And Now, Finally...The Day Before & The Wedding

Well, despite my failing to keep up with posting during those last couple days before the wedding, things proceeded and everything went remarkably well.

Thursday and Friday were very busy days. Thursday morning Adam went to go get his tux only to discover that his shirt was about 6 inches too short. He stopped at Casual Male to get a replacement later in the day. Catherine and I caught up on some of my DVR shows. When Adam got home we went to the florist to check out the flower arrangements. After that we parted ways for most of the day. Catherine and I got some lunch and then headed up to Adam’s parents’ house for our makeup test run with Sarah.

We finished up there quicker than anticipated and decided to go over to The Meadows early. Adam’s sisters came along as did Catherine (the roommate.) We started decorating the hall with favors and other décor. Because we had so much extra help (Adam and Tony showed up a little after we got there) we finished up in about half an hour. After some final confirmations and the like with the hall I paid the bill and we were off.

Adam went back home while I took Catherine (the sister) to her hotel to check in. We happened to pull in right as my mom and June got there. They got checked in successfully and I called my dad and brother to see where they were. We hung out in the lobby for a little while until Evan and Jodi showed up. We helped them haul their stuff to their room and socialized until Catherine and I had to leave to go get our nails done. I got fake ones put on and that was an experience! I'd never had anything done to my nails so the dentist-like drill sounding thing she used to buzz down my nails was a little scary. But they turned out great. Much better than my normal, wussy nails. My one complaint is that they were so smooth I couldn't scratch anything. If I had an itch I had to just rub it vigorously.

After nails were done we went back to the hotel to check on everyone. Dad and Cheryl were there by then and we agreed to meet them at the church. We headed over for the rehearsal. Shockingly, everyone was there on time. Good job guys! It was pretty painless and a fun time. We went to Good Company for the dinner. Gifts were given, conversations were had, and I hope everyone had as good a time as I did. It was nice to have everyone together and for my family to meet Adam's.

After the dinner Catherine, Catherine, my mom, and June headed back to our house where we played a few rousing rounds of Snorta. (See previous post about this game...) Everyone went home, I did some final prep work, took a shower, and went to bed.

I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. I don't think it was nerves but who knows. I woke up because I had three questions that we hadn't thought of and I needed them answered. But I just wrote them down and left them for Adam to deal with. And he did. Which was good. I got up and showered (with a shower cap on) and got dressed. My mom, June, and Catherine showed up around nine. My mom and I left June and Catherine to their own devices while we took a walk around the park across from our house. When we returned the three of them serenaded me with some schmaltzy tunes before we gathered up everything we needed and headed to the hair salon.

We arrived a bit early because I'm still not sure exactly how to get there but they were waiting for us. My hair went up pretty quickly and everyone else was able to get a style they liked. Even my mom gave it a shot.

After everyone’s hair was done we stopped at Erbert and Gerbert’s to pick up lunch. I felt slightly ridiculous going into the restaurant with my glammed-up hair and tiara. But what are you going to do? We took the lunches back to Adam’s parents’ house. Evan, Jodi, and Gabriel were already there along with Sarah and Adam’s parents. We ate lunch together and although I didn’t eat much (half of the sandwich and some water) it was a good time. It was nice to see my family and his getting along so well. After lunch Evan, Jodi, Gabriel, my mom, and June all took off to go back to the hotel to get changed. Sarah did my makeup and then Catherine (the sister) helped me get dressed while the other Catherine got made-up. After everyone was prettied up and dressed we hopped into Sarah’s car (well, in my case, I shoved myself into the car) and headed to the church.

As we came up 8th, Sarah and Catherine saw that the guys were standing outside the front of the church and yelled, “DUCK!” I reflexively put my head down to hide in the backseat. Adam tells me that they were getting pictures taken and he didn’t even notice we were there, but it was still a close call. Adam’s mom opened up the door at the back of the church and we snuck down to the Bride’s Room the back way. We hung out for awhile. Katie, my mom, Adam’s mom, and various other people (including the photographer) popped in and out in the time before the ceremony. We played “Duh!” for a bit to pass the time. The Catherine’s were stolen away for a little while to take pictures with Adam. Then my sister and I made our first joint trip to the bathroom since it’s pretty much impossible to go by yourself while wearing an enormous white dress. Interesting experience… At least I can take comfort in the fact that she’s a med student so perhaps she can write it off as practical experience. Anyway, as 3:30 came and went I started to get antsy. I had been told that Fr Mike would call me on the phone when they were ready so I kept staring at the phone, willing it to ring. Instead, Katie came down to get us when the time came. We rode the elevator up and got into position, the Catherine’s at the edge of the back of the church and me hiding further back. As the guys came out and the processional started, the roar of a train and its whistle could be heard outside. Of all the times for a train to pass… Geesh.

There are certain times in your life where you’re overcome with this surreal feeling. You’re not sure if it’s your life you’re living and you just move without thinking. I got this same feeling during my high school and college graduations. There are pictures of me walking up to get the diplomas, shaking important peoples’ hands, but I really don’t remember it too well. This is how it felt to walk down that aisle toward the front of the church. Yes, I definitely concentrated on not tripping and keeping my dad off my dress, but other than that my mind was clear. I have no idea who was in the pews and since my back was to them most of the ceremony I couldn’t peek later on. We got to the front, my dad made small talk with Adam for what seemed like forever (in his defense, he was just following Fr Mike’s instructions) and then we got started. I had been concerned about the kneeling thing in the dress and big shoes. There was no need to worry. The dress kind of padded my knees and I had no trouble getting up and down in the shoes. Whew!

