Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 25, 2016

What we need is Brad to hush up.

Oh, no. Someone throw out a life preserver. It looks like Toni is drowning…

Oh man, talk about role reversal. Just elope already.

She’s gonna bail!

Toni, all your adult life you’ve been coerced by guys, first by Dirk and by Jonah, and now this. Is Mr. Groomzilla here really the sort of guy you want to spend the rest of your life with? It’s time to break from these control freaks. Dump him, and do it now.

Toni looks shell shocked, and is wondering, “fight or flight.”

ELOPE!

Might as well have some antlers on Toni’s head.

Who knew Brad could be so detailed. But he is excited. It’s a lot for Toni, but nothing unusual, she will not bail.

Brad might mistakenly think that a fancy wedding would make Toni happy because he grew up around little girls’ fantasies. He might truly want a fancy one, but he might have instead just said that he wants that.If that is the case then at the same time Toni might think that a fancy wedding is Brad’s own desire.In such a situation, unless they communicate – and do that fast – they could wind up with neither happy with their wedding and reception because each wanted to please the other.That might not be what is going on, but it is the sort of confusion people make who are in love and want to please each other. We have our own old stories about that and inam sure otgers here also do.

Look at Toni’s eyes. She has zoned…

Look at toni’s face she like oh god this is too much to handle

Awww. Why do weddings have to be so crazy? She does need to get him to pull over and listen to her desires. Don’t blow up, Toni. Just calmly tell him that if he doesn’t listen, she is going to go to Italy to look for her ancesters…or something equally scary to him.

This is basically the same gag as in this strip from earlier this year:

Excellent art, to convey such complete stunned exhaustion with just a few flicks of a pen!

Since Bread realizes that there’s nothing “girly” about Toni Daytona, all this wedding schmaltz is his own preference. Run, Toni, run.

Time out, Brad. Stop and tune into what Toni is thinking…..and feeling.

Brad – “Blah Blah. Blah, Blah, Blah. Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, BLAH!”

Toni – “Brad, Darling, I’m Only going to SAY This ONCE: Shut the Heck Up!!!!”

All that stuff Brad is talking about doesn’t necessarily mean a Huge wedding – Those are decisions that need to be made (some accepted, others rejected) once you decide not to just opt for a small party at a restaurant. It looks like a big groomzilla thing only because most people aren’t aware of the planning that goes into bigger parties, luncheons, etc… In any group there are usually one or two people who are good at organizing these types of things and everybody else is blissfully unaware of the decisions that had to be made to make their gatherings look inviting and “effortless.”

way to pressure her brad, jesus

Funny how unromantic that all sounds. How could one be so clueless about how the person you are about to marry feels? Is it just me, or do most of these characters always seem destined to become unlikable? Call the wedding off, get to know each other, then elope.

Poor Toni looks absolutely stupefied. She’s stuck with two men, a good-hearted but dense fiance, and a self-centered, parasitic brother. Both of them think their needs come before hers. When the dust settles, they will have spent enough on the wedding to pay for a house. No doubt Jonah will have another audition and expect Toni to watch Shannon during her own wedding.

Here’s a suggestion: have a very small wedding with family (or some subset thereof), then sometime later have an informal party with the friends.

Hard to find anybody this clueless – but maybe Lemont in “Candorville.”

BRAD! Listen to what you’re saying. Please…just shut up and drive the car before you ‘drive’ your bride-to-be away!!! Toni also needs to step up to the plate and get a handle on this!

Just call the whole thing off.

Or just keep it simple and inexpensive

One of two things is gonna happen:1. They are gonna elope2. Toni is gonna drop “Bwad” like a bad habit

Run, Toni, Run!

Before Brad gets carried away, think for a moment: Will this matter in a hundred years from now? Would you rather have a happy and memorable wedding than a miserable and forgettable one? Remember KISS: Keep It Sweet and Simple.

Just elope you dummies. A wedding is an exceedingly wasteful financial expenditure.

By the look on her face, it looks like she is getting cold feet! I cannot blame her at this point.

I’m thinking that if the roles were reversed that a lot of you would tell Brad to just deal with it. You would say that it’s a woman’s prerogative to want what they dreamed about. You’d tell Brad that the wedding is for the woman and to just smile and say “whatever you want Dear”.

C’mon that should have been one panel and the story should move along…boring!

“prelude to a face smack”

This is why elopement is the better option. ;)

Brad was always the one pushing for the big wedding. I think Toni would be happy with the immediate family and a Justice of the Peace. If I had had some foresight, that is the route I would have taken.

