Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 19, 2016

… what? no berating comments? Wow!…

Brad so wants his wedding to Toni to be memorable, but Toni doesn’t want it THAT memorable.

That elopement is getting closer and closer to reality.

The last frame is very sexy. Reminds us what it’s all about. Brad doesn’t realize how lucky he is to have a hottie who doesn’t like to spend money – hers OR his…

Mr. Immature – may I introduce you to Ms. Maturity? Observe how she is removing that wedding planner book of over-priced and meaningless choices from your possession and destroying it. You may not understand now – but thank her right now …

You want wild and crazy and over the top things – without regard to cost? Talk to your peeps at the Firehouse, and to TJ, and they’ll throw you a bachelor’s party. That’s what YOU get …

But please, please, please – listen to Toni and understand what she wants. This is HER day – you just get to attend and have the best seat in the house. Toni is trying to bring you off the Christmas Wish Catalog mode you are in. She gets that even in the best of times, a wedding and reception lasts a max of eight hours – and usually closer to four …

You too, grasshopper, will soon learn the cost of a simple wedding, without a great deal of bells and whistles. Welcome to being an adult, Brad …

Toni….will you care in 60 years? You might. Or Brad might. I know I have always regretted not having a dance at our wedding, because my wife didn’t want it.

My wedding was spoiled by the restaurant manager who at the party insisted that our band couldn’t play, because he had another party in the next room. Even though we had reserved the place a year ago and told them there would be a band. It took a lot of persuading, even the band wanted to get up and take our party to another location, but in the end we had a lovely dance evening. Which is to say that it doesn’t really matter how much you plan for your wedding, in the end Murphy’s law can trow you a fast one. And all that matters is how much you love each other and that you make this commitment.

A laser show? Brad, you’re supposed to be getting married, not fighting the Galactic Empire.

Ahh… The voice of reason is making herself heard.

i have a feeling she’s going to put off the wedding until Brad gets his head on straight…

On the eve of my first wedding my grandfather was hospitalized. So, after the wedding, the entire wedding party went to the hospital early in the reception. We made quite a stir in all our finery, and my grandfather was thrilled. Then we went back to the reception and partied on.

As a father that paid for a wedding I wish Toni had been my daughter.

Thank heaven Toni has good sense!

My first (and only) wedding was when I was the ‘beard’ for my husband. His family paid the bill – ‘price no object’! and so I had a nice white gown, a fancy Islamic wedding, and separate beds for the honeymoon.

I know guys like Brad who should never have gotten married. He is gonna be spending a lot on “toys” and that’s not good.

What a start for you two!

I wanted to elope. REALLY didn’t want the big wedding and headache etc. In the end, going against my desires, big wedding, big headaches, and none of the promised help (from the groom), the wedding itself almost did us in. It was definitely a sign of things to come. He wasn’t focused on the life together, wasn’t committed to the long haul. Brad, you are blessed. Toni is thinking about 60 YEARS from now! Hush up, and remember, it’s NOT THE WEDDING, it’s the MARRIAGE! !

You will care if you had a professional photographer and not somebody’s uncle who has a camera or a bunch of people with iPhones.

did they have a phaser light show at Riker and Troi’s wedding?

Fantastic Four Super Sized Annual #3! 1965, “The Marriage of Reed Richards and Sue Storm!”

THAT, Folks, Was a “WEDDING!”

Brad is, thank goodness, starting to come down from his Options high. By the end of the week, if not sooner, he should once again be rational and think small!

I would like to see a 60 year old Brad take on a paper route.

True. plus a paper route might bring in more than a Social Security check….

Good one! Or even a transporter demonstration in the middle of it all…

I’m so sorry! Glad to know there was a more positive resolution on things, and congrats on your 34 years!!!

“Those warp core breaches usually don’t go well. Probably should avoid those!”^Not if you’re the Enterprise crew…though it blows up, it just means you get a “swanky” new ship (NX01, NCC1701 A-Etc…)!!! -

Or as far as laser shows are concerned, there’s also this!

“License To Frill”“Amene-tease”“Black Hawks And White Doves” “Pretty Please, With A Cherry Bomb On Top”“Out For A Nice Strobe”“A Self-Serving Wedding Cake”“The Wedding With Smoke, Mirrors And Fog”“It’s All Pyro In The Sky”“Down The Aisle, Up On The Jumbotron”“High Definition Vows”“Virtually Reality”or“ELO, The Wedding Album”

It is nice to see Brad and Toni communicating.

You’d know for sure if a bride and groom meant their exchange of vows, if they held their wedding in a stadium with the echoes of a PA mic…you ’d hear, “I do!…I do…I do…do….do….”

