Losing the Time Game

It's 5:29AM and I'm not looking forward to today. Of course it doesn't help that the 5:36AM train is already a few minutes behind schedule.

Three criteria that I overlooked when I selected vendors was 1) whether or not they had weekend appointments, 2) whether or not they were easily accessible via BART, and 3) whether or not there was easy-to-find parking. These things become very important when you work about an hour and fifteen minutes from work - one way including the walk from home to the BART station, the train ride, and the walk from the BART station to the office. (We're not going to think about driving as it's the SF Giants last home series before they pack in their mitts and bats. That traffic turns a 45 minute door-to-door car ride into a variable nightmare that ranges anywhere from an hour and fifteen minutes to over two hours. Back to why location is important.)

You're going to need more appointments than you planned for. You aren't going to have enough hours in a weekday to meet with vendors. Think about it. 3 of 24 hours are spent commuting. 8 of the 21 remaining hours are spent working. So that leaves 21 hours for wedding stuff.

If a vendor is not along your commute route and not easily accessible by cab (remember to add 20 minutes at least for just trying to find a cab), it will probably be more convenient to drive. Now if your vendor doesn't have parking AND is located in a busy metropolis add 30 minutes to your schedule for the inevitable circling your going to be doing. We have 20.5 hours.

Let's add getting down the peninsula or just across town into the equation. If it's a week night, you have to contend with traffic. 4.3 miles can easily take almost half an hour to navigate. Roundtrip for a local vendor let's say an hour. We have 19.5 hours.

Appointments never seem to take less than hour. (Two with one vendor did, but she was the exception.) Hair and/or makeup trials are typically slotted for two or four hours respectively. So conservatively we have 17.5 hours free. To anyone other than a sleep walking bride (or parent of a young baby) this seems like an abundance of time. Remember though that we haven't allocated time for eating or sleeping or for hanging out with your partner.

Let's be generous and give the bride five and a half hours for sleeping (although what the bride really wants is to sleep forever). We're down to 12 hours available. If the couple's schedule align, dinner and catching up can be scheduled together. 3 hours of "downtime" - walk to local restaurant, leisurely savoring the food, sipping wine, and getting to hang out.

Ok break's over 9 hours left. We should probably have an hour for lunch. 8 hours left. We really want 2.5 extra hours of sleep so whether or not we actually get sleep we'll be thinking/dreaming about it. Deduct another 2.5 hours. 5.5 hours left if every minute is meticulously scheduled.

Anyone see why I'm not looking forward to today? I'm trying to get to work before 7AM so that I can have an hour lunch and still make it to a 6PM appointment. Right now eloping is looking mighty nice.


At the end of the day the vendors are trying to help make our day turn out as we envision. That said, I'm trying to fight becoming a bridezilla but it's becoming an uphill battle.