I DO

Every little girl dreams of her wedding day. The beautiful white dress, the flowers, the shoes. Oh, and the guy, of course. No wedding is to be had without the prince charming. I was absolutely no different. I was no different. I had every little detail planned to perfection. All I had to do was wait for my prince.

We all know how my story goes. My prince was a frog (and that's being polite.) When we got engaged I was living in Calgary, he in Vancouver. So he mailed my ring and I opened it in a parking lot. This should have been my first clue that the relationship was going to be less than stellar, but I was in love...and love, as they say, is blind not to mention a little stupid at times too. After I was sufficiently pregnant, he decided we didn't need to get married and all talk of weddings was well, non-existent. Until a job opportunity came up in Dubai (where the Uber strict laws dictated you could not live common law,) and then the question was not, "Will you marry me? I love you!" but "If it benefits us financially, why not?" For a long time after that, I didn't want to get married. Ever. Marriage was a horrible institution that trapped you into being who you most definitely were not. And worse than that, it didn't work. Men cheated and women just let it happen or worse than that, they made it happen. Well...this was my reality.

Lately, it's a little different. I'm in a good place. Correction - I'm in a fabulous place. And I've been thinking that maybe marriage isn't so bad. Maybe not all men cheat. Maybe it's not all horrible. And maybe, just maybe it would be really awesome to stand in front of God and everyone you love, and pledge your love to one person forever. I choose you, out of all the rest, I choose you. And what little girl doesn't want to be a princess for a day. I know I do.

I started thinking about my wedding again. Just like that little girl sooooo long ago, I've poured over pictures of wedding dresses and flowers and um...money. As one who does not have a small fortune (inherited or otherwise), my wedding is going to be what I call 'Classy-cheap chic.' Here's what I've got so far:

Flowers:

Tulips. Inexpensive. Beautiful. Classy.

The "cake"

Cupcakes...super cute, and they've got to be cheaper than a cake because they're smaller...

The dress:

Simple. Sexy. Cheap (this one is less than $500.00)

The centerpieces:

Uh...tulips (it's a theme, ok...) and the favours would be tulip bulbs...how great would that be!

Now I just got to get me a husband. Seeing as how the top two in the running were Mr. (un) Fab and Mocha man, I had better get my arse in gear. We all know I'm not getting any younger...