Becky, Darrah, Laura, Me 
George and Laura's big day!!!!
My snazzy wedding get-up. I wish someone would do my hair and makeup for me all the time!
Listening to the toasts!
A conga line? I had no idea.
Scout, with his newfound freedom, helped us unwrap gifts.
Opening more presents!
We arrive at Wavelengths a tad early – I was rather excited to have my hair done here, as originally I just planned on doing it myself to save the cash. But then Meredith graciously offered to gift me a hairdo! It was very sweet and generous of her. Last minute, she decided that she would try to get fit in as well for a quick hairdo. She actually got in and done before I was ever in the chair!!!
Lauren and I headed upstairs to wait for my lady to finish with her customer, so we just sat on the couch and chilled. At that point, I was actually starting to feel the weight from the ceremony that would occur that evening. I did this once before, and I didn’t do too good of a job. This is a big decision and a huge step. But I felt confident and rather chill, so I just took lots of deep breaths and I was fine.
Finally it was time for me to get my hair done – I also realized at this time that I had left all the photos I had for suggestions on a possible hairdo at home. They were all sitting on my iPod touch, which was on the coffee table at the house. Poo. So, the hairdresser and I talked a few minutes and I trusted her experience in this subject. Anyway, she did a lovely job, and I was thrilled with my hair.
Once the hair was done, for me it was time to wait. Meredith and I got back in her car and headed over to the
After that was wrapped up, I waited. And waited. I actually told Meredith, “Soak this in – it is so quiet right now, but within one hour, the time will fly.” Boy was I right. Eventually, I started to wander the parlors and found out that the Blue Parlor actually had a TV, DVD player and a radio! Jackpot! Meredith and I packed up the pink room and moved everything over to the blue room. Blue is for girls now! We found some fun tunes and started the party. Woo hoo! Shortly after that, Lauren was back, and then my Mom arrived.
Enjoying some champagneBy that point, I could hear folks outside and you could feel the buzz in the air. Make-up, hairspray, perfume, dry cleaning bags, shoes, champagne, 80s songs on the radio, hugs, cameras, flowers, oh wow. It was just a flurry of activity. So much fun.
Putting on the dress
Suck it in!
The boys!
Handsome, handsome! The girls all helped me into my dress and then Mom helped me with my jewelry. By that time, we were only about 15 minutes from start time (my tummy is even getting fluttery as I write this!!). The last guests were shuttled upstairs, and the boys were in the room off to the side of the Nelson Music Room. We were ready to start.
The girls, my Dads and I all headed up the stairs. I realized we never set up a signal to let our good friend Marty, the pianist, know that it was time to start the wedding entry music. Somehow we managed to get that point across, and Canon in D started. YAY! Meredith went first, followed by Cookie, then Lauren and Owen. As I stood there with my Dad, I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. Many worried I would cry like a baby for the wedding, as I kind of have a habit of doing that. But tears were the last thing on my mind. I was just SO excited. I was ready to get in there – I wanted to see my future husband, my family and friends and just soak it all in.
We made our way to the door and went in – Mike was beaming. And it was contagious. I just smiled. A huge HUGE all gum smile. My Dads walked me up and Mike took my hand to help me on stage. My heart had stopped pounding, but I could not stop smiling. The ceremony itself was record speed fast. Ambassador Joseph, my former boss and former
Before we knew it, we were hitched. Awesome. It was beautiful, wonderful and quick! Mike and I filed out and just waited outside the doors to greet all of our friends and family. We did a receiving line and said thank you to every single person there – it was a great feeling. Once all the hugs were done, we headed downstairs to sign the marriage license and take photos. Annie was great with the group photos – those went at record speed, too. It was a bit steamy outside, so being quick with outdoor photos was a pretty good idea. We whip through those, then it’s time to grab the stuff out of the building and head off. We managed to load everything up, and we headed for the reception………
COMING NEXT…..the reception and after!!!!!
“Good morning!” I say to Lauren.
“We are just about to leave, I promise,” is her response.
“Leave to go where? The farmers market?” I ask (with a semi-snotty tone in my voice).
“Yes,” she replied.
I then asked, rather sternly and somewhat worried, “You mean you haven’t picked up the flowers yet? The market opens in 30 minutes! You guys need to get there NOW.”
Yeah, that wasn’t the best way for me to respond. Saying that to two ladies who had stayed up til 3am+ working on a grooms cake and flowers, yes they did work on the flowers AFTER my spies had left, was not well received. They were tired, I was worried. Add the two together, explosive.