Is this the chickification of Brad?

Toni is thinking, “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

do I sense elopement

Don’t screw it up, Brad. Don’t take Toni for granted. You’ll be a mess when she leaves.

They should just go to city hall get married my a justice of the peace and use all that money they saved on a new house .

And some of you think putting Shannon in her custody is a good idea because… why again?

Elope. Betcha, that is what happens!

Guest list, menu, band. When you worry about valet parking, chair covers and sashes (whatever they are) it’s time to simplify.

All this trouble and most couples are going to divorce anyhow.

Toni hasn’t heard a word Brad has said for ten minutes now. Brad’s blather is providing welcome background noise to allow her to organize her thoughts about how to deal with the situation with her brother and Shannon.

She doesn’t care.Brad is the woman here.

All this running and planning is interfereing with Brad’s career change to interior decorator.

Just elope already and get it done.

I see it coming…“Brad, I think maybe we should consider taking a break”

If you have a daughter get her finncè aside and tell him you’ll give him 500 bucks if he’ll elope, save yourself >$10,000-$15,000 or more.

“I’m Lost, I’ve Found”“It’s A Bear, No Lyin’!”“Like Aversion” (♬)“A Dispenser, For Hire”“…And Add Infinitum To That!”“Pomp And Circumspect” (♬)

“Preparation Itch”“It Don’t Matter To Me” (♬)“A Sacri-fice….Eh, Toni?” (♪)“…And No Gravy”“I’m So Unexcited…And I Just Can’t Hide It” (♪)“Et Tu, Cetera?”“I Only Wanna Be With You” (♬)“The Rain Is Plain, Mainly On The Strain”or“Unloading Zone”

Going to the pool is starting to sound like a good idea at the moment.

Dang. I am so glad we just popped into the courthouse.

He’s going to make her a fine wife.

OMG it’ the Anti-Jonah! The other bookend! The Yang!!

Uh oh…

Just let him do it all. he’s the one that wants all of this. All she has to do is show up.

Hey, if he wants to plan the wedding, let him plan the wedding. She can just show up and enjoy it.

Toni has such a “it doesn’t need to be this way” look on her face. even thru her incredible good looks you can see how stressed out she is. she has to stop Brad. He seems to think Toni wants a lavish wedding.

Why do people here keep saying that Brad thinks Toni wants (or at least would appreciate) a large wedding? She has repeatedly told him that she doesn’t, so if Brad actually does think that, then it’s only because he doesn’t listen to her or care about her preferences. This is a marriage that should not happen, whether via a big wedding or small, until these people start really talking and listening to each other. Call the thing off, and work on communicating.

Toni is lucky she is not having to plan the wedding on her own!! Brad even made a list for her!! Step it up Toni

Brad, what part of “no” don’t you understand?

And the commenter yesterday was right— Brad is doing to Toni exactly what Jonah was doing to her. And, in a different sense, what Dirk did to her.

Brad, I think you’re wonderful.

Sometimes weddings can take on a life of their own and get out of hand. These two will come to an understanding and find a solution, because they truly love each other.

Groomzilla is going to turn Toni into a Bridezilla. Is there a TV show for this? Toni’s eyes are glazed over. Time to stop this circus.

Is that a thousand-mile, second thoughts stare I see on Toni’s face?

Unless Evans decides to pull a Batiuk move from Funky Winkerbean where the strip jumped from high school to middle age, we’ll all be dead before five years go by in Luann time.I don’t think so. Greg and Karen are much better than that.

Who is paying for this?

The FIRST thing you have to do is decide how much money you can spend. I’ll bet that will end the idea of valet parking in a hurry.

I think Toni is considering elopement

Since when does a guy want to discuss all that stuff. We just want a quick wedding and to get it over with. Brad must have hit his head hard at some point.

You’ve been sucked into the wedding-industrial complex. Go to city hall and be done with it.

Roles are reversed.

Put a lid on it Brad, we’re about to revoke your Man Card.

Good gravy, just elope!

Does the average wedding really take this much work? I’m never getting married.

Not to be sexist, but normally these roles are reversed.

Show me one guy in the world who gives half a crap about any of that!

It’s a part of getting married. I hated it .. so do most, but 20 years will change your opinion when you go back and look at the pictures.. and you think to yourself.. boy, it really did look good.

Brad sounds like a true bride.

Uuuuhhhh…..which one is the bride again?

I still say, elope. But aren’t the parents supposed to be involved?

