to love, laughter, and happily ever after

I'm sure it's pretty clear that the overwhelming theme of this blog is that you should reach out to everyone you know for favors and support in order to plan an affordable and special wedding. It also helps if you have the most supportive and loving future husband to help you through it.

Being engaged is actually not that fun. This fantasy idea that it's a magical time where you have tons of fun planning all the details of your special day is horribly inaccurate. You will fight over conflicting ideas (round tables vs. rectangular tables... I never knew I cared now much!). You will be stressed about money. You will never be able to please everyone. Your family and friends will be angry with you, whether passive aggressively or aggressively aggressively, about something.

Hopefully you will have an amazing partner to go through it all with. Before David, I didn't even think I wanted to get married. I didn't realize you could find a man who really did feel like a partner. Someone who was there for you, challenged you, supported you, surprised you, stood up for you, and understood you.

He was by my side the entire time and I have to tell you, I know there will come a time when you want to just say screw it and elope, but hang in there - there is something about sharing a dance with the guy you love in front of all the people who are important to you that might make you cry a little bit. In a good way. In the end, it's all worth it.

odds and ends and updates

Some things that didn't work their way into other posts...

In Atlantic City, I got my hair and makeup done at the Salon in the Tropicana. The salon itself looks little dated, and it's definitely the lower end choice compared to the other salon they have there, Blue Mercury. But it was perfect! Gretchen and I went for a trial a month before, and they only charged me $50. When I went back on the day of the ceremony, they did an even better job and it was $100. Still a good chunk of change but nothing compared to what other salons cost. I was so pleased and it looked great in the photos. I would definitely recommend them.

Oh and the cute flowers in my hair are from Forever 21. They cost me a total of about $4.

For the reception, my lovely and talented aunt Karen did my hair and makeup. It's what she does for a living and she was happy to help out. It was perfect, especially since I had been freaking out a little about the idea of having to pay for hair and makeup two times, and I know nothing about how to do my own.

I'm still working with the AC Special Events Office. I thought I was finally getting somewhere when they asked me to email over my insurance receipt. Then yesterday they called to say they are still working on it, and that they have some "other things in mind" for me that they don't want to tell me about yet. Yeah, sure you do. Today I got an email saying they needed me to fill out a "Tort Claim through Risk Management," and nothing was attached. As if I knew what a Tort Claim was. I replied but I'm skeptical I will hear anything back within the next two weeks. I'm sure they are hoping that I just forget about it... little do they know, I will bug them for the rest of my life if I don't at least get this $96 dollars back.

My husband is super handy and creative and made the following things with the dance floor...

Shelves in the basement!

A doghouse!

I will probably have one more post to wrap up the wedding portion of this blog, and then I might move on to house related things - we are currently planning on remodeling our bathroom (on the cheap, of course), and have been collecting things for that for the past month or so. The name of the blog won't make sense I guess but, as my mom always says, who gives a shit.

I get by with a little help from my friends

In order to have a successful wedding while spending very little money, you have to have some pretty stellar friends.

Gretchen pretty consistently did not piss me off or make me insane. From the minute I was engaged, she was asking what she could help with and if I needed anything. Of course as MOH she was responsible for the most important part of the wedding - the bachelorette party.

The timing was perfect - every summer we go to our Alma mater, Penn State, for Arts Fest. We spend about 8 minutes looking at crappy artwork, and the rest of the weekend we drink so much that the next morning we ponder whether or not it's time to go to the hospital because our skin looks transparent and our veins didn't seem so... veiny before (the answer is, no it's not time to go to the hospital, you just need some Denny's). And I never tire of hearing a 21 year old boy ask me what my major is and then argue with me that there is no way I am in my thirties. So, this year, Arts Fest was the weekend before my wedding - perfect time and location for my bachelorette!

Gretchen and I were there for the whole weekend, and Jeanette and Colette came out for Saturday night. We got tank tops that were decidedly not stupid - mine said, "I'm getting married, b*tches!" and theirs said "Girl's Night Out, Emily's Bachelorette." We looked uniform but not annoying. And the night was filled with free drinks, compliments, and laughter.

After the reception, Gretchen gave me a copy of her speech. It was basically like reading something you wrote yourself when asked what kind of person you hope other people see you as. And the best part was seeing how much she really knew and loved David.

"When Emily first met Dave, I thought that he was adorable, but they didn't seem to have much in common. What I didn't know at the time, was that their differences were so complementary, that they would help each other grow into somehow even better people over time. Dave challenges Emily when she is being difficult, and supports her when she needs it most. I have seen Emily give Dave her very biggest of smiles, which is inspiring. And since knowing Emily, I think Dave has become much funnier. I love you both."

Jeanette was another key player. She babysat my dog the night we got married in Atlantic City, and then the day of the reception she brought us Dunkin Donuts first thing in the morning and helped out all day long preparing the house and yard. David and I left a couple hours before people started coming to get ready at my mom's hotel, and Jeanette finished everything up and then greeted people at the door. She announced us as we entered the yard, and was basically our emcee for the night. And when we were in danger of running out of precious beer, she made a run to the distributor.

Basically without these two, we truly wouldn't have been able to do it. We are so lucky, and grateful.