I do...again, still, always.
I'd like to blame my lack of posting on a new job or something but, alas, I cannot. Although I have been job searching and making healthy, delicious meals with all my new kitchen toys...and maybe playing some Candy Crush.
I believe we left off on The Big Day.
Unsurprisingly, the alarm went off way too freaking early. With a quick shower and base makeup, it was off to the salon. Mom-and Sister-in-Law arrived at the same time I did, and one of my bridesmaids was already there. As a bonus, she brought her son and sister. MIL and SIL brought breakfasty foods and mimosas, so that was nice.
I had picked out a couple of hairstyles a la Kate Middleton...they looked very similar and I wanted to mush them together into one. What I got was...nothing like what I wanted. It was okay. The real winner was 14 year old niece. When I saw her the aunt in me wanted to tell her to take the makeup off, pull her hair down, and put on some dirty jeans; in reality I almost cried at how gorgeous she looked. But that's skipping ahead.
After the salon I had time to run back to my parent's house and mostly finish up my makeup. I was hoping to do a nice dramatic smoky eye, but it didn't turn out all that dramatic. So, in a nutshell, my look wasn't exactly what I'd hoped. Can't have everything, I guess.
Just before I needed to leave, my niece and nephew arrived. My brother has recently gone through a lengthy and painful divorce, and he specifically requested that they be able to attend the wedding and a bit of a reception. I haven't said anything about the whole situation because I don't know who's reading my blog and what consequences my thoughts and opinions could have. But here's a fun example of the way things had gone--the kids showed up very excited that grandma did face paint with mama's makeup! It took a small army and many accoutrements, but they were very cute and free of makeup. Crisis averted and no fits thrown (that I know of). But way to be a horrible person all the time, Mama.
So off we went to church, two of my sisters escorting me. My Phantom of the Wedding was already there getting everything ready. She wanted to show me the floral altar pieces MIL ordered; it was then that I noticed the giant memorial banner. I kind of laughed about it...Happy Wedding, here are all the dead people! It was not there the previous night but...whatever. On with the show.
My girls continued to show up and look gorgeous and I couldn't have been happier to have them all there with me. At one point the wedding coordinator came in and said she didn't like the memorial banner so, yaaay, it came down and wasn't in all of the pictures. One of the things that cracked me up: the guests were starting to arrive and one of Mike's aunts popped in and asked if she could take some pictures. I was at the mirror, which is on the same plane as the door, finishing up my lipstick. The aunt came in and kind of looked around and went "oh, the bride's not here yet?" And as I was trying to hold back my laughter my Diplomat Sister (DS) deadpanned "she's right there." I honestly don't remember how long she stayed or if she took any pictures. Maybe she was looking for a poofier dress or something. I dunno, it just cracked me up.
Ok. So lipstick was on, the beautiful veil that my mom made was in place, and we were all ready. While we were just waiting to walk down the aisle, my Rockstar Sister (RS) asked if we should say a prayer before we went. So we all got together and she said simply (along the lines of) "may we all make it down the aisle without tripping, and may Soldier and Laura make it through life without tripping." It was simple and kind of silly, but it was touching. Then my girls left me and my dad came in. Even though we've been married for a year, I almost cried "leaving" my daddy. He even wore the decorative kerchief I'd gotten in him Paris. Even thinking back on it now it's making me tear up. Stupid feelings and junk.
And then it was time. The door was opened and we started to walk. Everyone was looking at us, at me, but I just kept looking at Soldier. Although I did take a second to wink at my mom. I told Soldier he should cry when I walked down the aisle, but he didn't. He just looked happy...I'll take it. Mass started, and we were about 2 minutes in when I said to myself "dear God why did we pick a full Mass?!" But then SIL did the first reading, Brother did the second reading, and other Brother did the prayers of the faithful; Little Princess was next to me and DS had the ring. I listened to everyone saying the prayers and saw how many people came up for communion, and I was so glad we did a full Mass. It made my heart ridiculously full.
When we said our vows and put on the rings, I forced myself to look into Soldier's eyes even though I'm quite uncomfortable with direct eye contact for prolonged periods of time. I was trying to take in every moment of it and appreciate all the details of our second wedding.
And before I knew it, it was over. We had two wonderful weddings with so many wonderful people and holy crap how did I get so lucky?!
We rushed about to make sure we got all the family pictures and...I think that's a good place to stop. I'll try not to take so long to give you the details of the party. Because you care about that.
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment