Saturday morning I crawled out of bed around 8 (I think?). Took a quick shower and tried to make my hair look a little nicer than usual. After meeting Abby, Jessica, Becca and Phoebe at the church and getting things arranged there we all dispersed again. The other girls headed for the reception hall and Jenn and I hit up CVS for some last minute supplies. I had Jenn drive so I could eat my banana with peanut butter, and we had our first mishap of the day. As we were pulling out, Jenn put the car into first a bit forcefully, and rammed her finger into the table knife she had put in the cupholder for me to use with the peanut butter. She had put it knife end up in an attempt to keep it clean, and then I managed to drop it on the floor anyway 😦 No major damage done, but there was some blood and I’m sure plenty of pain.
After picking Darren (a good friend from Oregon) up from Miriam’s we stopped by my parents for a table cloth and band aids. On to the reception hall where we set the 100+ glass pieces. Phoebe, Jess and Becca filled the jars and vases with flowers while Abby and I placed them. Jennifer and Darren tried out the piano and entertained us with some interesting variations on Andrew Lloyd Webber. After a while they headed outside to put up signs to direct people through the tricky parts of getting to the hall. Abby G. and Eder called and got directions to join us. I think they showed up just as my bridesmaids and I were leaving. It would be interesting to find out how things went after we left. It’s a fascinating experience having this day come together that I oversaw the planning of. I saw one piece of the puzzle, but there were whole other sections that I never really heard how they came together. It felt good that I had put enough planning in that everything went smoothly without me.
The girls and I stopped by the church for a quick lunch made by a couple of Carol’s (my new mother-in-law) friends and planned by my mom. I think I might have sat down for 5 minutes tops. That’s part of the problem of having done almost all of the planning myself; it was easier to just take care of the little details than try and describe them to someone else. The photographer arrived and I remember being surprised at how young he was. We had never actually met. He’s from Michigan and I had found him on craigslist. I was picturing him in his late 40s maybe early 50s. I think he was closer to mid-30s. He and his wife who was assisting him were friendly and a joy to work with.
We were a little late heading over to the hair salon, and when we arrived we realized that things were going to take alot longer than anticipated. They had another bridal party in, so they only had one woman who could do updoes to work with us. Thankfully, Jennifer and I had decided not to get our hair done, and I was the only one who needed to be back at the church by 2 because we were starting with family pictures. I was sad that I wasn’t able to stay to see all the girls get their hair done, and that only Jennifer was able to help me get ready, but in the grand scheme, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Meryl showed up at one point because she had been across the street at the Brew. We did have about 45 minutes or so to hang out and chat while Jess was getting her amazingly beautiful long hair curled.
Jenn, the photographer, his wife and I all headed back to the church around 1:45. While I was getting ready in the nursery, Phoebe came in to tell me that the boutonnières had accidentally been put in the freezer, but that she was going to remake them! Ok, no problem, if worse comes to worse, there just won’t be boutonnieres, not the end of the world, the girls won’t take their bouquets with them for pictures, I was toying with that idea any way….breath. Mom came in and we had a moment 🙂 Awww… I’m her baby, and the last to get married. I can’t imagine what that must have felt like for her.
Pictures with the families were one of the most stressful parts of my day. It took quite a while to get everyone organized just to start, especially because people were late and ties had to be put on etc. I think I was also stressed out about the girls getting done in enough time to get ready to do pictures outside. breath… it’s ok, there will be plenty of time, you’re not going to make this go any faster by getting upset… breath There was one particular moment before pictures started when I was rushing around doing last minute things (like leaving the marriage license on the back pew so Mary, Mike and I could sign it right before the ceremony) and trying to figure out where everyone was that sticks out to me. Jono, Drew and Nathan were hanging out in the foyer as I came sweeping by on some mission or other. Jono stopped me and said “Stephanie, you should know that you look amazing right now” as the other two nodded their agreement. awwwwwww… I think I hit new levels of red as I blushed. Once they got going, pictures went smoothly other than Shemaya being a bit fussy. Another nice moment was when I saw Mike for the first time that day. He looked really handsome (of course) and it reminded me what this whole experience was about. It helped me calm down alot.
After the family pictures were done, I tracked down the bridesmaids who were almost ready and finishing up with the last touches. I went down to the kitchen where phoebe was hurriedly putting together boutonnières. I started wrapping the bouquets with ribbon and Phoebe finished up with the men’s bouts just as I was finishing up with the bouquets. It was kind of fun having a small hand in putting together my girl’s flowers. And it was a time for me to stop rushing around and do something. I felt badly because I knew that I had “disappeared” without telling anyone where I was, but I figured they’d find me. My bridesmaids showed up about the time I finished and I had them take their bouquet and their respective man’s bout and track the guys down. I found out later they had been taking pictures in the sanctuary. Boutonnières were pinned and we were ready to roll.
The bridal party, Mike and I and the photographer and his wife drove over to the college where we made use of it many aesthetically pleasing locations to take some sweet pictures. I can’t wait to see how they turn out. We even got a few in front of the science building where Mike and I first met as chemistry partners. Sadly I didn’t bring along a pair of lab goggles like I had been think of 😉
Then back to the church for a quick wait before the ceremony. Oh! and about that time my Evanston babies showed up. They looked SO cute in their little outfits. Kate was talking up a storm. Unfortunately, Owen had just woken up from a nap and it became clear very quickly that he wasn’t going to be walking down the aisle. I hadn’t really expected them to, but I knew they would look super cute, and I thought there was a small chance if they were in a good mood. I got to hang out with them briefly before my bridesmaids and I took a few pictures at the front of the church. Then we went to one of the classrooms to hang out. I remember going up to the door at the front of the church hoping to catch Darren in enough time to tell him to blow out the candles as he left because he’d be one of the last ones out. I caught a bit of Beth playing Bach’s prelude from suite 1 for cello and realized that it was almost time for the family to start sitting down which meant it was almost time to start!
Lady In Green 
Leave a Reply