"Wedding Season" is gonna last much longer than it's name claims.

WEDDING SEASON!...I have no clue what that means. I think it's the highly-educated observation that more people tend to get married in April-October than any of the other months. Regardless of when this over-publicized ideal of "wedding season" is, it's definitely been going on for the last few years of my life. So many of my friends have been getting engaged and then married (as the logical sequence of events go), while I'm still longing for the days when losing at tetherball to your best friend was probably the worst thing that could EVER happen to you. I look back on those times wishing I could be a kid again and not have to worry about money, or responsibility (though I probably wouldn't play tetherball again...hitting a ball on a string kinda makes me feel like a cat). When did everyone jump on the marriage train and why am I still looking for Platform 9 and 3/4? (You know you love the HP reference).

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE WEDDINGS. In fact, love might be the understatement of the year. I'm the kind of cliche girl that will buy the $10 bridal magazines long before being engaged, or even being in a relationship. I'll read them into early hours of the morning, drooling over the stolen-from-a-postcard locations, the out-of-any-normal-person's-price range dresses and the probably-photoshopped-but-not-enough-for-me-to-care bouquet arrangements. I take note of things I see and want for my own wedding (however many years away that may be). A bridal magazine is the equivalent of a car magazine with prettier colors and more description. Some people might call this obsessive or weird, but I call it good planning. And, by the way, there are very few women you will meet that haven't thought about at least one detail of their future wedding. It's in our blood. Lucky for me, my best friend loves weddings just as much as I do and my boyfriend, bless his wonderful heart, never yells at me when I accidentally tune him out while flipping through my magazine. Part of that is my inability to multi-task, and part of it is my true wedding fetish.

My love for weddings doesn't translate into a desire to get married immediately. I was talking with a few of my girlfriends after graduation and my friend Annie asked "why do people always assume your relationship gets way more serious after you graduate college?!" It's totally true. The second we picked up that deceivingly empty diploma on stage, people are asking about engagements, move-in dates, and wedding locations. Woooaahh, cool those jets!. I'm still learning how to apply for jobs, let alone marriage licenses!

I definitely will get married (see paragraph 4 for repeated confirmation), but I have a good 50+ years to spend married. Right now, I'm happy with my new job, my new apartment, and my newly made-over life. I probably won't be walking down the aisle within the next year (knowing me, it'll take me that long just to plan the damn thing), but I know when the timing is what I call "movie perfect", it'll happen. Until then, I'll continue enjoying swooning over my friend's wedding photos on Facebook (Joshua & Brooke Ziel's wedding in Mexico has induced the most swooning so far) and collect tidbits for my own dream wedding. I can't wait for all our closest friends to tie the knot and start the big time celebrations. It's barely even begun.

For all you wedding lovers like me, this website is drool-worthy.
http://www.theknot.com/

C.