Wedding Week - Rehearsal Dinner

After our bridesmaid luncheon, I was absolutely exhausted and desperate for a nap.  I was a little on edge because that morning, before we went to the luncheon, we had all kinds of wedding venue drama.  The rental company we were using showed up Friday morning to set up our tent (which they had previously cleared with the venue coordinator) only to find that there was another wedding being set up for that evening!  What???  Long story short, the venue coordinator called my mom while we were getting ready to say that we couldn't set up our tent OR have our rehearsal there that evening due to the wedding taking place there.  Clearly this was a problem.  For starters, it takes at least 4 hours to set it up, and if they had to do it Friday, it would only leave about 2 or 3 hours to get the tables and decor in place....not okay.  Second, we still had to time out the music for the ceremony, which we planned to do at the rehearsal. 

So, needless to say, I was freaking out at all the things that seemed to be falling apart, combined with the fact that the forecast was putting Saturday somewhere around 105 degrees.  I tried to put it out of my mind during the luncheon, but as soon as it was over, I got a monstrous headache and could barely keep my eyes open on the ride home.  I thought a nap would help, but with all the chaos happening at the house, sleep was hard to find.  By the time I gave up on sleep, it was time to get ready for the evening.  Luckily, my mother was able to talk some sense into the woman at our venue and pretty much let her know that whether she liked it or not, we would be there at 6:15 to rehearse our ceremony.  So, it worked out in the end...

Per our usual, my family was running ridiculously late to the rehearsal, and it was all we could do to get everyone out the door.  At 6:15 on the dot, we were leaving the house to head to the rehearsal, the boy and me in my mom's car, with my mom, dad, and two sisters in the car behind us.  Halfway to the venue, I found out that the boy had forgotten the card that went to his parents' thank you gift.  Shortly after that, we had a Home Alone realization after getting a call from my brother wondering where everyone went.  As one of the groomsmen, it was his presence was kind of crucial at the rehearsal, yet somehow we managed to forget him at the house.  It was all I could do not to jolt upright in the passenger seat and scream, "Kevin!!!"

It was around this time that I started crying in the car, and declared to my fiance that, "This wedding is a disaster!"  Clearly at T-24 hours to go, I developed a flare for the dramatic.

At 6:30 we had arrived at the venue, followed shortly thereafter by my brother at 6:35 who upon stepping out of the car, immediately sweat through his shirt.  It was over 100 degrees and we were all in hell.....literally.  Our pastor lined us all up and didn't waste any time getting started. 

Currently sweating from every part of my body...trying to hold my arms away from my body to keep cool.

Still sweating...all of us...profusely...

Boys

Face off...probably still thinking here, "You forgot the damn card!!"

Yes, that would be my sister, the maid of honor, with her maxi dress tucked into the sides of her underwear....

At the end of our rehearsal, the officiant, asked us if we had any questions, which were preemptively denied when he followed that up with "It's too hot for questions!"  With that, we were off to the rehearsal dinner.

What better way to get through a scorching hot evening than with ice cold margaritas and Mexican food?  With so many of our close relatives coming in from many states away, we had nearly 75 people at our rehearsal.  The boy and I wanted to keep it fun and casual and decided to have it catered in by Qdoba.  We rented a double barrel margarita machine and bought cases of Mexican beer, which was just what everyone needed on such a warm evening. 

Our rehearsal

Handing out our groomsmen gifts!  We go them each a shirt and tie to go with their suits and custom grill tools with their names burned into the handles.

Handing out more gifts!

My grandparents on my Mom's side

My Dad and his parents - my grandparents

The extra plates doubled as fans!

My aunt Teri and Uncle Rick!

Aunt Sherri and Uncle Ara

My brother in law multitasking - baby in one hand, margarita in the other hand!

Aunts and Uncles on my mom's side

Cousins!

Welcoming everyone and thanking them for coming

Trying to maintain composure

Getting a little emotional

"It's not tears, it's just my eyes sweating!"

Thanking our parents

Thanking my mom for all her help with everything

 Even though it was probably the hottest day I could ever remember, the rehearsal turned out wonderful and it was really nice getting to thank our parents for all their hard work, especially my mom who planned every detail with me throughout the last year.  We pulled them aside at the rehearsal to give them thank you gifts personally - a new record player for my dad with a copy of the album with our father/daughter song on vinyl.  For my mom I got together a "splurge box" and put in all kinds of little things that she didn't get to treat herself to while they were paying for the wedding over the last year - A bottle of one of my favorite wines, a new dress, a bubble necklace, a bottle of her perfume she'd been out of for months, a CD, and some goodies from Lush for her to feel luxurious.  It was a wonderful evening.  For the boy's parents, I wanted to get them something with my new last name on it - their last name.  We opted for an entry way sign on it with their names and wedding date on it, ordered special from Etsy.  We also got them a gift card for a date night once they got back to GA. 

After saying goodbye to everyone, the boy and I headed back to my parents house where I organized my honeymoon suitcase for Sunday and got ready for bed.  The boy rounded up a number of his groomsmen and my brothers (who are the absolute WORST influence) and hit up the bars downtown despite my warnings about what he would - and more importantly would not - be getting on our honeymoon if he showed up hungover at our wedding.....but more on that later!