Shock to the System

Now that all the excitement from the engagement and the engagement party has passed, I face almost a year and a half of wedding planning. Everyone keeps telling me how much time I have to sort everything out and make it perfect but for me this time just means I will be a stressed out Bridezilla for longer.

As most people already know, I am super organised and planish (as Hannah would say). Possibly this is just my German heritage shining through, as is so nicely summarised in How to be German, but I am feeling stressed out by my OCD organisation. My mind races with the 15 different lists, that somehow are merged but also not. I think about what shoes and earrings I will wear, what happens if it rains, what happens if it is too hot, will I sweat in my dress, do I have a contingency plan for every possible scenario etc, but all of these things are pretty far ahead in my wedding planning future.

Right now, my only focus is the venue! But, of course, with Cape Town being as gorgeous as it is, I have around 5 000 000 venues to sift through. SA Venues has been a good base to start from as they list venue's by the different area's in Cape Town, which really made me feel like I was viewing a 'complete' list. Due to the many venue's there will be several rounds that the venue's need to get through in order to be the winner.

Firstly, I check out their website and view photo's of the venue. At this stage, many venues are already eliminated based on the number of people they can host. One venue could host a laughable 6 people! How they call themselves a wedding venue is beyond me. In other instances, 400 people can be hosted, although I have found that those big venue's often have a minimum number of guests that does not suit our semi-small party of 90 people. If all is clear, I email the venue asking for the wedding packages and if they are within our budget, we schedule a viewing. If we love a place they get a place on the short list. I do feel like gmail will be charging me email fees after the last 2 weeks considering the amount of email traffic on my account, but being informed is key!

As you may have already guessed, this blog will keep all of you updated on the wedding planning, as well as being a place to air my thoughts and gather my ideas. Matt has said several times that this is my wedding and he will show up when and where he is needed and will partake as needed but I have free reign! Here is an adorable picture of cats getting married. Yes, I am one of the 600 000 000 people on the internet who loves cats, deal with it :D