Toni, you wouldn’t ever say it to Dirk. Time after time, you still never say it to Jonah. Well, now it’s definitely time to say it to Brad: “No. N-O. No. No no no no no. No!!!”

MORDYhttp://www.nature.com/articles/srep31590Non-additive genome-wide association scan reveals a new gene associated with habitual coffee consumptionYou might get less of a “jolt” than others do with less coffee. Of course, that is just one aspect of coffee… (I sooooo miss its flavor at times.)

They already looked for a place to get married. Toni already said she doesn’t want a big wedding. This comic strip is weirdly focused on all that. Repetitive

And once again Toni is overwhelmed and Brad to wrapped up in wedding to notice…this is ominous.

I’m going to be so pissed if she bails, lets be honest

4Like Sukie and others have said…. today’s effort is all about showing how Brad and Toni are NOT communicating effectively. With that said, here are some of my thoughts:1) I presume that at some point Brad and Toni had at least enough of a discussion together to know in a basic way that they both were accepting of having some sort of formal wedding event. We know that each had preferences that were opposite of each other, but I think that at least both were accepting of the fact that there would be some sort of wedding event.2) With #1 in mind, I see Brad trying to the best of his ability to get the myriad of details decided and out of their hair. He is unfortunately overwhelming Toni (and probably not realizing it), but he is trying to do the right thing. I do not see him really trying to dictate what they will be doing…. just that he is saying they really need to make decisions. 3) Toni is acting quite passive. Hopefully this is only due to the various excesses of her day thus far (work, Jonah, Shannon, TJ, etc). But, there is at least a potential that she is being passive because she is ready to “bug out” so-to-speak in regards to the wedding completely. Since she has never really wanted any sort of wedding event, she may be at the breaking point of basically saying “To hell with it!”4) Even though I suspect that Toni may WANT to say, “To hell with it!” I am hopeful she will not do so. If she suddently bailed on the wedding event, I think it would be simply out of emotional exhaustion at this point, and would not be really a thought out decision trying to find compromise that could be reasonably accommodating for both her and Brad’s wishes. Now, in conclusion…. while I think both Brad and Toni THINK they are communicating with each other… the problem is that they are both sending communication (verbal and/or non-verbal)…. but neither of them is fully or accurately RECEIVING those communications. Brad and Toni both need to LISTEN to each other more completely to get to a point where they can make decisions that will help them both be happy.

In my prior comment when I said Toni may be contemplating saying “To hell with it!”…. I meant this in regards to a wedding event, not in marrying Brad. I think she may be wanting to suggest a quick, Justice of the Peace sort of marriage by themselves and two wittnesses. While this would definetly be in Toni’s comfort zone…. I think it would be a really poor choice to make as it would be a choice disregarding Brad’s feelings. They need to find an intermediate choice (not to big and not too small) that they can both be “ok” about.

Toni’s beginning to see it, eloping shortly will be on her scope, but planning now this list will be a done. I expect which ever way this goes, it will be worth following and validating for a few (ok, more than a few)

looks like she will want to elope, just do that

Brad probably couldn’t care less what kind of wedding they have as long as Toni’s happy with it. He’s assuming she wants the big wedding and is trying to be helpful. Typical male, he’s gone into problem-solving mode instead of asking her how she feels about it.

I hope they elope!

Me thinks there be an elopement around ye bend.

Why does everyone keep saying “They will elope”? Toni would be happy to do so, but Brad wants his (note: his, not their) big wedding. There will be no elopement unless Toni threatens to call the whole thing off otherwise.

Toni and Brad will get married :- alone in an elopement- in a small, family-only ceremony- in a larger friends and family wedding with all the trimmings.

Which it becomes will be worked out by them together, because they love and respect each other. The path there may meander a bit, and not be a straight line, but that is often how real life is! Discussion and resolution take time … it won’t happen in one day’s strip!

Has any straight man EVER said these words?? Chair covers and sashes? I doubt it.

I don’t really think Brad is gay, he is way too messy and a poor dresser.

Toni should look at Brad and ask him if all of this is “important to him” and if it is she needs to support him. Similar to how every other guy in the history of creation has to accept it when the bride is excited about everything from the color of the fringe on the linen to the speckled candied dust on the wedding cake. The roles are reversed here but the result is the same, this is the first test of being together – accepting the other persons level of “crazy”.

Don’t stress the bride, dude!

In Atlas Obscura today is a themed road trip that is based on going to good pinball arcades. Why do i imagine Toni enjoying doing part of that trip for their honeymoon?We know they have a week off total if i correctly recall the discussion in the Captain’s office. What honeymoon ideas do you imaging one or both of them enjoying?

