I woke up today and checked my Facebook and Instagram accounts. That’s something I do everyday. Very gradually though, my Facebook is turning into a display of people’s wedding albums.
Except those people are not random strangers: they’re old classmates or friends or family members. Everyone is growing up and making big life changes. (Side note: I’m warned that in a couple of years it’s all going to be overtaken by baby pictures.) It’s both assuring that this a natural phase of life and utterly scary that just a few years ago we we were playing stupid games during recess.
I’m not complaining. I love seeing people at their happiest and I’m always full of such great wishes for them all. Sincerely.
But I can’t help but feel a bit unhinged when I see photos after photos, since wedding season in Lebanon has officially begun with the first hints of summer. And with every wedding, the standards just keep getting higher and higher and I’m really unsure where I stand in this whole thing.
You see, ours is at the very end of the season. So, by the time it comes around, everything will be said and done.
It’s not that I’m having a wedding for the Facebook photos but it can be tough not to feel that way when everything around me suggests otherwise.
There’s even an Instagram hashtag and account that I sometimes find myself going to where they only put on the most extravagant events, where the bride is wearing a designer gown she can barely carry, and the venue decor features a unicorn (I kid you not, I’m not that creative to make it up).
It’s really tough to want to do something different and simple. The pressure keeps coming at you from different directions no matter how good you are at avoiding it.
I actually paid our venue a visit today because I was feeling anxious about the whole thing. I hadn’t seen it in over a month and in the meantime, I actually sat down with a florist and planned the decoration out. So I needed to be sure.
That visit turned out to be exactly what I needed to counter the anxieties. I’m glad that I love the place even more now that it’s all tided up and ready for the season. There’s nothing like seeing a garden in full bloom to make you happy.
While there, we actually met a couple who were scouting the venue for their wedding, which is a few weeks ahead of ours. After offering some congratulatory words, the woman told me that she feels she’s very late to the planning game because she just started.
Having been in her position, I told her not to let anyone get in her head and just focus on what’s important. Before she knows it, all the pieces will fall together and she’ll have a great wedding.
I wish I could take my own advice though.
Beyond Beirut 