The Most Romantic Wedding Nightmare

My daughter, Megan, could beat out Martha Stewart in a party planning showdown any day. She is a perfectionist and she has been planning her wedding down to the edible gold flakes in the champagne since before her engagement. Her mother-in-law-to-be, Lynn, has offered to arrange the flowers and make the bouquets. Her father-in-law-to-be, Mark, a former pastor, is officiating the ceremony. The rest of us have our duties as well. As mother-of-the-bride, I'm official "task master" trying to keep "Operation Wedding" running smoothly. This is really an easy job since Megan has given everyone multi-page explicit instructions of exactly what they are to do and when they are to do it. The stress, however, with less than 2 months left until the big day, is taking its toll on her. Here is an email she sent me, passing on this description of a nightmare she'd had last night.

"First of all, everyone was wearing terrible clothes, like all the guys were way too casual, the bridesmaids were wearing blue, and you were wearing a white lace wedding dress with a veil!!!!! Some girls I know that aren't invited to the wedding were there but they were so slutty, I could see through their dresses. Also, I had some vows written down that I was holding, but I didn't know what was written and I was just going to read them anyway because I didn't even have time to read them before the wedding! Then the processional was starting and I didn't know where my bouquet was, I didn't even know what it looked like! So I crawled to the front of the ceremony hoping no one would see me so that I could ask Lynn where my bouquet was! She showed me where it was and then left, but it was not even flowers, it was like these stuffed animals only they were 3 stuffed hearts on stuffed sticks! They were really ugly! I was like "I'm not carrying that down the aisle" and freaking out, but you said that I should do it anyway so as not to offend Lynn! Then they started playing Over the Rainbow as a processional song and someone was even singing it, it was terrible! THEN Mark started the ceremony and he did the dorkiest thing!!! Because we have given him a list of how the ceremony will go, and the first thing on the list is a welcome speech, he just said "Welcome" and then he made a hand gesture of a huge check mark with a stupid grin on his face and everyone was like OK..... But then, this next part was so sweet! Then, I looked into Chris' eyes and he told me with his eyes that everything is OK, and I was so happy. I felt so much love for him. It was the sweetest ending to my nightmare!"

I loved this dreamy nightmare. Besides being hilarious, I thought it had an incredibly romantic ending. Megan has often been able to control things in her life. She has this unbelievable drive, knows exactly what she wants, and goes for it. I'm continually amazed at her talents and abilities to do everything she sets out to do. But in this dream she has lost control. Things are not turning out the way she wants. And the ending is perfect because she realizes what's important...it's not the flowers or the music or the dresses...it's that she is marrying her love. Chris has the laid-back charm that balances Megan's perfectionism. And I'm so glad she can look at him, both in her dreams and in real life, and see his love, and know that her wedding will be perfect, regardless of any mishaps that may occur. And the other reason I love the nightmare was because I was decked out in a white lace wedding dress and veil! I'm sure I looked gorgeous.