Inching towards decisions...

OK. I think we're closing in on a venue (at least, that's what it feels like). Mom and Dad looked at one place that was truly, truly gorgeous on Sunday -- took pictures and Reg and I looked over them together, Reg all the while saying, "THAT'S what I'm talking about!" (This after looking at some other horrible soul-less convention centers.)

I think we've decided not to have a church wedding, for a lot of logistical reasons -- 1) The wedding ceremony would be no later than 2 pm (probably more like 11 am), and then dinner wouldn't be until 6... what would we all do? that's a longass day for me and you and Reg and everyone. It'd be one thing if we had a huge bridal party to take pictures and go around to locations... but we just don't. (And if we go with the one venue Mum & Da looked at on Sunday, I'd be shocked if we get pictures taken anywhere but there.) 2) Reg and I are both offended, stylistically, by St. Basil's, which is the parish my parents attend -- ugly, ugly church -- see the picture below (only one i could find on Flickr). 3) we'd have to get permission from the bishop to marry anywhere but St. Basil, and 4) there is still really no suitable alternative place to marry -- all the churches in Ohio kind of stink of the same "built in 1962 and for an audience of 500+" problems. Still waiting to hear from another venue, which would be far superior because people could stay IN the location and the location would be much closer to lots of stuff in Cleveland to do -- art museum, natural history museum, etc.

(Mom keeps being like, How about a Friday wedding? And I'm like, NO -- do you not understand that almost everyone important to me, beyond my immediate family, is coming from NOT CLEVELAND? So annoying.)

At one of the places that my parents looked at this weekend, the lady asked what our "theme" was. Hearts? Seashells? (I realize now we should have said "pink unicorns." Ah well, another day, another comeback.) And Reg and I decided, in about 20 seconds, that if we need a theme we'll go with "starry night" -- dark navy/black tableclothes, silver accents, maybe dark navy flowers on the cake or something. The tables could be named after constellations... We liked that.

In non-wedding-related news: I'm sick, which TOTALLY stinks. (Although I took my first real "sick day" in, like, 15 years yesterday, and had a great day watching tv and eating 3 different kinds of soup for my meals. I got a bit of work done, too, and a lot of blogging.)

OK, seriously -- onwards to work.

Maid of Honor!

Well, I picked my maid of honor... and her name is: Matthew.

Yep, that's right. Decided I really didn't want a lot of wedding attendants -- but we needed someone to stand up with us.* So I called Matthew and asked if he would be my maid of honor. First question: Do I have to wear a DRESS?

(?? Seriously?)

After we established that he could wear a tux, that his official title would be "man of honor" or "bridesman," and that his primary responsibility would be holding my bouquet and Reg's ring, he seemed fine with the idea. Mom and Dad were a bit... alarmed... but they seem to be coming around.

Of course, last night Reg and I had a long talk and if St. Basil's can't marry us within the next seven or eight months, then we may as well just elope and then just have parties in Cleveland and New York. Might save a lot of problems anyway with logistics. And besides, I really really don't want to wait a long time to marry Reg. I love him, obviously ... but the best way to put it may be this: so many things in my life seem up in the air right now, but Reg is the one thing I'm ALWAYS sure of.

* Re: my not wanting a lot of wedding attendants -- the problem isn't that I don't have close friends. The problem is more that I have a LOT of close friends, from different times in my life -- I have my oldest friends, B. and T. in Cleveland -- my closest college friends, A. and M., (now in London and LA, respectively) -- my closest friends from law school -- L. (in DC), M. (in Miami), M. (in Detroit) -- and my closest friends from post-law school life, J. and N. (both in New York). This was kind of why I'm obsessed with having a small wedding -- I'd much rather all you guys come and be at the wedding, plus mine and Reg's family -- and if that's the case then who needs attendants?

Accomplished this week: Nothing.

Well... we've accomplished nothing this week. Things undecided still:

- Whether we're getting married in a church. The problem is that Reg is not baptized; this would not prohibit our marriage in a Catholic church but a) depending on the diocese this may mean we need permission from the bishop to marry and b) may require we have different rites performed at the wedding.
- Whether we're getting married in a church in Ohio. The problem is that the church my parents attend -- St. Basil's -- is a big, ugly, behemouth of a church. HIDEOUS, although it may have been stylish for a heartbeat in 1961 when it was built. It also seats 400 people. I want a small, intimate wedding -- just family and friends -- and the idea of carefully selecting the guest list to include my closest people -- and then going to a church and feeling like NO ONE is there because 80% of the seats are empty -- is not what I want. Maybe I should just give in? I dunno. Apparently St. Michael's, up the road in Independence, has a smaller church, but even then it seats like 200+.
- The date is kind of dependent on the church... the Catholic church requires at least 6 months of preparation (which we'll have to do locally in New York) and meetings with the priest and all sorts of "engaged encounter" and stuff.
- if we got married in Brooklyn or Manhattan -- which may have the smaller kind of chapel I might want -- then I'm not sure which parish would take us because they generally require you or your family to be attending Mass on a regular basis... which I so totally don't do.

So: No idea about anything. The end.

(Also: had to give up my ring today to get it resized -- Reg had taken one of my rings from before the diet, which was super lose on me, and had given that to the jeweler for sizing. So I'm wearing my grandmother's engagement ring today in place of my engagement ring. But I want mine back!!! We've both been looking at my hand all week -- it's very cute.)

OK. I should, like, focus on work for a nanosecond.

Holy shit! Engaged!!