Save The Date

I'll just ask it: How many wedding invitations and/or “save the dates” have you gotten yet? I'm up to two, and that was BEFORE March. Of course, we live in a modern digital age, where you don't even need paper and pen to announce the world your intentions of committing your bank account to another person. Our little digital friend, Facebook, again comes to the rescue! It seems you can't swing a digital cat on there without hitting someone who just got engaged, and wants you to know about it.

There's a spectrum to gage the reaction one has when they receive a wedding or engagement notice.  On one end we have the happy reactions, the kind you have when the notices all involve a close friend, or someone who you genuinely know is in love. You say things like “Aww, how sweet!”, or “Finally! They're gonna tie the knot!” Then we have the middle ground, “Oh, I didn't know they were even dating.” and “I've not seen her since the fifth grade, guess she just wants a bunt cake pan out of me.”

Then there's the lower end. The end which is reserved for immediate judgmental sounding reactions. You open the envelope and find yourself naturally saying “Well that's a mistake.” How about “He's been divorced twice, she has been divorced once...”, and then there's the classic “I hope they don't have children.” The other benefit to these low end reaction recipients, is that you usually pitch them in the trash, so if you have a large number of weddings to plan out for the year, it helps with the clutter.

At the time this went to print, I've already seen six engagements, and know of two weddings I'll be going to this year. You'll be happy to know that the weddings I'll be going to are very much on the happy end of the reaction spectrum. Matter of fact, I knew one of them was coming clear out of the gate. I won't bring up her name, out of fear that I might embarrass her, so we'll call this lovely lady “A”.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, but right before Thanksgiving, “A” told me that she was practically engaged. “We've talked about it, and it seems like it's going to happen. I'm just waiting for him to propose. I hope he does soon.” is what “A” told me. As the turkey went away, and the tinsel went up, “A”'s anxiousness over getting a ring slowly increased. “When's he gonna do it!? I keep dropping hints! I know he has the ring already!” was the next info I heard from her.

The anxiety subsided when on December 26th, she promptly changed her relationship status on Facebook (everything comes back to Facebook these days) to “Engaged”. This was a wedding I was most happy to hear about, and even was on hand to get responses to music choices, dress choice, and the like. People seem to like my advice, I know, doesn't make sense to me either.

So ladies and gents, let's get ready for a new slew of marriage announcements and “save the date” cards coming our way. There's no way to stop them, and no way to end what might be a potential huge mistake for some of them.