Too much to think about...

Planning weddings is a lot of work.

I selected groomsmen, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be since I don't really have a best friend. I initially narrowed it down to about ten people, which I had to ultimately select three from. These ten were:
1. Andrew, my roommate and friend since 2005
2. Anthony, my roommate and Sarah's brother
3. Brandon, my friend all through elementary and high school
4. Mike, my friend from camp and into college
5. Matt, my future housemate and friend since high school as well as Sarah's friend since grade school
6. Stan, my friend in Eugene and the husband to Sarah's matron of honor
7. Tim, my cousin September's husband
8. Den, my cousin who lives in Seattle
9. Saxon, my friend in Eugene since 2006 and former band member
10. Rigo, my friend from Corvallis who now lives in Boise

In the end, I chose with three general things in mind, including...
1. Sarah's connection to people. In choosing my best man - which I grappled with a lot longer than you might think - I kept in mind that the wedding was the combination of our lives, and my choice should mean a lot to both of us.
2. My mom/family. I only had one option from the family who is actually related to me, with a second option related by marriage. It was important for me to get my family involved in some way.
3. Availability/Willingness. Unfortunately, a couple of the names on my list were unlikely from the start since there ability and/or willingness to participate is questionable.

The result:
Best Man: Matt Petrie
Groomsman: Stan Patton, Anthony Barberis, Dennis Gray (in no order)

I chose Matt to be my best man because of top ratings in both his connection to Sarah and I and his availability and willingness to help with whatever needs to be done. He has been a close friend of Sarah's (actually, his whole family has been a friend of Sarah's family) since they were in grade school, and we have been friends since we first met in 2003. Additionally, he will be living with us for the 6 months prior to the wedding when all three of us are out of college, so I can't imagine I'll be closer to anyone at the time of the wedding, save for Sarah.

A quick mind will notice that I selected three additional groomsman instead of the planned two. I selected Anthony before I even proposed to Sarah. When I told him I was planning on proposing, I asked him to be a part of the wedding. We've never really been extremely close, but he's Sarah's brother and our roommate, so he's obviously one of the closest males to Sarah and I as a couple.

It got kind of hard from there. Stan is one of the greatest people I know. I would have likely considered him seriously for best man if he had not been recently selected to be the best man in Anthony's wedding. He was Sarah's first suggestion for a groomsman, though, so he was easily in.

At that point I had served all of my needs except for the familial connection, which my mother was quick to point out. I talked to Sarah about adding in a fourth male to some portion of the wedding, and she let me add a fourth groomsman, which meant that Den was able to join. He is the youngest cousin of my mother's generation...younger than a couple of the cousins in my generation...so he is right in between my age and my mom's age and knows how to have fun with each of us. Sarah likes him too, although she doesn't know him all that well.

Hopefully that explains everything pretty well and when all is said and done nobody's upset by my choices. In the end, it's only a wedding. I enjoy and would stand beside all ten of the previously mentioned people.

In other news, winter term starts tomorrow morning. 16 credits.

-2nd Year Spanish 8 am
-Beowulf & Medieval Literature
-Literature of James Joyce
-Nature in 18th Century Literature

That's enough writing for one night...