Let the Flamingos be your Guide

You guys, the flamingos have arrived! This probably makes little to no sense to you, so let me explain.

I had once written a post about my flamingo obsession and my desire for a flamingo themed wedding, but quickly took it down when I realized that it a) made me sound like a crazy lady and b) Mr. Rucksack would never let me have a flamingo wedding. I did leave them in my original inspiration board though, with the hopes that maybe they would go unnoticed and Mr. Rucksack would just think they were cute pink bird blobs.

Clockwise from left to right: Navy & White Chevron, xoxo Cake via Somewhere Splendid, Navy & Pink Nautical Wedding via Green Tree Photography, Ceremony Flags via Carley Rehberg, Holla via Lil Hoot, Flamingos via Joie Lala, Tablescape via Wedding Chicks, Pink Anenome Bouquet via Elizabeth Anne Designs

I went on with wedding planning, until one day I asked myself "Self, would having plastic flamingos at the wedding really make you happy?" and myself answered "Yes, they really would!" And so I decided that if spending $25 on a flock of flamingos would make me really, really ridiculously happy, then that's $25 well spent. And if other people think it's weird/tacky/gross, well it's a good thing it's not their wedding. It's mine, all mine! (Cue maniacal laughter)

My original plan was to keep the flamingos a secret from Mr. Rucksack. Since I purchased them from Home Depot I thought it would be funny to have Mr. Rucksack excitedly open a giant Home Depot Box while wondering what sorts of tooly goodness could possibly be inside, only to find plastic pink flamingos. That plan lasted a couple of hours and then happy hour drinks led to a confession. He just shook his head and laughed.

Well, a few days later I got a phone call from Home Depot that went a little something like this:

"Hi, I'm calling from Home Depot to let you know your order is in... a box of 27 inch plastic flamingos? Wait, that can't be right. Is that right?"

Cue the dancing in my office!

We hurried down to Home Depot right after work and picked up our cool new flock of birds. Mr. Rucksack was just as excited as I was:

I call this: Mr. Rucksack's Worst Home Depot Trip Ever.

My plan for the fabulous pink birds is to have them greet our guests and point them in the right direction to our ceremony and reception sites. Using my Silhouette machine, I crafted directional signs (with gold glitter of course) to hang around their necks. I think they'll do a fabulous job.

Did you make any purchases that others may think are silly, but make you really really happy?

Who gets the final say, anyway?

I guess I'm pretty lucky in having a super opinionated and involved groom. I love talking out decisions and it's great to have someone balance some of my ideas and give input of his own. While there are obviously matters he totally doesn't care about (Mr. Rucksack's verbal opinion on Out of Town Bags: "Do whatever you think is best, honey. By the way, that means I don't care.") there are certain wedding items that he has major thoughts on. Not surprisingly, these issues mostly revolve around food, booze, and music.

Remember what my bride brain looked like? Well, Mr. Rucksack's wedding brain is a little more like this:

Recently, I've been hard at work mocking up some invitation designs. Using some Pinterest inspiration, I designed a couple of different options and quickly arrived at a favorite. I uploaded them to Google Docs to share with Mr. America and eagerly awaited his response. Then after he didn't respond for an hour, I repeatedly called and Avocado'd him until he did. Patience is not my strong suit, guys.

My favorite was the lower left, Mr. Rucksack chose the lower right.

I have to tell you, I was super disappointed that we didn't agree and he actually chose my least favorite as his top contender. I know what you're thinking: Miss Rucksack, why on earth would you put up designs you didn't even like? Because I'm a dummy, that's why. And also, because even though they're not my favorites doesn't mean I'm not super proud of the outcome. Obviously I wanted praise! Followed by him picking the exact same design that I like....duh.

After spending hours of my life designing invitations, we arrived at a crossroads. I obviously didn't want to choose something he hated, but it would have been really nice to pull the "But I'm the Bride!" card out for this one. I mean, I have a vision, people!

In the end, we threw everything out and started from scratch. Luckily, the second time around we finally agreed.

Did you run into any differences in opinion with your fiance? How did you resolve it?