At last, an upside

There are few bright sides to getting unengaged after having been engaged for six months. Luckily, I have found one. I am probably the foremost unmarried, unengaged local expert on New York/North Jersey weddings, not counting people who work in the wedding industry. I spent six months reluctantly planning a wedding (which would have kicked so much ass anyway), making innumerable phone calls, sending out a googleplex emails, and reading a brazillion web sites and blogs. All of this led to the creation of a pretty fantastic spreadsheet which, several months after my broken engagement, I was able to fish out of my Google Docs trash and place in a more benign, but also rarely-visited folder.
At work, I seem to get a lot of questions regarding weddings, wedding web sites, venues, costs, vendors, etc. These people have no reason to know that I know this stuff, but somehow they always ask the questions when I’m around. If I were more self-centered, I’d think it was some sort of retribution (why, universe??? I recycle), but I tend to think it’s just their good luck.
So I DO know the going rate for a wedding band (no less than $4500 for a good 4-piece band), the busiest month for weddings in NJ (October), and how much you can expect to pay for a sit down country club reception during prime wedding season (Friday: ~$125; Saturday night: ~$145). I know where on the reference shelves to find that book about wedding venues in the area, since we all remembered seeing it but nobody could recall the title. I know which Manhattan bridal boutiques engage in ridiculous markups, and which are relatively honest (because, let’s face it, the same dress should not cost $200 more at another store).
I just hung out the other day with a friend who unfortunately needed to get a divorce after a brief marriage. I know that this is a really rough time for her right now, and as bad as it was for me last year, I can’t help but thank my lucky stars that my ill-advised engagement did not culminate in marriage.