Maybe I don't need a best girlfriend?!

It seems I now have a wedding planner. In my dad's line of work he meets and makes connections with a lot of people. One of these, apparently, was a wedding planner that he worked closely with for Shania Twains wedding. So he calls her, he calls me, and hopefully by tomorrow she'll have the majority of the details worked out for me when it comes to the ceremony and the reception.

I'm nervous about it because I am one of those that feels if you want things done right you have to do them yourself, but at the same time and relieved because I don't have to do this myself! Now I can gorge on BBQ and beer in peace!

On a serious note, I am going to start looking up things to do while in Rincon so that you, my lovely guests, will have options other than laying on a gorgeous beach all day ;-)

The plan is taking shape

So it seems I may have to change our desired wedding date to that Sunday the 13th instead of Friday the 11th in order to best accommodate my budget as well as my sanity.

It seems that I can have almost everything (ceremony, reception/dinner) at the Villa Cofresi for way less than the small fortune everyone else was starting at.

Villa Cofresi back view

That and it looks like getting Casa Tamra for 11 people will cost us about $270 per person for the week which would be absolutely wonderful.

Casa Tamara

I so I guess it's all about telling people whether they can accommodate the change, and getting the deposits for the villa and it seems like we'll be all set!

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Maybe I should start meditating

The thoughts of the upcoming wedding crowd almost all of my thoughts because although I have done so many things, nothing has yet gotten done!

I talked to my dad so that he could look up locations, and generally help me, but he hasn't gotten back to me and it's been a week. I contacted a wedding planner and my budget was out of her range, she reccomended me someplace that was affordable but they only host weddings on Sundays which for now is out of the question. I have emailed a ton of places and only a handful have gotten back to me.

All this unknown is making me crazy. I just want to feel like there has been some progress made! The stress has given me a headache that just wont go away. This is one of those times when I almost wish I had a family willing to help pay for a wedding and a best friend to help me make the arrangements and decisions. I'm sure that at the end of the day, everything will turn out fine, but in the meantime I don't want to develop ulcers.

Humble in the rear view!

As I sit and watch TV, Sechel's clickity clacking seems more noticeable than before. She seems so excited as if I had just asked her yesterday for her hand. It bothers me none as her smiles fill the day with comfort and ease. As said down there, she spends most of her time checking out 1 or 2 things and preliminary budgeting. I feel selfish mentally, but I don't know exactly what to do!

While she has this running through her mind: :/

This is what's running through my mind: : )

I've always thought the womerns were better at this, and men just get in the way. She's already come up with budget saving ideas here and there and is doing such a good job not losing her head. I guess I'll add my input once in a while to show genuine interest (which I do by the way) in such a big event in our lives. But as always, she ecstatic, and I'm humble.

Slow and steady

I did the majority of my preliminary inquiries last night and got a good response back so it looks like my beach wedding plan is on the ball. I just have to get around to some of the big family members like mothers, grandmothers, etc.

Instead of working I've been spending all of my time researching hotels, and villas so that I can get ideas on the pricing. What I'm currently debating with is what kind of scene I'm inviting my guests to. I would like to have something nice and chill in Rincon not only because it's the area I'm most familiar with, but because I could probably get a lot of help from my dad with arrangements.

Rincon, however, is not a big busy area. It's a surf town, no big clubs, no mall, movie theatre etc. only restaurants, small shops, and bars (although I read that a lot of them are pretty good.) I worry that everyone will be bored. I mean personally all I want is to lay in beach water for the entirety of my stay but that may not be everyone else's idea of a good time.

I've been looking into San Juan because that's the big touristy area with buses and lots of shopping and nightclubs but a wedding there is so expensive and lets face it, I am nowhere close to rich.

So I worry, and I research, and I worry some more, and hopefully I can get the number of people willing to travel to see Gil and I tie the knot by the end of this month so that I can really get the figures together.

Now that I think about it, I might just give up and go to City Hall after all :-I

And it starts

So Gil and I finally decided that being engaged for about six years is long enough and since we haven't killed each other yet we'll get married. After all this time together we have never quite agreed on the anniversary date so we think that 11/11/11 will be painless enough for memory purposes.

I had originally planned for us to get married sometime in 2012 and that it would be a City Hall deal with us meeting friends for a celebratory dinner afterwards. This weekend Gil brought up the option of a "destination wedding." In particular, one in Puerto Rico so that my dad and siblings can freely attend. Growing up, a wedding on a beach somewhere was what I wanted and now that I really think about it as a possibility it is completely exciting.

I assume the first step should be finding out how many people would actually be able to fly out to Puerto Rico on this particular weekend. I'm shooting for about 20 in total cause I know that it's a recession and people are falling on hard times. So the question is, will I be able to find a place that is right on the beach, not too far from civilization, where my guests will be able to stay for 3-4 days at about 250-ish per person. I think this sounds like a good general plan but then again, I have never planned a destination wedding or known anyone that has and so I don't know for sure.

I assume that today is will be the first day of a nine month headache. :-)