The BEST Man

This past weekend I had the great privilege of being in my best friends wedding party. Now i was not the best man, his brother was, but I was told that I would be taking care of most of the best man duties as it pertains to fixing things that may go wrong. Holy god did things go wrong. I won't go too far into details but man, wow. Everyone says that with the amount of planning that goes into a wedding something is bound to go wrong, but this one was a bit ridiculous. From music being unavailable that was available, to table arrangements getting mixed up, to all sorts of last minute problems that the bride and groom were not allowed to know about, mainly because we didn't want them stressing out any more than they already were.
So in light of everything that went wrong, the wedding ceremony and reception, if you ask the bride and groom, and most of the guests, went off without a hitch, which was wonderful, and I couldn't be happier for both the bride and groom who are now spending a couple of romantic weeks in Europe.
This event brought something to light that I knew before, but not to this extent: The importance of the wedding party. As much as it is just a lot of fun being in the wedding party and you want your wedding party to be close friends and family that are incredibly important to you, you also have to have people who can be relied upon to take care of stuff and help you organize before hand and fix anything that may need fixing day of. So my dilemma is this:
I have a great bunch of guys who are going to be in my wedding party all of whom I trust to take of anything I may need them to, and anything that I may not know of them doing. However, how do I decide who is to be the best man. We are lucky because we're gonna have 2 each. Katelin decided on have 2 maid of honors which means I get to have 2 best men. So, who do i choose. Do I go the easy way out with my 2 brothers, or do I go with what might actually be a smarter choice with two of my friends. No offense to my brothers, but sometimes I feel like i can trust my friends more than my brothers, at least when it comes to things like this. And no offense to some of my friends, but they can also be a little crazy at times, and sometimes I feel like I can trust my brothers more than my friends. I have a feeling that I'll get yelled at if I don't choose my bros, and I don't want to hurt some of my friends either, but I think they'll understand if I don't choose them. So which way do I go????

In any event the search continues for a venue. Last night we checked out Puddingstone Resort in San Dimas, CA. IT was a very nice place, the view was amazing and I would recommend it to people who are looking to have maybe 150 max guests. However, with our guest count being well above that, i think we're going to go a different direction. If anyone has any insights on places in so cal that can handle 200 people we would be more than happy to take the suggestions. Life is good, no complaints outside of job searching and wedding planning....

How are you guys?

The List

Thank you all for your support and putting up with my ranting and raving, it was something i needed to say after reading those comments. Now lets move on with the planning process shall we.
I know i should be involved in every aspect of the wedding planning process but here is my list of things that I am most excited about.
1. Finding the right caterer and enjoying the tasting process of all that.
2. Going around and looking at all the glorious places that we can afford(and all the stupidly fantastic places we can't.)
3. Going and loking at tuxs and suits to find the right one for me, because lets be honest here, i look good all the time, but there's nothing like a nice suit to bring out the Ron Burgundy in me.
4. The Cake tasting, oh man, i love me some cake.

Now my list of things I know are necessary, but I am personally not all excited for:
1. Photographer. Ya I love photography, and they do have to be good at what they do, maybe like Rachel :). But I'm just not all excited about finding a good one mainly because they are very very expensive.
2. Her Dress. She's going to look stunning no matter what she wears, so it's up to her as to which one she wears haha.
3. Flowers. Ya they're pretty, but honestly, aren't they all pretty.

And finally the single most important part of the planning process, the one that takes a higher seat than all the rest.......

1. The ever important HONEYMOON. Maybe we can end up somewhere that looks like this:




ps. As awesome as Hawaii is, and it is amazing, I've already been there, I would very much like to go somewhere I've never been. The Caribbean Islands area, something like that. Okay well I'm off to go enjoy the HOT weather we have.Have a wonderful weekend kids.

What weddings should and shouldn't be.

In my first post I mentioned that my fiancee had a blog of her own, Pretty Sandy Feet. She recently posted a list of wedding dos and don'ts, things that she really just would not have had at her wedding, things she really did not want at the wedding. Most, if not all of it I totally agreed with and some of it is budgeting. In any event, it was a good list and a rather moderate list compared to some girls requirements for their weddings. So this morning Katelin im's me and tells me that someone posted negative comments. Here is an example of said comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree, bridezilla begins.

chill girl.
and you have to at least wear heels for the ceremony. Balerina shoes can be worn for the reception.
you have to look different on your wedding day. and I do hope you plan on wearing a bit of makeup at least. LOOK DIFFERENT for your wedding..

