Wow, I can't believe it's been two whole weeks since my last blog! We've never had a stretch like that before! I've been trying to organize my wedding blogs (yes blogs - plural - I'll leave no detail out!) in my head for the last few days. I refused to participate in any of my normal neurotic behaviors in St. Lucia (no list-making, e-mail checking, Facebook updating), but that doesn't mean I didn't take a few notes on our great excursions. So prepare yourselves for a series of blogs that will take you through the Wedding Weekend - Wednesday through Saturday then a blog (or two) on the honeymoon Sunday through yesterday (Sunday). I have no idea the frequency at which I'll be able to keep this up - I'm going to aim for every other day, but I have returned home to A LOT of work both at work itself (some very understanding students waiting for midterm grades) and in the apartment (I don't know how it's possible for a place to have gotten messier when we weren't even here???).
Along the way, I'm also going to try to include pictures that I've gotten from other people thus far. As soon as we have some of our professional pictures, I will upload those as well - but I don't expect them for at least another week or so. We'll stay patient together!
First things first, I will address the question that's on everyone's minds - yes, Bryan and I are still married :-P
Ok, now that we got that out of the way - let's take a trip back in time to Wednesday, October 13th - two days before The Wedding.
At 7am, I arrived at work. I had a mini-list of things to do that morning, namely, I wanted to make sure that the labs were spic-and-span and that all supplies were at the ready for the next 2 weeks. Then at 8am, I gave my students their midterm. This is where it got crazy.
I didn't think my midterm was difficult - in fact, I think my students this semester have had it super-easy since life has been so nuts for me. "Your lab notebook's a little messy? Eh, it's fine!" "That's not the exact answer I wanted but...I'm getting married! Here's full credit!"
I had promised to show Bryan's Aunt Debbie and cousins Lauren and Jacque around GSU since Jacque is considering places to attend college. They were landing extremely early (I think around 8:30) and we calculated that by the time they got off the plane, onto Marta, and into downtown Atlanta, it'd be about 9:30. I thought FOR SURE my students would be long gone. But no - at 9:30, they were still working on this midterm. After about 50 text messages between myself and Aunt Deb, I was on my way closer to 10am to meet them up at Peachtree Center where they were hanging out waiting for me. I felt terrible! But the sun was shining and I managed to take them around much of the campus.
Lesson learned: Don't work 2 days before your wedding - things that you think will not take a long time DO take a long time! If I had not given that midterm, I would've been on time for the girls - but it worked out, and I think Jacque got some useful information during her stay here in Georgia about where she'd like to go (she's leaning towards becoming a Bulldog!).
The Schallmo girls and I decided on Chipotle for lunch. We took it to go and I returned home to our apartment covered in wedding gifts and boxes filled with things that needed to go to the venue or to the hotel. I was also due to meet Sonia (I'm still not sure what title Sonia gets - is it just "my brother-in-law's wife"? That sounds so...impersonal. Is it "sister-in-law-by-marriage"? That kind of makes it sound like she's Bryan's actual sister - clarifications, anyone??). For now, I like sister-in-law, even though she's neither Bryan's sister nor my brother's wife.
Ok, back to the story - Sonia and I had a 2pm eyebrow threading appointment. I packed up my Honda Fit with (what I thought was) everything that needed to go to the Payne-Corley House as well as the Welcome Bags that needed to go to the Homewood Suites. Just prior to leaving, Bryan confessed that he had not printed the Welcome for the Welcome Bags, the itinerary, and directions that I had typed up. Oh, and we didn't have any paper to print with at the apartment. So he ran out, came back, printed everything, and subsequently I was leaving the apartment at 2pm instead of arriving at the eyebrow place at 2pm.
Although I was 15 minutes late, I said a quick hello-goodbye to Sonia, got my eyebrows threaded, and was back on the road to the Homewood Suites. I was also extremely antsy to see my family who had arrived in town at about the same time as my eyebrows were getting pretty. It's funny, whenever I'm in times of high stress, I just want my Mommy and Daddy. (Yes, I'm 29 years old).
