Musings of my inner 12-year-old

I don't know if it's because I'm 24, because I've been home for so long now — OMG almost 8 weeks! — or because my grandmother forbade me to marry a Czech man, but I've been thinking a lot about marriage and weddings and such.

No, I'm not plotting how to find a man. (However, maybe I should create an application process and see what happens... On second thought, perhaps not.)

But in all seriousness, remember when you were a little kid (OK, that mostly applies to girls, but guys, bare with me) and you would play dress up and have a wedding? Maybe Ken and Barbie got married and remarried several times over the years. Or maybe you just dreamed about your future wedding with the boy whose name you would obsessively thoughtlessly scribble all over your notebook when you were 12.

I seriously have a couple ideas for my future wedding dress which I'm stealing from movies (obviously), I know for sure what flowers I want, and I was just watching some super cheesy chick flick (Leap Year, total girl movie, hot Irish guy) and thought to myself, "I really hope that when a guy proposes to me one day, it's super cheesy like in a chick flick."

Well, now and then I catch myself making "plans" (more like collecting ideas) for when I do finally get to that point in my life. Don't be confused, I know I am no where near that point in my life. I'm actually quite happy about that, in fact.

For instance, it has come to my attention that if I were to, say, marry a German guy (since Czech's are off the table right now) then I would have to make a decision between getting married in Germany or in the States... Obviously by "in the States" I mean Texas, because really there's no other option that makes sense there. (Sorry, sis, I don't think Seattle is in the cards.)

Apparently etiquette says that if we plan to live in Germany, we get married here and vice versa. I can get behind that, I guess, but I figure, my wedding is for me and he-who-has-yet-to-be-dated (and I guess, sort of, my mom) so why wouldn't I just get married wherever the heck it's going to be easiest for me us?

Well, a couple I know is getting married and they've opted for a destination wedding. I seem to know more and more people who are doing this and thought it doesn't seem like a bad idea. Besides, what better excuse to travel than getting married? Am I right?

I nonchalantly said something to my mom the other day about how it seems like this would really be the best option in that case. At least then, neither side of the family gets an advantage over the other.

She still say "no" really but she didn't seem thrilled.

Eventually I got the "As long as I'm at your wedding I really don't care." This is how I know eloping (which sounds fun and daring) is not simply the next best option. I'm pretty sure my mom would have a total meltdown Chernobyl style. 

Oh, maybe rather than soaking up some rays at a beach-side destination wedding we can soak up some... history... at Chernobyl instead.

Aside from that we started talking about wedding sizes... This is tough. I mean, how do you decide who to invite and who not to invite? How do you decide who gets to bring a date? Should people be allowed to bring their kids? Who do you invite to the reception and not the actual ceremony? 

I came up with a rough list of 50 people before I simply made myself stop... I'm pretty sure I told my mom I want a "small" wedding...

So glad I don't have to deal with this yet. I'm obviously not ready for wedding planning just yet.

But then it kind of hit me. Sure it's generally those of us with the double-X chromosomes that dream of our wedding as children, but someone else is going to be part of that wedding — at least I'm pretty sure that's how that works.

So no matter what I were to work out in my head now, it would ultimately come down to what we decide together. Wedding planning is like the first test of how your relationship is going to work out. (Well, maybe not the first test.) He may not care about what flowers are on the tables or what color dresses the bridesmaids wear, but my money says he (or maybe his mom...) might have something to say about how difficult it may or may not be for his family/friends to show up. 

I dunno, I'm just glad I've got at the moment forever awhile to figure this out. What do you guys think?