How I Planned Your Wedding by Susan Wiggs Read Free Book Online Page A

celebrate this incredibly happy couple and to launch them into a beautiful new life. Trust me: you’re not doing them any favors by simply agreeing to their every whim. You want to have a meaningful ceremony followed by a memorable party. It’s very liberating when you think of things in those terms.
    Chances are, you can just say no to the letterpressed toilet paper.
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    CHEAT SHEET
    I KNOW, I KNOW, YOU MEANT TO READ THE WHOLE
    CHAPTER BUT THEN YOU GOT INTO A GIANT KNOCKDOWN-DRAG-OUT WITH YOUR MOTHER ABOUT YOUR
    WEDDING BUDGET. HERE’S YOUR CHEAT SHEET:
No matter how well-off your parents are, compared to you and the rest of the country, any amount of money they fork over for your Big Day is a gift. Treat it as such. Don’t set yourself up for failure by feeling entitled to any sum, however small, from your folks.
You know why you don’t need to freak out if your parents don’t give you much money? Because there’s a lot you can do on the cheap. Sit down with your fiancé, make a list of priorities and figure out which elements you can toss out of your wedding completely. For me, it was floral arrangements. Does music make you go “meh”? Think about replacing your ten-piece band with an iPod.
If you keep your eye on the prize (no, not the $8,000 cake—your relationship with your future spouse), you won’t be thinking about the corners you cut on your wedding day, anyway.
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4
SPACES AND PLACES
    Choosing your venue, and why having a simple backyard reception turned out to be the most complicated and impossible idea we addressed in planning our wedding
    Mom, how do you feel about having Porta Potties in your backyard?

ELIZABETH
    HOMETOWN WEDDING RUMBLE
    M ommy really wanted the wedding at home, and even lobbied like a teamster-with-lipstick about it. It didn’t bother her in the least that traveling to the tiny, wet, green island where I grew up was going to be problematic for out-of-town guests unfamiliar with the watery hell that is the Seattle ferry commute. She thought nothing of cramming up to two hundred guests onto the groaning deck in her backyard for canapés of salmon spread and Dixie cups of Cold Duck. She was quite certain that, even though the town rolls up its sidewalks at sundown, we would not hear a peep of complaint about the loud partying until midnight. I might have mentioned this before—my mother spends her days with fictional characters who iron out all of life’s problems by page 386.
    Here’s the thing: Dave and I decided early on that we wanted to make our wedding as easy as possible on our guests. Yes, the day was all about us, but our guests were the ones making the hike out to Seattle and buying us extravagant gifts. (Well, MOST of them were buying extravagant gifts. Those who didn’t were permanently put on the “cheap postcard during the holidays” list. Not that I’m bitter or anything.) Essentially, my hometown was difficult to get to and had no easy, affordable and roomy venues. Sound simple? Try telling that to your mother who has just offered to shell out the equivalent of the average person’s annual salary on your wedding.
    All I can say is, stick to your guns. If you’re adamant, be adamant with a smile on your face, and make sure it’s not a rictus of ridicule. Get married in a place that you and your partner love. Period. Trust me: your mom will learn to love it, too—even if she refuses to admit how awesome it was until the whole thing is over.
    Dave and I were devoted to Seattle and had found a venue that we thought was beautiful and fit our budget. Court in the Square was located in a quaint historic neighborhood just south of downtown. It was an entryway between two old brick buildings during the day, but on the weekends the six-story glass atrium served as an event space. Its retractable roof let the sun in, catching an infinity-style fountain at the far end of the room. The two buildings that formed the north and south walls of the venue maintained