Weddingbee Blog

Or perhaps more accurately, sleepless in the Seattle suburbs. After a tiring day before the wedding one would think that I would have crashed after our yummy rehearsal dinner. Unfortunately, there were still things to do before my head could hit the pillow. I reserved a hotel room for myself and bridesmaids S and R. Since R and her husband had just arrived in town I was excited for a little girl time. However, I’m sure she was exhausted from the plane ride. Before we retreated to the hotel, we had to first stop at Mr Pretzel’s townhouse.

At this point the iPod mixes for the two 10 minute band intermissions were not complete. Thankfully, Groomsman M took over this task for me when we arrived. Mr Pretzel and I snuck upstairs to exchange gifts. He had insisted that we exchange gifts in person and I wanted us to open our gifts in private so we settled on opening them together at our house before I escaped to the hotel for the night. We sat at the foot of the bed and I was giddy with anticipation as he opened my hand-made card.

Mr P’s nickname for me is {Firstname} T-Rex and my nickname for him is King Stink—just trust me, both nicknames are loving terms of endearment. I burned the {Firstname}T-Rex loves King stink image on a Gocco screen and in addition to the card I also printed a set of custom handkerchiefs.

I knew that on our wedding day Mr P would put the hankies to good use. He and I both tend to tear up at emotional and joyous events so I expected we would both need hankies. As he read my card I wiped away a tear from his cheek. The realness of our wedding the next day became much more tangible. He tore the wrapping paper from his gift and for a moment he looked confused. A small hardcover book titled “diary of a housewife” seemed to be sporting a familiar set of legs. As he thumbed through the boudoir book a smile crept over his face. He asked, “When did you do this?”   I smiled in return. Whew—I had managed to surprise him!

I printed a few of the photos from my boudoir session with Mrs Cherry Pie in a lovely square book from Adorama. I love Adorama books because they have seamless two page spreads. Mr P loved the book because, well, it was Pretzel filled.

Excited that I actually managed to surprise him, I turned my attention to the large box sitting next to Mr P. A couple of months earlier Mr P had proudly informed me that he had scored my wedding gift on Woot.com. I tried hard not to think too hard about what it could be but I have to admit, I was stumped. Woot.com is a deal a day site that primarily deals in electronics, but has a seemingly random stock of items for sale.

Mr P looked at me and told me that with all the errand running and preparations he had done that day he didn’t have time to buy or make me a card. But, if he did have time, he would have gotten me a journal and on the front he would have written “Stuff I am going to do.” Tears welled up in both of our eyes. The journal “Stuff I am going to do” is from the movie Up. The main character’s wife showed him her adventure journal when they were 8 years old. It had mementos of the adventures that she already had (at age eight) and had a page titled “Stuff I am going to do,” followed by a whole lot of blank pages. The plan was to fill in the blank pages with the adventures of her life. The two get married and the journal gets forgotten until they were faced with tragic events. The husband dusted off the book and they refocused their attention on having the adventures that they had planned as kids.

So yeah, with only a short speech from my soon-to-be husband I was a blubbering teary mess. He told me that his gift will help us fill up the pages of our imaginary “Stuff I am going to do” journal. I managed to open the big box and found my very own dSLR camera and kit lens.

For months I had told Mr P that we should upgrade to a dSLR and that I really wanted to learn to take better photos. A couple of times I tried to steer him towards the cameras in a store but he always rerouted me. Apparently he was petrified that I would buy one on my own and spoil his surprise. I love my Pentax K20D. The model is a couple of years old, but still a great camera. It’s a couple steps above an entry dSLR and I appreciate that the camera is forcing me to learn how to shoot. It feels like 90% of the world shoots Canikon but I’ve fallen in love with Pentax—there is a part of me that loves shooting something outside the norm. Mr Pretzel did his research too, the model I got may not have been the most current model but is a steps beyond a starter dSLR.

We spent a couple of minutes alone before I pulled myself together. We said our goodbyes and the girls and I headed off to our hotel. Bridesmaid R shared the king bed with me and Bridesmaid S crashed on the sofa bed in our suite. I was full of nervous energy and wanted to chat, but I know R was tired so I tried to go to sleep. I couldn’t seem to quiet my brain, though. Thoughts about what we need to do in the morning and things I needed my mom or MOH to do raced though my head. Numerous times during the night I woke up from fitful sleep and typed a reminder on my cell phone. 2AM, 3:45, 4:30, 5AM… I don’t think I slept for more than 45 minutes at any given time. Looking back I wish I had taken a sleep aid. Poor R, I don’t think she got much sleep sharing a bed with me.

How are you planning to unwind the night before your wedding? Anyone else have a sleepless night before the wedding?

Up next, Pretzel wedding day is finally here and the girls get ready!

Need to catch up?

Twisted Together, aka Pretzel recaps:

• In the last week we got a little help from our friends
• Take a closer look at our favors
• Take a closer look at our programs
• We welcomed our guests to Seattle
• We took in a ball game
• Sipping tea and bridal party pampering
• We rehearse, I stress
• Nom, Nom, Rehearsal Dinner on the beach Pt 1
• Giving Gifts, Rehearsal Dinner on the beach Pt 2