The Wedding Day - minus the wedding

In an effort not to sound like I now know everything there is to know about weddings, I can only relate my side of my wedding day. But I do feel that this process of planning, executing, and enjoying our dream wedding has taught me more about family, friendship, patience, and acceptance than I expected. Maybe I even learned a few "rules" about wedding planning that, not surprisingly, work in other areas of life as well.

I forced myself to sleep in until 8 am on the big day. I naturally love going to sleep around 11 pm, and that simply would not do tonight. The night before, after the rehearsal dinner, we were home by 9:30, but I had to wash my hair, pack for the wedding night, finish last minute wedding day details, and (yay procrastination!) write my letter to Terry for the ceremony. I finally got to bed around 11:30. A good amount of sleep, and I hoped adrenaline would do the rest. Here's the first thing I learned from the big day: Get some sleep. This works in life, too. Sleep makes everything clearer, including your eyes. Sleep reduces stress, limits your chances of getting sick, helps you think clearly. I once read an article that said there are no health detriments to sleep. So I slept, and it worked out quite well for me.

Speaking of working out, I couldn't work out that morning, though I would have loved to, because I wouldn't be able to wash my hair again (Ashley's rules). So I did a few push ups - good enough, I guess. (Perhaps rule #2: If you can't work out, do a few push ups?) I headed out to see what everyone was up to. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I guess my (28-year-old) brother watching SpongeBob and my parents reading the paper wasn't it. I ate some berries and cottage cheese. I showered without washing my hair. I organized the last few items for the wedding. I played with the cat.

I guess I thought the day was supposed to feel...different. But, aside from a conspicuous feeling of glee in my belly, today felt no more special (or less, to its credit) than any other day. And I was bored.

Finally, Mom, Ashley, and I headed to the hair appointment. My dad picked up the girls, we grabbed bagels, and we all met at the salon. Three hours later, our hair gorgeous, we headed back to the house to finish getting ready. This point brought my only stress for the day - I was nervous that we were almost an hour behind my little schedule. But we worked out a plan for Ashley to do Fay's hair at the house, and we were off, all shoved into my dad's Tahoe - I only wish I had a picture of all the girls with beautiful hair squeezed into the truck. Adorable.

But then it turned out being "late" was a good thing. We had approximately 45 minutes to do our makeup, which meant we could do a great job but we couldn't dawdle. Perfect. This part is one of my favorite memories of the day - drinking champagne with the girls, running around borrowing each other's makeup, listening to Heidi's awesome music mix. When our photographer, Rhee, arrived (five minutes early - amazing), I felt relaxed and excited. We finished up our makeup, the girls got dressed, and we all teamed up to get me in my dress. Hilariously, the girls all took turns buttoning me up.

Leaving the house turned out to be far more emotional than I expected. I stood in my parents' entry way, where I used to spend hours dancing in my socks, and I had to take a moment to acknowledge that I was in the same spot but in my wedding gown. Crazy. Then we limo'd over to the ceremony, disappointed along the way that my dad hadn't arranged a police escort. Next rule for weddings/life: If you want a police escort, arrange ahead of time.

In total, the day was quite calm. Is 'calm' the right word? Perhaps I meant 'dull' - if it weren't for my parents and bridesmaids, it would have been up there with studying chemistry. Thankfully, the girls made it fun and my dad kept trying to make me cry, so we were good. Finally, it was 4:45, the guests had almost all arrived, and we were lining up outside the doors.

At this point I shall take the opportunity to gush about my amazing bridesmaids. While the day could have been stressful, frenzied, tense, or anxiety-ridden, my girls kept me laughing, helped solve any problems that threatened to arise, and made sure I wanted for nothing. So here's one of the biggest pieces of advice: Choose excellent bridal party members. Choose people who will make you feel good, who will laugh with you, who want the best for you. In life, same thing: choose great friends. It makes everything more fun.