The day before the big day!

Friday was a seriously busy and pretty stressful day. It began with a breakfast at my house for the bridesmaids. We had an appointment at the nail salon at 10 am, so I wanted to make sure everyone got fed before we left. The girls, Josh (Phyllis's date), and Andrew (Kelly's date) came over I guess around 9, and we had breakfast - bagels with cream cheese, cereal and yogurt. I gave the bridesmaids their gifts, and they got a kick out of the emergency kits I included in each bag - hair pins, oil absorbing sheets, advil, pepto, bandaids I think, safety pins, water bottles and snacks, and the like.

After breakfast, we all trooped downtown, where we dropped the guys off at a coffee shop and then continued on to the nail salon. I wanted to give my ladies a little pampering before the big day. I treated everyone to a French manicure (without fake nails), which they all appreciated, and everyone's hands looked so pretty! (On Thursday before the bachelorette party, I went to the same salon and got a pedicure. I wanted to give everyone a mani/pedi, but I couldn't afford it. So rather than me getting a pedicure while everyone else gets just a manicure, I decided to do it ahead of time. I hope it was less awkward that way.)

After our pretty nails dried, we walked back to the coffee shop and picked up the boys. Some of us got coffee, I got a mocha for James. We walked back to my house, and I went to wake up my groom. With Carrie, Steve and Leif also staying at my parents' house, all the good beds were full, so James had to sleep on the creaky old hide-a-bed couch in the basement. Which meant, of course, that he didn't sleep well, so when I vacated my bed in the morning, I put him in it so he could get some real sleep. I brought him his mocha in bed, but he had no interest in waking up yet. I put the mocha on the bedside table so he'd find it when he did wake up, but he didn't and the mocha was still there when I went to bed that night. Oh well.

Shortly after we got back from the nail place, we girls had to head out again for the bridal luncheon. The mothers were supposed to come with us, but then Jeanne called and bailed, so my mom said she didn't want to be the only mother there and bailed too. So it was just the girls, which was fine, but I was disappointed I didn't get to treat my mom and future mother-in-law to lunch, too. We had lunch at a yummy, small Italian restaurant in a nearby town. At some point I made a little speech saying thank you to my bridesmaids, and I teared up a bit. Aw. I'm getting a little teary thinking about it!

Sometime during lunch, I called James and had him take the welcome bags to the hotel and other stuff to the caterer. This was a poorly planned effort and it made him late to the rehearsal.

The rehearsal was at 2:30 in the afternoon, which is a strange time for a rehearsal in my book, but it was necessary because the caterer has Friday evening weddings. Pretty soon after we got back from the luncheon, we got changed and left for the rehearsal. It was a kind of stressful time getting everyone into cars and assembling everyone at Auletto's, especially with James late, when we had only a half hour to run through everything.

But eventually everyone was there and we were running through the ceremony. It was surreal to be practing the wedding, knowing that tomorrow - TOMORROW! - it would be for real. I teared up a bit during the ceremony part, but we didn't actually run through the vows, so I was spared from the waterworks that my sister had during her rehearsal. I think the vows are what get you. It was a beautiful day, and everyone loved the location, which was nice because we knew the next day it was supposed to be rainy so we were glad that our families and closest friends got to see our setting at its best.

After the rehearsal, we drove back to my parents' house for a cocktail hour to kill the time between the rehearsal and the 6pm rehearsal dinner. James' people weren't there, so my parents were freaking out about having too much food, but it worked out. Anyway, I wanted it to be a low-key cocktail hour with wines and a few nibbles, I couldn't help it that my mom went crazy and made a ton of appetizers.

Shortly before 6, we all piled into cars again and went to the rehearsal dinner. My parents were still griping about my lack of organizational skills and the fact that James' family wasn't at the cocktail hour (my mom does NOT know how to let things go), and I started getting upset. James pulled me aside before we went in and we had a little venting/calming down session outside.

James' family WAS at the rehearsal dinner, though. It was a nice little get-together. James made a little speech saying thank you to everyone for being there. I don't remember if there were any other speeches. Dinner was good, I think, but I don't think I ate much of it. I think I had the chicken. It's kind of a blur. Anyway, we went around to each table to say hello to everyone, and it was so nice to meet James' extended family and to see his parents again. My sister went around taking photos of the tables, which was really nice because no one else was.

There was a bit of a drama with my sister's gown for the wedding, too: the shop down the street from our house still had the dress! The day before the wedding! And the shop was about to close! And it wasn't going to be opening up in the morning! I made a frantic call to my neighbor to see if they could run down and get it before the store closed, but my dad ended up driving back to get the dress. It was pretty crazy to think that my matron of honor wouldn't have her dress for the wedding! Hooray for my poppa saving the day :)

Eventually, James and I were totally beat and falling asleep, so we said our goodbyes and went back home. I don't remember anything that happened after we got back. I doubt that I went straight to sleep, though. Huh.