Party, on?

Holy gods in heaven (or the Otherworlds) where have the weeks gone? We’ve sent out invitations, and had a great week and a half receiving RSVP postcards back (we got none yesterday and I was distraught. Mr BB had to gently remind me that we can’t expect to receive them everyday which I supposeis true….humph.) We are at the stage of staring at the prospective guest list trying to divine by unholy methods which of our nearest and dearest will actually attend! and why they haven’t bothered posting back the stamped addressed postcard?

We’ve added in our acceptances and refusals so we’re left with nothing to do but play with the spreadsheet, adding in the people we think will replay (how many will that be?) or the ones we are pretty sure will but leaving out any borderline cases (is that too few? what if more people don’t show up on the day?) and adding in everyone just to see what the numbers would look like should every last one of the accept (Oh my gods we can’t have that many!)

 It’s a tight rope and noone warns you. Somehow I thought, everyone we asked will of course come and even if horror of horrors one or two refused, well there are a few people on the evening list we can bump up.

But here we are with some of our nearest and dearest maintaining radio silence (My aunt for one seems to have gone into deep cover, leaving no trace or papertrail behind her) while one of my oldest friends has informed me he doesn’t really know if he’ll come.  Mr BB has had to chase cousins while at least three of our single friends, who constantly complain if invited to a wedding stag, have been shamefaced in returning rsvps for themselves alone despite us allowing for guests. 

So we’ll either have a lot of empty seats or a queue to get into the dining room the way things are going. I am consumed with getting answers from guests. I dream about RSVPS.

 The fact that it’s only been a week since we sent out the invitations is completely irrelevent…….

Day for Romance?

Don’t get me wrong; even when single I have never subscribed to the moaning “it’s only a Hallmark day” attitude. Valentine’s day is an old tradition and one that has its place. It was a great laugh when we were younger and even in my early thirties when alone, it was always a nice thought, that someday I might have someone to celebrate Valentine’s day with.
I do now, and it’s now one of the most commercial days of the year. Friends have reported buying roses this morning at a cost on average of 130 euro a dozen. That’s a bit ill. Even more sickening is the competition to be the most “romantic” – the most extravagent date for tonight wins. La Mere Zou, anyone? or is that expensive enough, hip enough, got a long enough waiting list. Grown males sweating over whether the restaurant they got through blood, sweat and tears is still cutting edge or willl the guy they play tennis with trump them with somewhere better? Nightmares. Women are competing over the gift they recieved. One girl told her Boyfriend not to do anything because she didn’t want to buy him a gift/bother going out – until her work colleague recieved flowers at which point she texted him saying that she hadn’t really meant do nothing, she did expect flowers. And she will be stunned and bewildered when he calls her high maintenance….
Romance is being bought and sold in the streets of Dublin today and it’s a bit sad.
Romance means such different things to each of us, but to me its little things. It’s making dinner for my parents every evening the last two weeks while their kitchen is being fitted, even though he’s dying of a sinus infection. It’s fixing my bro-in-law’s computer becuase he needs it for work, despite being tired. It’s coming down in the morning, stressed and hassled to find a cup of tea waiting for you and a hug. It’s looking at you when you arrive into the pub and smiling broadly and whispering that you look fabulous!
And it’s doing things in return. 
It’s getting a dinner ready on yoru day off and seeing the face on him when he comes home to a hot meal, or booking cinema tickets because you know he’s had a hard week, or picking him up that DVD he wanted, or doing the laundry because it’s his least favourite job, and giving him a kiss as he goes past, just because. It’s lovely to feel needed and wanted, and to know something you do brightens his day.
He’ll get me a card and he has already got me a bunch of roses; I got him a dvd and a I’ll get a card this afternoon. We’ll feed the wrinklies, send them home, and sit in front of the TV and have a cuddle. Heaven to me and more romantic than a plate of snails and cavier in town! 

You are cordially invited….

We wrote our first invitations last night!

After weeks of waiting for the damn things to arrive – the cardmaker sent them weeks ago and they were sent all over the Uk, as the Royal Mail apparantly can’t grasp that Dublin, Rep of Ireland, isn’t part of Great Britain. The parcel duly arrived back to her stamped with every sorting office in the country and she was more than a little surprised to open her door to the postman bearing a parcel she found suspiciously familiar.

She then entrusted them to Parcelforce, henceforth known as Parcelfarce, for the absurd lenght of time they took to arrive. The evening ones are still lost in transit. But the day ones are wonderful, absolutely sumptuous and they come with lovely metallic cream envelopes. Our cardmaker is a wonder and a joy (nohting could have matched her patience and her willingness to rush replacements to us whent eh parcel went missing) and anyone looking for handmade invitations, cards or other design crafts should bookmark http://turtlegnomescrafts.co.uk/default.aspx . If nothing else we have bespoke, handmade invitations practically couture we are!

So now we are looking at a guest list and thinking…wow. We are about to invite these people to the most important event of our lives. I know whenever I have recieved a wedding invitation I’ve been delighted, and flattered, but only now do I realize what a big thingit is, to choose the folk you want around you that day. Always supposing of course one isn’t doing the cast of thousands, invite the woman who does Granny’s hair, kind of guest list; which is strangely prevelant at the moment. I have friends who think 350 is a goodly number for a wedding whereas Mr BB and I have around 130 plus evening guests. I wnat to actually know the majority of my guests, and I love writing the invitations (ignoring the fact that they’ve all had to listen to the wedding talk anyway and it can hardly come as a surprise to them!)

So the next time you get a wedding invitation, remember to be a little extra pleased with yourself, I can guarantee the Bride and Groom have thought a lot about it, and they want you there.

Of course after this we have to face the dreaded seating plan……….

The Perils of Online Life…

I moderate (and pay for the server for) a small online forum, dedicated to an obscure and specialist subject. I recently recieved a lesson in how online life is an illusion.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I’m a tad bitter this morning. I realised that when people say they are your friends, they mean, “continue to provide this service free of charge for me” and they pretty soon get to deciding they don’t like you if you disagree with them. By disagree I actually mean, don’t leap to do everything they want.

 Well, here I am, wiser and a little chastened and thinking, why on eath do I bother? The answer to which is, I don’t know and I am not going to continue. If people actually think so little of you that they attack you, only a fool would continue to provide a service for them. If others care so little they won’t step in and say “ah hang on there, that’s unfair” then why continue to work for them?

For years, I would have swallowed it down, ignored the hurt and tried harder. Older Ms BB doesn’t do that. This may come as a surprise to many people

Real Life is a lot more fun anyway