06/07/08

It was sure to be a BIG day for weddings... see the significance? 06/07/08
I was blessed to have a wedding yesterday and the couple chose this particular day because of those numbers.

The temperature was in the high 80's, 100% humidity (okay, maybe not that high but it seemed like it), with a 30% chance of a thunderstorm but we set the ceremony up outside anyway (without a tent!) and watched as the wind blew in and tipped over the decorative trees that had been placed around the perimeter of the seating area. No worries, we moved the trees inside to the reception hall and used them as decoration there. Note to brides-to-be... no tent is like no net in a high-wire act.

We had to work around traffic heading to a horse auction and a couple of shouts from vehicles passing by. A simple traffic re-routing was all it took to keep the dust down, couldn't do anything about the shouts.

The caterer's husband had been in surgery the previous day and was rushed back into the operating room Saturday morning. She arrived up with the food, a helper, and a back-up plan that allowed her to leave if necessary.

The bartender had been ill all week prior to the wedding but she showed up ready to work.

The bride's hair stylist changed the way she wanted to do her hair and exceeded the allotted time for the appointment (yep, my schedule went out the window for a couple of hours). The bride frantically called to say she wanted the flowers for her hair delivered to the hair salon instead of to the ceremony site as planned. Thankfully I was able to catch the florist (a terrific woman) at her shop as she was loading her vehicle, she was able to oblige at the last minute.

When the flower arrived, they were stunningly beautiful! The florist helped the baker place a cascade of orange lilies, gerber daisies, and peach roses down the side of the chocolate frosted cake... absolutely gorgeous!

We were able to rush the girls into the motor home they dressed in and have them all ready for a few pre-ceremony photos (back on schedule, much to my relief!).

The father of the bride dressed into a tuxedo that was a few sizes too large and decided to switch with the Best Man at the last minute only to switch back and have the person they rented the suits from do a quick alteration (another terrific woman).

The Maid of Honor had, for a very long time and very loudly, proclaimed that she would NEVER wear straps on her dress. After tugging on the dress repeatedly to keep it from exposing her top half, I was able to convince her to attach the straps to the dress.

The bridesmaids were 2 gorgeous young ladies who went with the flow and did whatever was requested of them. The flower girls were sisters who are absolute dolls. The ring bearer, brother of the flower girls, proudly sported his Mohawk haircut as he carried the monogrammed pillow (actually tossed it a few times...).

Once the handsome groom dressed in his chocolate brown tux was corralled, the bridal party lined up behind him to walk to the ceremony site, we were right on time :)

The radiant bride shed some tears as she rode up to the ceremony site with her dad in Wendy's Hummer. She was overwhelmed by the idea that all of her guests were actually there for her. She stepped out of the vehicle as the bridal attendants began their procession.

The ceremony was short but meaningful as the couple spoke their vows before 150 witnesses seated under the hot, June sun.

The groom made a tender-loving comment to his bride when they had come back down the aisle, he told her how beautiful she was and said he would love her forever.

The party was just that, a party. I'm sure the long awaited wedding day was over before the couple knew it. I hope their big day was everything they had hoped for and more. I'm glad to have been able to be a part of it.

I'll post some photos I took on my iPhone tomorrow. Tonight I'm spending some time with the boys... going to see the "Indiana Jones" movie... if I can stay awake.