Wow, are some people really blinkered by stereotypes! Their loss ultimately…

Back off, Brad – she’s getting that “deer in the headlights” look…

Who’s the bride here?

SukieCrandall GoComics PRO Member said, 19 minutes agoIn Atlas Obscura today is a themed road trip that is based on going to good pinball arcades. Why do i imagine Toni enjoying doing part of that trip for their honeymoon?

We know they have a week off total if i correctly recall the discussion in the Captain’s office.

What honeymoon ideas do you imaging one or both of them enjoying?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

the sex LOL! ….sorry!

I see a meltdown on its way. I could be wrong but I am wondering if this could be related to the coming ‘traumatic event’ that was foretold to us. Over the past several weeks there have been so many little incidents involving Brad that have rubbed Toni the wrong way, just like all the incidents leading up to Luann and Quill finally parting ways. I don’t think Brad and Toni will split but it seems like we are in a similar lead-up pattern… heading towards something….one small thing after another….. Right now Toni looks like a deer in the headlights and Brad is oblivious to it all.

Its been years since my wedding although I have gone to quite a few, and stood up in several, but one thing I need to make is that wedding details are not unusual, and have gotten more complicated over the years. It is almost a requirement in our capitalist economy where needs increase to profits made. The strip is a humorous take on that in the context of this couple, and I am sure they will react either falling into the black hole, and come out on the white hole on the other side, or decide to do something entirely different. I think something in between. A wedding is an emotional event as well as a planning one, and for those who have not done it this is kind of a reveal. Relax though millions of people do this every year. What is important is what happens on the days after the wedding however it turns out.

Brad is being selfish. Toni has told him she wants a small ceremony, but he wants all the bells and whistles for himself, and he is forcing her to endure all the decision-making process with a wedding planner. If Brad wants his big wedding, then he should meet with the planner and make all these decisions, and he should not force Toni to participate in grinding through choosing from 6-page lists of features that she doesn’t care about at all.

If Brad wants all that, HE should be the one making the decisions and arranging it all. She only needs to show up (and not complain).

Why is she so freaking out? It’s not that hard.

Vegas, Baby!!

WHY, is a big wedding important to Brad ?Who’s he showing his catch off to? Luann ‘s friends? His parents? Fellow firefighters?He has no friends of his own outside of TJ and his demeanor towards his fiance’s brother probably explains that.

Usually, it’s the other way around: the girl ratchet-jaws about the wedding plans and the guy sits there with the stunned look. What’s up with this?

Great catch remembering that strip, Meh!

Like I said, TJ and Toni are in each other’s future.

Toni has that “deer caught in the headlights” look Time to shut up, Brad, lest she recant!

http://www.gocomics.com/profiles/1235950

He has no friends of his own outside of TJ and his demeanor towards his fiance’s brother probably explains that.^^^^^^^^^^^^^His demeanor towards Jonah is completely understandable. As far as friends you don;t have any evidence he does NOT have any other friends besides TJ. He has friends at the fire house. He is also oout of high school for some time now, and in the world, so to speak. Many former buddies may have moved on as well. His perceived lack of friends may be nothing more than many people going though the transition from school to the working life. I used to hang out regularly with a gang of at least 20 people. I am still in touch with many through Facebook, but they are literally scattered to the 4 winds, most of them. Even those that live relatively close are at least an hour away…Does not mean they are not still my friends. Brad may have that type of thing going on..

I see an elopement coming…

Brad has never been shown to have friends other than TJ. Luann has always been the one with friends and dates. Brad has neither. Brad has never displayed interest in anything other than working on his car, and he’s not particularly talented at that. Insofar as we know, Toni has no friends, either. That’s why so many people on this forum had expected them to get married at the fire house – the people who work there are the only people this couple are likely to invite.

Toni could say, “When I said I would follow your lead, I didn’t realize how crazy a big complex wedding would make me feel. Can we talk more about the scale of the event?” Not as exciting as a huge public meltdown, but more effective. I am curious where this arc is headed, in terms of working out differences.

Toni…..the next runaway bride?

All of the kids are discovering that life after high school ain’t all that easy.

She’s gonna bail and probably wind back up with Dirk but only for the purpose of dragging on the storyline at least another 2 years when they get back together, and then elope or something the next day. Calling it now.

And the countdown before Toni bails is started.

