The Big Day

After months of planning and plenty of stress, I managed to get married this past Saturday! And in case you're wondering, we're not honeymooning until next year so I am not blogging from some exotic locale!

Thursday and Friday were busy with errands and deliveries. A trim of the bangs and getting my nails done, renting the kegs and delivering everything to the reception site (everything it turned out except the cameras for the tables....remembered these on Saturday while talking to another friend who was being the photographer!)

The rehearsal was Friday night and while setting up the unity candle set that I was sure came with the tapers and the actual unity candle we realized that there were no actual tapers with the set. This meant a trip to Wal-Mart after the rehearsal dinner to get the tapers. A minor crisis, but to the harried bride...there do not seem to be any monor crisises! And at some point later, I realized that the instructions for when I was supposed to give my bouquet didn't make sense. How was I supposed to turn and hold both of David's hands while still holding my bouquet. A mental note to ask the wedding directors the next day.

The rehearsal dinner was very nice and my brother made me cry...in a good way. If you've been reading my blog for awhile you know that my father passed away several years ago so my brother got the honor of walking me down the aisle and giving the toast at the rehearsal dinner. He was a bit nervous and apparently he forgot part of it, but it was very sweet. And when he teared up, I thought that I would really lose it. But all the tears were happy ones.

I woke up at 5:30 the next morning....not reall all that surprising...I hadn't slept well for the two weeks before that. I made myself lay there and doze until about 8:30 before all the fuss and frenzy of the day began. I took a nice long soak in the tub in the morning to try and get myself relaxed. The day was actually going very well until the makeup lady took 1/2 hour longer than planned. I was a bit like a chicken with my head cut off after that trying to get myself back on schedule....cursing the extra me time that I had taken that morning...and flittering through the house like a hummingbird on speed trying to get myself back on schedule. One of my good friends, who happens to also be my hairdresser, came out and gussied me and three of my girls up. I wrote out checks for the vendors who needed to be paid, made sure that my bag was packed and that I had everything I needed to take the church...finding a chain for the jewelry that my sister-in-law loaned me. And then off to check in and drop my car off at the B&B that we were staying at. I felt much better once we got to the church and were were mostly on schedule. My friend doing the photography had a delay getting to the church since he had to replace the tripod he had discovered was broken. This got me a little rattled because we wanted to get as many pictures done before the wedding and before guests started showing up. Then we were back on schedule again and I was feeling much better.

The church has a room for us to get ready in, but with the heat on it was like a mini sauna. It was rather funny when one of our friends, who was keeping my company while the girls were taking pictures reached up and turned on the ceiling fan! There we were...me, four bridesmaids and my hairdresser (I hate calling her that because she's more friend than hairdresser) and other family members in and out all complaining about the heat and not one of us noticed the ceiling fan.

I was actually much calmer than I thought I would be. The closest I came to having a meltdown came when my brother (who forgot he had to come get me after escorting our mother in during the rehearsal) and I were getting ready to leave the room and make our way to the sanctuary. I looked down and realized that my father's wedding band was coming untied. My father's wedding band was serving as my something old and as a small way for him to be there, walking me down the aisle (I still get teary just thinking about that). We tied it to my bouquet and the tie was coming undone. My brother quickly assured me that it was under control and got it tied back, but the thought that I might have lost it almost pushed me over the edge.

The church has a set of double doors that leads into a large open area before you go into the sanctuary. When we walked into that room I started to tear up...my brother, the rock told me "Don't start that now!" I needed a good voice of reason at that moment. The wall seperating the sanctuary from that roam is glass and has a frosted/etched scene on it. I could see my handsome groom through the top part and as the music started and we walked into the sanctuary, I could see David tear up. It might sound strange, but that was a beautiful moment. My brother also had to keep me from sprinting down the aisle. Everyone told me that it feels like you're only up there for 5 minutes and then its over. I know that the ceremony was longer than 5 minutes...but they were all right...it's like a blur....it just rushes by. And we managed to get through it without setting the church on fire while lighting the unity candles and without me doing a flop out while doing the kneeling bench. Between nerves and the heat of the church, my fingers were swollen and I had to send word before the ceremony that he would have to put my ring on my pinky finger....I barely got my engagment ring off to give to Amy beforehand. He remembered and it all went well. And then before we knew it, it was over. And when we got to the end of the aisle one of the wedding directors informed me that I had forgotten my bouquet! This lead to some issues for the girls....they didn't carry flowers, but candleholders that we had made....so Amy ended up with two candleholders which made it difficult for Jesse to escort her out! But all in all....a small thing compared to what could have happened!

After leaving the sanctuary, we were to go down a small hallway and outside to wait for the guests to go on to the reception before we finished the pictures. At the end of the hall, David gave me a big hug, told me that he loved me and that I was beautiful (this also makes me teary when I recount it). It wasn't just a beautiful moment....it was a perfect moment!

During the picture taking, I kept sending people out to see if our limo had arrived. I was starting to worry because everyone kept telling me that it wasn't there. Turns out, a limo was there, but it was the wrong limo and nobody wanted to tell me. When we were getting ready to leave, David asked me if I had rented two limos. Uh....no. There were two limos...one a modern, white clunky thing and then the one that I had actually reserved.....a 1948 Windsor Bridal Limo....which was just too cool. The limo we rented was running late so they had sent another limo....just in case. And they let us use the second limo to take people to the reception at no cost.

A lot of the reception is a blur as well....I will always treasure our first dance, David dancing with his mom and me with my brother. But you don't get a lot of food at the reception! You want to make sure that you get around to see everyone and that everyone is having a good time! It took more social skills than I actually thought that I had! But I managed and I hope I did make it to everyone.

I'm sure that I've left out like a 1000 details, but thats okay! At the end of the day all that matters is that we were surrounded by friends and family (many who deserve a thank you that can never be fully expressed....like my bridesmaids who are so dear to my heart, and everyone who helped us finally get there) and we managed to marry the person we love with all our heart!