Thanks Anyways, Martha.

After the announcements went out, Mr. Alexander thought we could take a break for a little bit. What he didn't know, however, was that I was at the peak of my wedding magazine addiction. Which made wedding planning mode go into hyper-overdrive. Which meant that a break was not a viable option for my sad fiancee....
According to all of the magazine articles, we needed a bugdet. Create a budget, make a date. This is what "they" say. So, as a diligent follower of the wedding planning cult, I decided we needed a budget and a saving plan. Which, of course, Mr. Alexander did not understand why.
At this point, I feel the need to reveal more about Mr. Alexander to you. He is one of 5 boys. Yes, that is right, 5. No girls. His poor Mother and Step-mother (who get along fabuously), were always surrounded by boys. To make matters even more filled with testosterone, their only grandchild is also a boy. This all plays into my point on why Mr. Alexander did not understand why we needed a savings plan and a budget to stick to. Quite simply put, he has never resided in Girl Land, and has never had to. Ask him how much a catalytic converter costs, he can tell you. A new hockey stick with a four degree angle, sure he can tell you. How much a bouquet of flowers costs- nothing. He will guess, shrug his shoulders, and go back to watching the Angels play on Fox Sports West.
We sat down together one afternoon and I played with numbers while he got increasingly annoyed. His eyes darted around, looking for a way out, but he just did not have one. Chores were done, there was nothing to fix, and there was nothing on TV. A victory for me.
"Babe", he said. "Why are we doing this right now when we don't know how much money we will have, or if our parents can help?"
Good question. With all the grace of Ms. Stewart herself, I answered. "We need to figure out where we are going to have the wedding, and we cannot do that until we know how much money we have to spend on it, or what areas of the wedding we want to cut corners on, while others, more important, are going to have more money devoted to them". I was very proud of how I could almost quote the articles I had seen directly.
I then presented him with a budget calculator I had downloaded from theknot.com. It laid out, based on a $15,000, $20,000, or $50,000 wedding, what percentages of your budget are typically allocated to the varied expenses. For example, 10% of your budget (at least) is spent on The Wedding Dress. Mr. Alexander looked at the sheet, at me, and back at the sheet.
"You think we are going to spend $50,000 on a wedding?"
This is what he took from it? Which I then asked him. Which he then responded, this is stupid. We don't even know how much money we will have and you want to plan the wedding?
... I reminded myself that he has not resided in Girl Land ever, but I could feel my face get hot.
"You don't get it, all the magazines say we have to do this, everything says this is how we start, we only have fifteen months until we want to get married, and that is not alot of time, you just don't know because you are not a girl, and a wedding is a girl thing and it is so important to me, and if you don't want to take it seriously, then don't I will do it myself-"
He cut me off here. My thoughts had become disorganized, jumbled, crazy even. Mr. Alexander gave me The Look. The one that said, Babe, you are acting crazy and there is no way to deal with it. Then, he crossed his arms. Bad Sign.
I calmly got up, grabbed paper and a pen, and went into my room and closed the door.
And cried.
To be honest, I had no idea how we were going to find the money to pay for this blessed event. Mr. Alexander is much better with budgeting and saving than I am, so I had hoped he would be the backbone on this one. But, I had never told him that. I assummed that he would just get it. Bad future-wife.
Thankfully Mr.Alexander has gotten patient with age. He gave me about ten minutes to think and compose myself and then came in. He apologized, explained himself, and gave me a hug. I then explained my realization, and we sat together while he thought it over.
He then took us through our montly budgets, and we came up with a savings plan for a newly established wedding account. At this point, I had another realization. Although the magazines have great ideas, shiny pictures, and present clues on where to start, they aren't us. Mr. Alexander and I have our own way of doing things that have served us well for the last few years. Why change?
It was around this time where the addiction to the magazines began to stop. We had each other, and I had a wedding planner time calender to look at for reference. We could take it from there.
Thanks anyways Martha.