A dangerous trip down the aisle

My health care communications role often requires me to consult the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on information I write for my organization. (Remember H1N1 flu?) It’s good that we have these public health experts to help us prevent a Contagion-like scenario. But I was surprised to see that their latest public service to us was providing a Wedding Day Survival Guide.

My first thought was that someone at the CDC clearly has too much time on their hands (or, is probably planning a wedding themselves). Let's give these people another international health crisis or something. SARS? Avian flu? I just don't see how wedding day survival stacks up. And they try to convince me of this guide's importance by adding that "many of us here at CDC realized that planning for a wedding isn't that much different from planning for a disaster." Well, if that doesn't make me want to get to the altar…!

While the CDC seems an unlikely source, I'll admit to being intrigued by the concept. Actually, having been single throughout the years when most of my friends got married, I wonder if there's more value in a wedding guests survival guide to include things like tips for buying wedding and shower gifts without going broke and how to survive the completely awkward bouquet toss (brides: seriously, just don’t do that to your single friends!). 

Type A planner that I am, I'm sure many of these tips would undoubtedly be covered at my wedding thanks to my emergency-management experience (I'm now a FEMA-certified Public Information Officer)—and a carefully recruited personal attendant. 

Of course, my poking fun at this survival guide almost certainly ensures that there will indeed be some kind of disaster on my wedding day. I know we had a close call at Jen's wedding when our bridesmaid dresses arrived at the last possible minute--due to them being made at a Texas facility that had shut down during Hurricane Ike. And I recall another friend's cake disaster that required a call to the police to open a bakery that was closed on the wedding day. I guess these stories add to the adventure—an adventure that I hear is certain to continue way beyond the wedding day.

Summer (Un)lovin'

Where has the summer gone? The back-to-school ads are on TV, yet I haven’t endured a single sunburn or mosquito bite on my fair Norwegian skin. (There’s still time!) I confess though, I love the cool weather we’ve been having in Minnesota.

It recently occurred to me that heat and humidity aren’t the only things that have been eluding me this summer. It’s wedding season right? But I haven’t had any weddings or bridal showers to attend in months. How can that be?! In fact, I haven’t been to a wedding all year. And I must say…I could totally get used to this!

Don’t get me wrong, I love almost everything about weddings. (Almost. This article nicely sums up the bouquet toss. Ugh!) I feel very blessed to have been witness to so many dear friends taking the plunge. But after eight or nine years of diamond engagement rings blinding me at most social gatherings, could it be I’m now reaching a turning point? Maybe these dancing feet of mine are finally catching a break—having already seen their majority of reception hokey pokeys and electric slides.

I don’t know exactly how I feel about this, or how long it will last. But for today, I’m enjoying the respite from Target’s Club Wedd kiosks (Do I go with the waffle maker or the pillow cases?) and the closet full of dresses (Has anyone at this wedding seen me wear this one before?). Ahhhh, summer.

Speaking of weddings, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge our beloved Bachelorette Jillian, who last night in front of thousands of television viewers accepted a hideous ($60,000!) engagement ring from the guy with the green shorty shorts. Good luck Jilly. And Reid…call me.