Here goes....
-At 1:30 (we had to leave for the church by 2:30), my Dad realized that he had left the pants to his suit in my hometown, 2 hours away. So he made a frantic run to Macy's and picked up some pants. He was back right at 2:30!
-People were late for pre-ceremony photos. We still had time left over.
-The heat index was 110 that day. We would take 10-15 minutes of photos outside, then go in for 20 minutes or so. That way no one looked like a sweaty mess. Ideal? No. Workable? Of course.
-We did a receiving line before the wedding, but tons of people arrived right at 5 (when the ceremony started), and we ended the receiving line at about 4:45. So we missed some people. We ended up catching 95% of our guests between the receiving line and the reception.
-The church had ac pouring out of vents where the guests were sitting, but the vents on the stage where we were were not functioning. We were pouring sweat throughout the entire ceremony.
-My shoes KILLED my feet. I still have scars 2 weeks later. I just wore my flats I brought whenever I could. But those heels were so gorgeous they were hardcore worth it.
-We didn't get a formal picture with my grandmother. The photographer actually got a candid shot that is way better than any posed picture could've been.
-We caravaned to Forest Park, and no one knew where to meet (apparently the designated meeting spot was a mystery to everyone), so the first 10 minutes (and we only had 40 minutes) were spent trying to get everyone to the same place. This was stressful, but it worked out. People got to spend a bit more time in air conditioned cars, so it was probably for the best!
-Some of the ushers made a pit stop so we were 15 minutes late for our reception entrance.
-Ryan and I messed up on our first dance. He had a tough time navigating my dress and we ended too early (which was totally my fault). It was fine, we just stood there and made out. No one noticed the mess ups. I'm 100% sure they noticed the making out.
-I drank too much champagne on an empty stomach and had a rough 10 minutes wondering if I was going to puke or not. I wasn't drunk, just a bit tipsy at worst (or best, right?), but I missed some crazy antics on the dance floor. I barely ate that day and the whole week before, so that did not help. Don't worry, I didn't puke!
-The bustle ripped out of my dress so I had a half-*ssed train for most of the night.
-This is the biggest one. The bartenders for the reception was the woman who ran the Polish Heritage Center and her husband. We'd been paying them with checks for deposits, etc for a year with no problems, and figured that we'd be paying the bartenders (which we booked through the hall) the exact same way. Ryan's mom went up to pay her, and that's when the woman who ran the center insisted that she wanted cash. Like $200 in cash. So Ryan's Dad and my Dad had it all worked out, and the lady was going to get her d*mn cash. Ryan and I are dancing to the last song, kind of by ourselves towards the back of the hall, and the woman comes up to us demanding like $300 (a 3rd keg had to be tapped, so thats where that extra hundred comes in, but I hadn't heard a thing about any of this..it was all news to me and a bit of a shock!). Apparently my face just fell, Ryan's mom comes dashing up to try to intercept the woman, and it was just really sucky in general. I think I cared for a grand total of 3 minutes.
I think about every thing that could've gone wrong...and it was quite a bit, because we had no wedding coordinator or day of coordinator to handle it for us. We brought everything in ourselves, separately, and there is so much that could've gone south. But it didn't. We have an amazing family, equally incredible friends, and they all wanted us to have a beautiful day. And we most certainly did.
It was such a huge, intense, emotional, overwhelming, gorgeous, blissed out day, that it would've taken sooooo much more than what happened to bring me down even a little bit. That's why I say I didn't care, because it all felt so small and insignificant and silly and 100% inconsequential compared to the day itself.
Let crap go wrong, you'll be so up high on Cloud 9 that you won't even notice!
And the lady who ran the center called and apologized to Ryan, which was nice. Happy endings all around!
What went wrong at your wedding? Did you give a rat's *ss?
It had been a long day and I guess I was a little stir crazy. That must explain this:
We're all ready!
WOOHOO open and affirming churches! I made them keep the sign up for the wedding. Not really made them but just asked nicely. You catch my drift.
Then Ryan and pretty much everybody arrived all in one fell swoop. Apparently the itinerary had said West Argonne Street when it was actually East Argonne Street, which led to a panicked discussion as to if the invitations said East or West. Luckily, they said East. Whew. Also Ryan was super excited to kick off the most photo-heavy weekend of his life. Obviously.
Our amazing officiant arrived and we knocked out the rehearsal in 40 minutes or so. We ran through it twice and figured out logistics...it was all pretty easy since it was so simple. We didn't have big bridal parties or anything, so it was lots of "who opens what door when" and "who walks down with who when." So exciting I forgot to photograph it! Then we all headed a block or so over to Mike Duffys, the sight of our rehearsal dinner.
Maids of honor + me during pre-ceremony pics.
Married!
Melissa and I, getting ready to head to the church.
Cake! Ryan surprised me with. No words people, no words. Best cake ever. And the vases with the carnations and branches were our centerpieces.
B-maids + me in Forest Park by some rocks Ryan loves.
