Monday: The Day Before Our Wedding!

Today I got up and head out a little early for my nail  appointment.  It was easy enough to get to; just on the way to work.  I went in and they seemed a little confused (then one said to the other, “yes, it’s in the book.)  The whole process went mostly as expected, except it was strange having a man do my nails.  It was also really cool how they did the white part.  He brushed on the white part really messy, then poured some nail polish remover into a cup.  With a paint brush he “swept” under the nail, and an arch, leaving a little crescent on each tip.  I LOVE how they came out; he left a crescent larger than my natural one giving my nails the illusion of more length.  Awesome.  And it was practically free since I got some gift certificates for Teacher Appreciate Week. 

The only real negative was how LONG it took.  My appointment was for 11, but I didn’t leave there until nearly 12:30!  I was literally squirming in my seat, knowing that I had a tight timeline to set things up for the wedding and get to Longhorn at 6!  Once I did get home, we didn’t finish loading up my car until 2, and, the pressure got to me, and I had a meltdown.

We arrived at Winter Street and instantly felt better when I saw all the work they’d done for me, moving furniture.  The living room was clear of the over-sized furniture so I could have chairs set up and an aisle to walk down.  Phew.  So we unloaded the car and I kicked everyone out.  His mum wanted to stay and help me decorate, but I needed to do this on my own, without any second opinions.  I had a vision in my head, and if something didn’t work I needed to solve the problem by myself, not second guess myself.  They went to the Boston Hotdog Company (and I guess they enjoyed it!) and I started in.



It actually went a lot faster, and a lot smoother than I thought!  For a few minutes I thought I forgot tape for covering the mirror, but it turned up in the end.  And I was THRILLED with how it looked in the end.  Like it was just part of the room all along (the photographer said later that he remembered mid-ceremony that I'd mentioned a mirror over the fireplace, and me saying that I'd cover it, so I had done such a good job that he'd forgotten!  Adam's family agreed that it just looked like it belonged).  It took a little doing to smooth it out because it was just thin paper, but it worked out.

I finished LONG before they returned; unfortunately part of the reason was I didn’t have the tulle and silk flowers for the staircase.  I didn’t dare go back home to grab it because I had told them I wouldn’t.  I didn’t want to find the key or worry them about return times, so I waited.  I paced up and down the aisle I made for myself as practice, hah.  My phone battery was too low to listen to music, so I sat and reflected on the preceding week.  It had been SUCH a great week.  Weather-wise and event-wise.  We planned just enough stuff to do to feel busy but not frazzled (well, except for me, but it was worth it to show his family a nice time).  I felt sad that it was all almost over, but I knew I needed to enjoy the remaining time, not dwell on the approaching goodbyes.

When they did arrive, I told them I needed to pick up the decorations I’d left at home, as well as my veil.  So I left them to it and found my bag of tulle in the closet.  I then walked around the place trying to figure out where on earth my flowers were.  I actually said aloud, “Where are my flowers?  Flowers, where are you?”  And suddenly there they were, in front of my face.  I’d put them in a vase in the living room that was literally at eye level. I laughed.  And then I panicked.  I still had no veil.  Or tiara.

I looked EVERYWHERE.  His mum had  asked if it was in the bag with the dress, and I dismissed the idea.  I knew my tiara wouldn’t be in there.  But now I was second guessing myself.  It wasn’t here at home.  If it wasn’t with the dress I had NO idea where it was.  I drove back to Winter Street, his mum and I checked the dress bag, and it wasn’t there.

With tears in my eyes I asked Adam, “Come with me?”  He asked me to give him a minute as he went to get his coat.  Aled saw me standing in the doorway and reassured me that it would turn up.

And it did.

It was in the closet all along, under a package of toilet paper Adam and I picked up last week.  It was just a small bag; easy to miss, but it had my tiara in it as well.  I hugged him and laughed manically.  We called Aled and asked him to meet us at home so he could follow us to Longhorn.

Which led us to our next problem; we were late for Longhorn.  We had to wait for them to arrive, which took up more time.  Then we had to sort out GPSs again.  I had the task of driving fast to get there, but slow enough so as not to lose him.  And we DID lose him at one point.  We were both shocked when maybe 10 minutes later, a little car came zipping up behind us and flashed its lights.  They’d found us!  We soon turned off, and in moments I was blinded.  Aled had his high beams on.

I asked Adam, “Can they do that in the UK?  They can’t do that here!  It’s blinding for me AND others on the other side of the highway!”  I wondered if he was scared of losing us again, but Adam said Aled should know better.  And then I realized; he probably didn’t know.  He must have hit it when he signaled for the turn.  Sure enough, he shut them off with about 10 minutes to go, and when we arrived (40 minutes late) he apologized and we had a good laugh about it.

Mom had put our name in (she called at nearly 6 to ask if we were on our way and I’d warned her we’d be pretty late) and was waiting for us.  Once we’d all settled we had a really nice time.  The food was good.  His dad got a huge portion as usual, and finished it all :D  We couldn’t talk anyone else into margaritas, but that was fine.  I missed mum, who insisted on staying behind, but it was a nice final night as a single woman.  I whispered to Adam around the time desserts came, “I’ll be leaving you soon.”  We arranged for me to follow mom to her house and Aled to take Adam back to our house so he wouldn’t see me that morning.  (And I’m so glad it did, because it made the anticipation on our wedding day that much sweeter).  So we said our goodbyes in the parking lot while everyone got last minute stuff out of mom’s car.

When I got to mom’s house, I was feeling a little nervous, like, “This is it!  The night before!” and started getting out my computer so I could pick photos for the slideshow tomorrow when she said, “Castle’s on!  You watch that, right?”  It felt strange to go do something normal and routine at that moment.  Regular old “my show is on.”  So after my shower I sat with netbook in lap, choosing photos as the recap came on.  They’d just driven (or been pushed?) into the water in their car, and were trying to escape.

That night I slept a little better than I expected.  But my dream mirrored the program a bit.  I dreamed that Adam and I were driving along.  There was a pond nearby, which had flooded.  As we went along, Adam kept going on about how high it was, saying, “This is ridiculous!” and “Just be careful, don’t get too close to the edge.”  So naturally, I got too close to the edge.  My tire hit the edge, and we tipped right in.

I felt a moment of panic, but then the car straightened out, I noticed it was a convertible, and Adam and I just floated right up to the surface of the water, almost peacefully.  During our wedding reception I told about that dream, and someone, either mom or Aled said that it was like a metaphor for marriage.  “I get it!”  I said, “Taking the plunge, right?”