Basic wedding planning 101. The date and location are the bare minimums of any wedding. And it sounds fairly simple. Notice I said "sounds", not "is".

We live in Florida. The steaming hell-hole of the country where the only two seasons are brutally hot and even hotter. Therefore a summer wedding is out. Another note of background information - my husband-to-be is a chef at a tiny, fancy overpriced restaurant where he complains as much as he cooks.

He says he hates working there. Because of him, I know more dirt on the staff there than I do about my own family. Only the richest of the rich dine there as a show of their ability to flaunt their excesses. And he has his heart set on the restaurant being the home of our humble reception. In all fairness, his seven years of employment there did get us quite a discount (free for the hall and food at wholesale prices). But... but it's tiny! And strictly reserved for the wealthy, which we definitely are not! The restaurant is approximately the size of your living room and kitchen. Quaint, but not very large. Somehow, we plan on cramming nearly seventy people in. Thank God for skinny friends.

That means the whole gang gets to make the track across the busy street from the ceremony on the beach to the dinner on the innercoastal. As long as there is someone to hold up my dress, no complaints. And another reason to cave on the affordable restaurant option - If I let him get his way here, then when my dress seems a little more expensive than he was thinking I can remind him what a good thing it was to save on the reception! Ah-ha! Always look for a bright side.

Then is the always fun picking of the date. The actual date itself that my fiance and I will become man and wife, pledge our love for each other and make a life long commitment to support each other no matter what. Sounds pretty important, eh? He's shot down three dates already, because he "already has plans." Yes, a minor league baseball game, work, and a fishing day with buddies do rank pretty high on the list of stuff to do, but c'mon, really? I have a feeling the next day we pick will be deemed unacceptable because there will be an interesting television show on. Does smacking him quickly count as domestic violence? Just kidding.......

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