Every bride expects bumps in the road when it comes to planning a wedding, and I had no delusions of grandeur that my experience would be any different. That said, I was not prepared for the series of events that effectively derailed my wedding plans, and had me seriously considering two plane tickets to Vegas.
In January, I felt ahead of the game. My mother was thrilled beyond words that her 38-year-old daughter was FINALLY getting married. Mr. Dynamite's father and stepmother immediately started calling me their daughter-in-law. We had a perfect, and free, wedding ceremony planned for just the 5 of us prior to the reception. We had a reception hall that was practically free. Albeit the venue was a bit design-challenged, but I embraced the notion of transforming a church hall with a low, acoustic-tile ceiling and cinder-block walls into a gorgeous & funky party space through the magic of crafting, friendship and wine.
Then mom went into the hospital. This was a relatively regular occurrence, given she was 85 years old with congestive heart failure, and I remained confident she would recover just as she always had. I decided to check out an open house at a bridal consignment shop during a break from being at the hospital, and ended up purchasing my perfect wedding dress. The vision of the wedding had not wavered.
As mom recovered, as I expected she would, she died. Just all of a sudden, not 30 minutes after I had spoken with her on the phone, she died. The wedding became the absolute farthest thing from my mind, except for the heartbreaking thought that she would never see me get married. Her heart finally gave out just three days before her birthday on Valentine's Day. I mourned, and tended to her estate. Sometimes I forget that she's gone, and pick up my phone to call her.
Now it's April, and I'm ready to get back on the ball with the wedding. I call the church to ask about seating, tables, linens, building access, etc. and was told by a very flustered church assistant she would have to call me back. Thinking I had simply called her at a bad time I thought nothing of it. Then she called back. We could not use the reception hall for our date, or any other date that month. It was a church booking and not a wedding booking, so it was on a different calendar and she had missed it. Oops, so sorry.
Thankfully, I had two back-to-back weekends out of town, so there was no time for panic. I distributed lists of possible venues to a couple of friends, and started compiling places with potential. I took a morning off from work so Mr. Dynamite and I could go check some places out, and while we spent a little more than we had planned, we found the perfect place.
The moral of the story, well, that takes us back to the very beginning - keep calm and carry on. Don't panic. Everything may not work out the way you want, but with the help and support of those you love, you'll be just fine.
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| Mom being silly and fabulous, circa 1946 |
