8 days til i'm the missus...

With another week to go, I think I can safely say, "I made it!"

A few more details to deal with (er, minor things like, oh, a SUIT for the groom, or food for the reception, or wedding rings, or an official location for the ceremony, a finished dress for the bride, but hey...semantics. It'll all fall into place)

So - in the spirit of warm weather, Fridays, pending weddings and any number of other things that leave me reasonably distracted - I've been reflecting quite a bit lately...my thinking has been rather random, scattered, disconnected. All in all, I think that contrary to romantic comedies, sitcoms, urban legend and special features on msn, a marriage really DOES bring out the best, most lovely parts of all people involved...there are moments of stress, times of wondering, "how on earth will all of this fall into place - and will that pizza place PLEEEEEEEEEASE just call me back?????" but for the most part, I've never felt so looked after, cared about, tended to or well-wished in my life...people really come out of the woodwork in the most unexpectedly generous ways when someone's getting married...

I must say - as graciously as possible - that I wholly underestimated the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies this entire ordeal, but am in all ways completely, utterly content and in the eternal debt of people so selflessly willing to go out of their way to make our "big day" a special one.

(shout out to the photographer that's offering to be robbed absolutely blind - the price he's giving us is nothing shy of highway robbery...ridiculous!)

Other things that have occured to me over the past few weeks:

Even cheap food is expensive.

Girls expect the bride to do fancy things with their hair and makeup. when the bride says she'll "wing it," she gets weird, shocked looks from the other girls.

Fake flowers look pretty much just like real flowers. I've never spent much time pondering fake flowers before. I plan never to ponder them much after this.

You can get everything you need for a decent cheap reception at the dollar party-supply store.

You CAN make it this far and only spend $98...

Fancy, innovative, silicone stick-on-bras are spooky.

Grandmas pick out the best lingerie

"Mrs" sounds very old. Like a school teacher.

Even though I'll be photographed for all posterity in 8 days, a good burrito (or two...or three) is the one thing I just can't say "no" to.

Throw a surprise party for me any day. Hey, even invite people I've never met before in my life...could be fun.

A cookie pyramid sounds like a groovy cake substitute.

The closer it gets to the big day, the more people will ask "Are you NERVOUS?"

A girl can never have too much bubble-gum-pink lip gloss.

Or too many pairs of shoes.

You can get away with the most ridiculous purchases by justifying it as "a wedding expense." Completely superflous stuff: perfectly fine if it's "for the wedding." Shoes, dvd's, expensive tequila: WEDDING (who's to know?)

When all else fails: Dad will save the day.