We're married!
At about 9:00, my MOH arrived and she, my BM (my sister) and I went out to for breakfast. We got back to my house around 10:00, and my BM and her BF left to drop off my car to the mystery hotel my soon-to-be husband and I would be staying at that night, our gift from my BM.
We were expecting the ladies from the mobile spa (for manicures, pedicures and massages) to arrive around 10:30, and the hair/makeup artist about 11:15. The spa ladies (Daydream Mobile Spa) were later than expected, and the hair/makeup artist (Tara Bird) was early, so I think Tara arrived around 10:50 and Daydream just after 11:00. At some point, my Mom & Dad also arrived to get ready, and Martine (Fisheye Photography) and her assistant arrived to photograph everything.
While we were getting ready, I was half-aware of Martine coming in and out of the various rooms and taking pictures of things. For instance, my MOH’s dress was hanging off the coat-closet door, and Martine brought it to the large window in the living room and took some pictures of it, and later did the same with my dress. I also saw them go through at one point with my shoes and at another time with a handful of the favours. I haven’t seen the photos yet at the time I’m writing this, but I am really looking forward to seeing how they turned out.
By the time my massage was done, we were quite far behind schedule. Tara had planned to start my hair around 12:45, allowing an hour for herself, and then a half-hour for me to get dressed, and we would have been ready to leave the house at about 2:25 in order to get to the church on time for the 3:00 ceremony. Tara worked at the speed of light to put my hair up, and she nearly managed to get us back on schedule – I was really impressed. I did my best to help by remembering not to look up while the glue securing my false eyelashes dried – it’s much harder to remember to do that than it sounds! She attached my veil very securely and had me shake my head around to see if it would come loose – it didn’t even budge.
At 2:30 I was just ready to begin getting dressed. I had Mom phone the best man to let him know that we were coming, but that we were definitely going to be late. We laid the crinoline on the floor and the dress over top of it and I stepped into both, already wearing my shoes. Then I attempted to pull them up and get rid of my housecoat without flashing everyone. I don’t think I was very successful at the not-flashing part.
We were finally ready to go – I think it was about 2:50. I didn’t want to know the exact time! When we arrived at the chapel, the driver came around to open my door, but I wanted to wait in the car until the guests that were still milling about went inside.
We entered the chapel and proceeded down the aisle directly from outside rather than coming in and waiting in the hall. We walked down the aisle to Karel Roessingh playing his own jazzy rendition of the Bridal March on the piano. I remember being almost surprised to see some of the guests, which was silly because we had invited them and knew they had accepted and would be there, but it seemed strange seeing all of the various groups of people together in the same room – my co-workers with my DH’s friends with my relatives, etc.
When we got to the front, I discovered that it is awkward to switch around from holding someone’s arm with your left hand to holding someone else’s arm with your right hand while holding a bouquet of flowers, but I managed!
I was afraid previously that I would cry at the wedding, and in anticipation of that, Mom asked a friend to embroider some handkerchiefs with her embroidery machine. We three girls each had one of them hidden in our hands under our bouquets. I never needed mine at all. At one point, my DH’s eyes looked a little bit strange and I thought that maybe HE was going to cry! He didn’t, but when I asked him later about it, he very deftly avoided the question, so I think I might have been correct. Mom later said that she and my MOH caught each other’s eye at one point – they had made a “I won’t cry if you don’t” pact, and they were able to get through it, too.
While we signed the register, Karel played a special arrangement of When You Say Nothing At All that he wrote for us from listening to a copy of the song I sent him.
We had previously discussed where we would have the receiving line and wanted to have it outside if it was a nice day, which it was, so when the ceremony was finished, we went outside and stood on the grass and waited. And waited. Everyone came out of the chapel, but they stayed on the cement. I did a little “come here” gesture with my index finger. No one came. So I did a bigger “come here” with my whole hand. Nothing. I called out “We’re ready to receive you now!” but still nothing! Apparently everyone thought that we were posing for pictures, since our two photographers were standing there, ready to take pictures of the receiving line. Eventually, Mom realized what was going on and came through herself to get it started, and it proceeded smoothly after that.
