Eloping is hard to do.

Actually it's very easy. A simple ride on the good ol' 2/3 to Park Place and a short walk to City Hall. Recently (and by recently, I mean, sometime in the past three years I've lived in New York), Mayor Bloomberg declared New York the wedding capital of the world. Or something like that. Basically they renovated City Hall so it doesn't make you sad when you sign your marriage certificate in front of an anonymous city bureacrat. *sigh* That's my dream wedding.

But in the real world, where you have a reasonable affection for your family and friends, you're in the wedding section of Michael's, wondering if $4.99 for tulle circles is a good price. And we all end up here. Or most of us do. After gazing at the lovely, design-alicious weddings on the different websites, more often than not, the most authentic thing to do is to simply get the mother-of-pearl guestbook and be done with it. Because as excited I am to be getting married, I have a ridiculously short wedding-attention span (as evidenced by me not posting since when, April? no idea).

Anyway the basics are covered. We have our date! We have a venue! Done and done. I won't do a countdown because I'm philosophically opposed to waiting. We've already found two caterers that we get good e-mail vibes from, and we'll meet them at some point this summer. We're in a good place. A good, forgettable place. i.e. when anyone asks me how the wedding planning is going, I get confused. Wait, I don't feel angry or frustrated. Am I still planning this wedding?

But don't worry. There is time yet. Our latest pre-wedding adventure brings us to engagement party #2. FP's parents are graciously hosting a party in New York for the NY family and friends. And I have graciously offered to bake favors for the 50 guests. Why? Because I'm glutton for wedding punishment.

Actually it's fun. It's an excuse to avoid looking for a full-time job. I mean, who would choose the want ads over chocolate chip cookies? Anyway we spent this afternoon preparing the favor boxes (100 boxes for $19.99 at Michael's). We made a mock-up. What do you think?

1.

2. Uh, this one is easier, so I'm pretty sure this is what I'll do. But tell me if it's offensively ugly.

Things I Don't Care for

I'm going to make a list. Because I like lists. They make me feel like I'm accomplishing something, instead of avoiding my organic chemistry homework.

Things I Don't Care For

1. Envy wedding planning. That's the planning I do when I read wedding blogs and wedding magazines (which I've decided are the same thing. Both are opinionated about their wedding, her wedding, your wedding, my wedding. Both are gushy. Both are designed to create envy. I think I might get some blogger smackdown if anyone reads this besides the bridal party. Please please tell me about your favorite blog/magazine that is soooo different. ha!). Anyway back to the point. So I read/browse these and I start to think, Wouldn't it be nice to . . . or So cute, maybe we could. . .you know the drill. But it sucks because it is unlikely that I can afford to do any of these projects for reasons of both time and money. And also, that's not really our wedding. None of these sites can tell you anything about yourself or your relationship to your fiance or to your family or to your friends. Yes, silk dupioni table runners are nice. I should not spend any time thinking about how to make them or buy them cheap.

2. Actual wedding planning. Because it's boring. Because I have to constantly wait for people to call back. And then I have to convince people that it's going to be okay. I mean, just because our reception venue doesn't have chandeliers does not mean that people will not be happy for us. I'm fairly certain that chandeliers are not a requirement for marriage licenses in Virginia, though I should check on that.

3. Wedding advice. Really, I could use help with determining the forces at play when a hiker steps onto a wooden bridge that is fastened on both ends. The hiker weighs 95N and the bridge is 400N. I get really confused about which forces are pointing up and which ones point down. No really, this is important. The wedding? Nope, I'm good. I have a fairly clear idea of what will happen then.

4. Final exams. Damn it, can't a bride catch a break?

Oh, note that I'm not going to stop doing any of these things. Except maybe finals. . . after May 20th. Dang!

Wedding Theme, perhaps?

In order to maximize the "awwwww" factor at the wedding, we should consider making this website our theme: http://www.zooborns.com/

Who can resist baby animals?

(by Tambako via ZooBorn)

This is what we look like when we wake up in the morning.

Wedding Exit Strategy

I took an international relations course in college, and I think the lessons I learned there can be applied to weddings.

If you want to win a war, you have to set a tangible goal that can be attained. Then you can know whether or not you've won. And so in the spirit of successful war strategy, I present my tangible wedding goals.

1. The people who are most important to us and to our families are there. We may even try to talk to them at some point during the event.
2. We will serve plenty of delicious food and drink, with as much of it locally-sourced as possible.
3. I will be dancing. So will you. If someone wants to talk to me, they can find me on the dancefloor.
4. At the end of the night, we will be a tired and happy married couple. And while we hope the wedding is fun, magical, romantic, [insert whatever emotional term you want here], we know that marriage is the best part of this day and that lasts the rest of our entire lives.

Thus begins my war on motherly opinions, unsolicited wedding advice, bridal magazines, and such.