Here Come the Bridesmaids!
Took the title from an old Baby-Sitters' Club book. Don't ask.
Anyway, this weekend was my cousin Noelle's three day wedding event. First was the rehearsal dinner on Thursday. Unexpectedly having the day off, I was forced to hang out at home all day until when I had to go to church. Mom and Dad came with me, cause she was giving communion and a reading, so she wanted to talk to the priest. He wasn't there of course, but she got to test the mike at least, as well as a last minute invitation (which she declined) to the dinner because two of the three ring bearers were missing. Yes, you heard that right, three. I guess so there wouldn't be any hard feelings (like at my mother's wedding, oy, I'm not going into that story) she had Chris's three nephews be ring bearers, although one was only like 2 or something, and his niece/goddaughter be the flower girl. She and her brother were the only kids there, as the other two were left at home for some reason. Also missing was one of the ushers, because he lives in Florida and flew in the morning of the wedding (it was in the evening, there was time, but still, talk about cutting it close. although that seemed to be a trend over the weekend, but more about that later). The rest of the line up was as follows- my cousin's sister as the maid of honor, me, one of the groom's cousins, and two of her best friends as bridesmaids, the younger brother of the groom as best man and another friend and his other two brothers (one of whom was my partner) as the rest of the ushers. Most of the rehearsal was left to socializing, and one practice of going in an out. My cousin, strangely enough for a bride, was complaining about her lack of butterflies-- live ones to release instead of throwing rice-- which were supposed to come by FedEx that day. They did make it the next morning fortunately, though there were fears that the poor things were dead. Fortunately we could hear them moving around in the box. But more on that (and the ethically issues associated with that) later.
So after church, we went to La Bella Vita for the dinner, hosted by Chris's (the groom's) parents. I was mostly hanging out with my aunt, cousin and my cousin's best friends, one of whom was also named Jennifer (The photographer was joking that he was going to call all of us that) and had had her sweet sixteen there. My cousin gave all the bridesmaids a set of jewelery that matched our dresses to wear the next day, and the guys these pocket knife thingies (excepting of course, the present ring bearer, who I think got a video game). As for food, they had like a zillion courses. I didn't eat much except my entree, since there was like a cold cut appetizer, then an all fish thing, most of which I couldn't identify (does anyone know what a seemingly two headed shrimp is?), so avoided. The chicken franchese was good though, and soft enough to cut with a fork since I had dropped my knife on the floor. There was also spaghetti, although I didn't taste any because I had ordered vegetables as my side, but the waiter brought three to our side of the table anyway, which was strange. We never did figure out whose it was. Then my dad picked me up afterward. Noelle was a little worried cause her then fiance went back to their new house in Jersey. She was terrified that he'd be late to the ceremony, so much to the point that she attempted to lie to him about the time the mass started. And there I'll leave you, since I am going to try to wash all the hairspray out of my hair. More later.
Anyway, this weekend was my cousin Noelle's three day wedding event. First was the rehearsal dinner on Thursday. Unexpectedly having the day off, I was forced to hang out at home all day until when I had to go to church. Mom and Dad came with me, cause she was giving communion and a reading, so she wanted to talk to the priest. He wasn't there of course, but she got to test the mike at least, as well as a last minute invitation (which she declined) to the dinner because two of the three ring bearers were missing. Yes, you heard that right, three. I guess so there wouldn't be any hard feelings (like at my mother's wedding, oy, I'm not going into that story) she had Chris's three nephews be ring bearers, although one was only like 2 or something, and his niece/goddaughter be the flower girl. She and her brother were the only kids there, as the other two were left at home for some reason. Also missing was one of the ushers, because he lives in Florida and flew in the morning of the wedding (it was in the evening, there was time, but still, talk about cutting it close. although that seemed to be a trend over the weekend, but more about that later). The rest of the line up was as follows- my cousin's sister as the maid of honor, me, one of the groom's cousins, and two of her best friends as bridesmaids, the younger brother of the groom as best man and another friend and his other two brothers (one of whom was my partner) as the rest of the ushers. Most of the rehearsal was left to socializing, and one practice of going in an out. My cousin, strangely enough for a bride, was complaining about her lack of butterflies-- live ones to release instead of throwing rice-- which were supposed to come by FedEx that day. They did make it the next morning fortunately, though there were fears that the poor things were dead. Fortunately we could hear them moving around in the box. But more on that (and the ethically issues associated with that) later.
So after church, we went to La Bella Vita for the dinner, hosted by Chris's (the groom's) parents. I was mostly hanging out with my aunt, cousin and my cousin's best friends, one of whom was also named Jennifer (The photographer was joking that he was going to call all of us that) and had had her sweet sixteen there. My cousin gave all the bridesmaids a set of jewelery that matched our dresses to wear the next day, and the guys these pocket knife thingies (excepting of course, the present ring bearer, who I think got a video game). As for food, they had like a zillion courses. I didn't eat much except my entree, since there was like a cold cut appetizer, then an all fish thing, most of which I couldn't identify (does anyone know what a seemingly two headed shrimp is?), so avoided. The chicken franchese was good though, and soft enough to cut with a fork since I had dropped my knife on the floor. There was also spaghetti, although I didn't taste any because I had ordered vegetables as my side, but the waiter brought three to our side of the table anyway, which was strange. We never did figure out whose it was. Then my dad picked me up afterward. Noelle was a little worried cause her then fiance went back to their new house in Jersey. She was terrified that he'd be late to the ceremony, so much to the point that she attempted to lie to him about the time the mass started. And there I'll leave you, since I am going to try to wash all the hairspray out of my hair. More later.