The wedding party and immediate family then went into the gardens for photos. I put together entirely too many different groupings, so it took quite a long time, and we did them all at the same location. At one point, my DH’s nieces (OUR nieces!) got bored and climbed a tree in their nice dresses – my DH noticed and had Martine take a picture of them. Then when we went to where my grandparents were sitting to get pictures with them, someone pointed out the Best Man practicing his speech to the back wall of the chapel, complete with gestures. We pretended we were getting lined up for a photo so he wouldn’t notice us, and Martine took a picture of him, too.
We went down to the legislature for more photos, and were almost ready to leave when someone mentioned the “veil flip kiss” picture that we’d forgotten to ask for, so we did a couple more on the stairs like that. That was the only time my blusher was actually over my head. I like the look of the double veil, but I didn’t want to wear it over my face for the ceremony.
When we got to the reception, our other photographer, Rob, met us outside and said there was a problem with the cake – we didn’t have one. The person who was supposed to get it forgot until they arrived at the reception, and by that time the cake place was closed. I checked my voicemail in case they’d left an after-hours contact number, but there was no message at all. Someone had already gone to Thrifty’s to see if they had anything suitable and had a replacement standing by, so the caterer ran back to pick it up once we knew for sure we needed it, and everything worked out fine. At the end of the evening we had about 8 slices left over, so it was the perfect amount of cake. Not much wasted, but enough left over that anyone who wanted a piece probably had one.
I barely ate anything at all that night. The wait staff left my food at my place for hours in case I did want it, but I just wasn’t interested in eating. During dinner, we asked people to write us a poem for our kissing game. We supplied small whiteboards to compose them on, and index cards to immortalize them on.
These are pictures of me reacting to the best man's speech and my DH's speech, respectively. When I'm laughing, apparently I can't sit up straight.
Our first dance was When You Say Nothing At All by Allison Krause. Mom had warned me that sometimes the first dance can feel very long and that it’s a good idea to have the wedding party ready to join in if necessary, but we didn’t need them. At one point during our first dance, we were talking about how the next dance, the parents’ dance, was going to work and I wondered if that’s the kind of terribly romantic thing people normally talk about during their first dance as husband and wife! We managed to look romantic, anyway.
The parents’ dance was to Rise Again by the Rankin Family. I hadn’t really thought about the beat of it – it’s quite slow. It was a bit difficult for Dad and I to find the right speed to dance at first.
For the bouquet toss, my sister had said it would be funny if I acted like I was going to throw it, and then just come over and hand it to her instead. I might as well have done so – I didn’t aim for anywhere except “behind me” and it went straight to her.
Some people left pretty early – even a few directly after supper. I managed to talk to most people, but there were several that I never spoke to at all and felt badly about that. By last call at 1:00 it was down to mostly just my immediate family. I was happy it went that way – I’d rather that people leave when they’ve had enough, rather than still be having fun and want to keep going, but get kicked out by the venue.
Mom drove my DH and me to our hotel for the night, the Delta Ocean Point, which was a gift from my sister and her boyfriend. They had gone earlier in the day and checked us in and decorated the room with gerbera daisies on the bed, a heart-shaped pillow, and candles everywhere, and left a pair of champagne flutes, and champagne, orange juice, and fruit in the fridge. I was happy to have the fruit, because by then I was finally starting to feel hungry.
We had breakfast in the restaurant in the hotel, and it was amazing. I decided to order the West Coast Eggs Benedict even though I’d just had them the day before and should have had my fill. It was like no other Eggs Benedict I’d ever had before. I forgot to ask for my eggs to be cooked medium, and they came half-raw (jiggly, clear whites – ewww!) but I managed to ignore that because it was so incredibly flavourful. There was smoked salmon, cut into tiny pieces and caramelized onions and cheese – feta, I think – and it was on herbed focaccia bread squares and topped with Béchamel sauce. I realized part-way through the meal that my tongue was almost tingling and I realized it was because all of my taste buds were being stimulated at once. I feel a tradition coming on – I think we’ll have to go their for breakfast on all of our anniversaries. Our one-week anniversary… one month… six weeks… etc. Not to mention other special occasions, like weekends. Or weekdays.
Our wedding was beautiful, wonderful, fun, and perfect. The weather was gorgeous. The only thing that went wrong was very minor and didn’t make any difference to anyone’s enjoyment of the day. The pictures I’ve seen so far are lovely, and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest.
