Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: The girls get pretty!!

So while the guys got ready, obviously the girls were already well on their way. We went even earlier in the day to a salon in Lancaster to get our hair done (all except me, 'cause I'm easy like that) and got to Riverdale a little late.

Let me set this up for you: we had two hours to get our hair done, it took longer than two hours, we got to Riverdale maybe a half hour late, and then it took about an hour to get the ceremony space ready and go over last minute stuff with the coordinator and officiant and DJ. So now I've got an hour and a half until the ceremony... to do three hours worth of ready-gettin'! Already a little panicky...

Our makeup artists were already there (as well as Ben, duh), so they got started right away on my sister and Keri while I went over last minute stuff with our coordinator/DJ/officiant/future husband:

They looked awesome sauce! Our makeup artists consisted of a lovely young woman and a charming, flamboyantly gay guy, who was awesome. But eventually, the former lovely young woman got her dirty mitts on me... People, I had stuff to do... How long is this going to take?

 

Love this picture of me and my Mama. Look how pretty she is!!

 

She and I were the smart ones who wore button down shirts! Someone's been doing their homework!

Already getting impatient... Mom's almost done. I definitely should have done this myself...

Flamboyantly gay guy makes funny comment, breaks tension.

At least Ben has the sense and skill to make a photo opp out of it. But this is getting out of hand.

Anything interesting on my phone?

Must have seen something to make me laugh. Maybe it was just Ben horsing around behind me:

OK, this is getting ridiculous, and at this point, I remember that our processional order has completely changed since the last time I talked to our DJ. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't bother, just play something, but I knew I could trust Nick to get this right, and I knew I could trust that he wouldn't hold it against me if I was disgustingly nit-picky about it. So someone found Nick so I could take my mind off how long makeup was taking... Oh, you see that Mia is now getting her makeup done... why aren't I done yet?!

 
 Also, see the gift on my lap? I needed to get Kyle his gift as well... and we're running out of time.

Not sure how I have it in me to still see any humor in this at this point... I think Keri went to deliver my gift.

I think I'm almost done at this point, but at this point, I've completely given up on the prospect of getting to take pictures with the girls before the ceremony or pictures on the balcony. I think I was too happy in general that it was my wedding day and I felt the way I was supposed to... But in hindsight, I'm beyond pissed makeup took AN HOUR! At this point we have a half hour to get dressed and get down to the ceremony... no extra photos... :( no balcony... :(

At least Mia looks gorgeous!! Now please go find some alcohol. It's time to squeeze Ashley into a dress!

I'm very happy that we have so many pictures of this, and that my mom and sister are the ones who helped me.

 

Ben, again, making excellent use of the mirrors!

 

 
Love how the dress looks from the side.

It took a long time, but only because they couldn't find the top hook. The dress was loose on me, I'll come back to that later, believe me.

 

Next Mama helps me with my garters (that she made!); my New (I wouldn't normally have made garters a 'New' but since my mom made them, I thought the wedding gods would make an exception, just for me). You can see my Old sitting next to me; my crappy, old dependable, cheap Payless purple-y loafers! I put on my Blue next; the blue emerald necklace my parents got me for my 18th birthday. I forgot to tell Ben that it was significant, so he didn't get any close-up shots of any jewelry.

Next came my hair flower, which I needed a lot of help with... and which took me a long time... so we have lots of pictures of it :)

OK, Mama, help!

Miracle-Worker-Mama got that thing in there so good it didn't move for the next several hours!

OK, so unfortunately, at this point, we have to get moving, but I remember that Keith came in with a gift from Kyle forever ago and I forgot about it till this point.

I told him not to get me anything because he paid for 75% of the wedding, but, when does anyone ever listen to me?! Why should I expect my soon-to-be husband to do so??

Just kidding, but seriously, he got me a very beautiful strand of pearls, very sneakily (he got it from the same jeweler as all our rings came from, so he was always using 'picking up or cleaning our rings' as an excuse to go there and order things).

I love them, I wear them anytime we go out someplace nice, but I couldn't wear them just then (and I knew he knew this) because it meant a lot to me to wear the necklace my parents got me for the actual ceremony. The pearls would keep nicely for the reception.

This was how I became not a two-dress bride, as is the trend now of course, but a two-necklace bride!


At this point, my mom surprises me with my Borrowed; a beautiful, dainty little hanky that my great grandmother made. Now, I was actually pretty blown away by this, especially because she told me she thought it would be too old or fragile for me to use since she also used it in her wedding! She waited until just a few minutes before the ceremony to break it out. While it was all very dramatic and touching (which I don't think my mom intended for it to be) it was also too short notice for me to turn to Ben and say "Quick, get pictures of all this stuff!" My Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue pretty much came together at the last second.

Shooooo! Got all that?? Again, thanks for sticking around, I know I wasn't this eloquent with yesterday's post about the boys, but what could possibly have been going through their minds?! They had plenty of time! We're at T minus minutes now and I need a drink. Thanks to Mia or Ben (I never did figure out which took care of this, but thanks), we had a whole bottle of white wine brought up from the bar... I would have chugged it all if they had let me...

We settled for a nice cup full. I didn't have as many smiles anymore, I was officially getting a little nervous...Next, Kyle and I manage to get in a few individual portraits before we finally see each other!