The wedding inches closer

By the time you read this, it will be wedding month. I can confidently say that only four things come out of my mouth right now: how awesome my fiance is, work, wedding plans and the logistics of moving.

I am so excited to be marrying my love, and I am thankful to God for bringing him into my life. I was not my best version of myself when we met, and we never would have connected if God had not been working when we did not even realize it.

On the fun side of wedding preparations, I went and did my hair trial the other day, and my fiance took me out to dinner at one of the nicer restaurants in Rochester that evening to take advantage of having my hair done up so nicely. Afterwards, we went to Walmart and Target to scope out some home items we needed. It was rather fun and silly to waltz around in a formal dress and a fancy hairdo at Target. At Walmart, it felt like the outfit almost made sense because truly anything goes at Walmart, whether it is seven-day worn pajamas or a formal dress.

When it came to the durability of my hairstyle, my hairdresser assured me that there would be double the hairspray on the actual day. It was indeed a lovely do, and you would have never known the pints of hairspray aerosol-blasted onto my head. The crispy straw consistency of my hair when I pulled the pins out and the multiple shampoos it took to get my hair clean afterwards assured me that I need not have any worries of my strands straying day of.

More recent wedding planning included choosing the classic “Bridal Chorus” by Richard Wagner for my walk down the aisle. I chose the song in spite of the fact that the silly old saying of “Here comes the bride, all fat and wide” plays in my mind to the tune of that song. I got these happy little golden feelings whenever I heard that song when I was trying to figure out the music, so I decided to choose it, silly sayings notwithstanding.

I also have gotten started on moving my not-regularly-used items to my fiance’s house. I have done key, important things like sort through my candles, and another day, I stirred up enough dust in my one storage closet to trigger my fiance’s allergies when he visited. He also has been busy preparing. He is working so hard to buy furniture, rearrange and brainstorm his small place to fit me in.

We both cannot keep all our stuff in his apartment, so I am trying to make wise decisions on what makes sense to keep on my side of the equation. There is nothing quite like the thought of boxing, lugging, unpacking and finding a spot for items to make certain possessions untenable. I have a whole mental list of things that will get thrown out or donated the week I move.

At this moment, 23 days from the big day, I cannot wait for the wedding. There is still a myriad of details to do as of writing this: catering orders, moving, cooking food for the rehearsal dinner, getting the marriage license and the list goes on.

In the midst of it all, I am the luckiest girl in Minnesota to have such a sweet fiance, a beautiful wedding coming up and a wonderful marriage after that. There are many date nights where I look at my fiance, and I just feel like life does not get happier than these moments.

With each day closer to the days immediately before the wedding, my life is inching closer to the top of the roller coaster of sheer, dizzying change. The amount of work to be done and life changes in the next month feels staggering. I am turning my life upside down and planning the biggest event I ever have been solely in charge of. I am also apparently supposed to be relaxing, smelling the roses and taking the time to drink in all these once-in-a-lifetime moments.

As I step into married life, I will be moving and taking a different job, so this column is also a goodbye. It has been so special to share your stories these past three years, and I will really miss doing that. It’s a bittersweet moment, but now is the time for me to ride into the sunset with my Prince Charming, and as the fairytales say, “Live happily ever after.”