The Countdown is ON...

So... my roommates are getting married. Both of them. Okay, so it's not THAT surprising or coincidental since they are marrying one another.

No, they are NOT both men.... or women for that matter... (ahh well, dare to dream)

So the big shindig goes down this coming Saturday and I, for one, can hardly wait. Yes, I am excited. No, really, I am.

"Why?" do you ask?

Well, it'll be nice for the whole process to finally be done with.

For those of you who have never been involved with a wedding of ANY scale, let these words of wisdom guide you along:

1. START EARLY.
2. Start often
3. plan ahead
4. plan more ahead
5. Never EVER, under ANY circumstances tell a supplier of ANY part of the wedding ordeal that you are doing it for a wedding. Why? Because the word "wedding" equals a 4 times multiplier to the price. For example: You wanna cater this party. No problem. Sammiches and party platters at about, oh, 5 bucks a head. Now, do the EXACT same food and drink for a "WEDDING"? 20 bucks. Check it out and tell me I lie. Go 'head and try.
6. Did I mention that you need to START EARLY?

Let me discuss this whole START EARLY item. I love my roommates and they love each other tons.. and they seem to like me well enough not to kill me in my sleep, BUT, they were actually considering eloping. Why? Well, they (and by "THEY" I mean "SHE") knew that the process of producing a wedding was a bit of a monumental task. Most people never really understand this until they encounter it. (Doesn't it make sense that there is an entire vocation dedicated to the sole task of handling wedding preparation? It's called a wedding coordinator, by the way.) SOOOO they had set an October date and time ran short what with moving here and there and getting their apartment subleased and moving in with me and just a whole ton of crap that I'll likely get into later in another entry - let's just say that time ran short. Six weeks ago they had decided to simply move the wedding into the spring or go to Las Vegas and do it Elvis style.

Me personally? I was definitely all for the Elvis wedding... but I think I would have requested the "Shaft" wedding. I can hear Isaac Hayes in the background layin down the funky groove and he and his blackup singers (yes, that is an industry term) singing "He a bad muthafu" "Shut yo mouth" "I'm just talkin' bout Wop". But I digress, as usual.

Back to their wedding plans ... somehow, family intervened. They didn't know how the plans had gone from October ceremony to getting dressed up like Elvis and Priscilla... and someone said something or other and then *WHAM* - we (and by "we" I mean "my roommates AND I") had to get set up for an October wedding.

That was 6 weeks ago.

Let me tell you something. Six weeks isn't enough time to prepare for a wedding unless you are Wonder Woman. And that's what my most excellent friend, Lisa is. Wonder Woman. Even though her groom-to-be has sometimes seemed like the Invisible Man during this whole process - he has been helpful, yes, but sometimes grooms-to-be are like ninja - they can disappear from right in front of you when "danger" (and by "danger" I mean "talk of the wedding") arises. Six weeks and on a shoestring budget, this whole wedding process is going to happen and it's going to be pretty nice, from what I can tell. Not some pot-luck BYOB affair, mind you - there is a reception with real food and live music - yes, I will get to play some as well, but I am just the "set break" guy for the actual band. Wonder Woman she is.

And this is crunch week. I have written part of a wedding toast and a song to sing for them, as part of the toast, and am planning on how to set up the whole video shoot that I was asked to do for them.... I, for one, have great fears about being able to do the video well enough to make them happy, but I know that in the end, they will smile and thank me for a wonderful video because that's just how great these two people are.

And if you can read the tear in my eye as I write this last paragraph, that's okay - I'm just happy I got to share some of this process with them... and now I know why I'll run if anyone threatens ME with it. ;)


So, Happy Monday. The Countdown is ON. 6 days and counting....
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