Now as much as I am under the school of thought that people are entitled to their own opinion and are then entitled to scrutiny of those opinions, this is kind of ridiculous. This jackass comes on to my fiancee's blog where she has put a couple of ideas out about what she doesn't want at her wedding, literally a list of only 8 things, a list that could have potentially been a lot longer, and calls her a bridezilla and lists things that she apparently HAS to do at HER OWN wedding. Not only that, he/she does it anonymously like a petty coward. What an ass.
Personally, I must say, that if this person did feel the need to voice their opinion maybe do it in a way that is a little less insulting and ignorant. Maybe saying something like, "I believe that yo should look different for your wedding, maybe wear some heels and some more make up than usual." Was it really necessary for them to call her a bridezilla, I mean really, having 8 things you don't want at your wedding makes you a frickin bridezill, i don't think so.
Also, the things that this witless wonder wrote are, according to them, things that she HAS to do. Last time I checked, it was our wedding, our special day, it should be perfect for US, not for the anonymous ass here. People can give you ideas for your wedding, they can give you suggestions, and you may love some of them, and not feel so great about others, that happens. However, don't do it the way anonymous here did. It's a wedding, a time of celebration, not degredation.
In the end, I hope that Kate pays no heed to this persons cowardly ignorance, I hope she continues to plan the wedding so that it fits her wants and desires, not the necessities of the obvious incredible downside of the blogosphere.

p.s. Thank you to everyone who is SUPPORTING our wedding and helping us plan in a constructive manner. We are very appreciative of your help and look forward to celebrating our love with all of you.

Details Details Details

So for the past 2 months that we've been engaged, I've been out of work. I hurt my back and have been out on disability. Yes, this does suck oh so very much, but it also has one upside, I get to help get a jump start on all the wedding stuff. We've decided to throw most of our focus at finding a location for the wedding first and let me tell you good god there are a lot of places. But time and time again we get excited about different places and time and time again we get disappointed. For example we had a location in Hollywood, a club, that gave us a great quote for using their location. Once we got there we realized that there was no way we could fit everyone comfortably, in a way we would like it, so nix that idea. Then we got a great quote from a hotel in Pasadena, only to find out something we thought was included actually wasn't included in their price, but still something that was required for us to buy. Basically, we're learning that we really need to read all the small print to make sure we getting what we want out of each location.
The main problem that is arising for us is that we both have gigantic families and there really is no way that we can limit the guest list below 200, even getting down to 200 was work enough. Cost really goes up with caterers when you have that many people, plus it limits the places you can have the wedding at because a lot of places have a maximum capacity that is lower than what we are looking for.
Right now, I've got about 5 places that are still looking okay, but nothing that's really blows my mind, nothing that really truly stands out ya know. In any vent, it's time to continue the search, I'll let you guys know if I find anything and am willing to take suggestions. Hope all is well for all of you.

Here We Go

So first of all, I've heard that many men in this world don't have much to do with planning their weddings. Let me just say that I'm not one of them, obviously. When you ask a girl to marry you, you are kind of supposed to be there for her. After all, you don't want her going bat shit nuts weeks before the wedding do you?
So it is in that regard that I started this project. Katelin from Pretty Sandy Feet and I got engaged about 2 1/2 months ago and we are in the process of planning our wedding. This is going to be a look at the groom's side of planning the wedding, all the glory and all the pain that goes into it. This is obviously my first time planning a wedding, so it'll be fresh and new. For anyone that does decide to follow me on this journey, I am very very open to suggestions, hints, tips, clues, deals....anything that may help. We are on a budget so any money saving tips will most definitely be appreciated.
Girls, i'm not gonna be too involved in the dress selection or flowers, mainly because I don't know anything about either, and let's be honest here, the dress is totally up to her haha.
So basically that's what this is going to be about, I hope you guys enjoy it.