advice for those planning a wedding

you know how all the bridal magazines and wedding planners tell you to renew your passport and make sure all your papers are in order months before the wedding is scheduled? apparently that's advice to be taken seriously.

i was born in jersey city, nj. this does not seem like particularly important information, except i had the misfortune of being born in a city from which birth certificates that were issued with a raised seal are apparently void. so my wedding is in one month and 2 days. i don't have a valid birth certificate. my passport expired 8 years ago and i stupidly never renewed it. i can't get a marriage license b/c my birth certificate is in valid and my passport is expired. it apparently takes several weeks to order the new birth certificate by mail, so i'll have to go to TRENTON, nj (for those of you familiar with the unpleasant euphemisms attributed to NJ, i'm convinced TRENTON is the reason for all those "armpit" insults) to order my certificate and wait for a few hours for it to be processed. this wouldn't seem like such an issue except i live in D.C., which is 3 hours from trenton, so it's not exactly a drive up the street.

warning for the future: get your papers in order even if you don't have any pressing need to leave the country. you never know when you might be getting married or want to go on a honeymoon.