friday the 8th of may 2009......
the day before the wedding. rehearsal day. an exciting day. a lot more friends and family were arriving. there was a lot to get done. and what would the day before the wedding be without the bride having a minor panic attack?
first thing that morning i had a doctor's appointment. i specifically made it in duluth becuase none of the doctor's back in the cities seemed to be listening to me in regards to my headaches. the last one i had talked to gave me a pain med that was the equivalent of two ibprofin when i told her that i had been taking up to four of these at a time with no results. it was like talking to a brick wall. i just wanted a pain med that worked. one that i didn't have to take before i had the pain (i'm not psychic) and on that didn't require me to lay down for hours and hours. i just wanted a pain med that took away my pain. i was terrified that i was going to get a headache on my wedding or on the honeymoon. luckily my old doctor listened to me. he gave me two different kinds of meds along with his phone number in case i needed him at all over the weekend. i was so thankful!
chris picked me up afterwards so we could run some errands. it was then that i had my minor panic attack. just started crying for no reason. poor chris was at a loss as to what to do and i was of no help as i didn't even know why i was crying. the more i tried to explain the more confusing it got. a mess in short. by the time we got to the mall i was in no shape to actually go in and make my purchase. luckily i have the best (then fiance now husband) in the world. he marched right into Victoria Secrets and asked them for exactly what i'd requested - granny panties that wouldn't ride up my butt'. evidently the sales staff thought he was pretty cute :) seriously though - do i have a great guy or what?
after that we made our way home. my sister, her husband and little boys had arrived by this time so we watched them try on a few different suits for the wedding - so cute! i swear she has the cutest little boys i've ever seen! chris went and got lunch. i showered. his mom arrived. we ate. then we headed down to meet my mom and grandma at greysolon to start setting up for the wedding!
(did i mention that i have the greatest guy in the world? while i was running about all frazzled he remembered to take pictures of everything! i'm so thankful he did - i would have been super bummed at having forgot.)
when we arrived the tables were already set thanks to the great staff that works there. the room looked fantastic! i was so pleased! and really happy that i'd picked gold to go along with the brown and ivory for the color scheme and not pink as it just fit the room perfectly! it was gorgeous! i just walked around admiring everything - in awe that chris and i would be getting married there at that time the very next day!
the room itself has this beautiful wooden bar - i love it! my mom and chris's mom were there getting the centerpieces ready. since my mom never drinks it was funny to see her at the bar working it like she knew her way around. the centerpieces were borrowed from my matron of honor - carrie - who'd used them at her own wedding. fitting that'd we'd be using them since that's where chris and i met :) my mom picked out the bead work and candles that went into the vases - it was perfect! she did a fantastic job!she also made the wise decision to get little boxes for the candy table - something i hadn't even thought of. grandma was busy getting those all set up for us. our mom's were also responsible for putting together a quiz (3 different versions) about chirs and i. mom printed them out on ivory parchment paper and tied them with brown ribbons - one for every guest. along with an answer sheet for each table. it was super cute!
did i mention how beautiful the location was? i don't think i mentioned that the site itself used to be the grand hotel in duluth. it's now mainly apartments for seniors but there is still a ballroom and the moorish room which is where we were to be. the actual wedding took place in the lobby area shown above. it was perfect. as you walked in the guests were seated around the fountain and the actual ceremony took place on the steps leading up to the moorish room. i know i'm probably biased but it was just perfect :)
the actual rehearsal was set to begin at 4pm. i think it really started sometime after that as the person in charge of showing us where we were supposed to actually walk down (there was no clear traditional aisle) was running a bit late. we were also having problems with the dj but that's a different story and one that i don't really want to dwell on since it takes away from all the good that happened :) (what's this - michelle is actually making an attempt at being positive and not jumping on the chance to complain....hmmm....). anyhow. rabbi amy (shown above with my mom) showed up right on que and was fantastic. she was able to take charge and get everyone in their proper places. she also helped us to figure out where the aisle would be and from there the rehearsal began!
