Saturday, November 7
Envi Consulting & Associates cuts out the guesswork with its four-week wedding-planning series, “I Do It Myself.” The sessions will help brides and grooms steer through Washington’s wedding industry, offering tips on local professionals, trends, and keeping the big day affordable. Couples will receive expert advice, a course workbook, and a light lunch at each class. The series is $100 per couple and starts at 10:30 at Farmers & Fishers restaurant in Georgetown (3000 K St., NW).

Take a tour of your potential wedding locale at Foxchase Manor’s free bridal open house. Couples can check out the facilities (8310 Chatsworth Dr., Manassas; 703-369-3638) and visit the manor’s showroom, where there’ll be a variety of vendors. 11 AM.

Sunday, November 8
The Montgomery Parks Event Center challenged teams of bridal experts to develop plans for an elegant but economical wedding for 65 people costing less than $15,000. See what they came up with at Rockwood Manor (11001 MacArthur Blvd., Potomac), where the finished plans will be on display. Couples can get inspired from noon to 5.

One of my favorite Beltway tales of government spending run amok is the story of the Navy’s $600 toilet seat. At the end of the Cold War, the Navy commissioned upgrades on a fleet of aircraft. As part of the revamp, the contractor looked at the jet’s narrow toilet coverings, which totaled more than $30,000 in labor, or approximately $600 per seat. The media had a field day when it became public. President Reagan said, “We didn’t buy any $600 toilet seat! We bought a $600 molded plastic cover for the entire toilet system.”

For me, this piece of Washington folklore reminds me that when faced with a big project, you can spend a lot of money on little things if you’re not careful. We had heard stories of couples who spent ungodly amounts on invitations or a hotel’s cake-cutting services. Our friends who had already gone down this road made it clear that we needed to track every dollar we spent.

Kristin and I had to establish a strict budget and commence planning from there. Because I had been stripped of my wedding play-calling duties, I decided I’d focus my attention on getting us organized and managing our finances. Having been a member of corporate America for the better part of the last decade, I did what any high-powered executive would do to get his numbers in order. Hire an accountant? No. Create an Excel spreadsheet.

At the 1979 Cannes Film festival, 3½ years after initial filming for the movie began, acclaimed film director Francis Ford Coppola premiered his Vietnam War epic, Apocalypse Now. It was a pet project for Coppola, who felt at the time he had earned enough creative capital through his success with The Godfather that he could make the most thought-provoking film of his career. What Coppola wasn’t prepared for was what’s now known as one of longest and most arduous production periods for any film. In a press conference that week in Cannes, in a brief moment of honesty and drama, Coppola described the effort it took to make his vision a reality: “We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane.”
 
In getting ready to plan a wedding, I felt no truer words had ever been spoken.

The day after our engagement, Kristin asked, “What colors do you envision for our wedding?” Colors? We don’t need no stinking colors! It felt like something I should have an answer for but didn’t. It was like the pop quiz in junior high or the “logic games and critical thinking” section of the LSAT. Since I hadn’t done the reading the night before, this was going to be more complex than I anticipated.