Almost Not A Wedding
If you read the Our Story post, you know that we were married July 23rd. What that post doesn't say is how much of an effort it was for us to wed.
Five weeks before our wedding, we had a big blow to our wedding plans. We had booked and paid for a honeymoon at a cabin in Colorado a few months earlier. When trying to confirm the booking before our wedding, we could not get in contact with the cabin owners - a husband/wife team. It took a couple weeks, but we finally talked with the husband who explained that his wife left him unexpectedly, drained their shared business account, and ruined his credit through outstanding debt. The husband no longer had funds available to run the cabins for the summer and was having to cancel all the reservations. We got our money back through the credit card company, but it left us booking a new honeymoon trip 5 days before the wedding. You try booking a 10 day trip 5 days before leaving.
Around the same time, the photographer gave me a call. We had booked a friend who wanted to expand her portfolio and so was doing the photography cheap. She called and told me that her very expensive camera had been dropped and broke. She didn't have the funds for it's replacement.
So, we are don't have a honeymoon or a photographer within a few weeks of our wedding. What else could go wrong? Challenge accepted with diabolical laughter.
The pianist was the next to go. She came down with mono. Well, she didn't leave. She ended up recovering from her illness and was able to play at our church ceremony, however, she was not able to practice with the vocalists. The vocalists were my friends and had never been accompanied by the pianist. Thankfully, all three are extremely talented and no one could tell at the wedding that it was their first day meeting each other.
Two days before our wedding, our getaway vehicle was found to be incapacitated. My dad is a vehicle collector and there is one particular vehicle that I have always been drawn to - a white 1963 Ford Falcon with all original interior/exterior. My dad let us borrow the Falcon to drive from the church to the reception and then away for the night. I knew it was going to be a great day when H came inside and said he needed two beers (one for my dad and one for H) and to be left alone for a couple hours so that the car doesn't burst into flames. He was given 4.
The day before our wedding started with rain. And wet shoes that were left outside. Correction, the day before our wedding started with a run to the store to buy new shoes for the rehearsal dinner. H needed new shoes anyway. Kind of.
Our groomsman traveled across the state to attend our wedding. With the travel, they all rented suits from a national retailer. On the way over to the rehearsal dinner, they scheduled pick up of their tailored suits. It just so happened that one of the suits could not be found at the store. The computer told them that it was at another store location....2 states away. The suit was over night shipped to the store closest to our wedding.
We made it through the day, now really nothing else can go bad.
Wrong.
Remember the photographer that had canceled? We booked a new photographer - a friend of my sisters - who wanted to develop her portfolio as well. I hadn't heard from her after the wedding and was having a hard time getting answers on when our photos would be edited. Come to find out, the photographer accidentally deleted the hundred of photos when she was moving them from her internal computer storage to an external storage drive. She didn't double check that they were actually copied to the external drive before completely deleted all the photos. Did your heart just drop? Because mine did when she told me. The only ones we had was the couple that were uploaded to a photo sharing site. They were compressed when uploaded and the quality was not good enough to get big prints. Anything bigger than 5" x 7" was pixelated. To this day, we don't have any wedding photos on our walls because of the size issue.
Our wedding was a challenge. Reception, rings, honeymoon, music, clothing, vehicle, photographs; something went awry in every part of the event. In the end though, we are married.
I love you H.
The problems started well before our wedding date. In fact, it started with the first deposit made on our reception venue. I called our first choice of reception venue and was told that it was available. Great. We will make a deposit. The next week, I received a phone call back from the venue. The events coordinator stated that there was a wedding the next day after ours and the couple had put down their deposit before us. Couples are given 24 hours and so we would not be able to use the venue. We just so happen to know the decorator of that couples wedding who was the day after ours. We suggested that we would stay after our reception and help the decorator decorate for the other bride's wedding the next day. I thought that was more than generous of us (free labor and all), but the other bride was not having it. She wanted the full 24 hours. So we nixed that reception venue and found a different one.
