Better Living Through Catering (and Ruby Slippers)

Ok. Wedding tomorrow - I finally - JUST TWO DAYS AGO - started to feel excited about it.

I know - just writing that, I feel like the worst bride in the history of marriage (ok, I know that's not true, because I've photographed for MUCH worse than me - but also - for much better!!!) The fact of the matter is - I'm not a very good bride. I haven't given my matron of honor enough to do. I've asked her to postpone the shower till after the wedding (I know - it's bad, isn't it? I'm so busy right now that I actually couldn't dedicate a Saturday afternoon to a shower...) My sister will likely never forgive me for that. She had to beg me to register. I reluctantly agreed (as there isn't really a whole lot I need) -

Ok. I realized I was a bad bride when my oldest sister, Jill called, "I told Mom and Gwen to leave you alone..." I knew I must be in the center of deep-seated familial buzzing - because neither Mom nor Gwen have said anything to me. My cousin, Debbie, whom I love dearly called to say, "We never had this conversation, but Gwen is really mad at you..." I kind of nodded to the phone. I kind of knew, but I dont' know that there was anything I could do about it... Mostly because I've been swamped with work, have been doing a lot of travelling, have been trying to make the new house homey, and frankly, wedding details drive me nuts. I'm not a natural planner of events... Despite, I'm doing all right.

To summarize: Dress (check: It's a white blouse, black and white skirt, and ruby red shoes that I love.) (They actually cheered me up. Shoes!!!)

Catering: The other day, Laurin the caterer stopped by the house, and said, "Oh, you need a tent in the back yard..." great. I didnt' want a tent. Laurin was fully aware of my "UNwedding" plans to get married in the middle of my housewarming party... Now I found myself shocked he'd even suggest such a wedding-ish commodity. "But Kelly! What if it rains?!!!"

I thought Dave would back me up, so we headed into the house, where Dave was painting the dining room for the second (and fina) time. "Honey, Laurin thinks we need a tent... in case it rains."

"Great! I like it!" said my fiance. sigh. but Check.

Ok. I have no problem admitting I'm doing this wedding ceremony for my family. I don't need it (I mean, I want to get married - but a simple thing would have suited me very well) - but I love my family, and want to honor them with a dinner... so I'm doing the family ceremony. To my chagrin, I've found myself pretty crabby over it. This is not to my credit. I could see the lines between bad bride and Bridezilla blurring slightly... Not so slightly. To compensate - so no one would know what a Bitch I've become in my head, I just stopped talking to people about the wedding. Once, in a moment of weakness, my boss' wife asked "Are you excited?" I quietly smugged, "I'll be excited when it's over..."

Bride-zilla, thy name is Kell....

Thank goodness for the shoes... because as soon as I found them, when people asked if I was excited about my BIG DAY (to which I was dying to say - no. It's my FAMILY'S big day...), I could at least gush about my shiny, patent Leather Ruby Slippers.

Bride-zilla, thy name is now DOROTHY.

So, with Kell-zilla out of the way, Kell-Dorothy had lunch with the caterer the other day, who provided samples of the food. It is so amazing that I've forgotten about everything else. All of the sudden, this dinner party I'm throwing for my family became kind of cool.

Dinner made the fact that my sister called to ask "Kelly, do you mind if I wear a white skirt to your wedding?" okay...(As a note, where I think it's really curious that she'd even ask, I don't really care what she wears...) Dinner made the fact that the caterer took it upon himself to order me an even larger tent...

But then, the caterer mentioned he had lilacs - my favorite flower - and will be making me a bouquet with them and red roses (to match the ruby slippers)

mmmmm.

Maybe this wedding thing won't be so bad after all.