Mini Wheats and Potstickers - A Wedding Day to Remember

So I left off with the inevitable - the skatin' rink guy and the girl from the youth group he pastored were destined to be.  God had ordained some craziness (for our entertainment, I'm sure), and there was to be a wedding. 

Or should I back up just briefly.  Skatin' rink guy did have to pop the proverbial question and had an entire affair planned out, but kidney stones cramped (rather literally) his style, and he took me out to dinner with both sets of our parents instead.  (A dinner that I very much tried to get out of, btw, knowing how much pain my future fiance was fighting... with the help of hyrdocodone.  To this day I'm not sure he really meant to propose.  I'm only half kidding, he did have a ring and all.) 

So anyway - he dropped to one knee in that Italian restaurant and the entire restaurant erupted in clapter (and yes, this word does exist.  I invented it after said event.)

And so - wedding planning started rather quickly.  An evangelist friend of ours had always wanted to marry us and we called to say 'get your calendar ready', only kidding of course, but before we could clarify, he had dropped the phone to get said calendar, returning with two dates.  One in May and one in August.  Being that it was already mid - December, August felt safer for planning purposes.  So - 2 hours after our engagement, a date was set.

Still in college, I wanted to get as much of my wedding planning accomplished as possible during winter break, and so as I returned back to school on the 15th of January (one month and one day after the engagement), everything was planned.  My dress was even in my possession.  Seems May would have worked fine afterall - oh well.

And there were showers and parties and swimming and fun and a Cardinal game bachelor / bachelorette party (we have some of the most amazing friends in the world!) and then we were a week out. 

I had taken summer school in the weeks proceeding the wedding (what was I thinking?) and had finals Monday, Tuesday and Thursday before my Saturday wedding (again, really?).  The Sunday before these finals I started feeling... under the weather.  The Monday before, a two final day, I was feeling awful, but I drove all the way to school (40 minute haul one way) with my sniffly sneeziness and sore throat, only to decide upon pulling in the parking lot that my wedding was Saturday, and if it meant failing some classes, I could not be sick on my wedding day.  So I literally turned around in that parking lot and drove all the way back home to my family doctor. 

The nurse misunderstood when I told her I had a wedding on Saturday and I couldn't be sick, and when my DR asked what I was in the wedding all I could say was, "Bride."  Needless to say, that kicked things up a notch and I left with a steroid shot to the arm, a kick of antibiotics in the rear and a prescription for a z-pac. 

I later made up said finals with no problem.

Minus the ginormous bruise on my arm, the sickness got better so I could enjoy the rest of the week.  Sweet bridesmaids took me to get my nails did (and treated me to a homemade crepe' breakfast) the day before the big day, and we spent the rest of the day setting up.

At this point - I had moved everything into my soon-to-be husband's home, and that evening after our rehearsal dinner, I returned to my parent's house only to discover that the ONLY thing I had to sleep in was, well, nothing.  The only clothes I had were the clothes to wear to the church the next morning and my wedding dress.  Everything else was unpacked at the future hubs' house or packed for the honeymoon. 

So - I slept in one of my dad's old t-shirts.  Aww the memories.

I took a little nyquil before bed (I use the excuse that I was still fighting some sickness, but really, who can sleep the night before their wedding night?), and had some of the best sleep of my life.

I awoke the next morning, as if it were any other day, ate my frosted mini-wheats, took my shower, and went to get my hair done.  I then went and bought my girl's a Subway lunch, and met at the church where the dressing took place. 

It sounds sad - but my wedding day felt like any other day, in the sense that there were no nerves, I wasn't scared, or hesitant, or anything,  just excited.  It wasn't until I was walking down the aisle with my teary father that I realized what exactly was happening. 

And it was good.

The ceremony was perfect.  Evangelist guy impressed us more that day than he ever had.  Only he could prepare a message that highlighted Jesus above all else, mentioned Wal-Mart, and even brought him to tears.  I'm serious. 

And we were married - and we walked out to the Happy Song.  Again, I'm serious.  It is all about Jesus, right? And people had clappers instead of bubbles or rice outside.  I did mention that I married the skatin' rink guy, right?  Ok, just checking.

And we had a right quick cake reception in the church that afternoon, and before we knew it we were out and on our way to our hotel (no need for dancing - we had other things to move on to if ya know what I mean... we'd waited that long, c'mon now.)  And after arriving at said hotel, Aaron's phone proceeded to blow up with calls and texts.  Calls from the evangelist (who should have known better) and texts from our youth kids that read, "Hey - it's 9:30 on your wedding night, what are you doing?"  Seriously.  I told him to tell them, but he didn't. 

There happened to be a TGIFridays in our hotel, so rather than go out, we ordered room service, and I experienced Potstickers for the first time ever.  Yum!  

So anyway - there's the day... wait til you hear about the day after, it's a doozie ;)

-A