The next issue arose about 6 months before our wedding. I had my mom's wedding ring and I was going to work in the stone for my wedding ring. I had an appointment set up with the jewelers. It was the only appointment available during my winter break from school. At the same time, I was starting to move some of my items to my future husband's apartment (200 miles away from my parents' houses). My mom's ring somehow ended up in the storage boxes at the apartment. I realized it about a week before my appointment and it wouldn't work for the either of us to complete the drive. H (husband to be) decided to send the ring priority mail (with insurance of course). Two days later, the ring still had not arrived to me. When H got home that day, the mail package was sitting on his front step. The next day, H went to the post office, but the post office could not find a reason in the computer system as to why it was returned; the post office made an error. H was on call for work, but decided to drive halfway to meet me to handover the ring. On the way there, he received a call for work. He had to turn around. The stone was never made into my wedding ring.
The next couple months, I am in a different country in a study abroad program. It was quite the challenge doing final organizing of the wedding. Thankfully, my family helped with some of the coordination.
When I returned home for the summer, things really started getting out of control.
We had a specific time frame to apply for a marriage license. With H's new job, we were able to secure one day unpaid leave and made an appointment at the courthouse in my hometown (200 miles from H's apartment). H was coming to visit me a long the weekend. H goes to leave the night before our appointment and his car wouldn't start. No problem. He jumps in his truck and leaves. 20 miles into the trip, his truck breaks down. He finds a way to tow it back, but we still only have this one day to apply for a marriage license at the courthouse. My future mother-in-law and I ended up driving the 3 hours to pick up H and drive back. Fortunately, we did make our appointment in the morning.
The next issue arose about 6 months before our wedding. I had my mom's wedding ring and I was going to work in the stone for my wedding ring. I had an appointment set up with the jewelers. It was the only appointment available during my winter break from school. At the same time, I was starting to move some of my items to my future husband's apartment (200 miles away from my parents' houses). My mom's ring somehow ended up in the storage boxes at the apartment. I realized it about a week before my appointment and it wouldn't work for the either of us to complete the drive. H (husband to be) decided to send the ring priority mail (with insurance of course). Two days later, the ring still had not arrived to me. When H got home that day, the mail package was sitting on his front step. The next day, H went to the post office, but the post office could not find a reason in the computer system as to why it was returned; the post office made an error. H was on call for work, but decided to drive halfway to meet me to handover the ring. On the way there, he received a call for work. He had to turn around. The stone was never made into my wedding ring.
The next couple months, I am in a different country in a study abroad program. It was quite the challenge doing final organizing of the wedding. Thankfully, my family helped with some of the coordination.
When I returned home for the summer, things really started getting out of control.
We had a specific time frame to apply for a marriage license. With H's new job, we were able to secure one day unpaid leave and made an appointment at the courthouse in my hometown (200 miles from H's apartment). H was coming to visit me a long the weekend. H goes to leave the night before our appointment and his car wouldn't start. No problem. He jumps in his truck and leaves. 20 miles into the trip, his truck breaks down. He finds a way to tow it back, but we still only have this one day to apply for a marriage license at the courthouse. My future mother-in-law and I ended up driving the 3 hours to pick up H and drive back. Fortunately, we did make our appointment in the morning.
Five weeks before our wedding, we had a big blow to our wedding plans. We had booked and paid for a honeymoon at a cabin in Colorado a few months earlier. When trying to confirm the booking before our wedding, we could not get in contact with the cabin owners - a husband/wife team. It took a couple weeks, but we finally talked with the husband who explained that his wife left him unexpectedly, drained their shared business account, and ruined his credit through outstanding debt. The husband no longer had funds available to run the cabins for the summer and was having to cancel all the reservations. We got our money back through the credit card company, but it left us booking a new honeymoon trip 5 days before the wedding. You try booking a 10 day trip 5 days before leaving.
Around the same time, the photographer gave me a call. We had booked a friend who wanted to expand her portfolio and so was doing the photography cheap. She called and told me that her very expensive camera had been dropped and broke. She didn't have the funds for it's replacement.
So, we are don't have a honeymoon or a photographer within a few weeks of our wedding. What else could go wrong? Challenge accepted with diabolical laughter.
