The Life of Liz

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~Anne Frank

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Cake or Death? Ummm Cake Please

On Wedding Plans:

At first, I thought this wedding was going to be a nice, simple affair, far removed from the stresses of an elaborate American shindig. After all, thought I, what more do you need besides a dude, a dress and a cake?

Soy caballo (literally, “I’m a horse,” less literally, “I’m an idiot”).

The preliminary guest list, which does not yet include extended family, is over eighty people! It’s a good thing I super enjoy large crowds of people, not to mention being the center of attention. Oh wait. *hyperventilates into a paper bag*

I have been engaged for less than a week and already this thing is a huge beast gnawing on my shin bones. There’s flowers, balloons, invitations (both in Spanish for all the Nicaraguan guests as well as an English version to send to my friends and family), locations for the ceremony and the reception, music and food to consider and account for. Not to mention trying to blend two different cultures and languages into one event that will make us happy and won’t offend anyone too badly.

Complicating matters even further is the fact that wedding planning involves a whole mess of Spanish vocabulary that I have never had occasion to learn. For example, ring bearer, flower girl, garter, vows. In so many ways, my fancy college education continues to fail me.* A yet further complication is that I don’t actually know that much about weddings of either the Nicaraguan nor American sort. The last one I went to was Angelica’s and that was what, seven years ago? And I certainly wasn’t involved in any of the planning. Somehow I have managed to avoid being friends with anyone who was getting married in my general vicinity.

*I have not once used any of the vocabulary I had to painstakingly memorize for the unit on cloning. Of all my Spanish classes, the most useful one turned out to be Spanish Literature because, although the class itself was frustrating, painfully boring and generally horrible beyond all reason, it did impart a working knowledge of dirty words.

At least I am not floundering in this stormy wedding sea alone. My sister knows just about everything there is to know about American weddings (did you know there was a book of wedding etiquette? I did not). And Eli’s sister knows just about everything about Nicaraguan weddings. It’s really too bad the two of them do not share a common language or I could just sit back and wait leisurely until it is time to don my dress and eat cake.

It will a be a chocolate cake. That part of the planning is done.

4 comments:

John May 25, 2011 at 8:39:00 PM MDT  

Any wedding with less than 500 people is really more of an eloping.

Maeve's Momma May 26, 2011 at 6:14:00 AM MDT  

Consider me a secondary reference for weddings, especially how to do them affordably, as I think most of Pammy's amigas have had fancy do's. But I don't know any Spanish wedding words either. :(

Marissa May 26, 2011 at 8:42:00 AM MDT  

You can consider me a tertiary reference, although you might have better luck consulting Mike. I also had the strongest opinion about what my cake should be: red velvet. I was ambivalent about almost everything else.

But also...Yay!!!

Mrs. Wallace May 26, 2011 at 1:15:00 PM MDT  

Clara is right...some of them were fancy. But I've helped plan several on a budget and others on SUPER tight budgets :-) And I'm glad I can help you weather this wedding sea...puts my knowledge to good use! Let me know when you've talked to Eli's sister and we need to have another Skype planning session...
LOVE YOU!

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A brand new mom trying to navigate the crazy world of mixed families, babies, and working full time. Phew! Just writing that makes me want to lie down.

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