We were expecting the ladies from the mobile spa (for manicures, pedicures and massages) to arrive around 10:30, and the hair/makeup artist about 11:15. The spa ladies (Daydream Mobile Spa) were later than expected, and the hair/makeup artist (Tara Bird) was early, so I think Tara arrived around 10:50 and Daydream just after 11:00. At some point, my Mom & Dad also arrived to get ready, and Martine (Fisheye Photography) and her assistant arrived to photograph everything.
While we were getting ready, I was half-aware of Martine coming in and out of the various rooms and taking pictures of things. For instance, my MOH’s dress was hanging off the coat-closet door, and Martine brought it to the large window in the living room and took some pictures of it, and later did the same with my dress. I also saw them go through at one point with my shoes and at another time with a handful of the favours. I haven’t seen the photos yet at the time I’m writing this, but I am really looking forward to seeing how they turned out.
By the time my massage was done, we were quite far behind schedule. Tara had planned to start my hair around 12:45, allowing an hour for herself, and then a half-hour for me to get dressed, and we would have been ready to leave the house at about 2:25 in order to get to the church on time for the 3:00 ceremony. Tara worked at the speed of light to put my hair up, and she nearly managed to get us back on schedule – I was really impressed. I did my best to help by remembering not to look up while the glue securing my false eyelashes dried – it’s much harder to remember to do that than it sounds! She attached my veil very securely and had me shake my head around to see if it would come loose – it didn’t even budge.
At 2:30 I was just ready to begin getting dressed. I had Mom phone the best man to let him know that we were coming, but that we were definitely going to be late. We laid the crinoline on the floor and the dress over top of it and I stepped into both, already wearing my shoes. Then I attempted to pull them up and get rid of my housecoat without flashing everyone. I don’t think I was very successful at the not-flashing part.
We were finally ready to go – I think it was about 2:50. I didn’t want to know the exact time! When we arrived at the chapel, the driver came around to open my door, but I wanted to wait in the car until the guests that were still milling about went inside.
We entered the chapel and proceeded down the aisle directly from outside rather than coming in and waiting in the hall. We walked down the aisle to Karel Roessingh playing his own jazzy rendition of the Bridal March on the piano. I remember being almost surprised to see some of the guests, which was silly because we had invited them and knew they had accepted and would be there, but it seemed strange seeing all of the various groups of people together in the same room – my co-workers with my DH’s friends with my relatives, etc.
When we got to the front, I discovered that it is awkward to switch around from holding someone’s arm with your left hand to holding someone else’s arm with your right hand while holding a bouquet of flowers, but I managed!
I was afraid previously that I would cry at the wedding, and in anticipation of that, Mom asked a friend to embroider some handkerchiefs with her embroidery machine. We three girls each had one of them hidden in our hands under our bouquets. I never needed mine at all. At one point, my DH’s eyes looked a little bit strange and I thought that maybe HE was going to cry! He didn’t, but when I asked him later about it, he very deftly avoided the question, so I think I might have been correct. Mom later said that she and my MOH caught each other’s eye at one point – they had made a “I won’t cry if you don’t” pact, and they were able to get through it, too.
While we signed the register, Karel played a special arrangement of When You Say Nothing At All that he wrote for us from listening to a copy of the song I sent him.
We had previously discussed where we would have the receiving line and wanted to have it outside if it was a nice day, which it was, so when the ceremony was finished, we went outside and stood on the grass and waited. And waited. Everyone came out of the chapel, but they stayed on the cement. I did a little “come here” gesture with my index finger. No one came. So I did a bigger “come here” with my whole hand. Nothing. I called out “We’re ready to receive you now!” but still nothing! Apparently everyone thought that we were posing for pictures, since our two photographers were standing there, ready to take pictures of the receiving line. Eventually, Mom realized what was going on and came through herself to get it started, and it proceeded smoothly after that.
