Wedding Shows, Midterms, and Weight Loss OH MY!

Please excuse the cheesy title. I honestly cannot help myself.

So I had to jump off of the face of the earth to tend to the circus that is my life. A few weeks ago, my groom, my maid of honor, and I all went to the Carolina Weddings Show in Winston Salem. We had a good time, hectic but good. For those of you who are curious about going to a wedding show, I will give you the highlights:

• There is a lot of walking! Even if the event center looks small, you will make many laps around the room to make sure you saw and talked to most of the vendors.
• You will find vendors that you love but could never afford. I'm looking at you The Plaids !! But all of the options will give you plenty of great ideas like hiring a service to entertain the kids while their parents party!
• There will be more samples than you thought... Cake, catering, appetizers, and meals, and more cake!  
• SO MANY COUPONS!!! Yes. So. Many. Like the best wedding gown coupon I could imagine...
• You will be tired. There is something about standing, talking, walking, and gathering information is exhausting!

If you are considering going, I will share one tip: Bring a binder and organize information as you get it. I had my planning book with me with different folders for catering, venues, attire, ect. Then as I got flyers, I just put them into their appropriate folders. This really helped me when I was thinking about specific vendors later, I could just pull out the flyer I had in mind. Honestly, it only slowed me down a little bit during the event.

Also! I have midterms. Not just me, but my groom, my maid of honor, and most of my friends have midterms. That means if I have time to talk about wedding stuff, most of the people I want to talk to don't have time.

My computer currently has tabs open for study guides and wedding dress styles. My mind isn't fully functioning on either front. If you are a student trying to plan a wedding, give yourself a long engagement. It is nice having the option to take a few weeks off of wedding planning, even if I don't want to...

And as if I don't have enough on my plate, lets add another thing. Some of my closest friends and I have taken to going to the gym... 3 times a week. I love spending my time in spin class or hot yoga or on the elliptical but sometimes I should really do my homework instead. 

Still, I go to the gym and I am striving for weight loss. Ever bride wants to be fit and toned on her wedding day and find a dress that will show off her awesome bod. Having the dress that makes her feel confident is so important. When I started going to the gym, I thought I had AGES to have the wedding body that I wanted.... Well the wedding show sped up that process for me. At the David's Bridal booth, they were handing out coupons for  $50 off wedding gowns if you made your first appointment in the next 2 months. This appointment doesn't have to be the one that you buy your gown, but you have to go and try things on. David's also does $99 gowns a few times a year... that means that I might find my dress for $49 and that is definitely broke bride friendly!!

And I am still nervous about seeing myself in a wedding gown. 

It's not just the weight that I am at... its the fear of having the "Say Yes to the Dress" moment. The moment that you put on the gown and get the rush of emotion and tears. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that but I will let you know how that goes.

Hopefully my wall of text isn't too overwhelming. Like my life right now... it's overwhelming. 

Wish me luck, 

Miss YBE

Who's Wedding is it Anyway?

So today Mr. and I went to a wedding show. We saw venue booths, rentals, photographers, caterers, bakers, and spoke to a band... and Mr. was only addressed a few times... at the tux rental booth. As if the only thing that my groom is meant to do is just stand there at the altar!

Most people STILL see a wedding as an occasion for the bride not the groom or even the couple as a unit. 

And that hurts my feelings. The vendors weren't the only ones giving Mr. the cold shoulder. Even our closest friends tell him that he doesn't have any say in the wedding - that I will plan it and let him know when to show up. We don't do things that way. In fact, here are some reasons why our wedding is about us, not me.

1. I need his help.

If Mr. isn't involved in the wedding process, I would be doing it all myself. All by myself. ALL BY MYSELF. nonononononononononononononono.

2. If its not about him AND I, it'll be about someone else.

Its amazing how many people want to be involved in the wedding. While its not (always) a bad thing, its still something to be cautious of. If he didn't want to be involved in the planning process, I would need someone else to help me. Then the ceremony would be about me and that person. And that person would understandably feel an attachment to the color scheme and venue that my groom lacked. It would be his/her wedding too.

Also! Weddings seem to bring out the best and worst in people. I'm confident in the people that Mr and I are going to invite but there will always be an issue. Someone said or didn't say something, did or didn't do something, ect. If my groom and I aren't on the same page, the day could be about that situation instead of him and I promising our lives to each other.

3. He cares about the occasion.

My man would walk away from the venue if he saw that it was covered in pink glitter. The guy would leave me at the altar and we would start over. Not kidding. And I couldn't blame him too much. The entire ceremony commemorates our new life together, we should both be represented. Mr. probably doesn't care too much about EVERY detail but he certainly has preferences - and honestly, I don't think that I care about every detail...

4. What is the point?

I understand that traditionally, the wedding was about the father of the bride handing her over to the groom. However, modern culture has redefined the point of throwing a wedding. Planning this huge event can be a real test for the relationship before it becomes legally binding. A friend once told me that I needed to go on a canoe trip with my partner before we got married. If you can canoe with someone for several days, you can do anything else with that person. Mr. YBE and I do not have a canoe (and he isn't very outdoorsy) so working together now is our "canoe trip." We will be treading water together when the thing tips over...


So hopefully the comments will die down about this being my wedding instead of our wedding, but I know on some level that I'll have to accept it. Or maybe only chew out a select few!

See you next week, XOXO,

Miss YBE