Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Mere months

So, this thing happened recently where the six month mark to our wedding passed and then suddenly I was like, oh my god our wedding is five months away THAT IS SO SOON. Like, to the point where at four o'clock yesterday afternoon, I was taken with the idea that we should go look at tuxes THAT NIGHT and when Torsten had to work too late to get to the store before it closed, I almost had a small conniption.

I think part of is that we have already been engaged for nine months and so for the longest time the wedding felt like it was just ages away and would essentially never arrive, and now suddenly we are 60% of the way there and we're at the time when the small details start piling up and suddenly it feels like even though the main stuff is pretty much done, there is SO MUCH TO DO and WHEN CAN WE DO IT? How about NOW?

Even though if we really start dealing with the details, we'll wind up with huge piles of flip-flops and candles and ribbons and pew decorations all around our not-that-spacious apartment, and we really do not need that. And really five months (and actually it's five and a half months) is still lots of time. And really we're getting plenty of stuff done now. And all of this is in my head.

But it's so exciting! And the wedding nightmares have evolved so MUCH! The most recent one featured everything going according to plan, except that all the little details were off and the guests were annoyed and I couldn't get my veil right and nobody was there to help me. In the dream, I was extremely grumpy and stressed about that stuff, but it was still a long way from the first wedding nightmare, which featured an empty, grungy basement auditorium and my dad officiating in a grubby pair of shorts.

Oh and the other part of this feeling is probably that we booked our honeymoon flights yesterday, so now things are not as easily canceled as they were back when we had only booked the hotel. Not that we would ever want to cancel, because it is going to be the best trip ever, and I am pretty much as excited about that as I am about the wedding itself, but now it's really official and we have real, actual money committed to it, and we've put in for the time off work, and it's really happening!

Oh, and one last thing? OH MY GOD FIVE MONTHS. YAY.

So tell me, has this ever happened to you? That something felt really far away and then all of a sudden, BAM, it switched and suddenly it was like RIGHT THERE, about to happen? What was it?

P.S. Yes, you are allowed to laugh at me when it's, like, October 30 and I'm talking about how SOON everything is and you remember how I've been talking about that since May.

49 comments:

  1. Oh yeah. I have to warn you that all of a sudden it will be your rehearsal dinner. But the great thing about that is that you can finally say "oh well, if it hasn't gotten done by now, I guess it wasn't really that important!" And no one will ever know any different :)

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  2. hahaha i keep thinking the SAME things, except now im at like 3 months - and shit still isn't getting done! AHH! Don't worry, I know we're gonna survive and have a great time

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  3. Yeah, 5 months ago I thought I had plenty of time for the "small" things. Only, the small things don't stop coming. I still have small things to do but I only have 3 days to do them! No, I'm not freaking out at ALL!

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  4. Almost everything exciting happens like that- graduations, starting a new job, vacations. I once booked a cruise like a year and a half ahead (for when I finished grad school) and when I was actually leaving for it it felt like someone else was going on vacation.

    You'll get everything done, no worries!

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  5. I've been engaged for 7 months and our wedding is still 11 months away. I've been acting like we need to book everything right now! But I'm getting better and learning to enjoy our engagement.
    I've been following your plans and I know everything will be wonderful! And even if it sneaks up on you, just enjoy it and go with the flow!
    Congrats!

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  6. Well, the biggest things that have been that way for me were having babies. When you get pregnant it's like, "oh yay! I'm pregnant." But nine months is a long time. And you go along, pregnant and happy and gaining weight and watching the baby develop. And then suddenly it's been seven months, and then eight months, and then it's time! And it really just sneaks up on you.

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  7. Um my own wedding. This is just how it goes since most engagements are nearly a year or longer. And I am in a wedding on June 14 and suddenly yesterday I realized I might want to alter my dress and make a hair appointment already.

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  8. heh. i have this great mental image of your apt filled with towering mounds of flipflops and tulle.

    i'm glad the nightmares are getting, uh, LESS sucky? ish?

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  9. Wow! That's so exciting. Your excitement for your wedding is contagious! For me, it would be the end of the school year. In February I felt I had loads of time to teach the kids everything I wanted and now I only have two months left! And my class can't tell time! Or do double digit subtraction with ease! Or write stories without forgetting capitals/periods and the whole notion of a plot! I'm running out of time.. yet two months IS enough if I plan correctly.