For my wedding, we both decided that spending $40K is insane – there are far more important things that kind of money could be spent on – like a larger down payment on a house.We ended up spending about $10K. We had about 150 guests, covering family and close friends. The reception was in the upstairs banquet room of a local restaurant. There was a DJ for entertainment. Everybody went home happy.The important thing to remember is that only the two of you know about all the lavish ideas you rejected due to budget. Your guests only know what you actually did and won’t be disappointed about what you decided not to do (unless you’re dumb enough to tell them.)

Dude you’ve won the girl, tone it down. Keep trying to hard and doubting yourself you’re push her away.

They are going to wind up at the Fuse. TJ caters. Mr. Gray & Pru Coordinate.

Ahh… The voice of reason . . .-———————————————————Toni, just tell Brad if he wants any enjoyment you’re going to elope. Go get your deposit back & have a reception at ’The Fuse"!

Toni doesn’t want a big wedding because she’s got no one to invite.

3As several folks suggested yesterday, the arc of the “wedding planning” is a bit “blah” at least IMO. The most interesting and notable aspect of this arc is that Brad and Toni have reversed the stereotypical roles…. Brad is excited and very interested in the minutia and details of a BIG wedding, whereas Toni is more indifferent and inherently would prefer cost savings and a small wedding. But, reversing the stereotypical male-female roles in this case does not really liven up the arc IMO. For my manner of thinking, I would look much more forward to Toni and Brad discussing and planning more significant aspects of their long-term future….. where they will live, what they wish to aim for in terms of children (adopted or biological or both?; 1, 2, 3 or more?; etc), more about Toni’s family, etc. To me…. this much focus of the 4 panels, for so many days of the comic…. on the PLANNING of the wedding…. a single day event…. is IMO “blah”.

Glad she is talking budget. I assume they are paying for this themselves.

Brad is the excitable creative type, Toni is the contemplative, reserved, have something hidden – sleeper. You know she can go high energy, but just doesn’t let it slip out much.Can’t wait for the honeymoon…. Little spazz, creative boy meets hidden tiger….

Brad is teasing her folks. Young lovers do that, or some do, and I had such a loving hottie like Toni I would tease her as well. It;s part of the love and affection between them. The point though is that they will agree, and while Toni is of course excited about her upcoming nuptials she is also practical. She is not berating Brad, and frankly I have never seen her berate him. Jeez. Now on another note I still vote that Tiffany will somehow turn up as a wedding planner.

Can a girl be any more ideal than Toni?

These two people (1) have very different ideas about what’s important in their life together and (2) ignore each other’s wishes. Can’t they just skip the wedding and the marriage and proceed directly to the divorce?

I am still getting disoriented…. my OWN comments are being posted in a backwards fashion. I have known that comments to other posters have as of late been showing up backwards… but this is the first time I have noticed my own multiple comments going in reverse order from each other…. compared to how I had written them. This is a VERY STRANGE computer glitch on the GoComics site. Very, very strange.

Laser show, huh? Is it orchestrated with Pink Floyd or Tangerine Dream?

-ruptured aortic aneurysm minutes before the wedding

Your marriage is absolutely the proof that the most important thing is the commitment between the people involved…and the fact that you guys stood by the family members you cared about, instead of insisting on rushing off to your honeymoon, is an indication of what good people you are…

So Toni’s back to quietly asserting her will on man-boy Brad, deftly whittling down his crazy wedding ideas She’ll be mothering him and keeping him in line for as long as they’re together..In the last panel she even looks at least as tall in the shoulders as Brad, and her shoulders are more squared. Looks like someone not to mess with.

.(BTW – in 60 years, doves could be the one thing they remembered about the wedding.)

Toni is smart and beautiful, I wonder why she settles for someone like Brad. She could do so much better. Someone a lot smarter than Brad.

That was funny and touching at the same time.

I think Toni wants her marriage day to be memorable but perhaps not quite in the same way as Brad. This makes me excited for December 11 to roll around.

What’s that say on their nameplates… it’s just a little too small to read for me…

save the wedding money and blow it on an ADOPTION

Women claim they are always the more practical.This is obviously false or else most of them wouldn’t marry most of us.

From what you say, there seems to be mild insanity in your ancestry.Good it didn’t hit you.

Weddings are nightmares, at least for the guys. Gotta’ do it though, like Basic Training.

Toni – if Brad is willing to ride a bike on a paper route at age 85 (assuming he’s 25 now), let him have the doves. Ok?

We had a simple wedding and the reception was in the basement of the church. No alcohol, no dancing but still a good time. Less expensive buffet luncheon but a delicious marble wedding cake. We paid for our own wedding, so cut costs there so we could go to the Orlando area of Florida for our honeymoon. Bottom line, we think we had a wonderful wedding and love each other more each day and will be celebrating our 28th anniversary on March 26.

