I finished reading The Road to Wellville, which I would say is really a book about swindles, swindlers, and swindlees. So I thought I’d tell a story about a time I felt swindled.

I was hugely and overwhelmingly anxious about planning my wedding. I didn’t think hiring a wedding planner was in our budget so I didn’t even consider it, but after breaking down in tears time and time again I realized I really really really should have. Parties are like nightmares for me, so having to plan a very large one at which I would be the center of attention was terrifying.

One of the first things I did was try to find a reception space. I found a place I really liked, but again, wasn’t sure it would be in our budget. But when I went to talk to the event planner at the site, she told me I’d have to make a decision TODAY because there was another bride and her mother coming that afternoon to see about reserving the place for the same date as my wedding. I panicked and made a decision earlier than I felt comfortable. I don’t regret the decision, and everything turned out lovely, but I felt icky working with the event planner because later on I kept getting this sinking feeling that there really was no other bride who wanted the site for the same date. The more I worked with her, the more I felt like she just said that to get me to make a deposit sooner.

Ok, so it’s not a swindle in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme way, but I still felt icky and conned. Swindle stories are hard to tell because, well, I don’t come off sounding so sharp! I feel like there are more times that I felt heartsick over other decisions I felt conned into, but I can’t think of them at the moment. Prolly just blocked them out, ever so conveniently.