Wedding Day Recap
I'm still not done writing it out in on paper but if I don't start transcribing an edited-down version now, it'll never get done. So...
Friday, April 21, 2006:
I dragged myself out of bed at 7AM after only a couple hours of sleep. As soon as my alarm went off I was ticking off a list of things in my head that had to be done before we left the house at 9AM. I finished packing all my gear and took a shower, got dressed, took asthma meds, and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't cough too much in church. I woke up C., he showered and dressed and we left (late... at 9:45!). Oddly enough there was traffic so we ended up getting to the villa at 10:30 (30 mins late) where my stylist was freaking out bc we were running behind schedule. She said she wanted to call me to come earlier but didn't have my cell number! The girls and my mom showed up at the same time as we did, I quickly kissed C. goodbye (last kiss as singletons!) and he left for his mom's house down the road. Notice that my dad was not with my mom... that was snafu #1 of the day. I clearly told my mom that a car was to pick up her AND MY DAD at 9:30 that morning yet she left him at the hotel. So I had to send another car around for him at 1PM so tha the could come to the church with me later on. Anyway, after I got that sorted out, I quickly checked into the suite and we headed upstairs to get ready.
Stefania (the stylist) spread all her gear out on the table and started working on my mom. The girls and I did last minute stuff like manis, pedis, took at attempt at steaming their dresses (until I finally just handed them off to the chambermaid to press them), etc. When my mom was done, Stefania started on Euleen, while Cindy, Hirut and Lisa went down to a lunch that the sommelier (Fausto) set up for them in the cafe (tiny little sandwiches, fruit and chocolates). Hirut and Cindy came back up and Stefania started on Cindy (Hirut and Lisa did their own hair and makeup) while my mom and I went down to eat. Actually I'm surprised that Lisa doesn't have a photo of lunch since she was taking pics of everything! My mom and I found her downstairs waiting for her fruit dish which ended being this monstronsity of a platter. Anyway... over lunch, Fausto came up to me and said I needed to take a look at the flowers that had just been delivered bc there was a problem with the flowergirl's basket. We went to see it and it was ENORMOUS. That sucker must've weighed a good 10 lbs and was probably 18" wide. So Fausto, God bless his soul, had the villa florist redo it and make a smaller hand-wrapped bouquet using the stuff from the basket. Too bad we ended up forgetting to bring it with us in the end! Then came snafu #3 for the day... he asked us where the reception entertainment was supposed to set up so I showed him where and he asked why I chose that location. I explained that we were suppose to dance in the sala roma (that's the red room where the cocktail hour was) and he said that they don't normally allow dancing or music in that area bc you cannot play music past 11:30PM since there are hotel rooms in the upstairs vicinity. This is completely contrary to what the airhead catering manager told us when we asked about changing the dance location and when we went to practice our first dance 2 weeks before. So I told him to change the room back to the original ball room and that was that. I have no idea, why, in the end, we still danced in the sala roma.
Tangent: I'm actually still pissed about the whole flower thing... my bouquet was all wrong as was the flower girl basket. My bouquet was the one that I had originally used as my avatar... basically very tightly bound ivory and white flowers. Instead I got a bouquet that had all these weird banana leaves woven into it. On top of that, I have no idea what the hell the florist was thinking when she made that huge basket for the flower girl. I mean, granted, I had originally wanted just petals, but the priest nixed that the night before at rehearsal so I told the florist to do a small arrangement in the same basket. I had no idea the basket she had in mind was so huge! I mean, had it had petals in it, it still would have been too big for her to carry!
Anyway, after that we went back upstairs bc Stefania said I needed to start getting ready at 12:45 and it was 12:45. When I walked in she was still working on Cindy so I changed into my skivvies and a robe while she finished up Cindy's hair (although Cindy now tells me her do wasn't actually finished...). After that everything was sort of a blur bc I couldn't speak or open my eyes. I know that Piera arrived with my dress at some point, then I got a call from reception saying that the photographers and videographers had arrived and what were they to do? I told them to send them up, but after 10 minutes they still had not arrived so I'm sitting there thinking that they are lost in the villa when another call comes form the airhead catering manager freaking out about all the people in the room. She brings up the troops and starts to yell at me about the "bazarre" in the suite, saying that when she gave me "permission" to get dressed (sorry, but I don't need permission when I am paying $1200 for a room for the night thanks) there that she didn't expect all this madness. Let me tell you I was PISSED. In fact, I'm still pissed. It's not like we were partying either. Everyone was just getting dressed.