Many ladies were coming to my hotel room around 8 to help put together flowers. Shortly before then, Lauren and Cookie arrive, drop off the flowers and are very obviously super upset with me and my attitude. They drop off the flowers, pick up the items from the prior night’s dinner that needed to be returned, and they left. Angry. I cried. And cried. And cried. Thank goodness my Mommy was near. I went immediately to her room. And cried some more. Here it was, only 8am, and I had managed to seriously piss off my maid of honor and one of my bridesmaids. I got snappy and shouldn’t have. I felt terrible.
Lauren and Cookie finally got back, and the situation just worked itself out. I looked pouty, they gave me hugs. I apologized, they said it was okay. Crisis passed. Thankfully. Again, I’m sorry, ladies. Luckily, that was my ONLY freakout the whole day.
Anyway, we had lots of help on the flowers. Cookie orchestrated the process, and everyone put together the bouquets, the table arrangements, the stage arrangements and the like. Every flower had been cut between 24-48 hours hand picked by Cookie and Lauren, then delivered to the Farmers Market that morning. Just amazing. The flowers went so smoothly that by 11am, Meredith and I were able to check out of the room and head over to the mall to have our nails done. But escaping the hotel was a feat all in its own. Mike and I decided that we did not want to see each other until the actual wedding, so there was an entire crew working very hard to make sure we did not run into each other. It worked fairly well, although as Meredith and I were at the light next to the hotel, I looked over and sure enough, there was Mike sitting on the stairs! The theory is that the groom shouldn’t see the bride, right? I think we’re okay.
Meredith and I dropped off the flowers and table decorations to Alivia’s and into Courtney and Fay’s hands. All would be fine. We dropped off the other flowers to the Nelson Music Room, and we realize that we are actually fairly ahead of schedule. Amazing! With time to kill before our nail appointment, Meredith and I agree – IT’S BLOODY MARY TIME! Therefore, she and I made a quick stop by Tripp’s near Northgate Mall and enjoyed a lovely bloody mary (they make them with Absolut Peppar, give it a shot!) We finished our drinks and made our way to the nail place.
The place was packed, but Cookie had made reservations for everyone; therefore, we got to skip to the front of the line. Meredith and I got started, then Lauren and Cookie arrived. We all got our nails did and they looked great. Cookie had to bolt pretty quick, as her hair appointment was quickly approaching. Once our nails had sufficiently dried, the three of us remaining decided it was big soda time before my hair appointment. We made a dash for the closest BP to get big sodas, then made our way to
Part II coming soon………….
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!!
Owen enjoying his cheezy poofs!
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!
Once those errands were completed, it was time for Mike and me to run our individual errands of the day. This day was particularly exciting for me, as my friends from cyberspace, Darrah and Laura were arriving today! I met Darrah, Laura and Becky (who was arriving on Friday) on an Internet chat board back in 2001. I had just moved to
ANYWAY – I head off to the airport around 11:30 to pick up Darrah. She was scheduled to get in shortly after noon. Unfortunately, the airline had other plans. Darrah was about 45 minutes delayed, but I patiently waited in the terminal reading a book. Honestly, the down time was welcome during what was sure to be a crazy weekend. Finally, I saw her bright red hair coming down the walkway. It was a wonderful reunion!!!! Darrah and I rushed off to meet Lauren for lunch at
After lunch, I had to leave my guest with her host for the evening, as I needed to pick up programs and find out where my parents were! Ran by the printers for the third time over the past two days and was finally able to collect the completed wedding programs. Right after picking them up, I got a call that my parents had just arrived at
“Mom, Dad, you mind if we stop at Neal’s? This is crazy,” I asked. No problem for them, so we stopped and were immediately tended to at the shop. They said it would be about 30 minutes. Mom, Dad and I walked around the corner to Charlie’s, grabbed a drink, and halfway through my beer, we found out my car was ready. Headed over, grabbed the car, good to go. We do the tour – Food Lion,
I drop them off after the tour and head to the front office to leave a note for my Dad about that evening’s plans. Evidently he and my Aunt Julie got stuck in some serious traffic on I-85 due to a sudden rainstorm and not so smart drivers. I figured I would leave him a note about where to meet us. As timing would have it, halfway through writing my note I saw his car pull into the parking lot. I ran out to greet he and my Aunt. Today was truly a great day!! I unfortunately wasn’t able to hang with them too long, as I needed to get back to the house to take a quick shower and prepare for the family Meet-N-Greet that evening.
