I might as well just say it plain and simple: "I am horse crazy!!!"
This picture was taken of me last fall, on a trail ride with some friends and family. This is one of the other "men" in my life. (Yep, I have more than one horse!) His name is Rip, and he is a registered American Quarter Horse, as well as a former race horse. Can you believe he is now 19?! Looks pretty good for an old guy.
Now that you've been properly introduced, I'll give you a little history on my love of equines. I have been riding my whole life. When I say whole life, I truly mean it. You see, my mom, also horse crazy, got her first pony when she was 8 years old, and has never been without a horse since. While it is scary but true, being pregnant with me didn't stop her from riding! And of course, I was put on a horse's back before I could even walk. I started out on a pony named Penny, got my first horse Goldie around my 9th birthday, and commandeered Rip (formerly my dad's horse) at the age of 12. Through middle school and high school, I competed in 4-H and open shows. Once in college, I rode competitively for my college's equestrian team. Nowadays, my riding is mostly for fun, but I have recently taken up the sport of Dressage and hope to compete again someday with my young horse Ducati (one of the other "men" in my life). Ducati is a branded North American Oldenburg, otherwise known as a warmblood. This picture was taken when he was only 2 1/2 (now 5 1/2), so he has filled out and grown significantly since, but you'll get the idea.
So what does all of this have to do with Cinderella, you might ask? The horse and carriage of course! What horse-loving bride-to-be doesn't want a horse and carriage at her wedding?! Fortunately for me, my wonderful fiance has really taken to my love of horseback riding, and is quickly becoming horse crazy too! In fact, I think he was more adamant about including horses in the wedding than I was...
Unfortunately, this has proved to be a very difficult task for us. With our wedding being in the middle of nowhere in northern Wisconsin, there were no cinderella carriages or Vis a Vis available... Although my family has plenty of our own horses that we could have used, it just wouldn't have worked logistically, trailering them 3 hours from home, who would take care of them, where would they stay for the night, etc. Just when we were about to give up our search, we found something!
So technically, we have a horse and carriage booked. Will the guy show up? Not sure. Is there a contract? Nope, he didn't want one. Did we pay a deposit? Nah, he didn't need one. Did he give us any sort of confirmation or agreement that he'd be there? Sure, he said, "Yep. August XX. That will be just fine. Just stop by a couple weeks beforehand, and we'll figure out the details." I hope that means the horses will be clean, the driver will be well-dressed, and the carriage will be polished! He was able to show us digital pictures on his camera of the team and carriage that we will have, so that put my mind at rest a little bit. If he does in fact keep his word, we will have something like this:
A 10-person Wagonette
Plus
A pair of black and white Paint horses
Plus
A dressed-up cowboy
I'm sure you're thinking, so what happens if this mysterious vendor doesn't show up? Honestly, I will be disappointed. I know my Josh will be disappointed even more. But the day will go on! We haven't paid him a dime, so we won't be out any money. Bottom line, our wedding will still go on, horse and carriage or not.
Have you had any experiences with not-so-professional vendors? Did they come through for you?
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