The Engagement Party

The Engagement Party, where to start?


First, I was against it. I wanted nothing to do with yet another party to celebrate another party later in time. It reminded me of having meetings to prepare to have meetings. It also meant that I would be out of pocket monies for food and such. It took Patti awhile to convince me we should have the party. She explained that she wanted a chance to meet some of my close friends that maybe she had yet to meet. It would also give our direct families a chance to meet and talk. 


Second, I was against it. Bad idea. Terrible idea. Nothing good will come of this.


Third, I was still against it.


(For those of you playing the home game, this is indicative of a normal pattern of thoughts for me.)


So, I agree to it. We search around and decide that we want to use the gazebo portion of O'Brian Park in South Bend. Patti goes down, reserves the park, and that's taken care of.


This is the part where I ignore the topic for a couple of weeks and it annoys her. Seriously, I did. I also had not made up my mind who I wanted in kilts with me. I think that bothered her more.


Eventually, we pick up some invites that I'm told are cute. We hunt down addresses for everyone we want to invite.  That took a few days, but we did it.


We developed a question for the parks department and Patti said she would call them. When she called, they said they needed to talk to her to and when would she be in. It turned out, the South Bend Parks Department had double booked the park for that weekend and that we were the second party. How does that happen you ask? The parks department computer goes down and they don't use a printed out back up copy to make sure everything is good. Instead, they wait a few weeks after putting it all in to check it for mistakes and then they call you...or they wait for you to contact them and they say, "Oh, shit, we double booked this space. We have to boot somebody. We've got her on the phone, let's just tell her. It'll be easier this way."


At this point, she's pretty upset and calling me at work in the morning. I know something is wrong when she calls me at work in the morning. We talk through it and agree to go on the hunt as soon as we can. 


Scouring the area and friends' brains, we come across a park in Mishawaka that would be good to use. Patti calls up the Mishawaka parks department to check on the availability. Funny enough, she wasn't the only person to call the Mishawaka parks department due to "double booking." The park was available, but not what we needed...cover from the sun and a grill or two. Back to the scouring pad.


We found another park off of Grape Road and Patti was back on the phone. Yes, it was available and had what we needed. The catch? You have to be a Mishawaka resident to reserve a Mishawaka park. We know plenty of Mishawaka residents and line up two of them to help us out of the jam. Good people, them.


Now to head off the other problem...some of the invites were already sent out to folks with the original address for the party. That's okay, I can print post cards and send them out with a note and a map on them. I take care of that and we get to sending out the invites. Along the way, we also decide to invite more people. More people = more fun, right? Right.


We pick up supplies around town, mostly at Gordan's Food Service and my mother's house. The woman had more plates, plastic ware, napkins, and cups than anyone should own. We capitalize upon this to keep our costs down. She was also gracious enough to donate use of 4 coolers to help keep soda and food cool.


The day rolls around. We head over 2 hours early to begin set up. Patti drops me and the supplies off, before speeding off in my car blaring Tom Jones out the window. Seriously. Tom Jones. My car. 


My brother showed up an hour before start and his wife sped off in their car to pick up more stuff. (Thanks, lady!) I don't know what she was listening to, the windows were up.


My brother manned the grill most of the day. Kudos to him and Foster and Krissy for doing so. It allowed Patti and I to mingle a bit. I hate leaving a grill to mingle. Anyone who has been at a party with me knows that I'm in the kitchen or by the grill most of the time. I hate parties and not having anything to do. You get stuck talking to the crazy uncle that you really don't know and listening to stories about how he lost his hearing during "Korea." 


I think the party went well. Many friends were there and more family showed up than expected. Those that couldn't show up were missed, but you can't make every party every time. No worries. Besides, it meant more awesome food for the rest of us. To those that are reading this and were there, BIG THANK YOU! We really appreciate you taking time out of your day to spend with us, a warm day outside at that. 


At this point, I should point out that I've already asked the two people I wanted in my wedding party and not told people. I asked my brother how he felt about putting on a kilt, again. He said it wasn't a problem. You see, we wore them for his wedding. We're of Scottish decent. No official tartan, mind you, but Scots none the less. At that, I asked him to be my best man and he agreed. He decided to brag to his wife about it. It was somewhat comical to witness. I ran my idea of groomsman by him and he agreed it was a good choice.


This guy and I have spent much time together as of late and have many similar interests...fiction, gaming, some music, movies, love of Hawaiian shirts, etc. I waited throughout the entire party to ask this guy to my groomsman. I wanted to do in an one on one situation. He was never alone and even when I tried to cut him off the herd, I couldn't. Finally, near the end of the party, his wife was off talking to Patti and another friend. BAM! I swung into action like a younger, over weight, Mayor West. I asked him the same question, "How do you feel about wearing a kilt?" He warmed to the idea, even though his Hungarian heritage was confused by the idea of men in kilts. Don't worry, Steve, it's easy. You may even find you like it.


For those that gave us presents and gift cards, another BIG THANK YOU! They are much appreciated. Don't worry, thank you cards will go out one of these days. I think they're buried somewhere here on the kitchen table...