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  10. i would definitely be the same way. i may actually have started freaking out about it months ago. lol. totally normal in my opinion. it's good to be prepared and organized :)

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  11. Gah. I want to plan my wedding.

    Did I just write that?

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  12. Are you doing that cute thing where you get a bunch of flip flops in different sizes to leave for the guests to change into at the reception? My friend was going to do that and I think it's such a cute idea!!! :)

    And big things sneak up on me all the time! It's nuts!

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  13. jess it is going to pass by SOOOOOOOOOOO fast.

    yay!

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  14. Pregnancy does this to me EVERY TIME: it is FOREVER and SO LONG and WAY TOO SOON TO GET READY...until it is ALMOST HERE and SO SOON and TOO LATE TO GET READY.

    School did it to me, too.

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  15. um, yeeeeaaaaah
    i can honestly tell you, it has never been 5 months until my wedding.

    damn.

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  16. Currently that is happening for me because I am realizing I have only 4 weeks to pack up everything I own in California and ship it cross country. I keep putting it off because - yikes - it is going to be expensive...

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  17. How exciting to have booked the flights for the honeymoon! I had to go back and look at those gorgeous pics of the hotel. You are going to have such a good time!!

    We have this graduated licensing system for driving here and between road tests (you have to take 2) you have to wait a year. I remember when I finished the first road test I was all "when will this year be over so I can take test number two?" and then ZOOM there went the year and I was all "Oh, so soon? I think I'll wait a bit longer."

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  18. I think times flies by way to fast in general. Especially if you are excited about something. Then before you know it it is over and you were wishing for it back. I'm glad things are going as planned. 5 MORE MONTHS!!!!!!

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  19. Um yes. As you will remember, I got married on 4/26 ....

    .... and I started to FREAK out about 3/31 ... because all the sudden it was for real and we DID have favors, ribbons and crap all over the house for MONTHS. I was so happy to see it go the night of the rehearsal dinner!!!

    I had wedding nightmares too- that we sent out invitations for the wrong date and no one came... and several where I got to the reception and everyone had left because the reception was so lame. It was AWFUL!

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  20. That happened to me with wedding planning too! A few months ago I was complaining to my mom because I wanted to be doing things but there just wasn't much I could get done then. And now we are 3 weeks out and there is SO MUCH TO DO. But I love it. And the time totally flew by.

    I'm so excited for you - wedding planning can be so fun, as long as you are organized (which you obviously are) and relaxed about it (which I sense you are through your writing). :-) Enjoy it!

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  21. that is so exciting!!! :)

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  22. I love the word conniption. Sorry, I don't really have anything interesting to say.

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  23. I felt like that when I moved from CA to WA. I planned and planned and felt like, "Oh it's far away. I have plenty of time!" and then WHAMMO! it was time to actually say good-bye.

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  24. Time does fly and before you know it your wedding will be here. That is so exciting and I could tell it in your writing that you are more excited that worried - deep breaths, it will all be fine!

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  25. I totally had that feeling when I was pregnant. At first it seemed like 9 months was a LONG TIME and then before I knew it I was having a baby. Seriously, I was so unprepared. I mean, yeah, I had a crib and stuff, but my baby shower was literally the DAY BEFORE she was born. My husband ended up fixing up the nursery while I was in the hospital!

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  26. Sometimes it feels like everything can do that to me: huge projects at work, vacations, impending house guests, moving, starting a new job. School was like that for me too.

    I think it is just part of my personality -- I am always going to be the type of person in any given situation who notices everything that needs to get done and stresses about who is going to do it, and when it is all going to get done.

    Funny how the fact that everything always ends up working out just fine doesn't really help me to relax more in the moment the next time x situation rolls around again.

    I think I am overdue for a vacation to stress out about. ;)

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  27. The only time I can think of that happening is the time between making plans to meet Nick and then meeting him. It seemed so far away, then all of the sudden it was HERE, and I wanted to throw up. A lot.

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  28. Indeed! Our Little Goat will be a year in barely more than a month and I can't believe she's been here that long!

    The 'waiting' for big events is half the fun though...and then the event happens and then it's over and I always miss having something to look forward too. Good thing for your blog because we can all live vicariously through your wedding plans...without having the nightmares!

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  29. The worst part was WANTING to do some of the smaller stuff, but having to WAIT because you couldn't do them (invites, perishable party favors, etc.).

