Admittedly, I can be a snob about certain things in life, namely fast food and Walmart.
The Walmart avoidance is mainly due to long, slow checkout lines, and the fact there is usually at least one unruly child throwing some sort of tantrum.
But when you’re shopping for a wedding, you have to go to reasonable places for things you never needed before- like spools and yards and feet of RIBBON. I have lists of our sudden ribbon needs, such as for the program, bouquets…before this planning process, I probably purchased ribbon maybe once, if ever. Anyway, so Mom and I decide to head over to the local Walmart ( ew) to try to purchase what will hopefully be the last of many ribbon purchases.
I was immediately turned off by the scores of cars outside and the lack of clean-looking shopping carts. (Dingy. Ew, ew) So when Mom went to get a shopping cart, I had my reservations. After pushing the thing down a few aisles, I finally dared myself to see if our cart also contained some sort of garbage product as the others seemed to. It did. A clothes hanger and a piece of round cardboard. (Tacky.)
At the sewing/craft center, I I needed this one type of blue ribbon. Walmart had one left on the shelves. It was missing the back of the cardboard spool that contained the barcode. I felt justified in my lack of respect for Walmart, yes I did. Look how they take care of their merchandise. Mom said we may have a problem at check out, but we would try and buy the ribbon anyway.
After waiting in a slow line, it was our turn to pay. I put all the ribbon spools- even the barcode-lacking one- onto the conveyer belt and was checking to see if we had missed any in the cart. Of course, I saw the nasty trash again. Some random hanger, hmmph. And that pointless cardboard circle….
Hmmm. I held the circle up. It had a barcode and a description-

1917SFS LT BLUE
5/8″ x 18ft
100% polyester

I held the piece up to our ghetto fabulous, backless ribbon spool. Perfect Match. I placed it on top of the backless spool, watched it go through the scanner, paid for it, and felt a little weirded out. It was a Walmart miracle, yes it was.

Josh and I are on our way to the downtown courthouse to obtain our official marriage license. We’re just sticklers for rules - the recommended time between application for a license and ceremony is 1 month. (Check out the date!!!) It seems we picked the right county to get married in, because the requirements are minimal, at best.

Fulton’s Quick Tips for Marriage License Applicants:

Age: Must be at least 18 years of age

Who: Georgia residents OR Non-Georgia residents being married in Fulton County. Both bride and groom must appear in person.

When: Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Proper ID: Driver’s License, Passport or Birth Certificate. (Documents not in English must be accompanied by certified English translation).

Cost: $32.00 Cash

Where: Fulton County Probate Court, 136 Pryor Street, Suite C-230, Atlanta, Georgia 30303 (404) 730-4692 or (404) 730-4640

Please note - no witness, no blood test, or second valid form of ID. They really want people in Fulton to commit. Wish us luck - we’re almost legal!

There is just no end of fun characters when dealing with a wedding. I love it.
Today, I had the job of purchasing stamps. After staring at this wall of stamps for about ten minutes, I finally picked a very basic (ie kinda boring) stamp. The choices were a bit more limited than I had imagined.
I go to the counter and meet Interesting Invitations Character #2 in the form of an older gentleman who resembled Santa Claus. (I would be willling to assume he works the malls during the season.)
I plunked down my 200 stamps or so (response card stamps included) and he looks at me over his glasses.
“Now….are these for a wedding?” (Santa speaks slowly and deliberately.)
“Yes, sir.”
“Alright…..now….have you had…..your invitations….weighed?”
I see where this is going. “No, I haven’t. I could bring one in though-”
“Because…..I’ve seen many disappointed brides…..all ready to mail their invitations…..and they’re too heavy for….the 37 cent stamp..I’m just…not comfortable..selling you….these 37 cents….unless….you’re sure…the invitation…requires…the 37 cent..stamp.”
“Okay, that makes sense, I don’t suppose there’s a one or two cent stamp-”
“Let me explain to you ….how this works, okay?….There’s a 37 cent stamp…..and there’s the 60 cent stamp……if the invitation is…..too heavy, okay,… for the….37 cent stamp….you HAVE to….buy the 60 cent stamps…,okay…”
“Well, thank you, I’ll have to check on-”
“Do you have… an invitation…with you?”
“No, no, I don’t, but I’ll bring one-.”
“Because….I would really….feel more comfortable….selling you these, okay………if you could…..bring in and weigh…..one of your invitations…”

A more assertive counterpart of myself may have had the nerve to say, “You are..inadvertantly…..speaking to me….in a somewhat….condescending…manner….although…..I appreciate…your..help….I would…..appreciate…..it even more….if you could….speak…more as if…you were communicating…to someone…you consider….your intellectual….equal…”

But I said,”Okay, I will be sure to do that. Thank you.”

