Getting her to say ‘yes’ is easy compared to planning the wedding

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The extent of what I’ve gotten myself into became clear late last week, when my fiancee Amber brought home a book displaying examples of wedding invitation designs.

This was not a short pamphlet, or something like a children’s book showing only one large picture on each one of its limited number of pages. This book was the width and length of a computer monitor, weighed as much as a frozen Christmas turkey and contained dozens, if not hundreds, of possible designs for our invitations.

Our options aren’t limited to just the examples in this book, by any means. Heck, the Peru store from which Amber borrowed the book has NINE more such displays of invitations that people have used. All of this for a way to tell family and friends the who, what, when, where and why of our November wedding on a small piece of paper.

Invitation choosing is only one of the 13,728 steps that go into a wedding. I think we’re on step 28. To think, when I proposed on Christmas Eve of 2007, I thought getting Amber to say yes was the hard part.

Early on, we had to find a reception hall. The Knights of Columbus hall in Ottawa became our destination ... after we considered every other building with 25,000 square feet or more within three counties of Grundy. By the way, banquet hall owners ... your chances of landing business are infinitely increased if you actually meet potential renters where you say you’ll meet them, when you say you’ll meet them, which at least one person didn’t.

I’ve shared how easy (and free!) the experience of getting our engagement pictures done were made in this column, as Amber’s cousin Kristin was kind enough to take them for us. I’ve also lined up discounted photography for the wedding itself, as MDH photo guru Adam Nekola will capture the big day for us. He’s available to shoot yours too, and while he’s not as adept as Mike Cunniff at shooting birds and airplanes, he knows what he’s doing behind the lens.

Next up was selecting a caterer. Everyone in my extended family, anyway, likes their food (and drink), so this was a big decision, especially since these are the wonderful, wonderful people who we’re counting on for gifts. Our food provider, Lestina’s Catering in Braidwood, is booked, and they’ve given us more time to decide exactly what the fare will be. Whether it’s beef, chicken, pork or frog legs, I can assure everyone that there will be plenty to go around.

It didn’t take us long to choose the Stavanger Lutheran Church as the place at which we will be wed. The pastor there, Phil Peterson, is kind enough to marry us, and we shouldn’t have to fight off too much traffic when we depart the church afterward, so it’s a win-win.

There’s been more that’s gone into us being able to be wed north of Seneca than us simply saying “we do” to Pastor Phil. We’ve attended a few counseling sessions to get advice from Pastor Phil and the good book on spending the rest of our lives together. Along those lines, we’re currently working on our vows and all the other details regarding the ceremony itself. I’m about as accomplished a public speaker relative to the average man as George W. Bush was to a typical U.S. President, so simple and to the point seems to be the way to go in most cases.

And while choosing our invitations remains a work in a very slow and tedious process, we’ve already taken steps to assure many of our guests that they’re properly invited. Amber had “Save the Date” magnets made for friends and family to hang on their refrigerators. They’re a relatively new idea but a good one, as few excuses will fly for those dearest to us not to make a wedding they’ve know about for almost a year.

I must say, I’m getting exhausted from all this wedding planning. I can only imagine how tired of it I’d be if I was as actively involved in the decision making and purchasing as Amber. My role’s mainly consisted of grunting ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to her ideas and making suggestions like a wedding cake molded in the form of Chicago Cubs legend Ron Santo.

Luckily, like 99 percent of the invitations we’ll look at in the coming days, most of my batty ideas aren’t given a second thought.

Mark Johnson is a sports writer at the Morris Daily Herald. He can be reached at (815) 942-3221 x 2027 or by e-mail at mjohnson@morrisdailyherald.com