decisions, decisions

Today, I boo'd a bride-to-be. I convinced a David's Bridal employee to give me an additional $50 coupon in secret and I spit out someone's wedding cake sample. This all tells me one thing: it's probably best that I am not the one getting married.

I had never been to a bridal convention until today. A couple hundred vendors all telling you what cake, dress, and honeymoon vacation is best for you. And all I kept thinking as my friend and I were walking past the booths was, I don't need any of this. Of course, you need information on pricing. And you need to know who's going to bake the cake, alter the dress but you don't need someone to tell you the way to go. Just like love, you either have no idea what you want and go looking for it, hoping you'll get an idea or you decide for yourself what you want and then take the necessary steps to make it work.

The girl I boo'd had just won a free wedding dress. The emcee called her name repeatedly before people started pointing to her and saying that she had won. She just sat there, arms folded and did not say a word. Finally, she said she didn't want to get on the stage. You don't want to get on the stage?! Let me get this straight, you filled out a form with your name on it. Your name, out of hundreds, was called because you won a prize and you can't march your slipper wearing brat ass up to the stage? And you're going to get married? Are you getting married in a cave with no one else around, because spoiler alert! people will be at your wedding! Hence, they will SEE you.

After my boo'ing, I couldn't help but appreciate that I was at a bridal convention because one of my best friends is getting married. And she is definitely not a brat. She would happily accept a free dress and she did not throw me a look of scorn as I (admittedly brat-ish myself) boo'd a fellow future bride. Had I been with anyone else, I don't think it would've been as much fun. I think the girl and the bad cake and the overwhelming feeling of information overload would've broken me down. But all I could feel was excitement for my friend. All I could think was that I could actually talk for hours about her wedding planning and truly enjoy it. Maybe the bridal convention is a rite of passage, a test of patience and endurance. An eye-opener that lets you see all you ever wanted is right within reach.

Because after all the craziness, the choices, the planning, you get to see that despite what anyone thinks, does or tells you to do, in the moments of a wedding, the moments that truly matter, you realize there were only ever two decisions needed.

His decision to ask. Her decision to say 'yes'.