Sunday morning, Emily sat at the kitchen table with her laptop, a notebook, several invitation samples and enough paper swatches to wallpaper the house.

Dave sauntered into the kitchen looking for his coffee. He looked at the table…then he looked at Emily.

“What are all those?”

“Wedding invitations.”

Dave nodded. “Okay, cool, so we just pick one.”

Emily smiled, knowing it wasn’t going to be that simple. “Yes, that’s all we need to do…just pick one.”

Dave looked relieved. “Great. This should take five minutes.”

Emily slowly looked up at him. “Five minutes?”

“Sure. What do we need to do? The invitation needs our names, the date, location and an RSVP.”

Emily stared, and Dave continued.

“Maybe put the phone number on there also.”

Emily sighed and closed her laptop.

“Dave.”

“What?”

“There are a lot more decisions to be made.”

“Like what?”

Emily started counting. “Paper, font, envelope, liner, printing style, wording, formality, RSVP card, return address. And whether we use a belly band.”

Dave looked at her like she had lost her mind. “A what?”

“A belly band.”

“Are we inviting people to a wedding, or performing weight loss surgery?”

Emily laughed and opened the first invitation sample.

“This one is beautiful.”

Dave looked at it. “It’s white.”

Emily frowned. “It’s ivory.”

Dave nodded. “Yep. White.”

“It has beautiful script font.”

Dave squinted. “Can people actually read that?”

“It’s elegant.”

“It looks like the letters are trying to escape.”

Emily opened another sample. “What about this one?”

“That looks like a wedding invitation.”

“Okay, what do you like about it?”

“It has words I can read.”

Emily stared at him. “Excellent contribution.”

Dave took a sip of his coffee. “I’m just saying that people aren’t buying these to frame them. They are trying to figure out when and where we are getting married.”

Emily shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

“Oh, I understand.”

Dave pointed to the growing pile of samples. “You are trying to find the perfect piece of paper to tell 150 people when and where to show up.”

Emily paused. “When you put it that way, it sounds ridiculous.”

“Thank you.”

“Not in a good way.”

Dave stopped talking and realized he better go outside and do…anything.

Four hours later, Emily found Dave outside and announced that she finally found the invitation that “they both liked.”

Dave was visibly relieved. “Good job, babe.”

Then Emily said, “Now we have to decide what we are putting on the RSVP card.”

Dave stared at her. “Wait…we’re not done?”

“No.”

Dave sighed. “What else is there?”

Emily started explaining meal choices, guest counts, response deadlines, website information, and plus-one instructions.

Dave looked out across the yard. “Rocky!”

Their loyal dog cocked his head and looked up at him.

“Buddy, you were right, I should have listened to you. We should have eloped.”

Emily smiled. “We’ll get there.”

And she was right. But one thing was becoming painfully obvious. The more decisions they made, the more questions they received.

Emily looked down at her buzzing phone.

“What hotel are you recommending?”

“Can I bring my kids?“

“What’s the dress code. And can I bring my new boyfriend?”

Emily showed Dave all the texts she was receiving.

Then she opened LinkMy.Wedding.

All they had to do was direct people there for: Hotel details, directions, schedules, dress codes, FAQs, and any important announcements about details that would inevitably change three times before the wedding.

Emily smiled and said, “This is going to save us a lot of headaches and keep us from repeating the same answer to the same questions over and over.”

Dave nodded. “Excellent.”

Emily looked at him. “What?”

“Now I can stop answering so many questions.”

Emily narrowed her eyes and said, “You were never answering them, they were all coming to me.”

Dave smiled and said, “I think I’ll shut up now.”

For once, Dave made an excellent decision.

The invitations were selected, and the wording almost finished. The guest information was getting organized…and Emily was beginning to feel like they might pull this wedding off.

Just then, Linda called.

Emily answered, “Hi, Mom!”

Dave watched Emily’s face change…quickly.

Emily said, “Uh-huh…really?”

Then a few seconds later, “Mom, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Dave leaned closer.

“What’s up?”

Emily covered the phone. “Mom thinks we should include a three-page letter inside every invitation, telling guests about each of our backgrounds and our journey, explaining how we met and how we arrived at where we are today…and a page about both of our families.”

Dave said, “That sounds kind of crazy. We aren’t sending out resumes…we are inviting people to our wedding!”

Emily covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

Then Linda said something else.

Emily’s smile disappeared.

“What do you mean you already ordered them?”

Dave touched her shoulder. “What did she order?”

Emily lowered the phone. “She ordered 500 wedding napkins.”

Dave stared at her. “Five hundred?”

Emily nodded and said, “And we are only inviting 150 people.”

Dave shook his head and yelled, “Rocky…come on buddy, let’s go for a walk and talk about important stuff…sports.”

Next week on The Ring, The Stress, and The Dress….

Dave and Emily must decide on a wedding menu.

Emily wants filet mignon, chicken and lobster…as well as mini crab cakes, steak frites, oysters, shrimp, caprese skewers and a few charcuterie boards.

Dave thinks a taco station, chicken wings, and a few pizzas should make everyone happy.

Ooh boy. Stay tuned……