We went to a really beautiful wedding about a week ago up in Midway at the Johnson Mill. The little sister of one of my best high school friends Adam was the bride. We were lucky enough to be able to leave the kids at home and enjoy the drive up there as well as relax at the wedding while watching others struggle to wrangle their kids. The whole thing was really relaxed and low key and the scenery was beautiful. This was the view from our seats:
(Don't ask me what that guy was doing... I'm not sure)
They even had a paddle boat out for amusement, but when we got on it we realized it was more for the amusement of others who watched you try and maneuver a broken paddle boat back to the dock. This is us trying to figure it out....
This is me with some of my old high school friends at the wedding: Adam and Joanie.
It was good to see everyone and I actually ran into a lot of people I hadn't seen in awhile. We all reminisced and felt old when recounting how the bride Lisa seemed to be eternally 11 years old in our minds and now here she was getting married.
But every time I go to a wedding I find myself getting upset all over again that mine was pretty much ruined. I mean, I guess everything turned out OKAY in the end, but who wants to remember their wedding day as "okay"?
I actually had two wedding days. We got married on July 18th in the Salt Lake Temple which was wonderful. The only real problem with that day was that it was raining when we came out so we all had to wait about an hour and a half in the lobby before we could venture out for pictures. It wasn't so bad, I actually worked off a lot of the nerves sitting there and chatting and then we had an absolutely wonderful wedding dinner up in the Joseph Smith Memorial building. I wasn't really involved in the planning of that because David's parents did it, but I remember being kind of sad to see that there was a piano player there and I didn't know about it. I would have loved to sing a song to David on our wedding day, but I certainly wasn't brave enough to go up there and do something impromptu, so I let the moment pass.
The next day we had our reception. This was my mom's idea to do the ceremony and the reception on two different days so we wouldn't all be stressed out and out of control and actually be able to enjoy the day. This was a good idea...in theory.
I was supposed to have my reception in a little grove area outside my Grandma's church, which is like 100 years old. It's nice and open and green. Everything was set up and we were out there taking pictures and enjoying ourselves when the hugest windstorm blew up. Suddenly tables, chairs, decorations, everything was flying around everywhere. My "backup plan" was to have the reception inside in the cultural hall, but I had never really anticipated having to do that. It was old and still had the old wooden floors and basketball nets hanging down.
But the weather forced those plans into action and the whole wedding party, including early guests began moving the entire wedding inside. Since it was so chaotic, things just kind of got put wherever and didn't really have any order to them. But all this chaos served to cover up an even bigger problem: my sister and her catering company were over an hour late with the food!
So when things finally settled down, we all stood red-faced and out of breath in the reception line in an old, smelly gym (where my grandparents had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary) with disorganized decorations and better-late-than never food. We weren't able to get all the wedding photos outside before the weather turned sour so half of the pictures are perfectly poised outdoor photos and the others were taken after the ceremony in the gym with bad lighting and sweaty faces.
I know, it could have been worse, and poor David had to spend half our wedding night consoling me with things such as "it wasn't that bad", but every time I go to a wedding I remember that disappointed feeling.
So, maybe one day, we will do one of those "renew our vows" receptions were I can have everything perfect and enjoy the reception as it should be. But first, I've got a lot of work to go before I can fit back into this dress:
Monday, June 9, 2008
A Wedding Reminisce
Posted by Stacy at 11:42 AM
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4 comments:
I'm so sorry that I missed you at Lisa's Wedding. I couldn't make it for the ceremony, but Aaron and I showed up at the end for some cake and good times with Adam's family. Would have loved to walk down memory lane...And yes, to me, Lisa is still 11.
As for your reception...I remember that, too. I believe Adam and I showed up near the end as well. So for us, even though we were inside, the food was there and all was well. You looked beautiful... Adam and I said it the whole way home.
We had some things go not-so-right on our "special day" and I've spent a lot of time saying, "What if..." so I totally know how you feel. It was one day, and though it's not the way I had imagined it in my head from the time I was a little girl (and I even had a wedding BEFORE this one to get everything just right!;) I realize now that it's the "after" that counts and I make up for it. I splurge on things like good family photos, and time with my husband and say, "This makes up for that one wedding day." It's our life that counts.
And I can't fit in my wedding dress either! Maybe someday.
What a great post! I was never the girl that had her wedding planned from an early age, so I was not picky at all. I even wore my sister's wedding dress that was 14 years old which was sentimental and saved money, but looking back I wonder what I would have done differently if I had the chance. Fortunately, I have a husband and a family I adore so it makes up for "what could have beens". (Cheesy, I know). You are beautiful (then and now)!!!
I think almost every girl would have done something differently at her wedding. I will give you my list someday. It isn't long, but there are certainly some things I would change. I still think what really matters is that you married a great guy and get to keep him forever. And the adorable kids are a bonus.
This is lovely. And I love your kids (well, I love Ashton, whom I know personally; I don't know Zander well yet, but I'm willing to love him just based on genetics,) but I'm really glad you two came without the boys and had a chance to really hang out and play and dream about pushing me off the dock.
I do, however, need to clarify one thing. When you say,
"The little sister of one of my best high school friends Adam was the bride,"
I would just like to make it perfectly clear:
Adam was not the bride.
Adam's sister Lisa was the bride.
You don't have to qualify "Adam" with the whole "one of my best high school friends" bit, because everyone knows who I am. Everyone. And everyone knows we're BFF forever.
You can make this up to me by sending me all those pictures from the wedding.
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