This is not going to be a direct response to any of the 200+ posts that precede it, although you will be able to surmise that I agree with some things that have been said and disagree with others. I’m just not going to come right out and make the statements of same.Here is why I think Brad is going overboard with the “big wedding” planning.Brad was attracted to Toni from the first time he saw her, in that first aid/CPR class. She pretty much gave him the cold shoulder, but he was smitten and finally got her to pay some attention to him by the time they were in paramedic class together. In the firefighter academy, they got closer, at least on a professional level, to the point where Toni actually came to Brad’s graduation from the academy behind Dirk’s back (for which the latter got arrested, but that’s been discussed before).In the aftermath of Brad’s rescuing Toni from what could have been a seriously injuring fall at a fire scene, she confessed that she had moved beyond friendship and that she loved him. But he still didn’t have a lifetime commitment from her, and he was so eager to have one that he jumped the gun on proposing to her, even though she had told him she wasn’t ready to discuss marriage.Finally, she decided she was ready for the commitment and proposed to him. I think they both saw it as a continuation of the ill-timed proposal of a year earlier (IIRC, it was on April 1 both times), and suddenly Brad saw that he was getting his dream girl for life.Even all of the crap with Shannon and Jonah and TJ has not done much to erase his euphoria about Toni being his future wife. In his mind, after everything he went through just to get to a wedding, it had damned well better be the wedding of the century.Add to this the fact that Brad has had a family all this time (both parents and a once-annoying little sister whose name escapes me at the moment) and — as shown in that story arc where he and Toni watch the house while everyone else was off somewhere for a week — he expects “Brad and Toni” to be just like “Frank and Nancy”.Toni, on the other hand, lost her parents at an early age, spent too many years having to watch over her irresponsible younger brother, and probably has unconscious fears that her marriage will end up in a similarly bad condition.So Brad ends up being the “storybook romantic” and Toni is the “worrying realist”. That’s where we are as of today’s strip. Perhaps there will be enough discussion for us to add another 200 posts in the next nine hours.

Brad has never had a girlfriend before Toni, has he? Did he even have any dates at all? Maybe that’s part of the reason why he wants such a big ceremony – he wants to “boast” that he got a girl to marry him, although no one had any reason to expect that that would ever happen.

I predict a runaway bride thing happening, leaving Brad flat at the altar. Brad could then become a grumpy misogynist.

It’s official — toni and Brad’s storyline is boring. Bring on Luann!

Toni is thinking about eloping…I can see those gears turning in her eyes!

With fond memories of Strother Martin (In Cool Hand Luke)….“What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

There will never b marriage

For someone who has to live together to save up for a bigger place, where is the money for a wedding coming from? Go down to city hall and stop this madness now before Toni becomes the runaway bride.

I used to just read and enjoy this comic, wondering what would happen next. Now I read and comment sometimes and have added all this silly stress to my life. I worry about the people who take it all so seriously…and personally.

Brad has chosen the wrong career, he needs to be a wedding planner.

Ooops there goes another wedding -————- Kerplop!

communicate, Toni!

Brad, settle down. The wedding’s coming up and you & Toni need to focus on the future.

@Sukie and RhelburnI begin to look at names and comments like they’re my friends. I used to be very active in another site. We all became very close. I have babysit for one that lived nearby and sent gifts to others. I couldn’t afford it, but many of them get together at conventions. I thought about suggesting that we meet at the comic-con.

Just tell him “I don’t care — you pick!”

The comment earlier on the divorce rate got me wondering how that breaks down. For example, i know a much higher percentage than one would expect from the rate of women who have just one marriage that succeeds. I also know some who divorced once but had their second succeed, so people who have their own 50% rate. Then there is the third group of those who marry: the ones who marry again and again and again. One of them a couple of years ago split with her seventh husband. So, her marriages alone combined with the successful marriages of seven other women make the success rate for that group of women and the 14 marriages involved LOOK like a 50% success rate, yet 7 of the 8 women involved have successful marriages and just one woman has 7 divorces. Without the breakdown the percentage can seem very misleading. So, i am wondering what the breakdown is, because the subset of people who have many divorces offset just as many solid first marriages in the math, meaning there are more successful first marriages than some woukd expect from the percentages.

E.L.O.P.E.

SPOILER

Toni tries to put the brakes on. Or maybe she just needs a Tylenol…

My brain returns to memories of sitting on the school wall during junior high recess with my best friend while we worked on our story titled “Melanie Can’t Elope”.

Remember Del Shannon singing “Runaway”?Just heard it and thought of some of the comments here.