Bridal comparisons

My sister loaned me the book Diary of a Mad Bride, which someone gave her when she was getting married. I'm almost finished with it, but it's left me puzzled at several points.

The protagonist, Amy, is an associate magazine editor (which means her job sounds an awful lot like what I do on a daily basis!) However, for one thing, she has an assistant (which she shares with another associate editor) and for another, she forces dozens of wedding tasks on the poor girl.

Now, not only do I not have a secretary/assistant, but this entire staff also doesn't have one - not even to share. We make our own calls, get our own drinks, and certainly plan our own functions. I can't even imagine instructing a coworker/assistant to call reception sites or research caterers. Do some people do that? Really? I mean I'll admit that our high school intern has had to do some crappy tasks (Abby, you do a great job!), but they're all work-related (putting issues in chronological order, mailing out issues to sources, etc.)

Anyway, this fictional character really lives in a fictional world, in my opinion. She's looked at so many places for shoes, I want to strangle her. I figure I'll go to Kenwood or Rookwood and be done with it. I mean, the shoes will be hiding under the dress for the most part (we will NOT be doing the garter toss, thank you very much).

This book reinforces my goal of being a laid back bride. It's been a month since I said that in my first post, but I think I'm still keeping up with it. We haven't traipsed around from vendor to vendor. In fact, we decided on our cake person, DJ and photographer after meeting with just one person. I have to give kudos to my friends and relatives who have gone before me for much of that though. Poll 8 or 10 people on who they used and liked, and you've got a pretty good list to start from. We're only paying $1.80/p for our cake. That's a steal, and the cake was delicious!

Thanks for all the comments so far. Anyone have any recommendations on what kind of flowers to do with "concord/amethyst" colored dresses? I'm not really into flowers, and the florist suggested I bring ideas/photos of what I like to our meeting on Saturday.