Mood:
don't askI used to laugh at those Bridezilla shows and thought I would never act like that but after the last couple of days I can see why most brides go postal. My idea of a small informal wedding has totally been blown out of the water. I had to pull the reigns in on my mother who started inviting people I have never met. The other day she sent me a name to add to the list. I asked who this woman was and she said it was someone she worked with who had rescued some cats. WHAT!?! She apparently wants to help with the wedding and is also a photographer. I appreciate all there people wanting to help but these are just extra mouths I have to feed.
I had hoped Catoctin would be able to accommodate the reception but they are all booked so we had to find someplace else to hold the party. Every place we called was either booked or too expensive. I had found out that the local fire company owns a building at the fairgrounds and it was available but mom shunned that idea stating she didn’t want to hold the reception in a fire hall. I tried to explain that it wasn’t a fire hall but she wasn’t hearing it. Well finally yesterday we found and book at location. It is a little more than I wanted to spend but mom has offered to split the bill. I told Lennie last night that I wanted a cash bar because I didn’t want people to get drunk on my dollar which I don’t think he was too happy with but oh well. We have got to save money somewhere. He also commented on that fact that he wanted to put out a donation basket at the party in Raleigh so people can help out with the cost of the wedding. I commented that it was tacky which didn’t go over well. But anyway here is where the reception will take place. The Lodge at Blue Ridge Summit
Now to add to the stress was trying to find a wedding dress. I went to David’s Bridal first. Even though I had heard bad things about them, they are close to my house so figured I would give it a try. My friend Maria went with me for moral support and to help me decided if I needed a tie breaker. When I first walked in they were all over me but when I mentioned my wedding dress budget everything changed. They proceed to treat me as if I had the “poor people” plague and abandoned me and Maria for close to 30 minutes. The woman arrived and stated she didn’t think she could really help me but I was free to sort through the clearance rack. WHAT!?! We headed over and I pulled a couple of dresses I thought might work. One I tried on was okay but I wasn’t really feeling it. I told the woman I would think about it. She proceeded to tell me she couldn’t hang onto the dress and that maybe I should try Goodwill. I threw the dress down and walked out. Maria and I tried a few more places but without much luck so Wednesday I decided I would head to Burlington to scope out Bridalmart.
I got up Wednesday morning and started out and noticed the speedometer on my car wasn’t working. I pulled into the Toyota dealership and proceeded to wait 4 hours before they came out and told me that they would have to order a part and it would be at least 3 days. I refused to drive my car because with trying to pay for a wedding I couldn’t afford a speeding ticket. So after an hour of arguing with them they agreed to give me a rental car. It is a piece of crap Chevy Cobalt but it will do. I miss my car!!!! I hate having to manually roll down my windows.
After getting the rental car I drove to Burlington. It is about an hour outside of Raleigh but it was worth it. The people were so friendly and helpful and determined to find me something to wear. I must have tried on close to 10 dresses and had managed to narrow it down to 2. One was very sparkly and I was afraid it was a little too ornate for me. The second was an A-line gown that had beading on the torso that stopped at the waist. In the back, the dress cut away to expose the train underneath. The sections that are cut away have beading down them and then the train at the base has some beading. It was comfortable to wear and other than needing to be hemmed a little and the bust taken in some it didn’t need a lot of work. The train is a little long for the size church I am going to be in but they didn’t have anything shorter. The girl put a veil on me and lowered the blusher over my face and I started to cry. Everyone started yelling, “WE FOUND THE DRESS!!!!” Since it was a sample and I had to buy it off the rack they gave me a discount for some imperfection and some dirt which can easily be fixed. So I managed to get a $600 dress for $295. $95 over my budget but it is beautiful. Now I just have to find time to make a cape.
On the way home I stopped to get gas and when I inserted my card it declined it. It said there was a hold on my account. Thank God I had another card. When I got home I checked my account because I should have had plenty of money left. When I looked it said I was $80 in the hole. WHAT!?! I looked at the transactions and found the culprit. I had been to a Mexican restaurant one night with Maria and I picked up the tab which was $24.86. They had charge my card for that amount and then charged me $250.44. I got in my rental car and headed up to the restaurant. I asked to speak to a manager and the guy behind the counter pointed to a man and said you can talk to him. The guy acted like a manager until I told him my problem and then laughed and said he wasn’t the manager and sent me back to the guy behind the counter. Both of them chuckling. Wrong move!!! Doesn’t he know it isn’t nice to piss off an already pissy bride? I went off!!! I threatened to call the cops and file theft charges against him. He asked to see my ID and when I pulled it out he saw my badge and immediately changed his tune. I am sure he has illegals working for him and when he found out I worked for the govt, feared I might bring attention to him. He said it was all a mistake and he would refund my money quickly. I checked this morning and the money has been refunded and he put 25 extra on it to cover the overage charge.
That night I grabbed a glass of wine and handed out candy to the kids while I assembled the wedding invitations. I am making them myself so I had to print off the announcement and then attach ribbons and beads. They look simple but elegant. Now all I have to do is print off the reply cards and I can get them in the mail.
This weekend I am going to take my dress in to the seamstress and finish the invitations. Other than that I am going to just relax. I am told everything now is downhill. That I have all the hard stuff figured out. We will see.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Maybe once they dress is altered I can post some pictures.
