Sunday, July 13, 2008

Saturday 7.12.2008 The Wedding

Saturday July 12, 2008 The Wedding

I didn’t sleep well last night. Comfortable bed, different surroundings. And for the first time since January, I was cold. Yes, cold. I could not get warm. I had a little “warm up” about 5:00 and was able to snooze a little, but I knew breakfast was at 0800, and Daniel was going to go with the guys at 0730, so I didn’t sleep much, watching the clock. At 10 after 7, I asked him if he was going with the guys. He said he had planned to, and realized he needed to get up. I did, too, and showered and got dressed for the day.

We girls (there were 9 of us) had a wonderful breakfast of Stuffed French Toast with Warmed Apple Syrup, Sausage, and Fresh Fruit Parfait, and orange juice. It was very yummy.

Miguel, the Chef, arrived at 0900. Enticing aromas of garlic began wafting in the kitchen as he blended several batches of stuff. I don’t know what he used it in. I don’t remember eating anything with garlic in it…

Breon and the other girls went their ways, doing whatever. It had stormed about 4 AM, drizzled during breakfast and finally stopped. Kim and Bob and their kids went to the beach for a while. The rest of us laid low, and after a bit I went outside to look things over. I moved (slid) a couple tables around, and someone had moved the chairs to the upper porch. Well, I could unpack the centerpieces and get those ready to set.

Breon came out to help me. We unwrapped them, I straightened them out, and she added the yellow pieces to them. They looked really good, and she was pleased.

Nick and the rest of the guys came back about 11. The flowers arrived. Kris and Steve came in about 12:30. Bre reminded me of the grease on the crinoline. I got a cleaning cloth from Miguel with some dish soap on it. I was able to remove enough of the grease so that it wasn’t rubbing off any more, but it was still black. Just a small area, about the size of a nickel. I showed Bre, and she was ok with that. The photographer showed up about 1, and the house started buzzing with energy. I was trying to get away to get something for lunch before I couldn’t. I was putting the tablecloths on the tables, when I heard that the photographer wanted to take pictures of the guys at 2, then the girls at 3. What?? Dan, we’ve got to go now to get lunch. I asked Amy the Innkeeper where we could get a sandwich. She offered a couple of suggestions, and off we went. One of the guests finished dressing the tables.

We came back from the Italian grocery/deli with a very good turkey and cheese sub that the guy cut in half, (one half bigger than the other, please) warmed and toasted, a banana, soda for Dan, and a pint of milk for me. As we were eating, I realized Breon needed something to eat. I looked at what was left of my smaller half of the sandwich. Daniel’s was all but gone. I told him I was going to offer this to Bre, and the banana. I took the items into her suite; sure enough, she took the sandwich, had part of the banana, and took the water over the milk. There were 4 girls in the bathroom mirror trying to get their hair and makeup done. One of them asked me to help with the curling iron, so I did.

Then someone couldn’t get Kristen’s dress fastened. The hair thing was done; I went over to help her. Oh. She had different undergarments on when she tried on the dress. This wasn’t going to work. Off with the bra. Uh oh. It took four hands to hold the dress together to zip up. Whew. She said she was ok with no bra, but is was gaping at the top, and very low, and uncomfortably exposed. Hm. Well, we could take a tuck here and here—I asked if someone could pass me a couple of safety pins. I put the tucks in with the pins, and that fixed that problem (they still needed to be sewn. I had a small sewing kit in my purse), but the cleavage thing…. Hm. How about a lacy camisole? Nobody had one. Time’s a ticking. Hm. I went to find Amy and told her about the situation. She came into the room with a few red items, and a couple of small handkerchiefs in shades of off white and ivory. A red napkin was extremely close in color. I folded it in half, and after telling Kris my idea, asked her if I could place it in the very low cut bodice of her dress. Ok… Well, after some awkward fabric positioning, she saw what I was doing. It would work. How about putting a little fold here, like a horizontal pleat….She liked that ok, and Bre said it was ok with her, too. The iron was on and hot. As I was pressing the pleat into the napkin-now-bodice-insert, Amy came back in with an armload of things. A small sewing kit, for one, and a bag full of various assorted lacy doilies, hankies, table runners, placemats, and a worn red jacket that she had outgrown and said we could cut if we needed to. As I was still pressing, she and Kris were experimenting with other things. They found an off-white placemat or something of that size that had a cutwork inset on one end. Tucked into the dress, it looked very nice. So, I gave up on the napkin pleat, and pressed that end of the fabric.

