My whole life, I have always said I wanted to have a small wedding somewhere far, far away and would joke that it would be my sister who would have the big extravagant, break-the-bank, fairytale wedding.
Well 450 guests later, I guess you could say my dream of a small wedding will forever be that — a dream.
Since getting engaged last Christmas, our plans have gone from destination wedding, to small hometown wedding, to destination wedding and massive hometown reception.
Don’t get me wrong I am so excited for my actual wedding day. It is the months leading up to that day that are stressing me out. Whoever said planning a wedding was easy, either hired someone to do it for them or eloped.
My first big task was picking my bridal party.
I thought, hey this should be easy because I have always known I only wanted three or four bridesmaids.
But as I started making my bridal party list, it was as if my pen had a mind of its own, which led to my fingers dialling the phone and before I had a chance to say oops, I had a made seven “I’m so excited, will you be my bridesmaid” phone calls.
This was the first indication that my wedding would be a bit bigger than expected.
The second was when we started making our guest list.
At first it wasn’t so bad. My list was quite small and consisted of only my closest friends.
However that was before we started on Cody’s list. It wasn’t until that moment I realized he thought he was friends with all of Moose Jaw and much of Western Canada.
His list seemed to go on and on forever. And then there was my parents’ list, which also seemed to go on and on forever.
Of all the lists submitted, mine was by far the smallest — I still don’t know if that’s a good thing or a little bit sad.
However, after months of cuts, arguments and some very silent nights, we finalized the list. It was then I realized not only was our wedding not going to be small, but it was slowly turning into a three-ring circus.
We are now only two-and-a-half months away from the big day and I feel like I haven’t got anything done.
It was only this weekend that my seven bridesmaids, some friends and I decided to tackle the invitations.
Being that I have seven bridesmaids, I thought I would put them to work and we would make the invitations — all 280 invitations.
And not only would we make them, we would do it in an afternoon.
Needless to say, we did not get them finished, we have more than half to go and I am quickly running out of time.
If I had been smart, I would have just ordered them — like my mom had suggested. But don’t tell her that.
As for my dress, it is the one thing there has never been any fuss about. For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to wear my mom’s wedding dress.
Although it is defiantly a product of the late ’70s and needs some major updating, it is beautiful and I am so proud that I not only get to wear it, but that it actually fits.
I suppose it is my silver lining — besides the fact that I get to marry my best friend that is.
In the end, I know it is going to be a great day and the best part is it’s a day that’s going to be all about me.
Lyndsay McCready can be reached at 691-1256.
