Wedding season part 1

My brother and his fiancee get married in not-too-long-at-all, and I am so excited to actually put on the cutest bridesmaid's dress that doesn't look like a bridesmaid's dress, which means I may actually wear it again, and not just to costume parties. (Breath.)

I'm a bit flustered over what to get them. It seems every time I need to buy a gift from a registry, I wait 'til the last minute and I run out of things I can either afford or not look dumb getting:

"OK, Derrick," his new wife would say, "what's next for thank-you notes?"

"Oh, Dave and Erin got us a bottle opener."

"Bo-ttle o-p-en-er," she'd spell. "OK, what else?"

And Derrick would dig around in the gift bag and say "Uh, I think that's it."

Because usually the closer you get to a wedding, the more ridiculous expensive items are left. And I'm his sister, so technically I should be allowed to get them something else, right? Right. OK, but that's neither here nor there. That's an ulcer for another time.

I'm mostly excited to go to such a different wedding than my own. I got married at 1 p.m. to maximize the time I could spend in my big dress, and to minimize the nervous stomach I had before the ceremony. They're getting married at night.

We got married in church, went barhopping and then went to the Legion for the ceremony, filled with Seven-Sevens and tap beer and loud music and fun. They're more ... reserved? Only I mean that in a good way. They chose to get married and have the reception at the same place, a country club.

I think it'll be really elegant. I can't wait.

But, I'm not all nice. The selfish older sister in me says, "Thanks for making it so different that they're unique enough to not be compared to our wedding." No one can say "You know, Rosemary's potatoes tasted so much better when she made them for Derrick's wedding than for Erin's."

Yessss. I just can't handle that kind of comparison. Ha!