man (who is getting married 2 weeks before we are) got delayed coming back from his honeymoon.  He & his new wife took a cruise, which they were late to get off of- causing them to miss their flight and get stuck in Miami or whatever.  So they were MIA at the wedding, which really sucked.  It couldn't happen for real though, since their honeymoon will be ending about a week before our wedding, so even if they do miss their flight they'll have almost a week to keep trying to get here haha.  So at least that can/will be avoided.

Then my sister decided to get married the day before us.  Like literally- September 21.  At the same place as us.  She also borrowed my veil.  So I woke up on the morning of my wedding and cleaned up her wedding by myself so I could use the same space for mine.

The venue wasn't the beach, but my effing apartment.  Like where I am currently sitting, typing this out.  It's a nice size apartment, but couldn't host 100 people & dancing.  Also, we didn't bother to clean it, so I was trying to get ready for my wedding while taking out the garbage, touching up the paint on the wall, and trying to sweep the porch.

Which was a futile attempt, because no one came.  I remember looking at the clock every couple minutes because my bridal party & family were nowhere to be found.  My photographer (who is scheduled to arrive at 9am) didn't show up.  I did my own makeup.  I was just all alone and had way too much to do.  The only person who did show up was the cake delivery guy and I was in the middle of juggling my makeup and taking out the trash and realized I was too stressed to tell him where to put it, plus I didn't have any idea where it was supposed to go because my sister's wedding stuff still wasn't completely gone.

Finally, I woke up.  I'm glad the last bit of the dream was about a half hour before the wedding, because had I dreamed all the way through my ceremony I think I would have freaked out.

I woke up and got ready for work as fast as possible, then got online to research DOC's.  I know I can do this myself, and with careful planning and early conversations with everyone involved, I won't even need to be a bridezilla or spend my whole day making sure that things are getting done, etc.  But still, in a panic I contacted a few DOCs and I cannot believe how much freaking money they want to coordinate one day.  I'm not interested in wedding planning or even someone being there to help me book vendors.  I wanted someone to be at the rehearsal & ceremony to tell us when to walk down the aisle.  I wanted someone to make sure the cocktail hour was smoothe, the musicians & DJ knew where to set up, the caterers arrived & set up, the cake guy told where to go, etc.  Just basically making sure things got done so I didn't have to.  They wanted upwards of $1200 for that crap!  I'm not even paying my stinkin' DJ that much!!!  That is insane!!  So I'm glad I found my confidence again because there's no way our budget has enough "wiggle room" to squeeze that craziness in!

So finding a caterer is proving to be a headache.  Whenever vendor hunting gets hard like this, I find myself withing that weddings just came pre-planned with vendors, and you could just make a bunch of cute things and have a wedding.  I guess I could have had that, had I used a traditional venue.   should have started trying to find a caterer sooner.  I found a great one with awesome prices, but they are already double-booked on my wedding day, so they were a no-go.  Now I'm back to the drawing board.  Everyone I've contacted other than that place has been over-budget or booked.

I found one who is $21something pp for a buffet, but he didn't give me many more details than that.  He didn't seem too personable/excited for business and hasn't replied to my follow-up email.  I also emailed a few more places today based on the recommendations of other people, and there is one place that I'm really excited about and crossing my fingers for.  Hopefully I can check the caterer off ASAP since I have NO interest in this aspect of my wedding.  I just want there to be good food.  It doesn't have to be the best food ever or even better than most.  Just average or better.  I'm not really a food person haha.  If it's delicious, that's just a bonus.  Hopefully I'll have something to report shortly!

Chris and I are hoping to find a place or 2 to have a tasting at in February.  We'll be in Stone Harbor anyway for my first race on February 11.  So it would be great if we could set up a tasting that weekend.

Okay moving along...

I just got an email from our photographer.  She's won the "Bride's Choice Awards" for 2012 from WeddingWire.  Super exciting- for both she and I!  I am so excited for her.  I knew she was amazing, and now it's great to see that others are seeing it too & she's being acknowledged for her fabulosity.  Yay Inna!

Also, Chris finally asked his last groomsmen!  So now we officially have our bridal party: Morgan (MOH), Britta, Jen, Kyle (BM), Andy, & Duck!  Yay!!

And finally, onto wedding nightmares.

I guess my planning hiatus took a toll on my subconscious, because the other night I dreamed that the day before my wedding I realized I was getting married the next day and just forgot to plan the rest of the event.  I showed up and wore my dress too long (I never got it altered) and my veil was wrinkled.  I got dressed in front of strangers in a back room of the venue where we got married.  We got married in a church, not at the beach.  I also never made/sent wedding invites, so I made a FB event and hoped some people would show up....  We also asked for baby name recommendations at the wedding (??) and my dad suggested we name our first daughter Hickory Pine.  Really!?  And so now I'm all ready to get back on board and plan this thing so I don't end up with a train wreck wedding like that one...

I'm currently at the tail-end of a homework marathon, but this wedding nightmare from last night keeps popping up in my head.

I was at my wedding, which for some reason I let my mother plan.  Not that I don't love her, I'm just an OCD control freak and I'd never let her (or anyone for that matter) have complete reign over my wedding.  Anyway, all the stuff I've already done was in the dream, so it's like I just handed over control from now, forward.  I had my dress (but for some reason, my veil was missing- I mentioned it in my dream, but someone said I'd lost it).  My mum changed our venue to one that doesn't really exist but that I could walk to in my dream from my house.  It was actually really pretty- outside and in a garden- but not at all what I wanted for my wedding.

Everyone was late, but that was okay because I was too (which in reality, I'm always early to everything).  People were sitting on benches, watching me get ready outside.  It was so weird and I was so embarrassed.

Finally I started walking down the aisle and searched for Chris, who wasn't at the other end.  I have been looking forward to walking down the aisle for months.  I can't wait to see him waiting there for me.  In my dream, I walked to the end of the aisle, and then he walked down the aisle and met me there.

Someone had decided that instead of just flowers, we should have flowers AND balloons.  Colourful ones.  My bouquet was a combination of carnations in a lot of different colours and calla lilies (which were also multi-coloured) and balloons with helium in them so they floated above the bouquet and kept hitting me in the face.  Chris even held some flowers and a balloon-we basket.  I actually laughed and threw it on the ground when he met me at the end of the aisle, because I hated it.

Afterward, we just went home.  There was no reception or celebration of any kind.  We climbed into the back of a minivan with my mom-mom, who smokes and was chain smoking on our way home.  I just kept thinking about how bad my dress was going to smell, and then I woke up.

I'm so tired of wedding nightmares, and they've only just begun.  At this point, I just want this thing to be planned so I can enjoy my honeymoon!!