"Have A Little Faith In Me"

Sunday, July 12, 2009
4:13 pm Buzzing.

THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Seriously. Top notch. Well done. We should really have weddings more often (no pressure, Stephanie). That was really just... fantastic.

Last night was Stephen and Rebecca's wedding, and it was just a BALL. I was in a good mood all week because I was SO looking forward to it, and it definitely did not disappoint. I JUST LOVE LOVE!

Wedding prep for me started on Tuesday night, when Stephanie and I drove over to Stephen and Rebecca's condo to help put together the "Out of Town" bags. I had never heard of this before, but apparently it's customary to put together little goody bags to leave at the hotels of people who have come in from out of town to attend the wedding. Well, Stephanie and I were at the condo for over three hours, only 20 minutes of which was actually spent putting together the bags. We spent most of the time eating and talking with Stephen and Rebecca, which was really nice. We discussed everything from the meaning of true love to the Deadliest Catch. It was a great way to start off the wedding week.

The next event was the rehearsal dinner on Friday. I love any excuse to dress up, drink, and socialize, so I was in heaven. We all went to First and Last in Avon and had a great time. The food was SO good. I still have leftovers in the fridge.

Then, it was the big day. You would have thought I was the one getting married, I was so excited. I spent the day moisturizing, shaving, plucking, buffing, primping, etc, in preparation. The wedding itself was beautiful, set inside a little chapel at Avon Old Farms that looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale. And the weather was perfect! They say, "A wet knot is a tight knot," but no one actually wants pouring rain on their wedding day. For Stephen and Rebecca, the rain held off till the evening when we were all inside partying anyway, so they got the good weather AND the good luck.

I only cried three times the whole night. I started to get choked up when Grandma and Dad were walking down the aisle, because Grandma was already crying, but I didn't actually cry until Rebecca came down the aisle. She just looked so happy and beautiful! The second time I cried was when Dad gave his Best Man's speech. I recorded the whole thing on my camera, so I was struggling to wipe away tears without ruining my make-up and hold my camera up at the same time. I can't show it to you though, because I'm an idiot and accidently deleted it. Fantastic, I know. The third time I cried was watching Grandma and Stephen do their Mother/Son dance. It was just such a special, touching moment.

Now, along with all the crying, there was A LOT of laughter. I knew having my family all together was going to make for some hilarious moments, so I made sure to keep a notepad with me to jot down any memorable quotes. The idea came to me last weekend when Kaitlyn asked me, wide-eyed and in hushed tones, if I would be drinking at the wedding. I said something along the lines of, "Hell yeah!" to which Dad responded, "Tara, don't be 'that' girl at the wedding." I rolled my eyes, but he did, admittedly, have a point. That was the first memorable quote. I've documented the rest below:

9.) "You better come ready to party. I am getting married once and you better enjoy it. End of story." - Stephen via text message, Thursday night.

8.) "I saw Harry Potter naked!" - Grandma, rehearsal dinner.

7.) "I'm driving with just my big toe right now." - Stephanie (i.e. our designated driver), on the way home from the rehearsal dinner.

6.) "They wanted to hook me up with a nut-scratcher." - Kaitlyn, on Stephen and Rebecca trying to hook her up with their neighbor, on the way home from the rehearsal dinner.

5.) "I'm doing it. I'm hungry!" - Me, on taking communion after Stephanie told me not to, during the wedding ceremony.

4.) "I was just dancing with my bad girl." - Leo, after coming off of the dance floor with Grandma, at the reception.

3.) "He was with his peeps!" - Grandma, after we lost and found Dad, at the reception.

2.) "Have you seen my wife?" - Stephen, at the reception.

And last but not least...

1.) "Soooooooooo sorry about work-boot guy last night." Jill via text message this morning, on her (drunkenly?) trying to fix me up last night.

So when's the next one???

Love,
Tara