There is no winning in this lifetime. Is there? With just five short months until the wedding, I am a big fat combination of sad, confused, overwhelmed, and disappointed. Not the best way to start out a new life together.
I am sad because it seems like even though we are going through the motions of getting married, the truth of the matter is that I am still living 100 miles away, working a job that pays the bills. And there doesn’t seem to be a way to fix that. I have applied for many jobs back home and have gotten little outside of a phone call.
I am confused about the whole process of registering. And guest lists. And how do you deal with “inviting them” but not “inviting them”. And this couple can bring their child because you spend tons of time with them and are part of the family. But that couple, you aren’t incredibly close to and their kids ignore you when you see them.
And registering? Could that be more of a pain in the ass? I mean, we don’t need a bunch of shit and the cheap stuff we already have because that is what we can afford. So now we get to try and figure out a spread of goods that have a range in prices so that we don’t get things for the wedding that we don’t need. But there has to be enough variety so that people don’t have to spend a lot of money. And registering for expensive stuff? That just plain sucks. Because what does that say about us if we are registering for a gift that costs $500? That we are selfish and expect a lot from our friends and family?
I am overwhelmed because I have to sit here and figure out the cost of having someone play our wedding for free, but that means 4 more guests at the dinner table because how can you ask a friend of a friend (whom you have recently become better friends with) to play for free but not invite the mutual friends and the player’s wife? Would paying someone to play guitar for the ceremony cost less than $200? Because if I can get a guitar player for less than $200, then we shorten our guest list and save money. This also potentially holds true for the car. And let’s talk tables. I can buy bolts of fabric to cover the tables at about $12 a table (estimating that the table is 10 feet long and we will have 8 tables). And I could probably reuse all of that fabric. OR I can rent table cloths for about the same cost, have no work to do, but nothing to show for the money at the end of the night. And this doesn’t even factor in that we are going to have to rent everything and if we rely on a caterer (still to be determined) will they rent everything but the table linens?
This is why a wedding planner would be worth it. Because I feel like nothing is really cohesive. I feel like if I just keep going, this wedding is going to be plain and boring. I feel like I can’t ask for advice because then I feel like I am being criticized. And then when I decline the advice, I can’t ask that person any more because they just don’t really care (who could blame them, I didn’t listen in the first place).
I am disappointed that our money isn’t going as far as we thought it would. That somehow I didn’t get to live in the dream world where we got to start with a new slate once we got hitched. I guess having a 50’s feel wedding doesn’t include the things that go with a real 50’s wedding… walking into your new house with your new husband. Sharing a household. Being a housewife. There I said it. Housewife. I want to be one… but that is for another post.
Sometimes this tunnel vision can keep positive thought incredibly blurry. Why can’t a girl just get a break every once in a while?