Oh, the fun of planning a wedding

I realize now there are two very different stages in an engagement.  There's the beginning where everyone squeals when they find out you got engaged, and immediately want to see your ring.  That's the fun stage.
Then there's the wedding planning where people's true colors come out.  And it's not pretty.

Several years ago I was working in Fort Myers, and barely making enough money to pay rent.  My girlfriend Jill called me and asked me to be a bridesmaid in her Lander, Wyoming wedding.  I was so touched.  Mike and I had just started dating, but I wanted him to come.  Because Lander is not easy to get to, it cost about $1000 for plane fares and we had to make three connections.  Then we rented a car to drive from Casper to Lander for a couple hundred dollars.  The gift was another couple hundred, and my dress was about $200 as well.  All in all I spent about $2,000 I didn't have.  But it was so much fun, and I never once complained to Jill about the expense.

Fast forward to our Jackson Hole wedding.  Most of our guests and family members say they will gladly come, and tell me they can't wait to see that part of Wyoming.  BUT then there's a few more who constantly complain about how expensive it is.  And how hard it is to get to.  And they don't like that we're not doing everything traditionally.  For example, when we told one family member we aren't having a cake, (Mike would rather eat his own sock than cake) that family member looked as if we were taking away his birthday.  Mike told him if you leave our beautiful Jackson, Wyoming wedding after eating all the delicious food and drinking all the FREE liquor you want, while dancing the night away at the base of this mountain (see picture), and you go home and tell people it was awful because there was no cake, we clearly haven't done our jobs.

So if you're planning a wedding anytime soon, just remember, everyone will have an opinion.  My best advice?  Grab a glass of wine, and just smile when they complain.  Don't say anything, just smile.  All the while hoping they are the ones who choose not to come.