I don't want to forget this past weekend. I keep reading that I should get my wedding on paper... but this is the best I can do for now. We're on our "honeymoon" (aka "staycation") so I'm sitting through the 'Book of Eli' (I've already wikipediad'ed the plot because I know I'll inevitably miss the key parts) and I'm guessing I'll just start somewhere.
The week of the wedding (December 13-19) was also finals week at school. I had put off all wedding related items for the week before finals because I had MAJOR projects due (remember the taking volunteers post?) so that left finals week a mad dash to complete wedding madness. I tried to get what finals I could out of the way early on in the week, but this still meant I was working on school stuff up to Wednesday night. On Wednesday morning, my to-do list looked like this (everything completed by Wednesday evening is in purple):
- Decide on Old/New/Borrowed/Blue
- Gather all accessories and odds & ends
- Type & cut escort cards
- Type & print programs
- Cake cards
- String on escort displays
- Count jars
- Paint signs
- Wrap gifts, write notes for bridesmaids
- Buy fabric for pipe & drape, entry table, piano top
- Buy general cake servers and our cake server
- Schedule spray tan, nail appointment
- Color hair
- Paint toenails
- Finish fabric chandy
- My bouquet
- 6 boutoneires
- Make more bunting
- Burn "Belief" for DJ
- Print timelines for DOC, DJ and myself
- Cake table box layout
- Make ring pillow
- Pack everything
- Make ribbon wands
- Make mini cake buntings
- Finish cake topper initials
- Write checks for vendors
- Pay for cakes
- Finish English final
- Type English blog review
- Take on campus part of Religion final
What did this mean? This meant I stayed awake Thursday night (morning?) until 5:30 am. Justin went to the bowling alley that night and stayed gone until close to midnight. I wanted so badly to be mad at him for being able to go out and chill with his friends while I busted my butt, but I later realized this was senseless, as the odds of me actually letting him do anything to help were slim to none. I'd rather do something myself than take the time to explain it AND risk it not being done the way I wanted.
Sometime in the early morning hours, I watched 'Clerks II' on Comedy Central and snapped these pics of the completed bouquets and completed boutonnieres:
At 5:00 am I made myself lay down... I was asleep not too long after 5:30. Duke woke me up at 8:00 and it was all systems go. Justin was already gone, picking up the rental tables with his dad and delivering those before a chiropractors appointment and his work Christmas lunch at The Blue Hair Cafe (aka Heritage Cafeteria). I can't even remember what I did that morning... but I know it involved running around, coffee, and picking up our tablecloths.
At the tablecloth rental place, the owner said, "You're getting married tomorrow?" I answered yes and she proceeded to tell me I was VERY calm for someone about to get married in 24 hours. After leaving there, I started trying to hyperventilate. I kept taking VERY deep breaths and was speeding to get to the location just so I could be around people (this seemed to be a running theme... being around people made me not freak out). I wasn't nervous about the wedding, I was nervous about getting everything done. I was looking at this as a job... that had to be completed or I'd suffer utter FAIL-dom.
Justin was at the firehouse before he was due at his Christmas lunch, so we unloaded my car and our day-of-coordinator/friend of the family showed up to help set up. We started with tables, then chairs. My cousin/friend/bridesmaid, her husband and sweet daughter came to help as well, followed by my aunt (cousin/friend/bridesmaid's mom) and another bridesmaid later on. We got the tablecloths out, ran the black kraft paper runners down the tables and started on the jars and table numbers. Justin left early on and I would've been doing set-up alone had it not been for cousin, husband, aunt, friend of family. LIFE SAVERS.
I sent everyone on their way except the bridesmaid that had just shown up with her sweet baby boy when Justin got back. My mom also go there... which was wonderful. We worked on hanging the fabric chandelier and then left to change clothes and come back for the rehearsal. Before coming back to the rehearsal, we purchased wine for the reception.
We pulled up at the firehouse and Justin dropped me off to unlock the door for those waiting on us and for some reason in that moment, I got nervous. Nervous that I was just about to start practicing my wedding. A wedding that was the very next day. ZOMG.
We got everyone gathered and ran through the ceremony. It went quickly and we only needed one time through. We ordered pizza and hung around, chatting, working on odds and ends. We assembled the cake table, my parents and sisters finished the second escort card display and I puttered around doing last minute arranging. Our bunting was hung from the super high ceilings thanks to a home-builder groomsman and I left Justin there with a few of the guys, knowing that I still had to do the seating arrangements and stamp the escort cards.
At home, I tried to work on the seating assignments but the table numbers were off so I was only able to do one side. After a shower, I burned the song we were walking down the aisle to and fell into bed to pass out nearly immediately at 1:30 am. Sleepy time for the bride...
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