The
preparations that two people go through when
planning their
wedding ceremony. Sometimes only one
half of the
couple concerns
herself with the planning. This is generally a
bad idea, for reasons which I I shall now explain.
Almost nobody will tell you this ahead of time, but wedding planning is actually advanced training for the marriage itself. Dating and courtship do not prepare you for marriage, they simply give you a chance to get to know your future spouse and vice versa. It's like comparing ROTC to boot camp and a drill sergeant.
Things you're forced to learn during marriage planning that you will never learn any other way include, but are by no means limited to:
- true cooperative decision-making
- not alienating each other's parents
- separating what the other person is saying from what is actually meant
- getting the other person to say what they meant in the first place
- learning how not to frustrate each other to the point of insanity over a bunch of wedding invitations. Because it doesn't really matter whether you write on the front that there's a reception afterwards, of course there's a reception afterwards, and there will be a map inside telling exactly where and when it is, and any sensible guest is going to bring both pieces of paper, right? Can't we just turn in the copy for these things and get to the grocery store and buy the taco shells so that we can eat dinner before nine o'clock? 'Cause if I don't get to sleep early tonight, I'm going to be an absolute zombie at work tomorrow, and it will all be because of these fershluggin' invitations.
- not rushing to say everything that's on your mind so you can discuss things and resolve any conflicts in a more graceful manner.