After it cooled, I had to go under Kris’ skirt and pull the “placemat” down, adjusting and positioning “the girls” and the new bodice inset. Between Amy and me, we got it so it wasn’t gaping and would stay in place.

One of the younger girls threaded the needle, and Amy started sewing the pleat on one side. I had to go dress myself. And do my face.

I went upstairs to the Homestead Room. Biological processes taken care of, I washed my hands, brushed my teeth, and slipped into my dress. Shoot. I can’t fasten my own dress. I did what I could, listening for someone out in the hallway. Quiet. I had to breathe, and quiet myself. I found that my hands were shaking a little. That surprised me. I put my makeup on, slipped on my shoes, and called out is anyone was upstairs. Amy was walking by the bottom of the stairs, and I asked her to finish fastening me. Thank you, Amy.

Myself done, I drank more water before on the way to the suite. Amy had sewn one of the tucks on Kristen’s dress and asked me to take over on the other one. Ok. Just then, we heard an “Oh, No!!”

In another part of the room, Kim had been getting into her dress. They had been having a hard time with her zipper, too. Two other girls were working on that one. The zipper seemed stuck about 5 inches from the top. Someone else had come into the room. They got the zipper down, and the dress off. Closer examination revealed that the zipper teeth looked deformed. Kim wondered if it happened at the dry cleaners. Anyway, with the dress off, they worked at the zipper. I was in sewing Kristen’s dress when we heard the exclamation from the other area. “The zipper split!!” Oh, Great. Now what.

Ok, We have lots of red thread, so we’ll have to sew you into your dress, too. The message had come into the room that the photographer was ready for the girls to be photographed a while ago, and Breon and Nikki had gone out. I finished with Kris’ dress. Someone helped her with her makeup, and sent me out for the photo-op, too. There were still a couple of women sewing on Kim’s dress.

I joined the group, explained to Daniel what was happening. Oh, he said. Nobody’s told us anything. “I’m telling you now,” I said, “I just got done with Kris’ dress. She’ll be out in a minute.” I don’t know what time it was, but it was definitely after 3 o’clock.

A few minutes later, Kristen came out and joined us. She looked beautiful. That’s all I saw of them, as I went walking around the lower porch to check the tables and everything else. Beautiful. Looks like a wedding. At some point, the cake had arrived, too.

I went up to the second floor porch. Guests had been arriving. I passed the door to the room where the guys were. Casual, pacing, laughing. Around on the other side, I heard the girls. Laughing, giggling. I looked in. Bre was in there. I went in to have a “before ceremony” moment. I waited my turn. She was absolutely beautiful. I got a hug and excused myself, as I heard the announcement to please take our seats. All the girls looked amazing.

The ceremony started, and went as rehearsed. Tears, laughter. Married. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas and Breon Berry.

A lovely buffet style dinner starting with chips, fresh pico de gallo and guacamole while scads more photos were taken. Moms, Dads, Wedding Party, etc. And then I shut down.

I was saturated. I went into the living room and sat down a few minutes in relative quiet. Whew. It’s like I shut down. I don’t know how long I was in there. Daniel came in, looking for me maybe? He asked if I was ok, I told him I was saturated. Enough stimulation.

We went back outdoors after several minutes. The guests mingled, some drifted home. The wedding party, and anyone else who wanted to, went over to the beach for more pictures. The house quieted, except for the sounds of kitchen clean up.

I went around folding up chairs, collecting the tablecloths, repacked the centerpieces to come home. Daniel put those boxes near Breon’s car to come home.

Finally, it seemed that It Was Over. Then They came back. Laughing, happy people. They all couldn’t wait to get out of their formal wear, and scattered to do that. Bre repacked her gown, as that was going in her car, too, and the couple bringing it back home was leaving.

Everyone now in casual clothing, myself included, they regrouped outside in various areas. After nightfall, the kitchen was finally back together, and those that were left had formed a group, enjoying the leftover sangria. Daniel and I joined them as Bre and Nick opened the few cards and gifts they had received.

After that, Dan and I excused ourselves and went off to bed. It was after 10, and we were planning to leave about 0430 to get them to the Grand Rapids airport for their 0710 flight.

I packed and got my things organized. Daniel took something else to the car. I finally got to bed about 11.

What a day!!

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