Wedding planning is ridiculously ridiculous. Andrew and I should have grabbed our parents, siblings and…each other, boarded a plane for Mexico and gotten the whole shindig over in a 15 minute sea-side salty air experience. But, we didn’t do that…instead, we spent the past 18 months focused on and looking forward to one day, and while I don’t encourage anyone to follow that same path (elope ya’ll!) the memories, the lessons and the love we shared has made every tense, frustrating and exhaustion fueled fight worthwhile!
Everyone expects so many things from the process of putting together a wedding; I know I was expecting lots of romance, tears and bonding…and that’s what I got, but it was not in the moments I planned on. All of the big classic “wedding planning moments” were wonderful, but it was the inbetweeners (a cute little nickname I gave to unexpected wonderful aspects of wedding planning) that have left me feeling love, peace, passion and contentment. Finding THE dress, engagement pictures, choosing our wedding party, cake tasting, honeymoon planning…it’s all been so amazing, but…there was so much more that I can’t find words for…so I won’t try.
Instead, let me give you an example. This past Monday, the 13th, exactly 19 days away from our wedding…Andrew had the day off. Obviously, the responsible thing would have been to work on the RSVP list, get the programs finished (seriously, I need to do that, there’s a good chance we won’t have programs) or do any of the other many items on our to-do list…instead we ditched productivity and went to Old Chicago where we sat on the patio soaking in the warmth and each other. We laughed a lot, we drank even more and we ate wayyyy too much for two people who were planning on looking relatively attractive in 19 days…but we had fun. When we got home from our impromptu date night we sat sprawled out on the couch, both of us refusing to give in and turn on the air, sweaty, stinky and a little bit tipsy. That was when Andrew grabbed my barely used, extremely expensive Nikon digital camera from the coffee table…
I don’t know if any of you have noticed…but Andrew William Grade cannot keep his eyes open for a picture. 1 out of every 10 pictures you might actually get a glimpse of his eyes…but for the most part I look like I am consistently posing with a slightly stoned young man. It’s not great. This was the concern he expressed to me when he leaned down next to me and posed for the classic “selfie”…I was all about Pinterest at the moment but I played along and smiled…
“Ugh, how do you DO THAT?” Andrew asked me after inspecting the photo.
“What?”
“Keep your EYES OPEN? I can’t do it.”
“Yes you can…just focus!”
So we tried again….
“Wow…you really can’t, what is wrong with you, just OPEN them! We can’t have your eyes closed in our wedding photos..try again!”
Lol, not what I was looking for. And now I’m cracking up…
He seriously can’t do it people!
I thought I was going to pee my pants.
We decided to get serious about this…how to take a good picture together…scene 1!
LOL, nope.
Scene 2?
Gross.
Scene 3 fo sho…
Oh for the love of Pete…
Scene 4 for the win…
Yea, it’s just getting worse people…
So…this was our solution…
The 15 minutes we spent on the couch…”practicing” being photogenic, taking hideous selfies and laughing our asses off is one of my favorite engaged inbetweeners. I guess I just find it amazing that the small sliver of time we spent giggling on that couch could feel so huge and significant, but…that is how those inbetweeners always seem to happen! I’m just glad this moment was captured (in an extremely unflattering way) for us to laugh about for years to come.
And just so you all know…there was one picture that made me laugh SO HARD that Andrew threatened to call off the wedding if I posted it….I’m not calling his bluff 
