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"  Before my guy and I got engaged, I was one of those girls who was kind of obsessed with weddings. Specifically, my non-existent wedding.  I had a Pinterest board for the reception and the ring. I had a secret Pinterest board for everything else\u2014down to the sugar flowers on the cupcakes and English tea roses decorating the chuppah. My now-fianc\u00E9 knew I was little\u2014okay, super\u2014wedding crazed. Our friends knew it. Shoot, I knew it.  But, now that I&amp;#039;m actually charged with the task of planning our wedding, I&amp;#039;m a bit overwhelmed\u2014and disillusioned. By things like the pressure to have a wedding worthy of those pins I once loved to gaze upon. The astronomical costs for things like chair rentals. And the total, utter disregard for my guy in pretty much all aspects the process. (One of women we met with to see a venue didn&amp;#039;t address him once during our entire meeting. And don&amp;#039;t get me started on the fact that bridal magazines tend to feature women in gorgeous gowns, groom completely unseen. Seriously, WTF is up with that?!) This might sound totally weird, but just go with me here: For me, getting engaged was a lot like getting my period for the first time. In both cases, I was a bit of a late bloomer\u2014everyone else had already experienced it and I spent a lot of time wishing and hoping for my turn. Then, when it happened, I realized how annoying it could be to deal with\u2014and I wouldn&amp;#039;t have minded waiting a bit longer.  Because, when I&amp;#039;m researching wedding stuff, I often wish that the expectations and customs were different. I struggle with the idea of spending a thousand dollars on renting those aforementioned chairs. With having my dad give me away (because it seems a bit archaic nowadays, no?). And, mostly, with the fact that it seems to be totally acceptable for the bride to do whatever the heck she wants on &amp;quot;her&amp;quot; day.  So, imagine my surprise when I stumbled across an article this morning showing that, in some places in the world, things are really different. Like, in Scandinavian countries, the average age at which women marry is 31 (I will be 30 when I walk down the aisle), they generally live with their guys first (my fianc\u00E9 and I will have logged two and a half years of living together by the time we wed), and they typically don&amp;#039;t change their names (I&amp;#039;m still deciding on this one).  The average cost of a wedding is around $8,000, which sounds a ton more reasonable that the just over $27,000 average here in the U.S. Best of all? The wedding is about the couple, not the bride. In fact, in Scandinavian countries, dear old dad doesn&amp;#039;t escort the bride, the couple walks down the aisle together. (It&amp;#039;s no wonder that these nations\u2014Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden\u2014have the narrowest gender gaps in the world.) Of course, I could totally wed the Scandinavian way. But, then I would offend my dad (and probably all the grandparents) and would have a real hard time finding a venue and everything else for the wedding that would fit in that lower price range. But, I think that, more than wanting to have a Scandinavian-style wedding, I really just wish that I didn&amp;#039;t have the pressure I feel to do things the American way. And I wish that some of the traditions I think are outdated\u2014or super expensive\u2014weren&amp;#039;t so ingrained in what I feel like I should do.  Luckily, I still have a little over a year to figure things out. So, as I continue planning the &amp;quot;big day&amp;quot; with my fianc\u00E9, and freaking out over all the crazy things I feel like we have to do, I&amp;#039;ll just have to keep those laidback Scandinavian ladies and gents in mind.  Want more from Natasha? Follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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