Once I was able to open my eyes, the photographers wanted me to take a look at the various albums they could have made. I have to say... I thought they were different when I saw them on the internet. Basically, what I liked on the net, is the parents' version of the album. This version is like your standard coffee-table book but with a cloth cover. Instead, the bride-groom version is HUGE... probably a good 18" tall and 12" wide. The pages are also really thick, sort of like a children's book that has those thick cardboard pages. Anyway that's what I went with since I didn't like the leather version they offered.
My makeup wasn't done until 2PM (more or less when we were supposed to leave!), so I quickly shrugged off my robe and started to dress. At the last second I got a phone call from Carlo's mom telling me that there was a really bad traffic accident on the parkway so to take another road, therefore the photographers have a photo of me in all my glory chatting on my cell phone. Once I hung up, it was time to get the dress on. Piera forgot to bring a scarf with her so they used a piece of tissue paper to cover my face and hair while they pulled the dress over my head:
As soon as the dress was on the photographers left for the church, which is a shame bc it means we don't have professional pics of the last few moments like my veil being put on, my mom pinning my great-grandmother's broach to my bouquet:
me all dressed up, me getting into the car with my dad, etc. But they needed to set up at the chuch so they had to leave.
One they were gone, I quickly chose some jewelry (I ended up going with the single pearl drop and the earrings I got for free when I opened the registry) then I borrowed Cindy's newly gifted pearl bracelet. I put on the gloves, Stefania put on my veil, and Piera nitpicked until she thought everything was perfect (basically she had some hairpins moved around and played with the ruching on the dress).
Once we were all done, pictures were taken, and it actually finally dawned on me that I was getting married!
So with a "let's go get married" we were out the door. I can say "us" with the girls bc as much as the wedding was mine and C's, my bridesmaids are my best friends and they've been there through everything. They know the most intimate details of my life, so as much as it was my wedding, it was also our wedding. Does that make sense? I'm the first of our group to get married so it was sort of a monumental moment.
Up next... getting into the car and the the drive to the church... then the ceremony! But all in a separate post as I need to run some errands now!
Friday, April 21, 2006:
I dragged myself out of bed at 7AM after only a couple hours of sleep. As soon as my alarm went off I was ticking off a list of things in my head that had to be done before we left the house at 9AM. I finished packing all my gear and took a shower, got dressed, took asthma meds, and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't cough too much in church. I woke up C., he showered and dressed and we left (late... at 9:45!). Oddly enough there was traffic so we ended up getting to the villa at 10:30 (30 mins late) where my stylist was freaking out bc we were running behind schedule. She said she wanted to call me to come earlier but didn't have my cell number! The girls and my mom showed up at the same time as we did, I quickly kissed C. goodbye (last kiss as singletons!) and he left for his mom's house down the road. Notice that my dad was not with my mom... that was snafu #1 of the day. I clearly told my mom that a car was to pick up her AND MY DAD at 9:30 that morning yet she left him at the hotel. So I had to send another car around for him at 1PM so tha the could come to the church with me later on. Anyway, after I got that sorted out, I quickly checked into the suite and we headed upstairs to get ready.
Stefania (the stylist) spread all her gear out on the table and started working on my mom. The girls and I did last minute stuff like manis, pedis, took at attempt at steaming their dresses (until I finally just handed them off to the chambermaid to press them), etc. When my mom was done, Stefania started on Euleen, while Cindy, Hirut and Lisa went down to a lunch that the sommelier (Fausto) set up for them in the cafe (tiny little sandwiches, fruit and chocolates). Hirut and Cindy came back up and Stefania started on Cindy (Hirut and Lisa did their own hair and makeup) while my mom and I went down to eat. Actually I'm surprised that Lisa doesn't have a photo of lunch since she was taking pics of everything! My mom and I found her downstairs waiting for her fruit dish which ended being this monstronsity of a platter. Anyway... over lunch, Fausto came up to me and said I needed to take a look at the flowers that had just been delivered bc there was a problem with the flowergirl's basket. We went to see it and it was ENORMOUS. That sucker must've weighed a good 10 lbs and was probably 18" wide. So Fausto, God bless his soul, had the villa florist redo it and make a smaller hand-wrapped bouquet using the stuff from the basket. Too bad we ended up forgetting to bring it with us in the end! Then came snafu #3 for the day... he asked us where the reception entertainment was supposed to set up so I showed him where and he asked why I chose that location. I explained that we were suppose to dance in the sala roma (that's the red room where the cocktail hour was) and he said that they don't normally allow dancing or music in that area bc you cannot play music past 11:30PM since there are hotel rooms in the upstairs vicinity. This is completely contrary to what the airhead catering manager told us when we asked about changing the dance location and when we went to practice our first dance 2 weeks before. So I told him to change the room back to the original ball room and that was that. I have no idea, why, in the end, we still danced in the sala roma.
