Wooooosh!

I still have catching up to do from the holidays, but had to break from reflections and just say Holy Crap, it's 2009! Not only that, but it's almost B's birthday (tomorrow), which means it's a full week into 2009. Our wedding is officially four months and three days away. Eep!

After taking most of the holidays off (despite picking invitations, registering at the final store, selecting tuxes, and booking the band, plus one more thing I'm not allowed to blog about yet under threat of no hugs for a month), we hit the ground running starting Sunday night at 9pm when I got in the car on the way home from Atlanta. Since then, save the dates have been ordered, guests list numbers finalized, hotel prices negotiated, hair appointments booked, florist appointments coordinated, and addresses gathered. But, dear readers, keep the prayer hotline open this afternoon. In about 15 minutes, Mom goes to meet with the Florence priest about the time of the wedding. We have 3pm locked down but are gunning for 4. If anyone can do it, Mom can. We figure we may as well ask...

For the protestant or agnostic-minded of you out there, here's the deal. Catholics are fabulous and super accommodating (in most cases, unless you want them to perform your wedding ceremony. Another story.); they have church roughly six times on Sunday, which is great if a) you can't get up early, b) you have an afternoon football game to watch, or c) you enjoy heading to dinner right after church. So fabulous, in fact, that they also offer Saturday night mass. And what do you do during mass? Take communion. And what does that require? Attending confession beforehand. And what does that mean to you? No afternoon weddings in a Catholic church.

The parish in Florence told me 1pm was the latest possible, but I assured them that they'd had my sister's wedding at 2:30 and all 5 of the Florence Catholics still had time to confess before the 6pm service. They let me set the time at 3, but 4 would be better. Now that we have a new priest, why not ask again? I wanted to just print the invitations with 4pm and go from there, but B says that's passive aggressive. He's right.

Eleven minutes left to send up good vibes and prayers. We'll know in a bit. Then, it's off to order the invitations...