when it rains.... installment 1

I have no idea why I've been procrastinating this entry for so long.... I suppose I needed some time to regroup. I must admit that the events of and surrounding the wedding will provide writing (and therapy) fodder for a while. :) Actually, considering the rain, it went remarkably well and everyone stayed in pretty good spirits. Doug and I are happily married, the food was good, the company was good, and if nothing else, this was definately a memorable event for all involved.

Ya know, one of the first things I wanted when Doug and I set out on planning this was for it to be ... and I quote myself in a moment of frustration.... "not another pissant Cecil County wedding".... so THAT it was definately not.

Be careful what you wish for, eh?

The Rehearsal

So the day before getting hitched the rains began in earnest. Lots of it. Torrents of it. But, I got up and got going to Mom's house to meet her before we head out for some time at the spa with plans to up around 2 p.m. at the site. I did mention this was an outdoor event, right? So I call the tent people on the way down and they inform me that the guys should be showing up by 9:30 or so, which is good. I call the lady that owns the property where the wedding is to be held, Mrs. Taylor, and let her know.

I get to Mom's, she's not quite ready to go, so I take some time to have DJ (my brother and for this event, the leader of The Brothers) unload the set up stuff from the car, and give him a list with some last minute stuff. We end up running pretty darn late to our spa appointments. I call and let them now. Mom and I get pretty tense with each other. Lateness is an issue in our family -- well, she's often late because she's trying to do too many things at once, and I am because, well, I get it honest. So when I'm on time, I tend to get testy with those that are running late because odds are, I'm barely on time, or am running late for the time I set myself. But hey, we got there and just as we're pulling up I get a call from Mrs. Taylor and she says the tent guys aren't there. So I call the tent people and give them a bunch of crap. At this point we're less than 30 minutes late for our appointments but I'm stuck on the phone with the tent people for another 20 while they figure out what's up and correct it.

I am now addicted to the following: massages, facials, pedicures, and manicures. I had my first pedi and facial at the bridal shower Lexi threw while she was in town (lovely!) so going the day before the wedding for more was a special treat for Mom and I. We really enjoyed it -- she even took my cell phone away from me so I wouldn't have to deal with anymore B.S. while we were there.

We run a few errands and get back home. Starving, we are starving. Have to load up to set up and at this point we're both late, in fact, we're all running late. Doug had to go to the site by himself to meet the tent people because his parents disappeared with Jon and Jen (later we found that they had to shop, which J and J were not expecting) then came back to the house in order to change and head back to the site (which is thirty minutes from our house). At Mom's the rain has picked up even harder and we grab something to eat -- in the time it takes most Moms to make sandwiches, my Mom has steak fried and sliced across crisp greens, tomatoes, and real blue cheese-- so at least we are ready to face the elements.

We start slogging through the set up and the minister arrives so -- bottom line -- it gets a bit crazy. We go through rehearsal. Have some jokes, get kept in line by the minister, Michelle, since she knew we did have to get out of there at some point-- have a huge blowout with my Mom (it's a prerequisite, I think) and get absolutely, soaking, clothes clinging to the skin, hair straggling, muddy, wet. Then go to the rehearsal dinner and hour late.

Doug's parents and sister had decorated the restaurant, Matilda's, beautifully and have waited patiently for everyone to get there. The dinner went off really well, the food was wonderful. Matilda's is an Australian restaurant and one of our favorites. Everyone really got along well. Doug's niece, Jaime, thought that Raven was really cool -- which made her day, the parents got along, my brothers really liked Jon, Jen and Raven hit it off -- it was interesting watching people meet for the first time and all get along. I got a kick out of it.

I think that evening it really finally sunk in that the wedding was really going to happen the next day -- literally, rain or shine. Jen and Raven went home with me, Doug and Jon went to a hotel. It was good to have the company that night. Nothing wild and crazy that night, just a much needed hot shower and some time to reflect.

Here are some pics from around the rehearsal time -- so far we don't have the proffessional pictures back, so most of these have been kindly donated by friends and family with some editing....

So, this is where the wedding was supposed to take place. A very lovely open field behind an equally lovely house with charming accents around the property. The Taylor's, who own said property are just amazingly wonderful people, too. Needless to say we were excited when they offered to let us have the wedding there.

Pretty....

Pretty...

RAINY!

The day before the wedding, this is how much standing water was on my Mom's porch. Lots, and lots and lots.

Mom taking a sugar-free popsicle break after we got back from being pampered. Her shirt says "If you're rich, I'm single." I love it.

Aren't they cute? Daryl (front) and DJ (back) on one of their multiple trips loading the car. Notice how the grass is a bit brown? That's because it hadn't rained significatly for weeks before the wedding.... weeks.

Betty Lynn is a friend of the family -- and really just did amazing things with the setup of the tent later in that evening. I think when I took this picture, I told her that I had to because she was the only one in the house still smiling....

"No, Trevor, you have to go THIS way!"

Fortunately my cousins Billy and Trish both have young children that they let me borrow for the wedding. Brynn was very serious about being a flower girl, she practiced for months... Trevor is less than two years old and will follow her wherever she goes... mostly... and I was thrilled that they could both participate.

At some point, you have to stop giving orders and start taking them. That was the hard part. Michelle, our minister did a great job getting us to buckle down and iron out the final details. At that point I was too stressed to be effective and poor Doug was exhausted with helping me cope. (see there's Betty Lynn and Mom still decorating! )

This is the main table -- Betty did he arrangement in the gold pail. Everywhere else we had big bright mums. As you can tell we were going for a bit of an autumn harvest theme as far as the decorating went. The cool thing about combining the ceremony and reception site was that what I thought would not be enough flowers actually ended up being a whole lot for the small space.