At the Homewood Suites, I assembled the remainder of the Welcome Bags with the amazing biscotti Aunt Claire had packaged for us (my parents had driven them down) and our just-printed welcome info. Speaking of the biscotti, did anyone take a picture of the wrapper? I think it should be included on the blog. Aunt Claire put two biscotti in each package and printed stickers shaped like a heart (Bryan's favorite) with our names on them! I'd like a picture of this - just a request.
Also in our welcome bags were 2 packages of some kind of chips: Sun Chips, Fritos, Cheetos, potato chips (we bought the most Sun Chips, so hopefully everyone got at least one of those); LifeSaver's mints, Colgate Wisps (I'm obsessed with these things - and thanks to Mary Beth who got boxes of them from one of her clients!), chocolate chip granola bars, peanut butter crackers, and 2 bottles of water. Yes, and the biscotti! Unfortunately I couldn't find either Tums or Advil/Tylenol in packaging at BJ's that would've been welcome bag-friendly. So hopefully, no one had heartburn or a raging headache the day of or after the wedding. I looked, I really did! But I think our goal of having some of the best Welcome Bags ever was accomplished :-)
After the Welcome Bag assembly and drop-off, I headed over to PCH when as I was driving I realized I had forgotten the linens I picked up from La Belle Weddings on Tuesday. DARN IT!!! But what I did manage to do was drop off everything else - so crisis averted, I'd just bring back the linens the next day when we went to the rehearsal.
When I got back from PCH, I arrived to find my already-arrived-family at my parents room - my brother, his girlfriend Bridesmaid Melissa, my Aunt Nonie, and my parents. After hanging out for awhile, we ate some of the complimentary dinner at the Homewood Suites (which was actually pretty good!). Then the fun began. My Dad and I had a spur-of-the-moment dance lesson with the instructor Bryan and I met with earlier in the week.
Here's the story on the Father-Daughter dance: My father had chosen this song, Estrellita. It's a classical piece that he used to play for me when I was a child. He had visions of a sophisticated ballroom dance. So we went to an instructor in Pennsylvania about a month ago when I was home for my birthday/final dress fitting. The instructor in PA didn't quite grasp my Dad's vision, though, and was encouraging us dancing to this piece altogether. So over the course of a month, the routine we had was essentially ka-put. I didn't know what was going to happen on the dance floor on Friday. So 48 hours before the dance, my Dad and I visited Wayne Abbey at a studio in Dunwoody.
Let's just say this: Wayne got it! He loved the piece and devised some moves for us. The thing is: we couldn't have a routine. 48 hours is not enough time for each of us to remember an entire routine. So the guidance from Wayne was for my Dad to lead. If I can figure out how to post the video of the dance on the blog, I will. We left with my Dad LOVING the moves Wayne had shown us. I was much happier with Wayne's instruction than what we had gotten in PA (no offense, Mom and Dad). But my review of how our dance went will have to wait until the actual wedding blog....you can find Wayne's information here if you need dance lessons in the Atlanta area http://www.atlantadancepartners.com/wayne_abbey.html
After the dance lesson, we headed to Pub 71 in Brookhaven for my brother-in-law's 30th birthday party! It was a great time and my parents, brother, bridesmaid Melissa, and my friend Greg (from PA) got to meet all of the other groomsmen and lots of family and friends! My parents were exhausted from the drive and took off around 11pm. My brother got a second wind and was ready to dance. So he, Melissa, and Greg hung out a little longer. I was hanging in there to meet the ONLY of Bryan's friends I had not met up to this point: Kegs.
I had heard about Kegs for years - they've known each other for forever, the inseparable five: Kyle, Kegs, Tony, Joe, and Bryan. I had met the other guys multiple times, but with Kegs living out in San Diego, I had never had the pleasure. I was told Kegs was landing around 11:30 and coming directly to Pub 71. So I stayed...and waited...around 12:45am, Joe received a text from Kegs mentioning that he and his girlfriend Kelly might go directly to the hotel. "NO!" I cried! I would've gone home hours ago!!! So around 1am, I threw in the towel and drove Bryan and Jay Reid back to Dunwoody. I would have to wait another day to meet the legendary Kegs.
But it was thrilling to kick off the weekend with Jon's party. At midnight, we celebrated the big 3-0! And I got a good night's sleep, eager to kick off my last day of preparations....
To be continued!!!
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