Weddingbee Blog

Hiiiiiiii… remember me? I know it’s been a while…

Maybe a wedding is a teensy (teensy weensy) bit like childbirth. By that, I mean that what comes after the wedding can be so wonderful that fast forward eight months and I’m already beginning to forget the not so great things.

That said, I figured I should hop on my recaps before I forgot the stark reality of wedding stress.

Our caterer provided a wealth of stress during the planning process and on the actual wedding day. Suffice it to say, there were questions on both our ends regarding the contract. We should have separately contracted for the tent/chair/set up with the tent rental company, and not accepted the offer of “help” from the catering company. The final decision, was that my father would set up the ceremony chairs with help from my brother in law and neighbor, leaving the caterer with the full 2 hour window she would have had anyway prior to the start of the reception (not that I’m bitter).

To give you an idea of the timeline, it ran like this:

5PM - D’orsay Dad and Crew arrive to set up chairs/ceremony space

6:30PM- D’orsay Dad and Crew must be in places, showered, dressed and ready to walk down the aisle.

This must have been incredibly stressful for my father, and he never once let on how hard it was on him. He did not get to stay with me when I got ready, he did not get to hang out and joke around with his soon to be son in law while he prepared himself, and he was not able to relax until we headed down the aisle.

At about 4:40 PM after getting ready at my parents’ house—everyone went into a flurry of action. Team Bridal D’orsay packed the cars (why didn’t we do this around noon?), and I nearly had a meltdown over getting the cake stands into the car (why? I have no idea). My father had already left to begin chair set up, so the ladies of the D’orsay party hopped in their cars and sped off to Oakland Manor.

Upon our arrival (15 minutes late) we stayed in our amped up state of “ready”. Confusion was reigning supreme as I switched the bridal “get ready” room to downstairs (good call with my 4 inch heels) and somehow a few ceremony chairs were already set up? Mrs. Avocado and my cousin sprung into action to set up the pomanders, lavender toss packets, program fans and anti mosquito packets, while my Dad tried to figure out just what exactly was going on with the ceremony set up.

The D’orsay men were about to be photographed, and the ladies and I retreated to the library to continue getting dressed.

Thank god someone remembered to bring champagne.

(all photos by the fabulous Evan Bishop)

Previously:

• US meets UK: Getting Ready