Kids, Cancer, Chaos

Well, we did it. We got married. We were able to pay for everything wedding-related with a lot of help from our parents. People have asked if I would do it all again if I could. The answer the day after the wedding and still today is no. There was way too much stress, everything about the day was too expensive and it just wasn't worth it. I got to wear a real pretty dress though! If I had to do it all again, I would have eloped to get married with just Mike and I on a beach somewhere and come home and thrown a big party for less than half of what it cost to have a big wedding. That doesn't mean I regret it...it was WONDERFUL! We had a wonderful time, a fantastic day and we have some beautiful pictures to show for it. I just wouldn't do it again. After the wedding, we went on our honeymoon to lovely and amazing Thailand. I didn't want to come home! In fact, I am kind of wishing that I was one of those farangs (Thai for "gringo") stuck there because of the sieg...

I cannot f-ing believe it is coming so fast. We started planning the bachelorette party this week. It's been decided that a trip to Catalina in September would be the ticket. Lovely Jenna, the MOH, sent out an email to the "ladies" this week and so far there are 11 people confirmed. I feel pretty bad that I won't be able to invite everyone to the wedding. The guest list is really getting out of control. The Turf Club has a maximum capacity of 220 for a seated dinner. Its gonna be hard to trim when the existing list of 242 still doesn't include many of Mike's family. AND, since his pops is paying for the food, I feel obligated to invite more of the Mejia family. We also have not spoken to anyone at the catering company because, once again, Mike feels the need to talk to his insiders at the fairgrounds before I can make contact. I feel like such a nag, constantly asking him if he was able to talk to anyone yet. I don't like feeling this way. We have had a di...

How long does one person need to complete a task? I guess it depends on what the task is, right? What if the task is to get your measurements taken for a bridesmaid dress? On 3/25/08, I sent an email to all the BM's asking that they please get measured and give me the money for the dress by 4/10/08. I told them that the dresses must be ordered before 5/1/08 to ensure timely delivery of said dresses. How many do you think did either? NONE. When 4/10/08 came and went and still no one had gotten back to me with their sizes, I sent another email asking that they have the money and measurements to me by the 20th. How many this time? Actually, one. I had to pick up the phone and threaten 2 of them to get measured or they would be off the island! WTF? Like, how hard is it? I just don't understand. Bottom line: I finally got size selections from everyone and money from everyone by 5/5/08. I had to float a check, but thankfully all worked out fine. It took over a month, though. Note: M...

So...after the conversation with my parents where I was told there was only $5k available to me for my wedding, my fiancee and I talked and we decided to postpone the original date in late April '08 to October '08. We made this decision mostly because we wanted to give ourselves more time to save for the wedding. I told my parents. About a week later, my mom calls and says that if we were willing to postpone, then they would be willing to reconsider their original "offer" and asked if I could get as much information as I could and come back to them and they would "see what they could do". In the meantime, my future father-in-law offered to pay for the food for the wedding. WHAT??!! That's a huge expense taken care of. What an amazing gift, right? So...I did all the planning I could. We met with multiple vendors to talk about prices of flowers and photography and cakes and I got estimates for everything. We agreed on prices, signed contracts, made deposit...

My younger sister got married about 3 1/2 years ago. My parents, mostly my mother and step-father, paid for the wedding. I'm not saying how much they spent, but $25K is a lot of money. I was told that I would get the same consideration. When my boyfriend asked me to marry him last August, I assumed that I could start planning my wedding. I bought a dress, started picking colors, started shopping for vendors; all the things you do when you are planning the biggest party you've ever thrown. We picked a date that was a little less than 9 months away. Then, out of the blue, they told me that they couldn't afford to give me more than $5,000. "We were surprised", they said. "We didn't think you were ever going to get married", they said. "You're older", they said. "You're more established in your life than she was. You guys live together. You have a career." Are you kidding me? I'm older? I'm more established? We live to...

Holy crap. There are just 6 months left before our wedding in October. There is no way I am going to be ready for this! I totally thought that I was going to be ready for all this and now - after 2 months of doing nothing - I am totally behind!