Time to reflect

Well that's come around quickly.

The wedding is Saturday.

I'm planning to write a few blogs before the W-Day* but the way things have gone I may not have time to put paws to keyboard.

So, I'm making hay while the sun shines. 

We're pretty much ready. I'm all one for making lists and but this is one of those times where the items keep growing. Extra bits you've remembered creep on to the bottom of the paper. 

At the end of wedding prep, you realise you've gained a glut of extra information that 'may' come in useful again.  Words that you never heard until about a week ago creep their way into conversations. You would try and forget some of it and yet something tells you it will appear in a pub quiz in two years.

My speech is written, we've nearly packed and I just need a haircut.

Easy.

And yet...

Still a few days to go.

*I hope I'm the first to use that phrase. I'll probably find out W-Day was the day they invaded Winter. You know, the season. These things do happen folks. It's on wikipedia. That's always right, right? Right?

The Wrong Trousers

There are downsides to losing weight.

Sure, you get a confidence boost, you (hopefully) get healthier and generally feel better about yourself, but there are remote times when you wish things could be adaptable.

Take last night.

I had the glam job of cleaning the bathroom  and picked out some old clothes to wear.

The T-shirts were fine. OK, a bit baggy but they did the job.

But the trousers? A lost cause. Every pair slid down my frame, finally resting around my bottom. It looked ridiculous and I looked several years too late for that particular style.

The horror.

If I had a hula-hoop to hand I'd have used it to fashion a clown-esque pantaloons. At least they would have looked a tad more sensible than the slack slacks I modelled.

That shallow quibble aside, things are going well.
OK, I miss having pies.
And pasties.
And a bit of booze.
But, all in all, I'm feeling better in myself.

The big talk

In four weeks today I will be married.

And you know what? I'm calm about it all.

OK, maybe not all but the actually ceremony and commitment? Not a problem.

I'm really looking forward to the day. We've worked like mad to get everything how we want and, hopefully, it should be great fun.

To those who are getting married but have yet to start planning I pass on these words of advice. You should know this now before you go further.

It's not a bad thing, it's just vital information.

Picture me as your wedding-prep guru, pour yourself a glass of milk and sit down.

It's time for the big talk. You probably think you know this but, and trust me on this one, you don't know how true this is.

As a wise man says, the thing about this, is this:

The preparation is kinda crazy.

Both the WTB and I have careers where we juggle different things during the day. Multi-tasking is not an alien word to us, though it is a word I detest. Bloomin' buzzword.
Even so, taking on a wedding has moved us out of our comfort zones (bloomin buzzword).

You enter a world where napkin tones are a discussion point. The colour is grey in case you're wondering. You're probably not, and, if you know the WTB, you've probably guessed that anyway.
It's a world where you get to pick what kind of portable toilet you'd like. Standard or luxury are just two of the many options that await you. Will standard reflect back on you? If it's luxury you're after, what kind of music would you like piped in?
It's a world where you feel every detail will be scrutinised. Is this the right font for the invites? Should I sit my brothers nearest the bar? Can I get away with publishing my speech online on the day? Can I tweet from the church? What kind of pants best reflect me as a newly married man? What colour should my socks be?*

You feel that these will all be looked at, examined, and discussed. You feel that everything will be analysed within an inch of its life. You feel that there will be gossip.

You know what? There will be.

But the key, and excuse me for venturing into saccharine-land here, is that none of it really matters.

What matters is you and your WTB standing in front of your friends and taking that step together.

That's why I'm not nervous. I'm looking forward to it.

I know things could go wrong. I know it could probably rain (mainly because it's Cornwall and, let's face it folks, we Cornish have been running the 'Always sunny in Cornwall' con for many a year now). I know Great Aunt Ethel might not agree with the music coming from the cubicle outside.

But hell, we've coped with the juggling, the disappointments, the long days. We've found the place. We've tracked down the last existing available caterer and thanked our stars that she's a legend. We've sorted the problems so far, all with a smile and a muttered swearword under our breaths.

Sure, things could go wrong. But we can deal with it.

It's our day.

And you'll get through it too. Trust in yourselves.



Just the stag to get through then...





















*Answers to the questions:

Yes, it is the right font. Gill Sans is lovely.
I should sit at least one near the bar.
Yes I can and probably will - just before I say it perhaps to launch speech karaoke.
I can't and I wouldn't. #rightthingtodo
Posh pants.
As many colours as possible.