Anyway, I loaded up the car with all the vases, table runners and miscellaneous reception supplies, threw in my dress and all my belongings. I decided to give Lauren a call and see how she, Darrah and Laura were doing that morning. First hiccup of the wedding schedule (I told you it would go out the window, right??). Lauren was sick. Her throat hurt and she wasn’t feeling well. Same for Cookie. Cookie had planned on going out to the flower grower’s house to select the wedding flowers, and somehow it was decided that Lauren would go with her (so not in the schedule – but I love you girls!). Turns out that Darrah and Laura were at Lauren’s house with no way to get to the hotel and check in. I made the decision that I would go get the girls after my morning appointments.
I was scheduled to meet Lauren, Cookie and Meredith at noon to go pick up all the rental equipment for the rehearsal dinner and wedding. With Cookie and Lauren still fairly far away from
Once we got to
We get back to
I take a quick shower, throw on a t-shirt and shorts and jump in the car with my Mom and Dad. We go over to the Nelson Music Room about 3:30pm and were greeted by Stefan. He was there early to help out with anything that needed to be done – thank you, Stefan! All the rooms are unlocked as scheduled, so we start rearranging chairs, cleaning up the room, etc. I was all fluttery. This is the room in which we would be wed! woo hoo! Eventually, all the other parties start to arrive – the rest of the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, the parents and Ambassador and Mrs. Joseph. With everyone there on time, we jumped to the actual wedding rehearsal. At an amazing 20 minutes to run through the ceremony, the rehearsing was straightforward and pretty easy to manage! Marty ran through the music on the piano (which sounded amazing), we walked through the entrances and exits, and we had a lot of smiling and giggling. We all knew our roles and what we were to do the next day!
Mike and I practicing our exit! (thanks, Amy!)
With that over with, we did a bit more decorating then headed back to
The Q Shack delivery person showed up on time at the right place. He started dropping things off and first notified me he had brought no beverages as it was not on the ticket. Uh, great. We were supposed to have enough tea for 25 people. Then, he asks me to sign my credit card receipt. I look at the total, and the amount is 2.5 times higher than I was quoted!! “Hold on!” I said. “This is not right!!” He put me on the phone with the store, and it turns out they charged me for 75 people rather than 25 people. The guy on the phone said he voided the charge and charged us the right amount now. Hmmm, okay (more on this later). Anyway, they drop off the rest of the food and I am thinking that this in no way will feed 25 people.
A moment at the dinner
But, it’s 6pm, dinner start time, so we open it all up and request people dig in and start eating. And the heat? Yeah, it was oppressive. We did the rehearsal dinner outside on the brick patio at
Dad enjoying the Q Shack (thanks, Lauren!)
Becky enjoying the rehearsal dinner (photo BY Becky, too!)
We of course had to have another hiccup with the dinner though. Mike and I had bought a great cake and a pie to serve as dessert. Which we realized right as the dinner was starting was still at home in our oven. Great. Luckily, best man Ed was kind enough to go to the house and pick up the desserts. Thank you, Ed! We all chatted at the dinner – had great food, great conversations, and sweated out every bit of food we ate!
Sweating out our dinner (thanks, Lauren!)
At the dinner, we wanted to thank everyone who had been there helping with the wedding, so we presented the full wedding party with gifts. The groomsmen and bridesmaids got these awesome cooler totes filled with all sorts of goodies. The Josephs got a nice dinner gift certificate, and Owen the ringbearer got an awesome towel that made him look like a monkey and a big container of cheezy poofs! Darrah, Laura and Becky (who was there by now) all got some trendy little piggy banks. The parents all got big thank yous – their gift was a new kid – Mike or me! Mike and I were also presented with a wonderful gift from Owen - he made us an awesome painting!!
Our cool gift from Owen! (thanks, Lauren, for the photo!)
Several of us jumped in the pool while others chose to just dangle in their feet. It was a great night – we all chatted, drank beers, swam, told jokes and old stories. But before I knew it, it was approaching midnight, and Mike had to get out of there! We decided to not see each other on the wedding day, so as of midnight, he needed to be gone. Therefore, Mike, with Ed and Sean in tow, headed to the house. I heard they had a good time sitting up and chatting, drinking beers and doing boy things!
I stayed in the pool a bit longer – I was relaxed and really not ready to go to sleep yet. I did find out through some recon that Cookie and Lauren were still up and doing stuff. I asked about flowers, and a certain little birdie let me know that they had seen nothing of flowers. Just cake. It was then I started to panic a bit…….
Coming next…….THE BIG DAY!
2 comments:
Hee hee "sufficiently entertained."
I would like to point out a couple of items. First, that my dress is wet not from sweat but from my wet swimsuit underneath. The pool was very handy. :) And I was NOT the birdie! In fact, I made quite an effort to silence that dumb bird!
Finally, thanks for teaching me beer pong. :) And for the sweet potatoes.
I thought you would like "sufficiently entertained." ha!
And yes, you were not the birdie! (and in the next segment of the story, this will all be cleared up!)
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