Yippee! Lauren’s coming home in about an hour. I’ve got to leave and head to the airport as soon as Chip gets out of the shower. She’s in Atlanta right now and her connector should be leaving… well, about now. My basic plan was to get her from the airport, have something to eat and then take a nap until it’s time to go to Savannah Smiles tonight. I figured that would be a fun “group” activity to bring Chip to. I think Sarah might be coming along as well. I’m just glad to have Lauren back.

The couple times we talked on the phone this week she let me know that she had pretty much cemented a good portion of our wedding planning. We’re going to have our wedding at this “historic ranch/villa/complex” place. It’s actually pretty cool so I’ve been told. Complete with separate houses for bride and groom to get ready in on the big day. The best part is that the location does all the setting up, is the site for both the ceremony and the reception, does all the catering, entertainment AND you get the services of their entire staff of coordinators. And, since they’re a family friend of the Arolfo’s (Lauren’s family) we get a great price… or it might have been a good price to begin with and they just happen to be friends… either way, I wasn’t really sure.

So, all that’s left is to get the flowers and the photographer. We plan on meeting with our prospective photographer once next semester begins. Jason, one of my friends from the photo department is the person I’d really like to shoot our wedding. He’s got great black and white skills and I’d have that extra bit of confidence that the photographer wouldn’t mess anything up.

We also have to start registering and also meet with the priest for what was confusingly referred to as “a compatibility test.” I actually took great insult to this “test” until it was explained to me what it actually was. See, when I hear the word “test” I think of something like the SATs. You’re sitting in a small room, filling in little circles with a number 2 pencil and sweating your brains out knowing that if you “fail” this is the end of your existence. This is apparently not what a “compatibility test” is. They should really call it “meeting with the priest to talk about married life” or “getting marriage advice” because calling it a test makes me jumpy. Apparently, and this is a new concept to me, we get to talk to the preacher for a few hours and talk about things like joint bank accounts, how many kids we want, what conflicts might arise when we’re married, things like that. That I can see making more sense than a paper and pencil quiz. I have to admit that Lauren and I have already talked a great deal about things sticky issues like those and I feel confident that we’re mature enough to be married. I guess the talks are more for people who are going into it a little hastily, or at least that’s what I’d assume. It also dawned on me that it’s probably a final seal of approval, from god or the representative from god, in this case the priest, kind of a “if you think you’re ready, we want to be sure you’re ready before we let you commit to something like this” and in the eyes of the church and god, marriage is a huge deal. So they just want to be sure you’re ready and they want to see that you’re ready before they give the “all clear”. I feel better about it after thinking about it for a while. I guess my initial resistance was to the phrasing more than the meeting itself. Lauren reassured me that it was nothing to fear and more of a formality than anything else. She also mentioned that it’s lucky we’re not catholic because apparently they have to go through at least a month a marriage counseling and marriage classes before the church gives the thumbs up.

Anyway, so, we’re pretty much close be being done the planning phase. Now it’s getting close to the actual execution of the plan. We have to register, pick out party favors, get the invitations done, things like that. I hope I can be a help at some point. It’s common opinion that the groom is more or less useless through most of this and I’m starting to feel that way. Not that I’m being made to feel this way, it’s just that I don’t know anything about anything. If I knew what kind of cake to look for I’m sure I could help there, or if I knew what kind of parchment paper goes best with a particular style of envelope I’m sure I could be of some small help. I don’t, so I feel more of less useless.

Well, I’ve successfully typed until it was time to leave for the airport. I’m going to go pick up Lauren now. Tonight we’ll be having some fun at the piano bar, tomorrow Chip is leaving and Monday we start classes again. Wow, things are wrapping up fast. Hold on, ’cause here we go…

Matt out.