Fiance Friday! - DIY Wedding!

Hello blog-o-sphere!

I know it’s been a few weeks. As I sit here, I have been watching game 2 of the World Series. It’s currently 8-0 Giants in the bottom of the 8^th inning. Coincidentally, it is currently Thursday night at 8pm here on the West side of the country. Do you know what comes on TV on Thursdays at 8pm? Yup, Grey’s Anatomy, followed by Private Practice. Since Hollyanne is at a classmate’s house working on schoolwork, we have the TiVo set to record both shows. Now you might be saying to yourself, “Kevin, what’s the big deal? TiVo can record on one channel while you watch something else on another.” Well, technically yes, but not if you own a Series2 TiVo that you bought off Craigslist from some guy in a shady Walgreens parking lot two years ago for $30. So, 8pm rolled around, I had a choice to make. I could continue watching the Giants game, or I could allow the TiVo to change the channel and record Grey’s. Needless to say, I’ll be asking my co-workers in the morning how the game finished up. Grooms of the world, trust me when I say that there was a right and a wrong decision that could have been made in that situation. I chose the right one. :)

Anyhow, enough about me missing the end of the second game of the World Series. Did I mention that baseball is my favorite sport? I digress…So, today I thought I would talk a little bit about this whole DIY wedding concept. For those unfamiliar with the term, it stands for “Do It Yourself Wedding.” Now I can’t knock the entire concept. Those who know me know that I’m a frugal guy, always on the lookout for the best deals. Don’t believe me? Re-read the story in the first paragraph and focus on the section about my buying a used TiVo from some random guy in a parking lot. For the most part, a DIY Wedding is a GREAT way to save money!

However, I have learned that there are many things grooms may not fully comprehend when planning a “DIY Wedding.” There is no such thing as a free lunch – trust me, I’ve have my share of many breakfasts, lunches, and dinners over the years. First, type in DIY Wedding into Google. Check out how many blogs and websites are devoted to future brides and their DIY weddings! I’m fairly certain that my beautiful fiancée may have visited close to all of them. There are also magazines upon magazines devoted to the DIY Wedding concept. I’m looking at you, Martha Stewart (PS – I’m still waiting on your response from both of my letters…Don’t think you can avoid me!). In fact, there is an entire industry devoted to DIY Weddings! I would call it the Anti-Wedding-Industry-Industry. Or, since I’m in Student Affairs and we like to make acronyms, AWII.

My main word of warning comes in this form, however, grooms: Craft Nights. Yes, that’s right. DIY Weddings lead to “craft nights,” which can and will eventually turn in to “craft weekends.” You see, there is no joking on this one, grooms. You’ll be up to your ears in superglue and construction paper before you can say “Do It Yourself.” In fact, I got the full effect when my beautiful fiancée looked me sweetly in the eyes this week and said, “By the way, I invited a friend over to do crafts for the wedding this weekend.” So, while you all enjoy games three and four of the World Series, I’ll be doing crafts, and watching TiVo’d Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. Did I just mention that it is World Series time again?? :)

Before signing off, I just want to give a quick Fiancé Friday shout-out to my former classmate Joe and his new wife Allie who just got married last weekend in Ohio! Congrats to both of you!

Until next week…

Peace, Love, and Crafts,

Kevin

Fiance Friday!

Hello blog-o-sphere!

I hope that you all had a great couple of weeks! As you, I'm sure have read, things have been buzzing in terms of wedding planning. Of course, now you all are more in-the-know about my own wedding than I am, seeing that I am not even allowed to read the blog that I contribute too! For those wondering, I promise that I have not looked at the two blog posts that I believe are below this one. All of this leads up to the topic of my post today: Bridal Shows.

Now stay with me here, folks. You may be expecting me to completely bash this bridal tradition. Now before I get in to my issues with it, there is something I do have to say about them. This is wedding efficiency at its finest!! You can get a dress, AND get all of your vendors taken care of in one-stop shopping! I LOVE this idea! Essentially, you could go to a bridal show for a couple of hours, and come back with EVERYTHING planned! Why WOULDN'T anyone go to one??

Now, allow me to answer my own question. What I just mentioned above happens in a fantasy, grooms of the world! Grooms, listen to me. Bridal shows are just a cover-up! Your beautiful fiancee is going to come back from one with all of these new ideas, and quite possibly may be completely re-thinking everything you once thought was set in stone when it came to wedding plans. Now, let me be clear. I don't know this from personal experience. this is just a little speculation, so I suppose you can take this with a grain of salt this week. See, my beautiful fiancee gets many of her ideas from other wedding blogs. These ideas in-turn lead to craft nights and redecorating our kitchen table. More on that next week. :)

Before straying too far off-topic, I just want to answer the one question I know all of you are thinking right now. If there are all of these bridal shows, why aren't there "groom shows"?? The answer to this is simple. If there were such a thing as "groom shows," they would be very in 15 minutes! Do you know why? I believe they would look a lot like I described in paragraph two! They would be the ACTUAL one-stop shopping adventure that they are supposed to be! So grooms, next time your fiancee heads off to a bridal show, know that it's only the beginning, and not the one-stop shopping experience you hope for!

Until next week,

Kevin

PS - Martha, I still have not heard from you. Perhaps my letter got lost again. I'll re-send it. Hugs and high-fives!