Melissa Haines takes us through her journey of planning her wedding. She has a tight deadline of just 100 days to plan and implement the wedding.

You may also want to read Melissa’s previous article The Shanghai Proposal in case you haven’t already read it.

Sipping an iced latte to stave off the late spring heat, my coworker innocently asked, “So, when are you getting married?  Next year?  Springtime is nice… or autumn?”

“Umm, well…actually, we’re getting married this August.”

“In 3 months!”  She nearly choked on an ice chip.  I smiled and shrugged my shoulders.

“Yep, 86 days to be exact.”

I could see her point—it is a little ambitious.  I had 3 months to plan a wedding for 150 guests in New York City.  On a budget no less.

While this might sound a bit rushed, my fiancé and I want to get married quickly because of a slight hitch in our pre-marital bliss.  We live about 8,098 miles apart.  That’s right–New York City to Shenzhen, PR China.  (It’s a long story–but he took a job there last November and it’s a good place for him to be career-wise).  While the direct flights are convenient, when you’ve found the person you want to spend your life with, you kind of want to be sharing a bathroom, not a Skype connection.

So, when we got engaged this spring (May 8th, in Shanghai), my fiancé fixed me with one of his serious looks and said, “so, how soon do you think we could pull this off?  Like 6 months, 9?”

I waved my hand.  ”Babe, I’m a semi-unemployed Director of Operations, I can do this in like 4 weeks.” He just smiled and shook his head.

“How about Saturday, August 20th?  I’ll already be in the states for a conference that week, I could be in New York by Thursday, jetlag-free?”

That was 3.5 months away–The Hundred Days’ Wedding Challenge was on!

Read my next post Picking a Wedding Date and City

About Melissa Haines

Melissa Haines is a relationship counselor in New York City and writes a blog (blog.whereisthisgoing.us) on the science of dating, mating and breaking up.