The ceremony is a little clearer in my mind than the trip down the aisle to get there was. There were certainly times where I really had to concentrate to make sure I said the right thing into the microphone. I could just see myself saying, “I, Adam” or something equally stupid. But most of the time it was just listening to what Fr Mike had to say and standing up and kneeling. Everything went well. No one tripped, there wasn’t a baby meltdown from the pews, nothing caught on fire, Dave remembered the rings (although Adam put mine on backwards…), everything went as planned.

After the ceremony we came back up to the front to have the marriage license signed and take pictures. It went pretty quickly and was almost painless. I say “almost” because almost everyone who took pictures with me kept yanking my veil. It was attached to my head! Ouch. The pictures in the church were mostly family with a few singles of me and some wedding party. When we were done Catherine (the roommate) bustled my dress while the guys messed around with our flowers. We headed outside where I decided it might be prudent to remove the veil since it was pretty windy.

Adam and I got into his car (closely followed by the photographer, snapping away) while the other members of the wedding party divided themselves. We went to City Park for the second round of photos. There were some people at the fountain as we arrived but they left soon after. We took pictures in front of a garden-looking area first. While we were there a group of high-school aged hoodlums on bikes showed up and started screaming, laughing, and jumping around in the fountain (interesting, since there’s a sign that clearly states “no jumping in the fountain.”) We managed to avoid them and even got to take some pictures in front of the fountain. The problem with that was the wind kept blowing in our direction so we were getting wet. Adam and I took a couple more pictures by a tree and then walking back to the car. The photographer actually got in the back seat of the car this time and took more pictures before we left for the reception.

When we arrived at The Meadows (earlier than anticipated!) we waited outside for the DJ. We ran into my uncle John and my friend Tina and swore them to secrecy before we let them go inside. The DJ came out to do a final confirmation of some stuff and then we went inside to wait in the foyer for our Grand March.
We were announced, went to the table, and then stood there for a minute looking dumb since we didn’t know how to tell people that’s all we had, go back to the apps. We went over by the cake, cut it, had some good photo ops, and then the party could start. We tried to say hi to everyone there but I’m sure we missed some people. Everyone looked like they were having fun and it was good to see everyone mingling. We were a little late getting the head table to start dinner because we kind of lost track of time. Oh well. We had some toasts, Fr Bob said grace, and then dinner started. The food was wonderful. Yummy potatoes. After dinner came cake and although it was delicious I couldn’t even eat an entire piece. (Fear not, I made up for it with the top layer we took home.)

We had our first dance to Clay Aiken’s “Everything I Have” (Adam probably hates that I just told everyone we danced to Clay Aiken!) and even though the song is only something like three and a half minutes long it seemed like forever. After that the DJ took over and people danced. We did the bouquet toss (which I sucked at) and garter toss. Then we got to make Tony and Paula dance together which is always the best part. I got a little scared when guests started what seemed like a mass exodus. Lots of people did leave by about 8:30, but enough people stuck around and were having fun that we were able to make it to 10:30 (versus an 11:00 original stopping point.) After the last dance we pow-wowed with the parents to make sure they had their instructions and then we took off.

We got back home and I immediately had Adam let me out of the dress. It wasn’t really that uncomfortable, but the sequins on the bodice had left a rash on my arms and I really wanted to get out of the boning and strapless bra. And the garter. The stupid garter cut off the circulation to my leg and left a big indent. And my feet… my poor feet! Ugh. Anyway, after de-dressing I stood in the bathroom undoing my hair. I counted 31 bobby pins of varying sizes and two tiny rubber bands. And a can of hairspray, some putty stuff of some kind, and lots of hard work with a curler. After I managed to extract all the pins and foreign objects I stood in the shower, letting all the crap dissolve while trying not to yank on the snarls. It all came out pretty well and left my hair just slightly frizzy the next day. And then we went to bed.

The next morning we were up bright and early to finish packing, get ready for a week away from the house, and prepare for our impromptu breakfast party. Everyone showed up, enjoyed some donuts, divided up our leftover cake, dropped off all the stuff from the reception, and had a good time until we kicked them out so we could get to the airport. Although I suppose we didn’t have to be as rude as we were since our flight was delayed over an hour and a half. Oh well.

So, there’s my recap of the wedding. Hey, I’m only a month late…

As far as I know, everything went off without a hitch. If there were any problems, everyone did a great job of hiding them from me. The flowers were gorgeous and everyone who has seen the pictures comments on them. My hair was great and it looks very red in all the pictures. The food was wonderful, the cake rocked, the venue was lovely. My only complaint, perhaps, might be the DJ. He kept playing songs that no one was dancing to. And he kept playing songs that I’m not sure you CAN dance to. And he was not as interactive as I’d anticipated. But, oh well, as long as people had fun it’s ok. I was happy with how it all turned out. Now I just need to get my act together and put the hundreds of photos into the photo album.