Tangent: I'm actually still pissed about the whole flower thing... my bouquet was all wrong as was the flower girl basket. My bouquet was the one that I had originally used as my avatar... basically very tightly bound ivory and white flowers. Instead I got a bouquet that had all these weird banana leaves woven into it. On top of that, I have no idea what the hell the florist was thinking when she made that huge basket for the flower girl. I mean, granted, I had originally wanted just petals, but the priest nixed that the night before at rehearsal so I told the florist to do a small arrangement in the same basket. I had no idea the basket she had in mind was so huge! I mean, had it had petals in it, it still would have been too big for her to carry!
Anyway, after that we went back upstairs bc Stefania said I needed to start getting ready at 12:45 and it was 12:45. When I walked in she was still working on Cindy so I changed into my skivvies and a robe while she finished up Cindy's hair (although Cindy now tells me her do wasn't actually finished...). After that everything was sort of a blur bc I couldn't speak or open my eyes. I know that Piera arrived with my dress at some point, then I got a call from reception saying that the photographers and videographers had arrived and what were they to do? I told them to send them up, but after 10 minutes they still had not arrived so I'm sitting there thinking that they are lost in the villa when another call comes form the airhead catering manager freaking out about all the people in the room. She brings up the troops and starts to yell at me about the "bazarre" in the suite, saying that when she gave me "permission" to get dressed (sorry, but I don't need permission when I am paying $1200 for a room for the night thanks) there that she didn't expect all this madness. Let me tell you I was PISSED. In fact, I'm still pissed. It's not like we were partying either. Everyone was just getting dressed.
Once I was able to open my eyes, the photographers wanted me to take a look at the various albums they could have made. I have to say... I thought they were different when I saw them on the internet. Basically, what I liked on the net, is the parents' version of the album. This version is like your standard coffee-table book but with a cloth cover. Instead, the bride-groom version is HUGE... probably a good 18" tall and 12" wide. The pages are also really thick, sort of like a children's book that has those thick cardboard pages. Anyway that's what I went with since I didn't like the leather version they offered.
My makeup wasn't done until 2PM (more or less when we were supposed to leave!), so I quickly shrugged off my robe and started to dress. At the last second I got a phone call from Carlo's mom telling me that there was a really bad traffic accident on the parkway so to take another road, therefore the photographers have a photo of me in all my glory chatting on my cell phone. Once I hung up, it was time to get the dress on. Piera forgot to bring a scarf with her so they used a piece of tissue paper to cover my face and hair while they pulled the dress over my head:
As soon as the dress was on the photographers left for the church, which is a shame bc it means we don't have professional pics of the last few moments like my veil being put on, my mom pinning my great-grandmother's broach to my bouquet:
me all dressed up, me getting into the car with my dad, etc. But they needed to set up at the chuch so they had to leave.
One they were gone, I quickly chose some jewelry (I ended up going with the single pearl drop and the earrings I got for free when I opened the registry) then I borrowed Cindy's newly gifted pearl bracelet. I put on the gloves, Stefania put on my veil, and Piera nitpicked until she thought everything was perfect (basically she had some hairpins moved around and played with the ruching on the dress).
Once we were all done, pictures were taken, and it actually finally dawned on me that I was getting married!
So with a "let's go get married" we were out the door. I can say "us" with the girls bc as much as the wedding was mine and C's, my bridesmaids are my best friends and they've been there through everything. They know the most intimate details of my life, so as much as it was my wedding, it was also our wedding. Does that make sense? I'm the first of our group to get married so it was sort of a monumental moment.
Up next... getting into the car and the the drive to the church... then the ceremony! But all in a separate post as I need to run some errands now!