My last post was about how stressful my engagement process became. If you thought that was rough, buckle up. My wedding day was worse.
CAR TROUBLES
It was 7:30 am on the morning of my wedding. I woke up to thunder and heavy rain outside my (then) best friend’s and my Airbnb. It was supposed to be an outside wedding. I wasn’t worried, though. We had time for everything to clear up. I rolled over to check my phone. 3 missed calls from my brother, Todd. I instantly was stressed. He never called, and he had stayed with my dog the night before. I saw a text from him, “Hey, in the middle of the night, did you come pick up your car?” I was confused. I had driven down with my bestie in her car. I called him. “Hey, did you come to pick up your car? It’s not here…,” he said. Instant panic set in. “No,” I said. I hung up a minute later and called my dad, absolutely panicking. “Dad, I think my car got stolen in the middle of the night. Todd told me it was not there this morning when he woke up.” My dad helped me somewhat calm down. He told me he would go to the apartment complex to talk to the lady there to see if he could obtain camera footage. We hung up. I called Reed (my now husband) in a panic. “Hey, I really need you to get over here. XYZ happened, and I just need you here.” He started driving over immediately. In the meantime, I was just left to stress over everything. I remember pacing around the small Airbnb. I even asked my best friend to put on the song about the three birds. She thought I meant “Put Your Records On” by Corrine Bailey Ray, but really I meant “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley and The Wailers. (Gotta love the hippy in me 😉 ) Once we got the music up, everything was just a little better. I was humming and pacing.
My dad called me back when he arrived at the office. It turns out, I had been parking in the carport spots and got towed. I had been parking there for months and was under the impression that residents received one per apartment. For some reason, the towing company decided the morning of my wedding was a great time to prove me wrong. ( I got my car back after we got back from our honeymoon.)
Still raining…
After everything was settled, it was still pouring outside. It was probably 9:30 am now, and it was time to head to the venue. Best friend took her car to get everyone breakfast, and Reed and I headed directly over to the venue. That’s when we realized one of the roads to the venue was completely blocked by a tree branch, and the other road was hard to find. We persevered and eventually arrived. When we did, we came to the conclusion that the rain possibly wouldn’t let up, and it may be dangerous for people to get there. We talked about canceling our reception (which started at 5). I asked the owner if there was a chance we could use the large rain tent. He said that my mother-in-law had called him a few days ago, asking a similar question, and he had told her it would take several people and days. There would be no rain tent. I was annoyed. My mother-in-law not only called the venue behind my back but also didn’t tell me what she learned. Not to worry too much, though, I had a plan. We would just tell everyone to bring umbrellas. I called bestie to have her pick one up for the groom and me. She did, and I still have the umbrella to this day.
EVERYONE IS LATE?
A couple of hours later, I got a text from my dad. He was letting me know my family may end up being later than 1 because of the weather and traffic. (They lived around 2 hours away.) I was frustrated by this. I knew it wasn’t his fault, but this day was already not going according to plan, and so I sent a quick text back. “The wedding starts at one, though.” He responded, “I am walking you down the aisle. You are not gonna start without me.” Fair enough, I guess. Everyone ended up being on time and showing up at 12. Because everyone in my family lived decently far away, they had all decided to get ready at the venue. So as I was getting ready, everyone else was as well. Reed remembers my brothers just randomly showing up in the groomsmen’s tent and starting to change. Meanwhile, we were nearing wedding time, and I was not ready at all. My bestie had spent like the last 45 minutes getting herself ready. Makeup, hair, you name it. I had done nothing, because she was the one who was getting me ready. Probably around 12:15, she was finally able to help. This irked me a little bit, but what about the day hadn’t? I even had my cousin do my hair, and by 1, I was ready to go. (Only realized after the fact that I forgot to put on the bow I was gonna use as a veil.)
Wedding Ceremony
At this point, the weather had cleared up beautifully. The benches had dried, the sun was out, and there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a perfect 65 degrees. My dad came and got me, and we began walking down the aisle. Midway through the music glitched. That was awkward, but not the end of the world. I forgot to mention earlier that we only had about 30 people invited to the actual wedding ceremony, and more were invited to a reception later that evening. As I neared the end of the aisle, I realized my mom was sitting where my best friend was supposed to be. My best friend, who had my husband’s wedding ring. “Okay,” I thought, “that might make it a little more difficult.” Our ceremony was short and sweet. Probably about 5 minutes long total. The situation with the rings turned out to be fine. We kissed, and then just kinda stood there for a minute. We had asked the officiant not to do the usual “let me introduce you for the first time to Mr. and Mrs. blank” thing previously. We hadn’t added a good ending, though. Thankfully, my sister-in-law stepped in with a “OKAY EVERYONE LET’S DO PICTURES.” An absolute angel. After pictures, hubby and I didn’t even have time to debrief; we just went straight into setting up for that evening’s events. After that, everyone dispersed for a bit and came back later for the reception.
The Reception
The reception was an absolute blast! Everything actually went very smoothly here. Everyone seemed to have a great time and enjoyed playing the games we had. Some people were a little confused cause it was not traditional, but what about my husband and me screams normal? There was one more moment I wanted to note here. We planned on Irish goodbyeing our wedding, so when we went to say bye to my dad, he gave me a hug. He held on a little longer than normal. That’s when I noticed he was shaking. My dad was full-on sobbing in my arms. “I love you.” He said. I teared up instantly and made sure to hold on for as long as he needed.
Hubby and I are doing great now. One day, we’ll look back and laugh, I’m sure.
-Ellie