Weddings, Receptions, and Baby Announcements

The weekend was long, but good for us. We had our reception for our wedding. Some people were unable to attend, however. Distance and adult life can get in the way of things all the time. For those unable to attend, I'll recap the day for you.

So my wedding planner had tried for a couple months to get it in my thick skull that I would want to decorate the wedding reception. I insisted for the same amount of time that, "Nah, I'm good. We'll be fine."  There's only so much a wedding planner can do before having to give up on the crazy bridezilla and let her figure things out. And I totally was okay with no decoration plans!

Completely okay with it.

...Until 7 AM the day of the reception...

So when your wedding planner goes, "You should consider the options for decorating, because you're going to want it." Your best course of action is to shut your pie hole and listen. Because she or he knows what the heck they're talking about and you're going to want decorations.

At 530 AM, I was awake and already began making iced tea for our big day. At 7, I showered and then woke Jarred up to say, "Puhleeeez can we go to Party City?" Needless to say we got on the road with him probably heaving a drastic sigh over my bridezilla buttface behavior.

The day just had to be perfect! PERFECT. DON'T MESS WITH MAH DAY, PERFECTIONISM RAWR!!!

Yup. I was having all the anxiety for the big day, getting bossy and panicky and overthinking everything. I got a few last minute cancelation notices of attendance (not everyone with children can have reliable schedules) and of course suddenly my brain was freakish. "OMG Jarred, no one is even going to come, we have too much food, we'll be the only ones there, and it won't be perfect, waaaah!!"

So I was turning into anxiety/panicky bridezilla.

My dutiful spouse-creature was intelligent of course. He spoke completely sensical things like, "Amanda drove 10 hours for this. She's not going to miss it." And when that wasn't enough, "My parents will be there. Your grama and papa will be there. XYZ said they're coming."

Okay, so, that was calming. I was able to calm down for like 5 minutes and think logically. For 5 minutes.

Return of the bridezilla.

It must be PERFECTION. "Jarred, have an opinion on this. Jarred, which one?"

"I kinda like this one."

"No, this one is better. It has tiny shiny gems on it." Side note, no one would even SEE the cover of the guest book.

"Jarred, which hanging decorative do you like better?"

"This is cool..."

And then bridezilla decides to not get the orb paper packet and go with the multiple hanging paper styles packet. Because it must be PERFECT.

Blue tablecloth. Some hanging things with wedding danglies. Paper balls.

And we need balloons. The perfect balloon. But we're going to be late to our own event if we dawdle much longer--TODAY WILL BE PERFECT!!!!!

3 balloons. One says LOVE always and forever, and one in each of our favorite colors. Orange for me, green for him. And the big balloon has a blue floral design that matches my color theme, our outfits, yes! Perfection.

Buy stuff. Get home. Finish iced tea prep. Oh, omg, we didn't get party favors!!! But we can do this!! Jarred sat with me, assuring me not to panick over things, people were coming, and I'm overthinking (as usual). He helped me make the party favors. Tea stuffed in tiny jars. So cute!

When we arrived, people were arriving on time or earlier. I was stunned and (almost cried), "Don't you people know it's rude to show up on time?? I'm not ready!!" Yes, that's me. I'm messed up mental bridezilla now.

People saw I was setting up, and were amazing and asking to help out. They were all so wonderful! It took like 5 minutes to hang all the things up, with people's help. So many people were arriving, and I was feeling overwhelmed with pure joy. It pays to listen to your spouse-creature when they're trying to calm your special brand of crazy. A couple cancelations due to unavoidable circumstances does NOT mean the entire event is off. Who would have thought? Quite possibly I'm a basketcase, but someone loves me as I am. So...

Anyways! Jarred was right, I was wrong, shut up brain.

So I'm flitting about like a fairy princess, trying to meet and greet everyone there. It felt like I no sooner was introduced to someone new before Jarred was pointing out someone old from my life was arriving and we were skipping to our lou, my darling, all the way to the new faces to hug, shake hands, be friendly, and oh no, no, we won't have enough food, there are so many people here, oooh, something to drink. Yes, I made this tea just right.

Introduction to my niece-in-law again, and, yup, niece-in-law, little Baby Charlotte smacks me in the face and almost decks off my glasses. Hard to starboard, we have a live one!

Biological relatives, friends, family, relatives by spousal agreement... the place was just hopping!

And me? I'm that pretty, pretty, fairy princess living the perfect dream. Minus getting decked by a child under 2 or so. Nothing is going to bring me off my cloud. The sun was shining, the weather perfectly behaving which was a shock on its own. Because Wisconsin is where you get 4 seasons in 24 hours.

I'm feeling good, and I ask Jarred if he thinks now is a great time to make our announcement since food had just been delivered. He agrees and starts clearing his throat to get attention of everyone. Several clears of the throat fail. So...I pull out the loud lady card. "HELLO EVERYONE!" yep, it worked. "THANK YOU FOR COMING TO OUR SPECIAL OCCASION. FOOD HAS ARRIVED, BUT BEFORE THAT, WE HAVE A STORY FOR YOU."  I had an entire speech planned, and I was going to execute it perfectly.

"Once upon a time..." I forgot the speech. People are looking at me. Panick panick. Brain...shutting down. "We got pregnant. The end. Food is there, and over there. Tea and drinks and desserts. Have at it."

Initiate stunned silence sequence. Initiate crickets chirping. Cue abrupt laughter because apparently I'm a stand up comedian. Go me!

Then cue me having to argue with my guests that I don't have to go first in the food line.

This day was wonderful. Thank you for all who managed to attend. I know adult life is super rough, like the first draft of a novel. No one likes it until you've got the editted version, the good bits cherry picked out to suit your style. We will have another party next year, like a cookout or something, so I'm hopeful that our adult life schedules match up better next time.

With all my love and suspicion possible,

James

**Edit, if you were there and you would like to add your own recap of the day's events, I would love to read it. Please write it in the comments!!