More of my favorite thing - decisions

Have I mentioned how much I hate making decisions?

Where do you want to eat for your birthday? What do you want to do tonight? What should we have for dinner this week? Should we go to the possibly-awkward departmental event tonight or just stay home and watch the Dog Whisperer? And that classic dilemma, paper or plastic?

Yet, the timing is coming when Michael and I need to make a decision on some major wedding milestones, and I'm feeling a bit in over my head. Particularly, we're trying to decide on a location for the ceremony and reception (as is probably obvious if you've been reading this for any length of time), and we need to decide as soon as possible. The problem is that we keep finding ways to put off the issue.

First there's the complication that deciding on a venue will also come down to deciding on a state, with all the implications that come with it. Travel, catering costs, hotel prices, convenience of location, convenience of rehearsal dinner and other such pre-wedding shindigs, dress and flower shopping -- all of them will be decided, in large part, by where we decide to have the wedding. And given all the factors involved, predictably, neither place has a clear advantage in all of them. So instead of the decision just being "Which place do we like more?" it's slipping dangerously into the territory of weighting factors against each other - which is more important, guest-ease-of-travel or cheaper accomodations once they get there? (just to name one)

Which brings me to the second procrastinatory means: the Information Age.
I think this is a problem with decision making in general and not just wedding planning, but Michael and I always come across things we don't know. "How many appetizers does that catering estimate cover?" "Do they charge extra for renting champagne flutes?" "Do we have to buy champagne from them or could we bring our own? It's not on the catering menu..."

It's not that these things are so minor, it's just that each would probably come down to a few hundred dollars, at most, which probably isn't enough to tip the balance scale toward one place or another on its own. We want to make an informed decision, but we're having serious trouble knowing when to draw the line and say enough is enough, let's just make the best choice we can on the information that we've got. A tough call under any circumstances.

Anyways, I don't mean to harp on about this whole choosing-a-location thing, but I didn't anticipate decision-making as one of the major road blocks in planning. Maybe I should have realized that having trouble with "cash or credit?" is a telling symptom...

Wish us luck!!