Love, Commitment, Offense

This entry will include the "What I’m Listening To" feature because I’m listening to music and I feel it’s important to share, apparently.

Happy by Saving Jane

Barring any catastrophes, I will be getting married in exactly one year. Well, there’s a leap day in there (damn you, February 29), so I guess it’s more like 366 days. But today is my T-minus 1-year anniversary. Hopefully on this day next year I’ll be enjoying a peaceful and fun wedding.

I Don’t Care by Apocalyptica Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace

But in the ensuing months I’m sure there’s going to be more drama–starting with the guest list. My family consists of three major branches: my mom’s side, my dad’s side, and my stepdad’s side. Unfortunately, my mom’s entire family lives on the other side of the country–the bulk of them in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and my Uncle David in San Diego. I’ve been told not to expect any of them to be able to make the trip out, which is really crushing because I really wanted my grandparents to be at my wedding. It’s unrealistic to expect an almost 84 year-old and 76 year-old to travel thousands of miles, and I understand that. It still sucks.

Colorblind by Counting Crows

I’m not inviting anyone from my dad’s side of the family because I do not want my dad to find out and show up invited. He has a habit of doing that. His surprise visit at my brother’s high school graduation is where we discovered his girlfriend was pregnant. At my high school graduation he somehow gained access to the floor of the Nutter Center and popped out at me like an assailant and handed me a check for $500 and left. Finally, he discovered that I worked in the same building he had just retired from on base and showed up multiple times to surprise me. Luckily, I wasn’t working when he came in, so I wasn’t forced into an awkward reunion in front of my colleagues.

9 Crimes by Damian Rice, but it’s too soft on my mp3 player so we’ll skip it.

Bleeding in Love by Leona Lewis…Carly and I love making up new lyrics to explain or apologize for the blood loss in this song.

So the bulk of my guests will come from friends, co-workers, and my stepdad’s side of the family. That’s fine. I enjoy a lot of my stepdad’s family. I consider my stepdad more of a father than my own could ever dream of being. Steve has surpassed my dad in both quality and quantity, since he’s been in my life for 14 years as opposed to my dad’s half-assed 12 years. The only thing is that there are people on his side that I just don’t want to invite or don’t feel the need to invite.

Everlong by the Foo Fighters

When I sent my stepdad the guest list he pointed out that there are some people missing–some out-of-state cousins I barely know, local cousins who I don’t really like and who might just show up for free food/drinks, and an uncle I deliberately left off the list because every time I’ve ever seen him he was pretty drunk. I temporarily added them to the list, but when the numbers started creeping closer and closer to 200 guests I decided to delete them and deal with the consequences. After all, this is MY wedding. <–I wonder how many times that sentence including caps has appeared in bride blogs… I haven’t revealed this to him yet, but I’m sure it won’t fly very well.

Realize by Colbie Caillat

I don’t want to be a Bridezilla, and I feel like there’s not much that can ruffle my feathers enough to evoke such a response, but this is a hot button issue for me. The venue we’re picked out thus far is very nice. There’s a covered patio where we can have the ceremony and then the guests can move inside to the reception while having access to the patio for mingling during the reception. The drawback is that the catering and bar service they provide is expensive. We’re looking into other more cost-effective options, but until/if we find something else I don’t feel like I should have to invite people I don’t necessarily want at the wedding. If we can find a ceremony site and have our reception at a place that lets us provide our own catering/alcohol at a much cheaper price, then the more the merrier.

Home by Michael Buble

I just don’t want to spend a ton of money on this wedding when we have other priorities to use our money on: a honeymoon, my student loans, our current mortgage, a larger house someday, new cars, maybe some spawn one of these days. If we stay with our current venue we’re looking at $40-$50 per guest, and with 170 on the list right now, that’s getting a bit pricey. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable…am I?

I Need You Tonight by INXS