The Wedding (Part 3)

Evidently Jonathan was quicker getting ready than I thought because he did have a little bit of time to get some pictures BEFORE the wedding.

Finally we were all informed that Jonathan had left the building and I was free to come back downstairs from hiding. Whoever made up that silly rule anyway ...

We elected to go out the side entrance as the steps in front were pretty hard to navigate for those of us in high heels. So there we were all lined up and ready to go.

The music started and we paraded through the giant maple trees to the ceremony area. First my stepmother Carol and my brother Buddy who escorted her. Then Jonathan's mother and her son-in-law Stephen, then my mother and my nephew Richie. Then my sister, the maid of honor, my flower girl Ice and finally me and my dad. I barely remember it, it's all a blur! I do remember, however, stepping into a hole and almost tripping and Alan D. Gordon making a smart aleck remark that made me laugh out loud!

I made it to the arch without any further mishaps, my dad lifted the veil and kissed me on the cheek and gave my hand to Jonathan. Then Mickey & Guess (our shibas) decided they wanted in on the action and began to yap. At first, I thought it would just be one short bark, but they didn't sound like they were going to stop anytime soon! I started motioning to Richard, the best man, to go shut the door (it wasn't that hot, it was fairly shady and I knew the ceremony was short!). He said "now??" with a look of disbelief and I nodded YES frantically! So he ran off and shut the door and Jim continued the ceremony. I'm sure it was interesting to watch this going on :)

One other thing that got left in the house ... the roses for the Rose Ceremony! I looked over to see where Jim was in the ceremony (one of my secret talents is that I read pretty well upside down!) and realized all too late that the roses for the Rose Ceremony hadn't been brought out, they were on the dining room table!

I tried to figure out how to communicate to Jim that we needed to skip that part, or send someone to the house right away for the roses, or SOMETHING, when the thought occurred to me that I had a whole bouquet and there were roses in it. So when Jim started the Rose Ceremony I took my bouquet and ripped two roses right out of the side! Everyone thought it was supposed to be that way and what a cute idea. Little did they know!

Then the endless formals photographs and during the few that I didn't have to be in, I was trying to get someone to get the food out of the car and move it to another area. At this point Jonathan and I did get to take some pictures with the shibas which was the reason they were there. Initially we had thought to have them actually IN the wedding, but thought they might not enjoy it as much as we would. Seems they disagreed since they definitely made their presence known!

I think that Rebecca who was doing the serving for me got there sometime between 2:30 and 3:00 pm. Would have loved to have had her start earlier, but she had a previous commitment to drop off food at another party the same day. I felt it was such a good omen that she was catering a party for a 50th wedding anniversary on the same day as our wedding! Rebecca had her work cut out for her because I think there was a lot of stuff to get ready. So much for planning everything to the minute! Thanks Rebecca, I couldn't have done it without you!

Our DJ Tom was also great, and helped her get set up. He was definitely a lifesaver and obviously knew more about weddings than we did. He knew just when to do everything. Coincidentally he is also a shiba owner! He did a fabulous job as MC and the music was great (well, we did spend literally hours picking it out).

Then the reception started and we finally got introduced, sat down, did the toasts and ate (it was the first piece of food to pass my lips in about 18 hours, I was STARVING!) and FINALLY could mingle with some of our guests. We did get some use out of the dance floor, and our first dance to It Had to Be You was wonderful. 

The dance lessons definitely helped our four left feet move as one :)