The Hockey Life

PART SIXTY: SAVE THE DATE
In Lena’s P.O.V.
It had been a while since I had been forced to take a sick day off from anything: work, school, plans I had made. I was glad I got to spend my sick day with Patrick, but when I got better, I realized that I would rather be at the United Center than bedridden all day. I still had the sniffles, but that was tolerable. It was January, after all. The thing that wasn’t quite as tolerable was Tess, who still acted more excited about my engagement than me. The thing about that was that it hadn’t really dawned on me that I would be having a wedding soon. It hadn’t occurred to me that Patrick and I would have to choose a date soon, and then colors, a venue, a dress, tuxes, food, and a million other things…
“So, have you guys decided on a date yet?” Tess asked me when I got home from my first day back at work.
“What do you mean?”
“You and Patrick. Have you decided on a wedding date yet?” Tess clarified.
“What? No! When do you think we would have had time to think about that?”
“I don’t know, but you ARE engaged now. Typically people who get engaged plan on getting married. Nobody likes a couple who gets engaged and doesn’t get married until four years later, Lean.”
“Well, we just haven’t discussed it yet. That doesn’t mean we’re waiting four years,” I explained.
“Well, when do you want it to be? Do you have any dates in mind?” Tess wondered.
“You know I like winter weddings,” I reminded her.
“So, next winter or the winter after that?”
“Yeah, I guess so. If Patrick agrees to it. He gets a say too, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Tess said. “What colors are you thinking?”
“I don’t know…I’ve always thought purple and silver would be pretty…” As soon as those words escaped my lips, Tess grabbed her laptop, got on Pinterest, and began looking at ideas for purple and silver weddings. “Tess, stop it! Nothing has been decided yet. We don’t need to be looking at wedding stuff,” I scolded her.
“Look away, then. I’m perfectly okay with helping you plan now, though,” she decided. I sighed and walked away, but not without stealing a glance at the pins that had popped up on the computer screen. There were some really beautiful ideas…I wasn’t sure if I was ready to handle the pressure of planning a wedding, but I also didn’t want to wait forever to actually get married. Maybe it was good that Tess was trying to get ideas already.
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“Pat?” I spoke up the next day after practice. Patrick had been the last guy left in the locker room, and I was waiting for him to get all of this things together so we could leave.
“Yes, Sniffles?” he replied, the corners of his mouth turning up into a grimace.
“I could say the same thing to you!” I retorted, reminding him that he still had a bit of a cold, just like me. “Anyways, um…do you…have any ideas about when we should start planning our wedding?” I asked. Even though he had proposed and I had said yes, neither of us had really said a word about a wedding. I wasn’t sure if he wanted it to happen sooner or later.
“Probably soon. I mean, we need to pick a date before we do anything, right?” he asked. I was relieved by his answer.
“Yeah, we do.”
“Well, I want to be a part of planning it, obviously, but it’s really the bride’s day. What were you thinking, as far as dates go?” he wondered.
“I haven’t really thought about it except for the fact that I think a winter wedding would be beautiful,” I admitted.
“I like the idea of a winter wedding.”
By then, Patrick had his things together so we went out to the parking lot and got into his car as we carried on the conversation. We hit the road and stopped at McDonalds to grab a quick, not-so-healthy lunch. We took it to his place, where we actually sat down and looked at a calendar for the next year.
“December’s kind of early. Winter’s just started then. February can be pretty brutal, so I think sometime in January would be our best bet. Maybe we can keep our anniversary date the same,” Patrick suggested. We looked at the month of January and the ninth fell on a Friday, not a Saturday. It wouldn’t work for the occasion.
“I don’t think having a wedding on a Friday will work out very well,” I said. Patrick nodded. We sat in silence for a moment, looking at the dates.
“How about the twenty-fourth? It’s on a Saturday, and it’s your favorite number,” he reminded me. That was true. It had been the number on the back of my hockey jerseys forever.
“Would you be okay with having it then?” I asked.
“Of course I would. I don’t really care what the date is as long as I get to marry you,” he confirmed.
“So it’s a date, then?” I questioned him.
“It’s a date!” We both got out of our seats at his kitchen table and he pulled me into a tight hug. I couldn’t believe we had picked out a date for our wedding. But even more so, I couldn’t believe that it was only a year and a few days away. I sent out a text to my parents, brother, and closest friends, telling them to mark their calendars for January 24. I told Tess in person after the home game that night, which was won by the Hawks, and more specifically, Patrick.
“I’m so excited for you, Lean!” she exclaimed when I told her. “But seriously, that’s not very far away. You’re going to have to start getting your shit together,” she added.
“I know, but I need help. I’ve watched a million wedding shows in my lifetime and I still have no idea where to start,” I whined.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve got you covered! I found this thing on Pinterest from Lauren Conrad’s website, and it’s basically a run down of what you need to do to plan a wedding and when. Twelve months before, you need to book a venue, make a draft of the guest list, have an engagement party, and register. Ten months before you should pick an officiant, figure out your bridal party, choose vendors for flowers and such, and take engagement photos. Eight months before you should order your dress, book hotel rooms for guests, order your cake, and do hair and makeup trials…” I knew as soon as Tess began rambling that she was going to be a life saver when it came to wedding planning. It seemed like she had already found a ton of ideas and information that would help me, and I was so grateful for that. It was going to be a long, long year.
“Okay, so it’s basically twelve months before the wedding already. What do you think I should do first?” I wondered. I had already forgotten what four things I was supposed to get done twelve months prior to the big day.
“I say we have that engagement party first. I think you’re going to need it before you get too involved in this craziness that’s about to become your life,” Tess decided. I couldn’t agree with her more. “Don’t worry, I’ll make the party happen. You just sit back and relax. Well, actually, sit back and think about who you want to be invited to the engagement party and how formal or informal you want it to be. Oh, and you might want to register somewhere because people will ask about that at the party. And attempting to book a venue for the actual wedding would probably be a good idea since you have to do things like that pretty far in advance…”
“Wow, Tess. It’s like a huge load has just been lifted off my shoulders,” I laughed. Not only was it going to be a long, long year, but it was going to be a long, long month.

Notes