So, three months ago, FI and I decided on a date: October 24th, 2015. It worked because we were planning to get married in an area near to Auburn University, and October 24th is an away game, so traffic and hotels would be easier. My best friend put in her off days for October last month - she's a nurse in a fairly understaffed hospital, and they can really only guarantee requests put in at least six months in advance, although they do try and work around things that come up if they can.
Two weeks ago, FI and I moved the wedding to where we're living now, and my hometown. But since my BFF had already put in, we wanted to get the same date, and everything fell right into place without a hitch. One of the pluses of moving it was that there are lots of hotels in the area, in a wide range of prices, and other than one person coming from way out-of-state, no one was traveling more than two hours or so, so with the timeline we are thinking of it shouldn't be a problem for them to get back home same day if they wanted to - but again - lots of hotels in a wide range of prices. It seemed perfect.
Until last night, about 11:30. When I realized our perfect date down south, happened to coincide with the weekend of a major NASCAR race near here.
In the words of my lovely, eloquent dad, we're fucked.
I just spent my lunch hour calling hotels all across my county. I started with the closest to our venues, and worked my way outward. Most of the ones I spoke to were booked contractually from race to race by either Nascar or racing teams. I did find a possibility - a Super 8. Their rate for tonight? $50.00.
Their rate for the night of October 24th? $250.
I'm going to call my BFF tonight to see about our options to get her time changed, and then FI and I are going to discuss date changes. I don't see another solution. But I'm also really nervous because I don't know if the hospital can accommodate her needing to change.
It almost feels like the universe doesn't want us to have a wedding.