we got everyone lined up on the upper level and tried to get it timed right to come down the stairs and into position. this was no easy task with two four year old ring bearers, a five year old flower girl and a two year old flower boy. in reality it wasn't that hard - just amusing. the flower boy threw his basket over the balcony :) the dj did not have the song we wanted to walk down the aisle to (argh!) so instead we rehearsed to ABBA's 'Dancing Queen' - with everyone dancing down the stairs it went pretty quickly - not the slow processional we'd hoped for but it was fun :) and did i mention hot? dear god -the place was like a boiler room! luckily we found out that the moorish room would be air conditioned the day of the wedding - otherwise i think people would have started to pass out....
the rehearsal was great. everyone was so easy going and willing to do anything to help. chris and i really blessed to have such fantastic friends and family! since we live far apart from most of our friends it was so great having them all in the same room and helping us out. i don't know if we'll ever be able to thank them enough!
oh - after the rehearsal itself aj (the lady in charge) showed up and took us to the bridal suite where the bridal party was going to be getting ready the next day. it was perfect! tables and mirrors for everyone to use. beautiful big windows full of natural lighting. a really nice dressing mirror that mark (kari's boyfriend) was kind enough to pose in front of for us :) after all was said and done we headed down to the blackwater lounge (located right off the lobby inside greysolon) and had a much needed drink :) again - it was great to have all of our friends gathered around a big table getting to know one another :) i had a june in january or a january in june or something like that - can't remember - martini. it was super yummy! and it bubbled so it was fun to boot (they put a little pellet of dry ice into the bottom of the glass). in face it was so good and made me feel so good that i put don in charge of bringing in some vodka and pinapple juice the next day in case i needed it before the wedding :) 
after a quick drink and stop at home for a change of clothes we headed up to hartley nature center for the grooms dinner. in order to try and save some money we went with something pretty low-key. subway, chips and soda. nice. comfortable. it was fun. everyone got a chance to relax and chatter.
we were also able to give out the gifts we had bought for the wedding party here. well...chris was able to give out his gifts to the groomsmen. i on the other hand - being so organized - did not have mine on hand and ended up passing them out as we were getting ready the next day. i really liked the gifts chris picked out though. personalized cufflinks for everyone. don got some great KISS ones. bryan had ski ones. nathan had some bike ones and dave had some airplane control panel ones. (if i haven't mentioned it before - etsy is a fantastic site to get customized orders!) i liked them so much that i ordered scrabble ones for my dad. one 'L' and one 'R' :) 
uhhh..yeah....i did mention that it was pretty low-key, right? :) (nice chris!)
after dinner i made the very wise decision to go out and have some more drinks at blackwaters. my intent was to just have one. then i was going to go home. take advantage of my parents lovely bathtub and have a soak in those wonderful smelling chai tea bath leaves that vija got me for my bachelorette gift. then i was going to get a good nights sleep.......yeah......
instead i stayed out till 12:30. i had three martini's and some chocolate fondue. while i had a great time i would end up regretting my decision later on. i had to include the picture above. it's chris's brother nathan and below is nathan and his wife mandy (who just happen to make up a fantastic band that you should check out here). nathan never really ever drinks and it turns out that this was the first alcholic beverage he'd ever ordered - in honor of our wedding! evidently we were all trying to attain a hangover for the big day..... :) halfway through the evening the guys in the group decided to head off and play pool. it worked out perfectly becuase right then my sister and her husband showed up and our little table area was more than packed! and like i said - we stayed there till around 12:30 then headed back home. i know that the bride and groom are traditionally not supposed to stay in the same place the night before but since we didn't have a lot of options chris ended up sleeping on the couch in the basement of my parents house and i stayed on the third floor. for reasons that i'll mention later i was incredibly grateful that he was so close.....
and with that this massively long post has come to an end!
