Roses are red...

It's three and a half months to the wedding, and I think I've managed to avoid devolving into Bridezilla...unless, of course, my friends are cleverly lying to me and waiting to enact their revenge when I become an inebriated bachelorette!

Seriously, however, I've decided there are two key elements to remaining happy and healthy while planning one's wedding:

1. Resist the urge to begin looking at wedding dresses and floral arrangements when you aren't legally old enough to be married. Microwave your Barbie Bride doll (trust me - it makes a great science project). Don't even let the word "wedding" enter your mind until you are actually engaged. If it's too late for that, start immediately by purging your surroundings of bride magazines, catering brochures and frou-frou accessories. Escape for a weekend with a case of Guinness, your best gal-pals, and some anti-romance movies. Trust me: when you have no predetermined expectations, everything is a blast. Instead of obssessing over the perfect dress you saw when you were 14, you'll be musing over the racks thinking, "Hmmm...any of these look good to me! Let's try them all on..."
2. Give your caterer, florist, photographer, etc, much more credit than most brides allow. These people are experts, and they know far more about their jobs than you do. I've been amazed at how relieved people are when we say, "Well, we're not sure what we want - here's a rough idea, and we'll be happy with what you provide." They just about fall out of their chairs with gratitude - and occasionally it's saved us some money, too. No one is going to remember the exact side salads you served, or the precise blossoms included in your bouquet. As long as it all fits together, it's good to me. This saves much grief, and it prevents bride and groom from wanting to throttle each other during the photography sessions.

So, how's it going for us? Well, so far, we've purchased our rings, booked our photographer, selected our florist, set our menu, found our presider, and scoped out our location. Not too bad for a couple of clueless rookies who could only give the florist blank stares when she asked what kind of flowers we liked.

I felt like such a tomboy. I really do not have a favorite flower, let alone flowers. I couldn't name more than a handful...all I could say was, "Um, are there any dark blue ones?" Since I had the flu, most of that sentence was a garbled, stuffed-up mess. I think she felt sorry for me. :)

Seriously, though, I've had a blast planning so far. We're keeping it small, semi-traditional (although I think we're the only couple ever with both a ring dog and flower tortoise), and simple. I'm looking forward to it - but I'm more excited about afterwards. Hey, no dirty minds - I'm talking about the honeymoon! (Or am I? Heh heh.)