Wedding Woes

Thanks to Candid Carrie's story of her first wedding, I've decided to share my own wedding woes.
First problem: Six months before the wedding we found out our 'professional' photographer (a family friend of Michael's) was going to use a Kodak Easyshot on a $10 tripod and print the pictures on her home computer with a regular printer that didn't even claim to be a 'photo printer'. EEK!
Solution: We fired her, called our new wedding planner (Michael's cousin) and she found us a wonderful photographer.
Second problem: Three months before the wedding, our priest says he won't marry us unless we have Michael psychologically evaluated because he thinks Michael has a 'deep-seated psychiatric issue'; then we would have to go to 'several months' of marriage counseling; and then we might be able to get married by the end of the next year.
Solution: Get a new priest, find a new reception location, print new invitations.
Third problem: No reception/event location big enough is available on our chosen date of March 15.
Solution: Move the date up a week (the other option was to have the wedding on Easter weekend, that's not possible in a Catholic church), book new reception site, call the invitation people and stop the previous re-order, order new invitations again to reflect date change.
Fourth problem: David's Bridal kept not getting my dress finished. It was late coming in, then only part of the alterations were done for the 'final' fitting, then they could only give us another appointment one week before the wedding (!!!!!), and we (my mom and sister, who drove up from Orlando for all my appointments) had to wait at least an hour past my appointment time to see the seamstress every time I had an appointment, and were always interrupted (not a big deal, except that we were kept waiting).
Solution: The David's Bridal district manager happened to be in town for the last appointment (a week before the wedding) and we got all the alterations and my accessories free. :)
Fifth problem: Michael would not leave the house the night of the wedding. Literally, he refused to leave the house and sleep at his parents' house as planned.
Solution: Cry, fight, yell, cry some more. I ended up sleeping on the couch (one of my bridesmaids, Jillian, was staying with us, she was using my room) and fell asleep crying and thinking 'how could I agree to marry this ASSHOLE!"
Sixth problem: The day of the wedding I could not find the headband my mom bought for me to use, which had flowers on it that were going to be in my bouquet and the crystal bead pattern on it perfectly matched my dress.
Solution: There was no solution for this one. I couldn't find it, I just had to go without it. :(
Seventh problem: I had to go to the bathroom before the ceremony, and in the process I lost the ring Jillian let me use for my something borrowed. That was really bad, because her grandmother had given it to her mom, who gave it to her. It had a very large blue stone in it (I'm not exactly sure what kind, but it was blue) which was surrounded by real diamonds. Small diamonds, sure, but who cares? They were diamonds. And I lost it.
Solution: I found it in my stocking when I was changing from my wedding gown to my 'leaving' dress. :) :) :) I could not have been happier, because losing the ring threatened to be the one thing to ruin the day for me, I felt so bad about it. Jillian was literally crying, both when I lost the ring and when I found it.
Eight problem: One of the cake layers collapsed. It just fell apart. Thankfully it was before anyone saw it, and only the people setting up the cake really had an issue (frosting on formal clothes...ugh).
Solution: Just go with it, not much else to do.
Ninth problem: Half of the guests who RSVPed didn't show. Too much food, too much cake, too many tables and chairs, what a nightmare!
Solution: Donate the leftover food and a good portion of the cake to the homeless shelter in town. It seemed only right to do what we could for other people who have so little when we had way too much, and the people at the shelter were so thankful, as they were getting low on hot food for the day.

Those were the major problems. I know there were more detail, nit-picky type things, but I don't want to think about how much stress I allowed that stuff to cause me, so I'm only giving you the major stuff. Aren't you glad you're not planning a wedding? :) Still, I wouldn't trade it for the world, because we survived, stronger than ever!

New Look

I'm changing some things around in my office, and I decided to do the same for my blog. The colors were getting a little oppresive for me, so, here you have it, my new blog. Hope you like it.

Organic orange

I'm having my afternoon snack, and today it's an orange. Specifically an organic orange, I'm not sure what variety. They were fairly inexpensive at Wal-mart, and organic is better for you, so I have them stashed at work. This is the first out of the package I've eaten, and it has ginormous seeds in it. The seeds in an orange really aren't all that interesting, but these are the biggest I've ever seen. I kinda want to plant one or two just to see if it would grow...they look healthy enough. Sometimes I eat a fruit and wonder if I've swallowed a seed, or do it on purpose for the fiber (pomegranates...it's good, I promise!), but these are crazy big, there's no way I would either swallow one, or if I did, I would know it. At least 1/2 an inch long and 1/4 of an inch wide and deep. If I hadn't seen so many non-organic orange seeds in my life (I grew up in Florida), I'm not sure I would believe these were organic.

Weight blog/future pregnancy

For any interested, I've started a weight loss blog. The URL is http://losingweightnotsanity.blogspot.com/ .

One of my main motivations for losing weight (beyond self-respect and a better body image) is my future children. Studies show that overweight moms are likely to bear overweight kids, even if they shed the weight before pregnancy. The study was done on second children. I'm hoping that by losing the weight while I'm still young, and before my first child, I can help tame the effects my eating and lifestyle mistakes will have on my kids. Michael would have kids now, if I would agree to it, but we're not ready, in my opinion. Hopefully we will be after another year. I'm emotionally ready to have a child, but I don't think our lives are ready to handle it. Also, I'm not 21 yet, and would like to celebrate my 21st birthday properly. I can't do that if I'm pregnant, and I've been waiting for this with bated breath for about five years. I'm not saying I've never had a drink, but I'd like to be able to buy my own (and therefore have more control over what I drink and how much), and maybe even have a glass of wine with dinner when we eat out. Back to future pregnancy, I want to be a healthy weight when I get pregnant. Right now my BMI is 34. According to some charts, that means I'm morbidly obese. Most just say obese, with morbid obesity starting around 35. I'm not okay with that. I know I'll gain weight when I'm pregnant, but I don't want that weight gain to put me back up over 200 lbs, which is what it would do right now. I was 220lbs my senior year in high school, and I'm never going to back to that. If I were to get pregnant right now, I know I would be right back there, as I'm 198 right now. So, healthy weight here I come; this time, I'll make it there, and stay there.

MIL

My MIL is a very annoying person. My husband loves her, I tolerate her. Her unwanted advice and constant facial expression of superiority annoy me. Her many comments include:
"You don't know anything about art. I know about art." (Beauty is in the eye of the beholder)
"You could do that, if you want to be wrong." (Your POV isn't the only one)
"You're not getting pregnant until you're finished with school." (My choice, not yours; you are not my mother.)
"I could be your new mother." (Who said I needed a new mother? I like mine, thanks)
"I'm older than your mother, I'll tell her a few things." (Older, wiser, more senile, whatever...)

I didn't start this post to rant about my MIL, merely to point out how frustrating she is. Michael knows she frustrates me, and, like the darling male he is, he tries to fix it. He thinks that if we spend more time together, I'll like her more. While I'm with her, I grind my teeth, nod and smile. I don't ask her advice on anything. I never complain about my mom or Michael in front of her. After we leave, I try to leave all the frustration and anger on the doorstep of her hateful house, and not insult her to Michael, which only upsets him. This works for now, but I'm worried about when we have kids. I haven't seen any of her suggestions that work with her grandchildren, but she still continues to boss her 29-year-old daughter around, who has two kids of her own. Misbehaved kids, I grant you, but still. It's not like dear old 'memaw' is doing anything to help. Any suggestions would be welcome.