The pianist was the next to go. She came down with mono. Well, she didn't leave. She ended up recovering from her illness and was able to play at our church ceremony, however, she was not able to practice with the vocalists. The vocalists were my friends and had never been accompanied by the pianist. Thankfully, all three are extremely talented and no one could tell at the wedding that it was their first day meeting each other.
Two days before our wedding, our getaway vehicle was found to be incapacitated. My dad is a vehicle collector and there is one particular vehicle that I have always been drawn to - a white 1963 Ford Falcon with all original interior/exterior. My dad let us borrow the Falcon to drive from the church to the reception and then away for the night. I knew it was going to be a great day when H came inside and said he needed two beers (one for my dad and one for H) and to be left alone for a couple hours so that the car doesn't burst into flames. He was given 4.
The day before our wedding started with rain. And wet shoes that were left outside. Correction, the day before our wedding started with a run to the store to buy new shoes for the rehearsal dinner. H needed new shoes anyway. Kind of.
Our groomsman traveled across the state to attend our wedding. With the travel, they all rented suits from a national retailer. On the way over to the rehearsal dinner, they scheduled pick up of their tailored suits. It just so happened that one of the suits could not be found at the store. The computer told them that it was at another store location....2 states away. The suit was over night shipped to the store closest to our wedding.
The day of the wedding arrived. After everything that had gone wrong, what really could go wrong now? Right?
Well, the important part is that we both made it to the wedding and our marriage license was signed. Win for the day.
After the wedding, we went outside for pictures. Unbeknownst to us, the church was locked up while we were doing the picture thing. All of our stuff was inside - myself and the bridesmaids got ready in the choir loft of the church and left purses, clothes, makeup, etc inside. The kicker was that the parish office, which normally would have been open on a Friday, was not open that day. The priest also had out of town plans for the afternoon. My husband's cousin happened to have a phone number of a deacon who had keys to the church. He graciously drove from a different town 20 minutes away to unlock the door for us. We were late for our own wedding reception.
On the way to the wedding reception, the Falcon sputters to a stop. On the main downtown street. H had to work his mechanic magic to get it going again. I can just imagine what we must have looked like. A bride sitting in the passenger seat, melting in stifling July heat. A bridegroom bent over the hood of a car, trying extra hard not to get grease on the rented white dress shirt. We were extra late to our wedding reception, but really not for the reasons people thought.
Well, the important part is that we both made it to the wedding and our marriage license was signed. Win for the day.
After the wedding, we went outside for pictures. Unbeknownst to us, the church was locked up while we were doing the picture thing. All of our stuff was inside - myself and the bridesmaids got ready in the choir loft of the church and left purses, clothes, makeup, etc inside. The kicker was that the parish office, which normally would have been open on a Friday, was not open that day. The priest also had out of town plans for the afternoon. My husband's cousin happened to have a phone number of a deacon who had keys to the church. He graciously drove from a different town 20 minutes away to unlock the door for us. We were late for our own wedding reception.
On the way to the wedding reception, the Falcon sputters to a stop. On the main downtown street. H had to work his mechanic magic to get it going again. I can just imagine what we must have looked like. A bride sitting in the passenger seat, melting in stifling July heat. A bridegroom bent over the hood of a car, trying extra hard not to get grease on the rented white dress shirt. We were extra late to our wedding reception, but really not for the reasons people thought.
We made it through the day, now really nothing else can go bad.
Wrong.
Remember the photographer that had canceled? We booked a new photographer - a friend of my sisters - who wanted to develop her portfolio as well. I hadn't heard from her after the wedding and was having a hard time getting answers on when our photos would be edited. Come to find out, the photographer accidentally deleted the hundred of photos when she was moving them from her internal computer storage to an external storage drive. She didn't double check that they were actually copied to the external drive before completely deleted all the photos. Did your heart just drop? Because mine did when she told me. The only ones we had was the couple that were uploaded to a photo sharing site. They were compressed when uploaded and the quality was not good enough to get big prints. Anything bigger than 5" x 7" was pixelated. To this day, we don't have any wedding photos on our walls because of the size issue.
Our wedding was a challenge. Reception, rings, honeymoon, music, clothing, vehicle, photographs; something went awry in every part of the event. In the end though, we are married.
I love you H.
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