That Wedding

And he's right.

I'm pretty sure I'll be letting him wear whatever shoes he wants.

When I watched the show My Fair Wedding, the thing that struck me most about the episodes was not how beautifully the weddings turned out. What struck me was how you watched each bride grow up in front of your eyes. The process seemed to give them all a kind of bridal confidence, and I feel like I've sorta gotten my own bridal confidence. At first, I was just plain freaked out by the whole thing. When I first started pla

Now that I've given up control, I realize that you can't do it yourself, and you shouldn't try.

Mrs. D said something on the drive down about how happy she is to be helping because she didn't get to help plan any of Da

And I'm go

They had some great ideas that we incorporated into the wedding plans. We pla

Big surprise.

And Mrs. D hit it out of the park. She recommended having chilled buckets of beer waiting for the guests upon check in.

I'm pretty sure our friends are go

We got to play around with place settings and decided on deep purple glass chargers, deep purple water goblets, clear champagne glasses with silver trim, white di

Everything went well until they completely disagreed with me about the one thing I'm most looking forward to. Phillip and I decided to meet in private before the wedding. When he sees me in my dress for the first time, it will be just the two of us and a photographer.

Mrs. Mac says, "JJ! He can't see you before the wedding. It's BAD LUCK!"

Mrs. D agrees. "Plus, you're getting married on the thirteenth."

"Phillip and I want to have some private moments on our wedding day. If he sees my dress as I'm walking down the aisle, I won't get to talk to him. I want to hear what he thinks. Then we're go

They're both shaking their heads at me when Amy says, "You know, if we do most of the photos before the ceremony, that means we all get to enjoy the cocktail hour. Otherwise, the guests will enjoy it while you take photos."

Neither one of them want to miss a second of the cocktail hour, so Mrs. Mac finally says, "Well, if you make it special, it'll probably be okay."

"I'm so excited about Phillip seeing my dress in private. Instead of worrying about walking down the aisle and not tripping, I'll be able to focus on him, to remember what he looks like the moment he sees me. I wa

Mrs. D gushes, "Oh, JJ, the way you talk about it makes it sound so much more romantic. I wish I could've done that when I got married."

"While we're on this subject of walking down the aisle," Mrs. Mac says. "I wanted to ask if you'd mind if Phillip escorted Doug and I. Traditionally, an usher would escort me down the aisle. Doug would follow behind, and then we would be seated. Phillip and his best man would be standing at the altar already. I was at a wedding recently where the groom seated his parents. I thought it was really special, but I don't want to upset you."

"Why would that upset me?"

Mrs. Mac looks at me with real concern. "Because your parents aren't here to walk with you, and from what Phillip said, you're walking down the aisle by yourself."

"I thought about walking by myself, like as a way to honor my parents, but I changed my mind. I asked a special man in my life to give me away."

Mrs. D's eyes flood with tears. She turns to Mrs. Mac and says, "She asked Chuck."

I drop the moms off then head home. When I walk in my condo, the lights are dimmed, my mom's crystal candlesticks are holding dark purple tapers, the table is set, and I can smell Italian food.

Phillip takes my coat, kisses me, leads me over to the table, and pulls out a chair for me.

"What's all this for?" I ask.

"This is a big thank you for including my mom. She called me before you guys headed back home and said it was one of the best days she's ever had. She's very excited for our wedding and very happy that you included her." He pours us champagne then says a toast. "In exactly two months from today, we'll be on our honeymoon."

"That's a good reason to celebrate, and I'm glad I invited them. Her and Mrs. D had some great ideas for everything from the welcome gifts to the reception. They adored Amy, loved tasting the cake, and we had a lot of fun."

Phillip takes my flute and sits it on the table. "You know, I think maybe di

He strips off my clothes and massages my entire body with an amazing smelling lavender body oil. I could care less about di

"I'm go

Phillip and I stop by his parents' before heading to Neil's to watch the Husker game. I'm updating Mrs. Mac on a few wedding details when she lets out a big sigh. "I still haven't found a dress. Ashley and I have gone shopping a lot, but I just can't seem to find anything. The wedding is going to be so pretty and romantic. Is it bad that I don't want to look like the mother of the groom?"

"What do you mean?"

She frowns. "I know I'm the mother of the groom, but I don't want to look old. All the dresses Ash likes, I've felt like my mother."

"Ashley doesn't have a whole lot of patience either. I'm sure she gets mad at you when she likes something, and you don't."

"Exactly. I let her pick out the dress I wore to her wedding, and I hated that thing. I looked like a banana."

We laugh. Ashley's wedding was very yellow.

"Let's go shopping today," I suggest.

"But the Husker game is on soon, and I thought you had a party to go to?"

"Even better," I sort of shock myself by saying. "That means the stores won't be crowded. And we see Neil all the time. It won't kill us to miss it."

Somehow, possibly a miracle sent down from God himself, I'm able to convince Phillip and Mr. Mac that they need to skip watching the game and come with us.

That it's important.

Mrs. Mac sweetened the deal when she promised to record the game and make her gorgonzola stuffed burgers with mushroom wine sauce for di