    You'll have plenty of time to do everything. I promise.

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  30. EVERYTHING is like that for me, mostly because I am a wicked procrastinator. The things don't even HAVE to sneak, I blantantly ignore them until they are RIGHT UP IN MY GRILL.

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  31. Sounds like pregnancy - like you have your nesting impulse! I've recently started to feel like my body's just going to be like this forever and then someone says oh, just 8 more weeks or so! And I faint. There's so much I want to get done!!

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  32. Spawn's wedding was like that. We worked for MONTHS getting all the decorations, buying the stuff on sale (we had a year to make it all happen). Then there was the invitation fiasco, the rushed rehearsal, and the "I thought YOU booked the judge!" ordeal.

    Now it's Middle Minion's high school graduation next month. HOLY CRAP! IT'S NEXT MONTH!

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  33. Yes, this happens to me every term before midterms and exams. 6 weeks is a long time. 5 weeks is a long time. still a month. OMIGOD THREE WEEKS.

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  34. It's so fun to relive the wedding planning process through you!
    I can't wait to see pictures.

    I had wedding nightmares continue for about 6 months after I got married. It's so funny what your brain does to you.

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  35. I think, really, that this is how any long term event is. Because you book it/plan it, and then kind of sit on it for awhile and let other things take over, and then the thing is all "smash! in your face! here I am!"

    I am so, so, so having a low key wedding. All of this planning makes me anxious. (I mean, I say that now..)

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  36. I feel the same way about my move. For ages, I was sick of my current job, excited about the move, but it was too early to do anything about it. Now, all of a sudden, it's 11 weekends left, go! go! go!

    It's fun to finally be doing stuff, but stressful, too!

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  37. It was like that when I was pregnant. We spent 1.5 years getting pregnant, knew within 2 weeks when we conceived, so 9 months later seemed like an eternity to wait. Until the day it hit that a baby was coming SOON and I was totally unprepared (though I really wasn't).

    Try to enjoy the anticipation of how fabulous it's going to be!!

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  38. Jess? I am so living that right now all like OMG!! 10-12 weeks!! Another baby!!!

    I was so laid back about my wedding, it never happened. All I wanted was a kick-ass party which is just what I got.

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  39. definitely has happened to me - I always look back and think, OK, next time I am going to remember how fast this went, and plan a little better!

    never happens.

    I'm so happy for you, Jess : )

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  40. you are too cute!
    I love that you're so prepared. It makes me realize that I did NOTHING RIGHT! WOW.

    I can't wait to see some pictures of the wedding. It will come at you fast then you can imagine.

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  41. I couldn't have said it better myself. We took April off from planning. May hit and I was like "Oh Shit, we've got to get stuff done!" Tonight, we're going to shop for invitations at your favorite store, The Paper Source. Yeah! But, I know you well enough to know, you're so on the ball with this planning stuff. Never fear - you've got the big stuff taken care of. You could practically skip the details and still pull off a great celebration! Well, at least that's what I keep telling myself as I look at what's left to do! :-)

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  42. I'm so excited FOR you! And I don't blame you for feeling as if it's coming right up- I mean, it is! How fun.

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  43. I'm engaged, and I just started having the wedding nightmares. I was amazed at how creative they are, haha.

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  44. Ha, I forgot all about those wedding nightmares. Yours sound pretty funny.

    My engagement was just over a year and I remember feeling like IT'S NEVER GOING TO COME. I am an impatient person. I think it's better to be all, "OMG SO SOON!".

    And what's the deal with piles of flipflops?

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  45. starting college for the first time. i remember graduating high school and then it felt like a week later, my mom and brother helped move me to my dorm room and the next few days I started college.

    it's crazy how that whole concept of time works out.

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  46. um yeah. try my first trip to europe...to france last year. i was counting down at like, 113 days to go. people were laughing at me.

    now i can't believe that was more than a year ago. and that it flew by so quickly. i just wanted to freeze time.

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  47. Oct 30? that is my birthday...
    How exciting to have your flights booked!!!

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  48. It is coming up quickly, and it'll definitely be here before you know it. You'll get everything done though! Good Luck!

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  49. This happens to me every time I leave the country.

    Speaking of which... HOLY SHIT! LESS THAN 2 MONTHS!!! So much to do.... eek!

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