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Thursday, July 06, 2006
Wedding Story, Part 2
Liz and I, who were staying in my old room, woke up at o'dark thirty the morning of the wedding. She crawled out of bed soon after to go for a walk. I dozed for maybe another hour before getting up myself. Mom was still up, working on the cake, and hadn't slept a wink. In the wee hours of the morning, she realized the top layer of the cake was too big, and had to start over with it. I have no idea how she made it through the day without sleeping, but there you go.We had a classy breakfast of Disney Princess Poptarts (they had glitter!), got ourselves dressed, and then went and jumped on Robert and Ashley's bed since Ash needed to leave with us in 30 minutes to get our hair done. We got into town in plenty of time to pick out flowers for the bridesmaids hair, but managed to forget my veils and comb. We sent Ashley back home to rescue that, and Liz and I found Cristina already waiting in the salon. It was a little, small town beauty shop, so we got to joke and gossip while the stylists worked on our hair. They all did an awesome job, and Liz ran around with the camera the whole time, snapping pictures. Somehow, the stylist started working with my hair too low, and wound up having to use fake hair to fill in a few empty spots on the comb. No one could believe that, of all people, I didn't have enough hair.
Back home, mom's friend Joan had two yummy quiches waiting, and Dad had brought home bagels and cream cheese and sparkling apple juice. We sent my brother out to get champagne at the corner store, since it had been forgotten and mimosas were required. We chatted and had brunch, and gradually started to get our makeup on and our things packed. Around 3:00, we all loaded up and headed to Third Haven, where the ceremony would be held.
Christine was waiting when we got there, and mom and Jean had already been by to unload everything that we would need. I was more than a little intimidated by getting ready without a responsible adult handy, but everyone else was still busy at the Elk's, setting up the cake for the reception.
There was a minor panic when I realized that I had no idea where anything was and couldn't find my jewelry or shoes. Turned out they were hanging up in plain sight, and I just didn't realize what they were. My dress had never gotten pressed, so I fussed a little about it looking messy before I decided to just believe everyone when they said it was fine. The only major catastrophe was the realization that I had forgotten to bring the wine with me. Since the site told us at the last minute that we weren't allowed to use alcohol in the ceremony, we had found a bottle of dealcoholized wine to use and I wasn't even sure if you could just pop by the liquor store in Easton and replace it. The florist was there, and she was wonderful to go off in search of the wine, and came back with an exact replacement.
Getting ready was a bit of an adventure, as there were no curtains on the windows in the common room and there was no full mirror--only a small looking glass over the bathroom sink.
While we got into our dresses, people gradually trickled in. Dad and Robert showed up first, followed pretty closely by Joye and then the photographer. Not long after mom and Jean arrived, then Jason's family. We doled out the bouquets (holy cow, was mine heavy!) and bouts, which were all beautiful.
From then on, everything was a blur. All at once, it was 4:30, and we were being told to get in line to process from the common room to the meeting house. Jason and I had chosen to memorize our vows instead of having Larry, the officiant, prompt us, and I was terrified that I was going to forget what to say.
Before I knew it, Dad was walking me across the lawn. The meeting house's windows were open, and I could see guests looking back to watch us. I saw our friends Julie and Dan grinning at me, and started to tear up. (There were big bets going about whether I would cry during the ceremony.) A second later, my eyes were adjusting to the dim light inside the meeting house, and I saw Jason waiting at the front of the room looking more handsome than I've ever seen him.
The ceremony itself didn't last nearly as long as I had expected, but I had no sense of time at all while it was going on. I cried, Jason cried, I saw some of the guests crying. We had our mother's help with a wine ceremony, and I remember being impressed that Jason and I didn't manage to spill the wine as we helped each other drink. I also remember that the dealcoholized wine was nasty. We said our vows and exchanged rings, and Larry said a traditional Jewish blessing and kissed up both on the forehead. Then, he turned us around to face the guests, and had to take several moments to look at each of them. It was the first time I was seeing many of the people there, since I had been hiding when they came in. There were people I had never met, and others that I'd known forever. They all smiled when we met their gaze. More tears. We ended the ceremony with Christine binding our hands together with a cord she had made from ribbons and yarns given to us by the family and wedding party.
We kissed, and left through the side door, while the rest of the wedding party led the guests out the front, where a white, Clydesdale drawn carriage was waiting to take Jason and I away. We had a few minutes to walk to another building, through which we would exit to the carriage, and some time inside to be alone and briefly fill each other in on our days. We had only been apart since the night before, but it seemed like so much had happened since then.
Once all the guests were gathered, we left through the front doors of the building, and guests tossed birdseed as we climbed into the carriage. Lesson number one: those things are not graceful to get in to. Lesson number two: birdseed hurts. I can't believe that no one had ever bothered to tell me that being pelted with birdseed isn't a nice thing at all!
The carriage took us down the long lane and around the block, giving the guests time to get off of the property and on their way to the Elk's for the cocktail hour that would proceed the reception. Lots of people waved and honked at us, and a long line of wedding guests followed us part of the way. We circled back to the meeting house for group pictures. It was humid and overcast, and I was glad that I hadn't wanted a large variety of formal portraits. A few full family and wedding party pictures were taken, but not many. A photo was taken of the groomsmen and Jason with and without me, and the bridesmaids and I with and without Jason. The bridesmaid's group shots are some of my favorites. Liz decided that it would be a good idea to climb onto the brick wall at the head of the lane, and rather gracefully made her way up there in her dress. The umbrellas we had bought the night before came in handy, because at about that point, it started to rain. Evidently, the guys had the same idea, because they were also armed with large black golf umbrellas. We used those to pose for the family shots, and the bridesmaids stood under their matching umbrellas, looking super cute.
Formal photos taken, everyone else headed to the Elk's, while the photographer snagged Jason and I for a few extra shots in the meeting house before riding with us in the carriage to the reception. Since it had been raining, the drivers had put a top on the carriage, which made it a very different ride, though it cleared up halfway there.
By the time we arrived, everyone else was waiting. Most of the wedding party was gathered in the foyer, waiting for the grand entry, and our parents, the DJ, and my favorite cousin Danny, who I'd not seen in years, were waiting out front. There was much hugging and talking until Joye came out and yelled at us to "get inside so we could eat." I had noticed that the steps had been decorated with flowers and balloons. What I didn't notice until I got to the door was that someone had tied a crepe paper bell to its handle. I pulled it off, carried it inside, and proceeded to beat the culprit (I thik it was Liz, but really don't remember) about the head and shoulders with said bell.
While the DJ attempted to line the wedding party up in an orderly fashion for the grand entry, someone pointed out that there was a full length mirror in the bathroom, so I snuck in to get a head to toe look at myself for the first time. I think I gasped, and I know I said, "Wow," out loud. I have never felt more like a princess, and the dress with the jewelry and crinoline and everything pulled together looked better than I had imagined.
Before I knew it, the DJ was announcing the party into the reception hall. Parents first, followed by the groomsmen escorting the bridesmaids (with not a little protesting from my brother about not walking with his wife) and Robert escorting Christine. I know that there was music playing, but I couldn't tell you what it was, as I wasn't actually hearing it at the time. Jason and I were supposed to walk in to "I'll Cover You" from Rent, and I didn't even realize it was missing until the DJ came by out table to apologize for not getting it to work. We walked to the center of the room to much applause, Jason spun me once, and we sat down at our private table at the front of the room.
Posted at 10:06 AM ::