Wedding Planning

I'm in San Antonio now. If the planning does not kill me (or if Ana doesn't) we are still on track for June of next year. I will get back to some of your comments (yes, Dr. Aima, this means yours) and to regular posting as soon as possible, but quite likely not prior to Monday.

Here is what I am learning: The wedding industry is one finely oiled machine wholly geared toward taking advantage of a couple being madly in love enough to run their damned gantlet. The up-front costs are enormous, the hidden costs are galling, and there is a subtext that implies that not spending on those extras indicates a lack of devotion (what, you fools are going to provide your own centerpieces? Enjoy divorce court!). The things I most want (the opportunity for my friends to descend on this city and have one hell of a good time) are of course the most expensive (open bar, anyone?) with the possible exception of the things I do not want but with which I may well be stuck (in an age in which everyone there will have digital cameras, please explain to me why I should spend several hundred dollars on a wedding photographer). The fact that we are paying for this whole shebang ourselves is the biggest impediment, though it is liberating in the sense that we don't have to appease as many people as if someone else was footing the bill -- or if several parties were. That said, if a rich old widower wants to marry either of our moms, I'll send you addresses along with a signed contract(Pick your preferred address -- San Antonio or the Daytona Beach area -- and I want recent income tax returns) so that you can start courting.

So I keep repeating the mantra: "As long as she's happy . . . aslongasshe'shappy. . . aslongas . . ." and figure that it will all work out. I might end up advising some of you to bring a bottle of premium liquor with you. In fact, I might well allow anyone in who has with them a bottle of said liquor, invitation or not -- please don't tell Ana I said that.