Added bonus: RANT #1!
So I mentioned some life updates/rants in my previous post. I guess every family probably has them, and big life events like weddings/births/deaths/etc. always seem to bring out issues... Seems that there are two particular causes for concern/stress surrounding this wedding, one on each side of the family. I'll throw N's family under the bus first!
So while neither of us were born into wealth, N's family had more kids than mine, so they tended to be even more frugal. While their financial situation is in good shape these days and they'll retire comfortably, and while we'd intended from the get-go to fund our wedding ourselves, his parents weren't thrilled at the price tag of a Disney wedding. But more than that, his side of the family is mostly more traditional and conservative (also religious) than mine, or than he and I currently are. We met at Bible camp and still hold many of those values, but we're much more open and liberal than we once were. This is causing some friction, to say the least...
...a Disney wedding is NOT the traditional wedding they envisioned for their son. They're coming around a bit now (his mother and one of his sisters are finding Disney things to be excited about,) but we got an awful lot of flak for how "selfish" it was to have a destination wedding that his whole ginormous family was not invited to or could not afford to attend.
As families do, they seem to feel they get to have a say in our plans: "If you want to have a small wedding, why not just have a small wedding here and then have a honeymoon in Disney?" "Why summer in Florida? Why not over Christmas break in December?" "You should fly! You don't want to drive. You know she can carry on her wedding dress right?" Etc. The biggest issue right now is over the fact that I will not be changing my name — a decision that's important to me, and that N and I agreed on together. It's hurtful to them that I won't take their name, and shows a lack of commitment on my part to N/our marriage/the family/etc. Of course, if N were asked to take my name, that's just "not the way it's supposed to be!" They'd never expect him to. But they don't think that's sexist... I have a list of good reasons why I'll be keeping my name, not that I should have to defend that decision to anyone, but they're not really interested in them. And of course, these things typically come out as complaints to N behind my back every time he visits his parents/sister/etc, and they're not discussed in front of me, like I'm not even part of the equation...and they wonder why he doesn't visit home more often.
Oh, and another recent development! They've offered us weekly bribery money to go to church. Apparently they've been doing it with his youngest sister for some time now. Never mind the fact that I already have a church I like to attend, but we both often work weekends (I guess the bribery money is supposed to make up for us missing work?) ...and also ignore the fact that faith should be a personal choice thing, and if we go to church it should be because we want to, not because we're being forced there...
GAH! Ok, end of rant #1. I realize these are small issues in the scheme of things, and we're lucky to have the families we do...but man, people gonna' drive the bride nuts!
I love that you did your journal as a PTR. That didn't even cross my mind! I feel bad for talking about non-wedding stuff, but oh well!
Thanks for following the story (both installments)!! I'm already so looking forward to the wedding trip and reporting back about it. I'm tweaking our plans or I'm on the Dis reading other people's TRs multiple times a week now just to help fight the Disney fever that's setting in.
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Haha. I apologize in advance for my ramblings, but so glad to have you here! The closer the wedding gets the more fun the planning becomes...and the more I deplete my bank account. 
