What's a bride to do? Why, turn to her groom of course!

I have no idea what to make of all these wedding timelines.  There are so many books and checklists on things to do 12 months, 9, months, 3 months, ... , leading up to your wedding.  Things like: when to announce your engagement, when to pick your bridal party, when to send your Save-the-Date's, when to start looking at dresses, when to book the photographer, etc., etc.  If it were up to me I'd start with the fun things first: dress, decorations, invitations, party favors... in other words BACKWARDS!  But, that's the icing on top, you leave the good for last.  We first need to deal with the big-ticket items: venue, caterer, music, and photography, those are the pillars.   After that, it should be all about filling in the gaps.

Nailing down the details on the BTI's (Big Ticket Items) is not as easy as it sounds.  It can be quite painstaking.  At the end of the day, if you're research oriented, as in  my case, there is endless amounts of information that will make your head spin faster than a [ word of your choice goes here].  In the end, decisions are influenced by user reviews of some sort of other.  We sealed the deal on the venue after I found reviews about it in blogs and an edit piece in The New York Times (can't overlook The Gray Lady), all pointing in the right direction.  But that's as far as we've gotten, there's still a ton more to do...

With all the to-do's there's only one thing couples can do, share the responsibilities.  Getting Fred involved however can be tricky; while he may not have an opinion, he does have a say (does that make sense?).  He's not about helping choose the flower arrangements or the table linens (he'll let me have it my way as long as I keep a few things in mind: the budget and the open bar), but I still need his approval before committing to anything.  Fortunately for us, communication is a key ingredient in our relationship.  Without it, we couldn't function as a couple given our opposing tastes.  What ended up happening was a meeting of the minds.  I expressed to him my need to have his assistance, and he agreed as long as I was willing to guide him and give him direction.  Thus I would become the research point-person coming up with the list of venues, caterers, DJ's, etc., and he would be the one helping reach out to get pricing details and all that other fun stuff.

I promised Fred that I would not be a "Bridezilla"; that I would be a normal human planning our wedding day,  and that I would not subject him to torture nor torment.  I'm happy to report that thus far it's all been good.  I really like the ways things are going; I want to enjoy planning my wedding, not arguing my way to it.  Let's hope we can keep it up!

Happy D = Happy Fred = Happy D = Happy Fred = Happy D = Happy Fred
(I think you get the point)