Assessing Eyes

Once you get engaged there is a whole new world that opens up to you that you had no idea about. It is not like I had never been to a wedding, but going to a wedding as a spectator and actually seeing it from behind the scenes is like watching a circus or being asked to ride the elephant while doing a handstand. Once I got engaged the weddings that I went to between getting my ring and walking down the isle became moments to assess what I liked and therefore wanted to repeat for my wedding and what I absolutely did not like and would steer clear as if these things had the bubonic plague. The plague can just have no part of our special day come back next year.
So all the sudden I started making mental lists of a weddings food choices, special dances, gifts, timing of the day’s activities, décor, wedding colors, bridesmaids dresses and the list goes on and on in a never ending spiral of facts and figures. One of the things I hate and will defiantly not have at my wedding is the bouquet and garter toss. I generally find myself anticipating the time that this will be done so I can scurry off to the bathroom and stand on the toilet with the stall door locked praying that the bride that just got on the microphone to call you by name attempting to guilt you into coming out of your hiding place will be drunk in a few hours so I can leave.
Some things that I liked at various weddings were doing a family style dinner at the table where guests pass heaping dishes to each other. I found this option keeps guests at the tables rather than wandering around the room, it breaks the ice for people who may not know everyone at their table, and I just like the closeness that it implies. I also liked how my friend Mrs. O.C. choose her fabric and color of her bridesmaid dresses but let her various bridesmaids choose a style of dress that fit their particular shape and taste. I loved how Mrs. Cutie Pie had a married couple dance at her wedding celebrating the longevity that marriage can have. And finally I loved the idea that my cousin and his wife had of having a photo booth at their wedding for the guestbook.
Other things that I hated were the live band my brother had at his wedding, it was actually a decent band but unfortunately you get the same tone/type of music all night long. After a while the monotony drove everyone nuts. I also hated the fact that my brother’s photographer dragged him and his new wife out of the night’s events and did not stop until a half hour after it was all over. They ended up getting some amazing shots but it really killed their wedding time with family and friends.
All in all I have some good ideas of what to do and what not to do, I just hope that I don’t find any of my bridesmaids standing on the toilet in the stalls of the bathroom because that is the first place I am going to come looking for you!