Her colors are teal and orange. She has seven bridesmaids. The date is set for March 3 — this Saturday.
But first, Kate Snider has to get through midterms.
“I really don’t care about calculus homework right now. I’d rather be making my programs,” she said.
As she sat at her desk folding the different shades of orange together that will eventually turn into her own handmade wedding programs, Snider, a senior in geology, recounted the past few years that led to this weekend — her wedding.
“We met at an Interpol concert,” Snider said, smiling.
In early 2005, Snider and her fiance, John Lamb, met through mutual friends and instantly hit it off, went out on a date the next day and started dating that March.
“It was just what we needed. We matched perfectly,” she said.
July of last year, things got serious. At dinner, John brought up the idea of getting married.
“I grabbed the waitress and was like ‘He wants to marry me!'” Snider said, laughing.
A few weeks later, it was official.
Planning a wedding is well-known to be a hectic ordeal in and of itself, but tack on a full-time student career, part-time jobs and, well, it leaves no time for anything else.
Snider did it the smart way.
“I didn’t want to plan everything in school,” she said. Within three days of intense wedding planning, Snider and her mom got the big things covered.
“It was fairly easy. We’re surrounded by a lot of people who love us,” she said.
Similarly, Sarah Wurst, a senior in English, is planning a small, simple wedding in June.
“We don’t have a lot to plan because we’re just doing something really small in hopes we can afford a decent honeymoon,” Wurst said. “We’ll probably go to the courthouse and then just have a tiny ceremony at my grandparents’ house.”
Wurst and her fiance, Dave Kirkland, 23, met through mutual friends as well, while she was working at a restaurant on Hillsborough Street. They’ve been engaged for about eight months.
Though wedding plans haven’t been stressful, house renovations have been.
“We bought a house near Fayetteville, and we’re in the process of fixing it up. It was built before 1930, and it’s a mess,” Wurst said. “We’re redoing the plumbing, wiring, plaster — everything. And it has no heat and air right now. One day it’ll be nice. It’s a big farm house, but for now the real stressful part is trying to get it ready before I move all my stuff in too.”
Wurst’s fiance already lives there and works a full-time job. Though they are busy, Wurst said she doesn’t mind.
“We never really have any free time now, but it’s good because we see each other more than we would if he lived an hour away and we didn’t have to meet there to work on it,” she said.
For the wedding on Saturday, Snider and her family are doing the food, flowers and decorations. Not to mention her handmade programs.
“I haven’t watched a movie for fun in the past two months,” Snider said. “I have no free time. It’s really overwhelming. You have so much to do, but there’s only so much you can do in one evening.”
The past few months have gotten busy for Snider and Lamb.
Trisha Sheffield, 23, can attest to this. She and her husband Mark Brothers, 23, got engaged last June, after years of dating. They got married Dec. 28, 2006.
“It was a very quickly planned wedding, but everything was awesome,” said Sheffield, a senior in English, said.
Though it was stressful for everyone involved, she said it turned out to be worthwhile for her.
“Once you know you want to get married, it’s silly to wait,” Snider said.
Whether simple or extravagant, the girls agreed planning a wedding is both a good way to celebrate love and a hard thing to plan.