By this time, the clock is pushing 5:30pm. I quickly, yet safely, drive home, jump in the shower and get ready to meet the family and wedding party at Satty’s. Mike and I both manage to get ready in time and head out shortly before 7pm. We told everyone it was casual and that we would be there around 7 – I expected people to arrive at different times, stay for a bit, then go. Oh no – that is definitely not what happened. Mike dropped me off at Satty’s on his way to get his Mom and Peg. I wanted to make sure Satty’s was ready to go – by now, it was right at 7pm. Satty’s did a great job, and the room was all set up for us. I barely had time to sit my bag down before I saw my parents walk in! Then, Mike’s Aunt, Uncle and cousins! Then Mike and Mom and Peg! Then Dad and Aunt Julie! Then Lauren with Laura and Darrah! Then Meredith! Everyone was there at the same time! Mike and I started all the introductions – and it was a lot of introductions.
Hanging at Satty's (photo courtesy of Darrah)
For the first time, my Stepdad met Mike. Very exciting! All the family members met, the wedding party met the family and vice versa. It was wonderful seeing everyone interact. Lots of big beers were ordered and drank. Lots of pizzas were ordered and eaten. Lots of fried foods were ordered and nibbled upon. The waiter taking care of us was beyond amazing. He never wrote anything down and got every order right every time. Even when it came time for everyone to pay their bills, the guy rattled off exactly what they had! Amazing. Two thumbs up to Satisfactions for providing a wonderful atmosphere for our families and friends to meet. By about 10:30 or so, we had lost a few folks who were tired from traveling, but we still had a contingent that wanted to stay out. Therefore, we paid our bills and wandered across the street to the Joyce.
Meredith, Laura, Neil and Lauren at the Joyce
(photo courtesy of Darrah)
We took over the bar!
(again thanks to Darrah!)
Ahh, the Joyce. It is the heart of our social circle. It was really fun to have my out of town family and friends come over to a bar they had always heard me talk about. They finally got to experience it in all its musty glory. I think everyone who made the walk over had a pretty good time! There were a few more drinks had at the Joyce, but we had to wrap it all up at a reasonable hour. Friday was the day before the wedding – the final preparations, the actual rehearsal and yet another party. We needed to save ourselves for the next day……….
COMING NEXT…..The Rehearsal and Dinner!!!!!
Wednesday
So, I take my car to Neal’s Garage in
I switch to a stationary bike only to be greeted by a ringing phone yet again. “Michelle, it’s Neal’s here. The motor turning the belt is also fried, hence why it is killing your belt. We need to replace that, too.” At this point I explain that I am getting married this weekend and had just planned on getting an oil change, not leaving my car all day. I asked about price (again, very reasonable) and was quoted only an additional hour for the car to be done. “Go for it,” I said. It needs to be fixed, and there is no time like the present. I plug through another 30 minutes of cardio, lift some weights and finally tire of the gym. By now, it is lunch time and I am one hungry bride. COSMIC! I haven’t had a burrito in a while, so I head on down to have a yummy veggie deluxe burrito. Yum. By the last bite, I have a call from Neal’s that my car is ready to be picked up.
After I have my newly repaired car, I head to Whole Foods to pick up some veggie grilling items, and I finally head home. I put together the last remaining items at the house that needed boxed up for wedding venues and waited for Mike to get home. Once he arrived, it was time to go see Mama Brady. She had arrived earlier in the afternoon with her bestest buddy Peg, so Mike and I went to pick them up and take them to dinner. It was great to catch up and hear about all the latest happenings from her, and fill her in on what was going on for the exciting weekend. We had a great meal at Elmo’s and closed the evening at Peg and Mama Brady’s room with a very touching gift giving of family heirlooms. It was meaningful to both Mike and me. We finally left about 9 and headed home to finally put together the dance mix for the reception!
Mike and I popped open a bottle of wine and parked ourselves in the office at the house – scanning through each and every song in the iTunes library upstairs! Mike flipped through tunes, I steamed table runners. We had a great time – so much so we decided we should make playlists together more often. That process lasted well until 3am – we finally needed to head to sleep. Thursday meant the arrival of a large part of our out of town guests – and the real adventure was about to begin!!!!!
NEXT.......Thursday and the get together at Satty's!
Fans of Arrested Development will surely know what this picture means:
My internet pals
For those of you who do not use Craigslist, you are missing out. Although in the past I have had one or two bad transactions (always as the seller, not the buyer), my recent Craigslist transactions have been wonderful.
