Wedding Blog

I’m getting married! In 8 1/2 hours, I’ll be Mrs. Hoops.

So, hmm…where did I leave off?

Wed. night bachelorette party was a BLAST. It was really wonderful–Katie, Stefanie, Mandi, Jess and Claire–my 5 best friends from high school. It was a night of unwinding and chilling with these wonderful girls down on the Plaza (yay! I did get to go back!). Oh, and penis straws, penis pencils, penis pins….yeah, you know the drill.

I only have a few pictures since my camera died early on, but…

Stefanie and I linked arms to drink our Blue Moons:

A super trippy one of Jess after she put together a veil consisting of my bachelorette garter and toilet paper:

More to come…3 hours of drinkings’ worth more to come .

Yesterday was the rehearsal, and this is what I really wanted to blog about.

To the best of my recollection, yesterday was the busiest day of my life. From the moment I opened my eyes in the morning, I was on the move. It was my day of reckoning: Could all the stuff we’ve assembled in the guest room for the past year *really* come together?

Yes, it could.

I took all the big ol’ shipping boxes that B3 has conveniently sent us so far, and labeled them: ballroom, entryway, garden room centerpieces, etc. Then I sorted my life and livelyhood into those boxes. It took hours not only to round up everything, but to divvy our bolt of tulle between the ‘entryway’ and ‘ballroom’ boxes, to make sure the cobalt organza got into the ‘parlor’ box, make sure to put a lighter in the ‘ceremony’ box for the unity candles, etc. And of course, I was doing all this with four other people running around in the house.

Jeanette had cleaned my parents’ great room from top to bottom that morning, and within minutes I had it looking like this:

And the dining room looked like this:

But we sorted and packed and loaded it all up, and then Mr. Blueberry, Chris and I left for the rehearsal. We’d asked everyone to be there at 4:30; we got there at about 4:45.

Now here’s where it gets ugly…my parents didn’t show up until 5:30. I don’t know what took them so long–the venue is about 10 minutes from their house. But for whatever reason, we waited and waited and they just didn’t appear. The caterers had dinner ready, Katie and Stefanie needed to leave for their siblings’ graduation, people were getting antsy, and we were still waiting on my parents. I got really upset about this, understandably. That coupled with the “is the stuff here? Can we unload cars?” well-meaning questions, really started to get to me. Alice came at me with yet another question, and she, Aunt Judy, Katie and I went to talk inside where I could calm down. I was *fuming* at my parents and I really didn’t need this added stress on top of the 30 people I was trying to organize. It was one of the most stressful things I could’ve suffered.

At 5:30, the moment my parents showed up, we got started. We paid extra money to have Gary, our officiant, there. And I’m not sure if that was a good thing or not…he’s a nice guy, but *so* softspoken. I gave him the processional ages ago, and of course he didn’t have it. So off the top of my head I had to remember whose grandma goes first, etc. Then, as soon as I got everyone organized a certain way he would invariably make me switch it all around. Very frustrating.

We started rehearsing with everyone in their places–Mr. Blueberry and me at the front, parents in their seats, all that good stuff. Then we did a recessional. Then we did a quick processional to make sure everyone knew their order. Gary did a real quick practice ceremony, where he mispronounced my last name, forgot that the best man was supposed to have the rings (5 minutes after Mr. Blueberry told him that), forgot we were doing a unity candle ceremony, etc… Once we straightened him out, we recessed again. Then, a slower more orderly processional…everyone walking slowly, etc. Once Mr. Blueberry and I were at the front there, Gary did another quick practice ceremony…of course, forgetting everything we’d *just* told him. Yeesh! After one more recessional, we called it ‘good enough.’ We did a quick and hilarious practice version of the receiving line with Mr. Blueberry’s aunt Sherrill pretending to be all 120 guests, then we decided it was high time for dinner!

I mentioned earlier that we had the venue reserved for dinner, as well as rehearsing. Louie Scimeca’s brought in food, wine, beer, and dessert, and all was good. Katie, Stef and Mandi had helped me set out everyone’s place cards and I put the flower girls’ gifts at their places…of course, I forgot to take a picture of the finished set-up.

Then, because we were *so* ridiculously far behind, Katie had to open her bridesmaid’s gift and dash off. Check it out!:

A crappy photo of the flower girls at their end of the table:

I really liked this one I grabbed of three of them playing with the bubbles from their goody bags:

After the yummy dinner and fun toasts, we got down to work. My system of clearly-labeled boxes and frighteningly explicit directions really came in handy. It worked just like clockwork: people would pick up a box, do what they were supposed to with the contents, grab my final approval, and move on. It was wonderful! I didn’t take any pictures of that, though–you’ll just have to look at the wedding photos! Our relatives were so helpful, and I really appreciated that they didn’t attempt a whole lot of “this is what she asked for, but I like this better so it’s what I’ll do instead…” or anything.

It was also fun, because before we finished I got kidnapped by Laura (Mr. Blueberry’s sister), Shea (his cousin) and Katie (another of his cousins). We all left our moms to finish up the decorating, and ended up back down at Tomfooleries on the Plaza. They bought me a couple drinks and we talked for a while. I’ve never really had cousins my own age, so it was absolutely wonderful to hang out with these girls! I couldn’t ask to be marrying into a better family. I also loved getting to relax with them outside the context of Thanksgiving or Christmas…we may have to make this a regular thing!

Here are some pictures that I forgot to ‘write into’ my narrative above. Thanks to Mandi for taking all of them!

Oh, a quick word about Mandi: As you’ll see below, I wore a white strapless dress to the rehearsal. As I was carrying in a box of soda after the dinner, the front of my dress went down, revealing my bra. And I, in my infinite wisdom, had neglected to pack a change of clothes for myself. This wouldn’t do at all for the unpacking and setting up, so I gave Mandi a key to my parents’ house and she ran home to get jeans and a t-shirt for me. What a good friend!

If a friend of yours is getting married soon, the absolute best thing you can do is BE THERE. Don’t say “how can I help?” Just be patient and available, and I’m sure she’ll offer you a job as soon as she thinks of one. I, for one, cannot ever stand another “who” “what” “how” “why” “when” or “where” question ever again, I’m pretty sure.

Oh wait, I was going to post pictures…

Katie signing the marriage license:

Chris doing the same:

Gotta get Gary’s approval, too:

Here we go!:

Gotta practice walking, too:
(that runner will be covered by an ivory carpet, btw)

Three flower girls, marching in order:

But what happeend to the fourth?

OK, sez I, “Let’s do this again” (love my attitude in this photo ):

Mr. Blueberry and Gary get it started:

After the parents and grandparents, it’s Katie and Chris’s turn:

Now all four flower girls, up in a line:

Time for me and Dad!

And after a quick fake ceremony…

Then it was all over!

PS> I just learned that the reason Mr. Blueberry isn’t smiling in any of these pictures is not because he doesn’t love me, but because he was hungover. I’d like to note that I wasn’t yesterday, nor am I today.

And with that said, I’m off! So much to do today

See ya all from the other side! <3s

::Edit::
OK so I’m walking down the aisle…. jk. I *did* just make eight, count ‘em, eight batches of fudge. Now I’m going to take a quick shower (man, I’ve gotta shave my pits today…no getting around that one) and then go to brunch with my future husband. When we get back I’m gonna slap the groom’s cake together and then run off to my hair appointment. While everyone else is getting their hair done, I’ll do my makeup and nails.

I’m giving my camera to a friend, hopefully I can take a moment before the brunch tomorrow to post some preliminary snapshots of the event.