Adorably Alice

Finally!

The humongous ball of tangled stress that is my wedding is unwinding.

Granted, there are still a few knots, but that’s normal wedding-stress, I think.

The wedding will take place at Courtyard Villa. After many exchanged emails and phone calls, we found where the ‘extra’ money we were being charged was coming from: kitchen labor.

The proprietor of Courtyard assured as that it was policy, but as it was not defined clearly to us from the beginning, he removed that charge. Still, despite that, Ted and I were still ready to move the wedding to his church. We even spoke to his minister for the premarriage counciling session that is required. All we were really waiting on was to see when we would be allowed to set up for the reception.

However, after meeting with the church minister,  Mom called me to tell me she talked to Courtyard and cleared up some more things from them. Basically told me that if we pay the $2K we had originally budgeted for — she would take care of the rest.

I was a bit hesitant here, because I in my head, I was committed to the church and was pretty much ready for this entire problem to just be solved. Turns out, with her income tax money coming in next week along with a settlement from a car accident last November (that was forgotten about with the holidays and all the wedding stuff) coming in next week as well, she’ll have enough to cover the rest of Courtyard’s fees.

After making absolute sure that she didn’t need this money for herself — cause I know she struggles financially and is still bouncing back from lack of jobs for most of last year — she explained that she wouldn’t be offering this if she couldn’t do it. There were some more tears as she explained that it is my wedding, and we could have it where ever I wanted, but that she didn’t want to spend the two hours before the ceremony decorating the church reception hall — she wanted to be able to spend it in the bridal room with me adjusting my veil and what not.

Ted was still hesitant to go back to Courtyard, because he still saw the financial benefits of keeping it at the church. Of course, being a guy, he’s not too concerned with the set-up times and the mom-in-the-bridal-room or the fact that invites had already been sent out.

Tired of being caught between the two people I love most, I told Ted to call my mom and talk to her. Whatever they decided would be fine with me, I just didn’t want to be stuck in the middle.

They talked.

It’ll be at Courtyard.

I can now be excited that my wedding is only 18 days away.

Oh…bridal shower on Saturday was fun. Mom bought me a stripper…

*ahem*

Yea. So there was that.

After many tears, there is a solution.

I am currently waiting for yet another response from Courtyard in regards to our contract. It’s pretty clear that the contract I have is different from what their policies truly are. Most likely, I don’t have the full contract — which would explain 99% of the confusion and miscommunication.

Once I get the full contract, I will discover one of two possible things and what I discover will lead to one of two possible solutions.

Discovery A: We can back out, at a loss of $750.

Solution A: We hold the wedding at Ted’s church. This is a bit tricky in that if the event prior to ours does not allow us to set up the night before and keep things pushed against the wall (it’s a kid’s party) or in a separate room, then we may have to push the ceremony back an hour to give us more time to set up. If we are allowed to set up the night before, we rely heavily on family and friends (read: wedding party)  to help us set up. This is the solution we are hoping for. This solution allows us to have our ceremony, reception and leave us money to pay off bills so we’re not living on ramen for the next three or four months. So..pray for this for us.

Discovery B: We cannot back out of our contract to Courtyard. We have to have our event there.

Solution B: We go into debt. Enjoy our wedding, but know in the back of our minds we are in debt, so we’re not enjoying or day as much as we should. But figure it out.

I should know by tonight which solution we’re going with.

The biggest drawback to Solution A (aside from possible time crunch) is that we now have to find a caterer (which isn’t that hard, really) and my mom hating the grand hall at the church and not wanting to be a part of the wedding.

While I’m 98% sure she said all of that in anger, it’s still not something I want or need to worry about this close to the wedding.

In happier news….

…my bridal shower is Saturday.

Countdown: 23 days