Is that in U.S. dollars?

"I used to think a wedding was a simple affair. A boy and girl meet, they fall in love, he buys a ring, she buys a dress, they say "I do." I was wrong. That's getting married. A wedding is an entirely different proposition."
--Steve Martin as George in Father of the Bride.

I know that we have been tremendously blessed with wonderful family and friends who are working very hard to make planning our wedding as easy on us as possible. We have been spared a lot of the financial burden because of their willingness to pull their talents and resources to help us. It's amazing to have that love from so many people, even those who aren't blood relatives. Our wedding will be special because the people we care about most will be there to share it with us, that makes every penny spent well worth it.

With that being said, it just amazes me to see how fast all of the little expenses add up. I became a little curious yesterday and decided to itemize all of our to-date wedding purchases. I was a quite surprised to see the total come up as $3,255.37 USD. This number is inclusive of things like invitations, photographs, my dress, and all of the things we've paid for so far...Unfortunately, this number does not include the expenses we anticipate before it's all said and done. After my theorizing and calculating I have determined that our wedding will top out right around $5,000. That is to say, if I haven't left anything out (but William will attest I am quite thorough when it comes to finances and expenditures). $5,000, even for our small, "down home" style wedding!

A lot of you couples out there are probably laughing at what I think is a large number, I'm sure that for most brides $5,000 is just the dress budget. (My dress was $40 and cost me about $60 in alterations.)Sometimes, I think I am just too practical for my own good. I just can't see the point of spending thousands of dollars on a dress that I will only wear once. Or going broke planning a fancy party for all of my friends or parent's friends, or distant relatives, people I don't even see every day or some people I haven't seen for years (some people I don't even like!).

Some couples get so wrapped up in the planning that they forget what's truly important, the sanctity of marriage. The commitment you are making to your partner, the life that you are going to build with them after the toasts have been made and the guests have gone home. The wedding is only the first day of the rest of your lives together, that's where the focus should be. It's not, How many people will see me in my pretty dress? But what will my husband see when he looks at me? What will our children see in us? What will other's see when they look at our relationship? And most importantly, what does God see when he views us no longer as individuals, but as One?

I think William's response to the "wedding hoopla" said it best,
"I'm planning a marriage, not a wedding."

The river is wide...and deep, too.

*image hosted by www.imageshack.us because it is free*

That is a picture of the run-off creek behind our apartment here in Austin, taken from my PCS phone. Normally, the water has about an eight inch breadth and a one inch depth. However, after today's rain, it is about five feet across and about ten inches deep. We've had that much rain today, and it isn't expected to let up until Friday. Right now, the water is about twenty feet from our back door. If it gets any closer, I'm going to buy one of those four-man inflatable rafts and put it under my couch.

I knew I should have bought pleather instead of leather.

William

William is an incredible man. Now, before you go thinking this is just some "lover's rant" let me present the facts.
These are just a few examples (Believe me I could go on, but I know it looks like a novel already!):

A few months after I started attending the Bible study group, we went on a group camping trip. It was January and FREEZING! I am always cold and couldn't warm up. William who didn't even know me very well gave me his coat, even though he was freezing himself.
I know this is a small thing, but it just shows his kindness, even to people he doesn't know well.

When I had surgery before we were dating and couldn't drive, William drove me all around town for an entire week. He was off that week because he was moving, but took time out of his schedule to take me to the movies, to eat, to run errands. He did it just so I wouldn't have to be alone or cooped up in the house all day.

On Halloween (again before we started dating, but this was the night that really won me over!) he and I had gone to dinner and we had just came back to the house. Mike and Dee were out of town and Courtney was out with some friends. He walked me to the door and saw the HUGE pile of dishes that were in the sink (I had made Courtney a tuna casserole and left the mess, YUCK!). William shook his head, rolled up his sleeves and started scrubbing. As he was finishing Courtney came home from her adventure and we were all just sitting around talking when she looked up at an unsuspecting William and asked sweetly, "Can I put make-up on you?" William looked a little surprised, if not horrified, but then his face softened and he asked, "Are you going to tell anyone?" Courtney, "No"..."Are you going to take pictures?"..."No"..."Is it going to wash off?" "Yes"...William let me make-up one half of his face and Courtney the other! He wasn't exactly "Pretty" when we finished with him! When I asked William why he let us do it, his response truly surprised me. He said that he did it because he knew that it would make Courtney laugh. Even if it was just for a little bit, if he could make her happy, he was willing to swallow his pride. WOW! Another small example of his swallowing his pride to make someone laugh: He dumped an entire glass of water on himself at IHOP demonstrating his "drinking problem". He did it just to make me laugh, it worked.

A few weeks before we got engaged, I wrecked my car and after a month the insurance company would no longer provide a rental car. William woke up at the crack of dawn to drive from his apartment in Grapevine to my apartment in Lewisville to drive me to work in Fort Worth, before heading to his office in Irving, he even brought me breakfast when he did it! After work he picked me up from work to repeat the journey over again.

Most recently, and I think this was the biggest testimony to his character and commitment to our relationship. I had to go to the emergency room over a ruptured ovarian cyst...I was in excruciating pain, fading in and out of consciousness, no make-up, tubes sticking out of me, looking and feeling miserable, yet William never left my side. He wouldn't even leave to go eat and we were there for 5 hours! Every time I tried to tell him to go eat or that he could leave, he would smile and tell me to shut up and let him serve. He put everything aside to be there for me when I needed him the most.
And when I thanked him, he brushed it off and told me to thank God, because he's the one who really did everything. I do thank God, not just for his healing, but for providing me with such a Godly man. Throughout our friendship and relationship William has been a prime example of Christ's love working through another person. I am so blessed to have this man in my life and I am more grateful than I can express.

We passed the test.

Get this:

Remember getting your driver's license? Remember the written tests? The driving exam? The hours and hours of Driver's Education? Remember how much it cost?

Well, getting a marriage license is about ten thousand times easier than that, and it only cost $41 USD. And, there is no test. Go figure! Which one is the true test of responsibilty?

Anyhow, we obtained our marriage license. It has a 72 hour waiting period before it can be used. That's a good thing, because otherwise I would have suggested we get married five minutes after getting it. One more step taken towards the big day.