Now, in fairness to Santa, I was dressed in a fashion style reminscient of Britney now that she’s in her laid-back pregnancy stage. Lacking make-up, fitting clothes, or clean hair for that matter, I’m sure I looked like a 12 year old junior bridesmaid on a mission. And I do realize that he was only trying to help, and for that, I am appreciative.
So here’s where I’m probably more stubborn than necessary- not to mention passively aggressive. I returned the stamps back to the shelf, drove all the way home, got an invitation example, and drove to another post office branch to have it weighed.
Happy ending- the invitations do only require the 37 cent stamp. Boo-ya.

Yesterday was the only day I had off work last week, and mom and I took full advantage. First we called the Polo Club and made our appointment to discuss the menu. (Only a month or so later than we should have. So much for thinking they would call us.)
Then we drove down to Buckhead and went to a wholesale flower warehouse. I’m trying to make flower decisions without a florist, and I wanted to see some flowers in person before ordering a mass order. (We all remember what happened with the Lily of Valley fiasco.) But we weren’t totally sure they were going to let us in, since we don’t have a business license….or any intent to purchase.
Not surprisingingly, we’ve never been to a wholesale flower warehouse. We walked in and just stood in the first room wondering where the receptionist was. I kept trying to make eye contact with one of the workers there, only to figure out later that some people were actually florists making their purchases. I must have looked like the friendliest little weirdo, smiling and staring at everyone.
Finally, a guy came to our assistance and we were escorted to the large storage room. A walk-in freezer, if you will. Mom and I turned into shivering, curious two year olds. “What’s that? What’s this called? What’s this one?” We ran into the cutest, NICEST florist. She works out of her home, and she was kind enough to answer any flower question we asked her. Not really thinking, but wanting to show my appreciation, I asked for her card. Even though I pleaded a strong case, Mom is of the opinion that we use a local florist whom we can actually get in touch with. So we can’t use her, but I would love it if someone else could. Here’s her information:

Katie Wickstrum
katietraynor@hotmail.com
(404) 229- 3268

Someone please call her. Please. She was so nice.

After leaving the warehouse, we were so cold we just sat in the sun heated car without any air on.
Our next trek was up to Cumming and to where I honestly thought a Publix was located. (ie wedding cake time!) We had to fight Memorial Day weekend’s rush hour traffic for about an hour. We eventually made it to highway 141. And we kept driving. As it turns out, the Publix is off highway 9, not 141. Numbers. We only drove a half hour or so out of the way. The only thing that kept us going was that I had heard this Publix gives free samples of their wedding cakes to help you decide what you want. Well, we went through the whole cake choosing process and we walked out without ANY free samples. By this point, I’d worked myself into such a sugar craving, we had to stop for an ice cream. Good way to end the day, eh?

Only 60 days to go! That’s like, 8 weeks! It seems like time is on a rush schedule. Josh and I did a count down just the other day- or what seemed like the other day. We counted 76 days and felt like that was a long time. A few days later and suddenly it’s only 60! Now I’m starting to hit that mode- we won’t say “panic” because that’s too cliche. We’ll say ‘target sighted and locked” mode. Progress is being made, but I can’t let that distract me. There’s always something else to do. That’s the Bride’s mantra, I think.
But today was a pretty productive day, I must say. We rented some of the decorations for the church, signed approval on the invitation proofs, and ordered another sample of potential flowers.
Speaking of invitations, I got a crash course today in proper invitation etiquette. A Swoozies (”Paper, Presents and Pizazz!”) representative was going over the proofs with me, and let me tell you; she knew her stuff. We’ll call her Ms. Post. First, she informed me that including my mom’s name with the return address on the back of the invitation envelope was “not how you do it” and “it would look like a mistake.” Oops.
Later, while discussing the same return address, I was told that Josh and I had forgotten to include it in our original designs. And since we chose a font that Swoozie’s doesn’t carry, they wanted Josh to type the address on his computer that does have the font, burn it on a disc, and bring it in.
That seemed like a lot of effort for two lines on the back on an envelope. I suggested that we just use a font similar to ours that Swoozies does carry. That was a really bad suggestion. Ms. Post shook her head adamantly and said that “if we were going to do that, we might as well include her name on the back! That’s even worse.” I immediately felt deeply apologetic for my ignorance.
However, I have to say that every person who works there is incredibly nice and helpful, so I’ll do whatever they tell me. The only problem I have with Swoozies is that every time I go in there to check on the invitations or to ask questions, I immediately see three or four things I HAVE to buy. Stupid “pizazz.” But I have to admit, I love it when instead of asking if you want something gift wrapped, they offer to “swoozie it up for you.”

Oh, and for the heroic end to the story, Josh called the graphic artist and explained to her how to pull the font from the file he had already given her. He’s a genius, is he not? Oh, and Josh, we got lots of compliments on our design- even from Ms. Emily Post herself. Total success.