Blessed Event

I was in a wedding last Saturday. A wedding for which the planning started a year ago. I knew I would probably be tired the following day, but Sunday morning came around and I felt like I had been run over, LOL!

The first event last week was the bridesmaids' dinner on Thursday at Auntie Pasta's. The food was yummy, though I am not so sure about their bellinis...a little too strong or something. The bride had made us all survival kits. She had gone to sammoon.com and ordered these cute hard case duffel bags and filled them with goodies we may have needed as we got ready for the ceremony in addition to a cute wine glass with our initial on it and a travel mug for warm or cold drinks. Really cute idea! I am looking forward to using my bag as a carry on here in three weeks when I go to Virginia.

Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner at Clear Springs. I love their steaks! Unfortunately there was no rehearsal that night because the hall where the ceremony and reception were taking place was rented that night. At the dinner, the bride played a slide show of pictures she had made - it was great! You could tell she had spent a lot of time putting it together. One of the songs she used was Smile by Uncle Kracker - loved it! It will soon be added to my iTunes collection. After a run-down on the itinerary for the wedding day, we all went separate ways.

Saturday morning started bright and early. All the ladies met at the hall at 9:00 (or 9:15, in my case) a.m. to start decorating and a couple hours later the place had been completely transformed. Immediately after that I went with the bride and her mom to check on the flowers. Then I ran to Quizno's with some friends whom I stranded after short order to go get what I have dubbed the "pedicure from hell". I have gone to Nails 2000 quite a few times and have never had such a bad experience. I thought at first that maybe the girl was just trying to hurry since I had to meet the bride at 1:00 for her hair appointment. Turns out, though, that the bride had gone to the same place a couple days earlier, had the same girl do her pedicure and had the same experience. EEK! There is no way that girl is ever touching my feet again! Immediately following that awful experience I met the bride at her hair appointment and met a really nice hairdresser whom I plan to use in the future for hair needs. She was really nice and even took some time to tweak my own (poorly done) up-do. Next we had to pick up the dress from the bride's future mother-in-law's house and while there I did my makeup. We dropped the dress off at the home of one of the bride's co-workers who lives right around the corner from the wedding location and then took off to go rehearse. That took a little more time than expected...it was a tad unorganized and not really thought through until that very moment. We worked it out, though, ran through a couple times and then dashed off again so we could get changed. The house we changed out is old...which means no central air conditioning. Though someone had turned on the window units earlier, a hot day means it takes longer to cool, so we literally only had two rooms that were comfortable for changing and putting on makeup, etc. We ran a little behind at this point, but I guess that is to be expected considering how many ladies we had in there getting ready, lol! We still had plenty of time for pictures and I must say there are going to be some awesome ones in there. I cannot wait to see how they turn out. The photographer was really nice and patient and willing to do shoot pictures of whatever silly thing we came up with. Finally we ran out of ideas and we had about a 45 minute to one hour wait till time to start walking down the aisle.

The ceremony itself was literally short and sweet...I think it took us longer to walk down the aisle than it did for the actual vows! That's the way they wanted it, though, and before we knew it it was a done deal! The groom had arranged for BBQ to be catered by a guy from Center and it was delicious! The cake flavor was amaretto with a buttercream icing - yummy seems to be an understatement! There were also several different alcholic/non-alcoholic drinks available to choose from...my choice was the Malibu Rum Punch, though I had to ask for it to be made "light" after I tasted a sip of the bride's and almost choked. She is not much of a drinker and never finished hers...it was that strong. There was some dancing and then I tearfully gave part (could not finish the whole thing) of my speech/toast...I cannot believe I cried! That is what happens, though, when I am really happy for someone I care about. The best man then made his toast which spurred me to tell the story of how they met and then prompted him to share a bit more about how they tried to set up the bride with one of their other buddies. It was all so much fun! They then cut the cake and made their toasts to each other. After a bit more dancing, including the Cupid Shuffle, it was time to wave goodbye to the happy couple, using cute handmade ribbon wands the guests could take home afterward.

It was a long day, but a satisfying one as I was able to witness and be a part of a good friend's special day. I am so glad that she is happy! Thank You, dear Father, for this union and may it endure!