We have a lot more than that in my family.(Obviously)

-My matron of honor told me that anyone who survived a chaotic wedding like the two of us did, would have a wonderful marriage, and she was right

Your life story is honestly inspiring; it would be great if you were able to publish this so others could read it. Seriously, consider that…

This is deja vu all over again. I do realize that in some real-life couples, the “prospective” might have very different dream weddings… and I realize that they might have several go-rounds before settling on a wedding plan. But this is comic life, and Karen and Greg have a lot of stories going on and only a few frames a day in which tell those stories. I’m starting to get annoyed that he’s spending so many of those precious frames on Tony and Brad’s dithering.

“Argy.bargy2—where does one go to publish these things. This is not the only story I have. People think I’m kidding, but it’s all the truth. Where do you publish something like that?”.I know I’m butting in, but you can ignore me.Out of curiosity, I Googled “self publishing books” and got Amazon at or near the top result. I know some who have used them for printing their books or books they obtained rights to. They were happy with the results. You might consider checking with them...“Publish to KindlePublish your book for free and reach millions of readers.

“Earn royalties of up to 70%. Available for sales to customers in the U.S., U.K, Germany, and many more countries.

“Publish quickly. Easily publish in just minutes andhave your book appear on Amazon sites within two days.

Distribute globally. Publish once and sell worldwide onAmazon sites. Easily publish your book in multiple languages."

“Publish to the Kindle ecosystem. Make your bookavailable for all Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps”

“We figured since we would be wearing part of it . . .”

lol :D Could never figure that one out myself! Why on earth is that funny or nice to smear cake on each other and totally ruin a wedding day :/

The way Toni keeps downplaying the scope of the wedding and wants as small a ceremony as possible, it’s almost enough to make you think that she’s actually embarrassed to be seen marrying Brad. Gee, surely there’s no reason for her to feel that way, is there?

Oh have no fear I knew you meant it :P

Sally, it is obvious you and your husband have a strong commitment to family. I’m sure neither of you hesitated for a second to act when your family members were in such distress, and I’ll bet neither of you hesitated when things like that happened in the following 34 years. Such a mutual commitment to family is no doubt a major contribution to your marriage’s longevity (if not the major factor). Congratulations!

-where does one go to publish these things

A good place to start is with Jane Friedman, who has a webpage and blog to help first time self publishing writers. She also published a hardcopy book called “Publishing 101” that is specifically for first-timers.

Jane’s webpage has a lot of info about self-publishing outfits that will actually help the writer get files into shape for online publishing, and those that won’t.

https://janefriedman.com/self-publish-your-book

Good luck! And let us all know how it works for you…

Given all the build up over the last few months, the wedding will obviously end up at “The Fuse”.

Brad would be helping his parents out if he had his wedding or reception at the Explosion, and it wasn’t a fiasco. It might inspire others where they live to do pay to do the same. When WILL he figure that out? October?

Brad’s laser show will be the excuse for filing the insurance claim when the Fuse ignites.

-Cafe Kablooie

Does NOT sound very appetizing…

At Kafe Kablooie, when Ox takes your order he runs down the street to Weenie World to fill it.

You can no longer just “Get” a paper route..The paper I used to deliver for, many moons ago, stopped using “Paper Boys” and began Selling the routes to adults with Pick Up trucks who would hire a couple kids to ride in the back Throwing the papers onto all the customers’ lawns as they drove past..One of those trucks could take over a dozen or so routes that used to be served by Bicycle..The size of the route was decided by how Fast the riders in the bed of the truck could Throw.

The Laser show….OK, now he’s messing with her.And she’s “Messing Back”.

You could be right that Toni just doesn’t want to have to go through all the preparations and decision-making process to plan a wedding. She’s a simple gal, not prone to deep thought, and anything other than a really simple wedding is just more hassle than she’s willing to put up with:-

Maybe even a warp core breach…I think that’s a great idea! And whatever guests managed to scoot under the closing door would get to go to the reception!

“I thought the transporter was reserved for the divorce phase of marriage wherein one selects a random set of coordinates and beams the other one off to there…”^Sadly, these days, it’s done a bit quicker…via Disruptor….

“That way, nobody else controls what you do.”^Yep, including their trying to “hold it over your head” for years to come…

Good thoughts and points!

(G.W.:) I look back on that incident, and think… who in their right minds brings pyrotechnics to a tiny club ???/

That would be the topper, if “I Do! I Do!” was their first dance…

She’s a smart one…..unfortunately my sister just went through a divorce….something I know she wasn’t thinking about on her wedding day, but the fire engine to take her to the reception, or the outdoor catered event at a winery probably don’t mean squat now….The one thing I do remember is how happy my grandmother was to see her walk down the aisle.

Wedding? What a novel idea. I thought straight couples just live together, and only gays want to get married.

SPOILER TWO

Not so much.

A logical explanation for the lack of enthusiasm for excessive fuss…