DIY = MIA

I've done it. I've gone and broken the cardinal rule of blogging: Thou shalt not abandon thy blog. Yes, it's been months since my last post, and I can't shake the shame. It's kind of like not going to the gym. At first, you have a good excuse -- major work deadline, a cold -- and it's only a couple days. Then, it's a week, two weeks, and still you justify. Hey, after meeting that big deadline, I deserve some down time! Next thing you know, it's been three months and you're too ashamed to show your face again, because you can't just walk in there and pretend like it hasn't been weeks. I suppose, just like the work deadline and the illness, I could claim a legitimate reason for my absence -- planning the biggest and most expensive party of my life.

I was never that girl who played wedding with her Barbies. Instead, I usually sent Barbie and her buddies on a wild ride down the stairs in her pink Corvette, on their way to rescue Ken, who was usually tied up and being held prisoner in the basement. I never got married on the playground, or put a pillow case on my head like it was a veil.

So I was kind of surprised when I got so into the wedding planning process. Favors, escort cards, centerpieces -- I loved them all, and I wanted them to be unique, to reflect our personalities and our relationship. I spent hours researching ideas, talking to other brides on theknot.com, clipping pictures and putting them in a giant red binder (it's now too heavy to carry with one arm). With every new idea, the Fiance (now the Hubs) kept me in check: "How much will that cost?"

Wanting to make things unique and to stay in budget, I did something I've never done before. I turned to Martha Stewart. I started making things, being crafty. I spent lots of time at Michael's picking out card stock, ribbon and floral wire. I perfected the art of making pomanders out of tissue paper, I cramped my fingers tying tiny ribbon around 120 pink bubble tubes, I fed over 100 pieces of card stock through my printer -- twice -- and folded each one in half. I became best friends with a rotary cutter, an Exacto knife and a quilting mat. I even got the Fiance involved, turning birch trees into an arbor and table name holders.

I might have saved some money, but I lost all my free time.

In the end, all the finger cramps, paper cuts and hot glue burns were worth it. We had a fantastically fun, perfect day full of personal touches that I think our guests really appreciated. Everyone said the wedding seemed like "us." Which is really what it's all about, isn't it?