Ahh, to be young and engaged

Whenever I used to picture myself being newly engaged, I would imagine an endless series of celebrations. My coworkers would understand my need to spontaneously take two weeks off to drink, show off my ring, and be merry. There would magically be no hangovers. Oh no. And mimosas in bed each morning...at 11am, because that's when I'd be finally waking up.

Okay, that's not how I always pictured life post-engagement. In fact, I never really pictured it at all because I never really expected anyone to want to marry me. I suppose if anything, I imagined it would be a blissful relaxing time in my life. WRONG-O!

It's been straight up stressful. Straight up. Four days after Nic popped the question, I just happened to have the day off and figured what the hell, might as well get a jump on planning this thing.

The first call I made was to the Holiday Inn. They had the most information online and I enjoy getting everything I can out of the website experience. That gave them a step up on everyone else. I called them and started throwing out potential dates. Booked. Booked. Booked. My palms started sweating. I told them to have their wedding girl call me back anyway. If they're THAT good, maybe we can stretch this thing out into November, right? November is pretty much the same as September...

Next I called the Radisson. Our first choice was booked. Our second choice was open, save for the electrical work being done during the day. They could get us in at 4pm. On my wedding day. When I'm busy getting married. By this point, I was pretty certain September was out unless we wanted to have our reception in Nic's back yard, so early October sounded pretty damn good. I asked them to have their wedding girl call me back. (There was obviously some big wedding girl luncheon that day.)

Next I called Greysolon and, not surprisingly, didn't get to talk to a real live person. Whose office hours are 9-2 Tuesday-Friday? How do you stay in business? It's like Bella Boutique...open four days a month. I thought they must have REALLY good stuff to stay in business with hours like that. Then I stopped in and realized that they can probably only afford to pay somebody to man the register four days a month, peddling those ugly knock-off purses. As usual, I digress. I left a message pleading with somebody at Greysolon to return my call so I could see if their availability meshed with any of my potential wedding dates.

After Greysolon, I called the Duluth Curling Club. Again, I didn't expect anyone to answer. Curling season is not in full swing and it was the middle of the day and I had read online that they could only seat 100 so I wasn't going to lose sleep over this one, but I was calling anyway, per JoAnn's suggestion.

It took thirty hours (THIRTY HOURS) for anybody to get back to me. Finally, the Radisson called and we set up a Saturday appointment to check out the facilities and talk receptions with an expert. Still, I was freaking out because Jeanne pounded into my head the notion that a photographer would be impossible to find this late (more than a year ahead of time is not late for a procrastinator like me! If only everybody procrastinated so).

It took the Holiday Inn more than two full days to call me back. You know what? Fuck them. If they don't want my business, I will gladly take it to the competitors.

Greysolon one-upped the Holiday Inn and NEVER called back. That was two weeks ago today and still not a word.

The Depot took their sweet time, probably because they didn't have anything available for the dates I had requested. Besides, my coworker told me the Depot is a yucky place to have events, so I let that one go without a whole lot of ill will.

The curling club returned my call over a week later.

SO FRUSTRATING!

Saturday, Nic and I checked out the Radisson. The prices seemed reasonable in comparison to those I saw online. The facility was nice. It seats enough people. We can block rooms at a 20% discount for our guests. Sold! We seriously only looked at ONE place before deciding to book. Thank goodness Nic and I are so alike because I was in panic mode and totally over looking by five minutes into that first tour.

We decided on the 10th for our date, but didn't want to save that date with the hotel before nailing down a photographer. I had found the photographer I wanted online almost solely based on the fact that she releases the copyright for her pictures. I can get those bad boys developed anywhere I want to and make copies of the cds for every person at my wedding if I want to. Which I don't, for the record.

I called the photographer and was super bummed when her greeting told me that she would not be getting back to me until Tuesday. I felt like a gd tight rope walker, trying to find a way to ensure I'd get both the Radisson and the photographer I wanted for my big day. In a desperate effort to lock this shit down, I sent her an email on Saturday night. Lo and behold, the photographer from heaven replied to me almost immediately, telling me she would be happy to meet with us on Monday.

On Monday, I rushed home from work. Nic was waiting for me outside my building and I didn't even take the time to go inside to deuce, when you know I was dying to do just that. I ran straight from my car to his. We stopped quickly at the Radisson to pick up our contract and reserve October 10th. Next we met with the photographer who was everything and more than I hoped for. We secured her for the 10th as well. HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, IT WAS LIKE A WEIGHT WAS LIFTED OFF OF ME.

So, we have a date. I am going to be married on October 10, 2009. A year from right now, I will be a wife. Hopefully a wife lying on a beach and sipping a margarita in a very tropical locale.

But wait, there's still the small detail of where to actually get married. The party is a go, but the actual ceremony? Not so much.

I went to mass at St. Lawrence Catholic Church with Christina on Sunday morning. I made sure to shake the priest's hand after mass, but the thought of calling him to discuss marriage scared the holy hell out of me. So, I did what any smart girl would do. I pleaded with Nic to make the call and, of course, he did. Have I ever mentioned that I am marrying the best boy in the entire world? He's not even Catholic, but he called the Catholic priest to arrange our first of several meetings.

After Nic made the call, I was able to shift my incessant worry from making the phone call to actually meeting with the priest. Nic was extremely calm and kept insisting that he wasn't worried about it at all...that is, until about an hour before we were to meet Father Bill at the church. Nic has never been a huge fan of the elitist Catholic church and the horror stories all the non-Catholics married in Catholic churches had been telling him didn't make matters any better. I was mostly just terrified that he was going to ask us if we'd had sex. All in all, we had bad attitudes going in and we were both pretty sure we were going to end up being married Methodist. Have you seen the copper top church? What a view!

(Note: If Grandma was still alive, there would have been NO talk of getting married in a Methodist church. Instead, there would have been much talk of Nic converting to the elitist Catholic religion.)

The meeting with Father Bill went extremely well. He was extremely laid back and welcoming and put our names on the calendar for 10-10-09 before even talking with us. We chatted for an hour and a half, mostly because Nic would. not. stop. asking. questions. We each did our fair share of name dropping. A great uncle priest on one side and a cousin priest on the other side, both in the same diocese that we're trying to get married in? How could you not want to marry us?! Nic even used the "c" word, which made me want to crawl under the table and hide. Note to Nic: you don't ask a priest "what's a guy gotta do to convert?" unless you're very serious! You just wait. You're going to have Chico the Deacon all up in your business before long.

We don't have to do anything differently than two Catholics getting married would, which is a great relief. Nic doesn't have to sign his children over to the church as he was so sure he would. We have to go to a few more counseling sessions with Father Bill, a weekend or day long "retreat" at some point in the next year, and that's about it. I'm so happy to be getting married in a Catholic church.

Now I can finally relax and enjoy that blissful, relaxing newly engaged feeling I was craving...right after I book a dj for the reception.