Things I learned while planning a wedding:

• Whitepages.com is my new best friend and single-handedly the website I used the most. Partial address? Whitepages.com ! Don't know whether Great Uncle Al is an Alan, Albert, or Alfonso? Whitepages.com ! Whitepages.com for everything!
• I had really good experiences with the following websites: orientaltrading.com, vistaprint.com, weddingpaperdivas.com, envelopes.com, and nicepricefavors.com.
• I would not use mixbook.com again. I made a last-minute decision and switched our wedding invitations to Mixbook because it was a $200 difference. The invitations were okay, but they printed their company logo on the back of all of the invitations and response cards. That is not the time or place to advertise. I eventually felt so much remorse over the invitations that I went back to the original website (weddingpaperdivas.com) and bought a handful of the original invitations I had chosen. No logos were on the back.

I think my biggest mistake was caring too much about what other people thought. Abe's ex-roommate planned her entire wedding within a week and didn't ask for anybody's opinion, including her fiance's. Meanwhile I didn't make a single choice without running it by three people, and Abraham was unexpectedly opinionated. It was helpful when I was just starting out and had no idea how what kind of wedding we could have, but by the time the wedding was planned and people were still telling me what to do--that got really frustrating really quickly.

I've had anxiety nightmares every night. Never about the man, only about the wedding. Sometimes things go horribly wrong: no kiddush cups to drink the wine, someone bought red wine instead of white (what if it stains my dress?). Sometimes I get up to the alter and I realize I'm standing next to an ex-boyfriend, and I tell my dad, I'm sorry, but I'm canceling this $25,000 party.

Things I have cried about in the last month

• The inner envelopes of the wedding invitations looked awful in certain lighting
• The guest list (too large)
• Seemingly having to make every appointment twice (or three times) instead of once to accomodate everyone's schedules
• The cost of hair on the wedding day ($240!!)
• My mom calling me a bridezilla when I said I wanted to pay for alterations rather than having her cut up my wedding gown
• The guest list (not enough people I know)
• Someone needing the wedding program the day after I finished addressing the invitations
• Talking about finances with family members
• Learning what hospitality bags are
• When are all of the appointments going to take place?
• Traffic (being 10 minutes late to life)
• The possibility of having the wedding outside
• Getting really sick an hour after the bridal shower
• Pneumonia!
• The decision of whether parents are going to stand under the chuppah (all of the tears)
• The guest list (why has only half responded?)
• The Finklesteins
• Keeping children from attending the wedding
• Feeling like a bad friend for turning down friend invites so I could sit alone in the dark

Abraham: As long as that list is, I think you missed a few things.