What is this “verklempt.” Please explain.
And so it begins.
On my way home from my writing class today wouldn’t you know it I ran out of things to read, and I wasn’t ready to start my homework assignment yet. Browsing through a Hudson News I happened – just happened, okay – to be perusing through the bridal magazines section when I came upon a couple Modern Bride “New York” and “New Jersey” issues. Both featured a boatload (boatload here = 140ish) of ceremony and reception sites in those areas . . . so who am I to avoid potentially helpful research material? A project manager is never really off duty. And this is a project. Just a really, really big one. So I schlepped the 18 lbs of paper (these suckers are always huge) to the counter and heaved them up next to the register. The cashier was a middle-aged Hispanic woman who reminded me of Miriam Margolyes from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. “Oohh! Congratulations! You are getting married!” she coos. This was the first time anybody outside of my friends and family had gotten excited about my being engaged. It was a very odd sensation. I grinned demurely (did I just use that word to describe something I did?) and thanked her, handing over way more cash than I have ever paid for 2 magazines, and bashfulled my way back out into the din of the main concourse.
On the train I settled in with my soda and started thumbing through the New York magazine to dog-ear potential ceremony and reception site candidates. We plan to have an outdoor ceremony someplace where we have an indoor backup (in case of bad weather) and can also do the reception. We have already worked out the budget (gulp, let’s not talk about that right now) so I can skip the ones with “$$$$$” after the name . . . except that apparently we are getting married in one of the two most expensive states in the entire US for weddings, so most of the “$” or “$$” venues are about the caliber of Mel’s Char Palace. I noticed that the pictures for some of these places are stunning but upon more careful examination a few – even with 3 or 4 dollar signs – seem a bit plain or dingy. I am really, really not looking to do some spectacle of absurdity like an Oscar party in Malibu for 500, we just want the place to be clean and the food to be good. The index pages of these magazines are super helpful but I wish they would tell you MINIMUM guest requirement vs. the maximum limit – I wonder if our little list of most-case-scenario 100 will be enough for some of these.
Then I saw it.
A TWELVE page ad for a place with outdoor ceremony space RIGHT NEAR where we live in New Jersey. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Somehow I was actually able to visualize what it might look like to have our wedding somewhere, what Dennis and I might look like standing at the front of an aisle with our families and friends around us, with flowers and sunshine, a smiling officiant saying the words that would formally bind us together forever.
And what happened then? Well, in New York they say that Stefanie’s small heart grew three sizes that day.
I have oft heard of this term “verklempt”, as any Linda Richman fan might, and had not known the sensation first-hand, at least about girly bridey stuff, until just then. I dog-eared the ad and continued the search. If most folks who knew me could have seen me on that train getting all misty over photographer ads and views of castle grounds, they would have assumed the premise of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” had come to real life.
There were a few helpful articles, such as How to Word Your Invitations (what, you mean we can’t just say “Hey! We’re getting’ hitched, here’s when to show up . . . “?) – kinda handy for two children of divorced parents where invite wording can get tricky. Another helpful one was Things You’ll Forget. Because they’re right, I’ll forget. A few examples:
- appoint a pal to make sure drunk guests get cabs
- ask someone to pack a take-home plate of the food we so carefully chose but probably won’t get to eat
- make sure the right people got paid and/or tipped
Details, details, details. So much to learn and do!