The wedding party and immediate family then went into the gardens for photos. I put together entirely too many different groupings, so it took quite a long time, and we did them all at the same location. At one point, my DH’s nieces (OUR nieces!) got bored and climbed a tree in their nice dresses – my DH noticed and had Martine take a picture of them. Then when we went to where my grandparents were sitting to get pictures with them, someone pointed out the Best Man practicing his speech to the back wall of the chapel, complete with gestures. We pretended we were getting lined up for a photo so he wouldn’t notice us, and Martine took a picture of him, too.
We went down to the legislature for more photos, and were almost ready to leave when someone mentioned the “veil flip kiss” picture that we’d forgotten to ask for, so we did a couple more on the stairs like that. That was the only time my blusher was actually over my head. I like the look of the double veil, but I didn’t want to wear it over my face for the ceremony.
When we got to the reception, our other photographer, Rob, met us outside and said there was a problem with the cake – we didn’t have one. The person who was supposed to get it forgot until they arrived at the reception, and by that time the cake place was closed. I checked my voicemail in case they’d left an after-hours contact number, but there was no message at all. Someone had already gone to Thrifty’s to see if they had anything suitable and had a replacement standing by, so the caterer ran back to pick it up once we knew for sure we needed it, and everything worked out fine. At the end of the evening we had about 8 slices left over, so it was the perfect amount of cake. Not much wasted, but enough left over that anyone who wanted a piece probably had one.
I barely ate anything at all that night. The wait staff left my food at my place for hours in case I did want it, but I just wasn’t interested in eating. During dinner, we asked people to write us a poem for our kissing game. We supplied small whiteboards to compose them on, and index cards to immortalize them on.
These are pictures of me reacting to the best man's speech and my DH's speech, respectively. When I'm laughing, apparently I can't sit up straight.
Our first dance was When You Say Nothing At All by Allison Krause. Mom had warned me that sometimes the first dance can feel very long and that it’s a good idea to have the wedding party ready to join in if necessary, but we didn’t need them. At one point during our first dance, we were talking about how the next dance, the parents’ dance, was going to work and I wondered if that’s the kind of terribly romantic thing people normally talk about during their first dance as husband and wife! We managed to look romantic, anyway.
The parents’ dance was to Rise Again by the Rankin Family. I hadn’t really thought about the beat of it – it’s quite slow. It was a bit difficult for Dad and I to find the right speed to dance at first.
For the bouquet toss, my sister had said it would be funny if I acted like I was going to throw it, and then just come over and hand it to her instead. I might as well have done so – I didn’t aim for anywhere except “behind me” and it went straight to her.
Some people left pretty early – even a few directly after supper. I managed to talk to most people, but there were several that I never spoke to at all and felt badly about that. By last call at 1:00 it was down to mostly just my immediate family. I was happy it went that way – I’d rather that people leave when they’ve had enough, rather than still be having fun and want to keep going, but get kicked out by the venue.
Mom drove my DH and me to our hotel for the night, the Delta Ocean Point, which was a gift from my sister and her boyfriend. They had gone earlier in the day and checked us in and decorated the room with gerbera daisies on the bed, a heart-shaped pillow, and candles everywhere, and left a pair of champagne flutes, and champagne, orange juice, and fruit in the fridge. I was happy to have the fruit, because by then I was finally starting to feel hungry.
We had breakfast in the restaurant in the hotel, and it was amazing. I decided to order the West Coast Eggs Benedict even though I’d just had them the day before and should have had my fill. It was like no other Eggs Benedict I’d ever had before. I forgot to ask for my eggs to be cooked medium, and they came half-raw (jiggly, clear whites – ewww!) but I managed to ignore that because it was so incredibly flavourful. There was smoked salmon, cut into tiny pieces and caramelized onions and cheese – feta, I think – and it was on herbed focaccia bread squares and topped with Béchamel sauce. I realized part-way through the meal that my tongue was almost tingling and I realized it was because all of my taste buds were being stimulated at once. I feel a tradition coming on – I think we’ll have to go their for breakfast on all of our anniversaries. Our one-week anniversary… one month… six weeks… etc. Not to mention other special occasions, like weekends. Or weekdays.
Our wedding was beautiful, wonderful, fun, and perfect. The weather was gorgeous. The only thing that went wrong was very minor and didn’t make any difference to anyone’s enjoyment of the day. The pictures I’ve seen so far are lovely, and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest.
posted by Beverley @ 11:11 a.m.
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