Weddingbee Blog

We got to the rehearsal and not very many people were there yet. Our pastor asked if we brought our marriage license and we did not. He asked if we could bring one to ensure it would be there for the wedding, so Mr. Cannon headed back to our house to get it. Then, when Mr. Cannon was almost back to the church, the pastor asked if we had one of our programs he could look over to make sure there weren’t any surprises for him, so I called Mr. Cannon and he went back to the house again to get a program. Luckily we live pretty close to the church, so it didn’t take too long, but it did get us off to a late start.

While Mr. Cannon was gone, everyone started showing up. Some people were arriving from out of town, and my bridesmaids were arriving from shopping trips they made after our nail salon meet-up, so many people were late. One of Mr. Cannon’s brothers and his girlfriend came straight from a Renaissance fair in costume, which certainly added a festive flair to the event. I don’t have any pictures of the rehearsal, but it was pretty simple. We had the guys in the front and the women processed by themselves up the aisle. I (obviously) came last with my parents on either side.

We went over the ceremony and fast-forwarded through most of the parts. We practiced the vows in full so we could remember when to get the rings, and which hand to hold at which time. And, in my typically overly emotional manner, I cried really hard during these practice vows. I could barely talk. And I kept apologizing, and the pastor said to just keep going and stop apologizing. It’s funny, because even though I kind of predicted how emotional the vows would be for me, I didn’t anticipate it being that way during the rehearsal.

We used traditional vows and didn’t write our own, so I thought it might not be as emotional, but it was. Some bees have said the enormity of reciting the same vows that have been said by many over the years held significance for them, but that wasn’t really the case for me. I mean, it’s kind of cool to think of, but that didn’t hold a lot of meaning to me. The thing that hit me was that even though I didn’t write those vows, I meant them so much it was overwhelming. Saying out loud what I feel without even needing to think about it because someone else already knew I would feel that way—because that’s what marriage is all about—is crazy. It was a weird feeling for me.

I’m the kind of person who buys funny greeting cards, but then writes really heart-felt messages inside. I like to express myself and let people know that I spend time really thinking about them. So, I worried that traditional vows might not capture what I felt and continue to feel for Mr. Cannon. But, I felt like I had expressed myself even better with traditional vows than I would have with my own words. I have no regrets over using the traditional vows.

Anyway, after running through the whole thing a couple times, we were off to the rehearsal dinner. You might recall we had a bit of a trial trying to figure out what to do for the rehearsal dinner. We finally picked a buffet at Pizzapapalis. And honestly, although I love Pizzapapalis and the food was great, I kind of wish we’d gone in a different direction. See, Pizzapapalis has an event space, but it allows multiple events in the space at the same time. So, we shared the room with a birthday party and a boy scout event. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but it felt kind of impersonal, and, obviously, not very private. All around we had fun, but it was an odd scene.

After eating and talking with our friends and family for a while, we headed home to finish up some last minute wedding tasks and get some sleep—because we were going to be up early the next day to get married!