Wedding Blog: The Big Day (Part 1)

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We woke up, or rather got up early. Sleep wasn't all that good. I will say one thing, the obnoxious ringtones that came with my cellphone are handy in choosing alarms for travel. Anyway, BD, GW, et al, all had to be at the hair salon at 8:00 AM. My job was to get HS and GF to breakfast and then into our clothing and to the ceremony. GW had arranged to have breakfast/brunch brought into all the women - quiche, bagels, muffins, fruit, coffee, juice, stuff like that. The woman bringing the food does this sort of thing on the side, preparing and bringing meals for people too busy with work and life to make their own. Probably tastes better than restaurant food or regular take-out, too. Nice little niche market.

I had told HS/GF to be up at 9:00 and ready before 10:00. I waited in my room or just outside it. The hotel was one of those two-story seaside places, with the rooms opening up directly to the outside, about $30 more expensive for an ocean view than a highway view, stairways and walking areas between groups of rooms every fifty feet or so. The day was pleasant, as was the sea air. There were a few clouds, nothing major. Weather report was for an increasing chance of rain as the day warmed up, but mostly holding off until late afternoon or evening. At 9:55, I went down to HS's room to see how they were doing. GF opened the door. HS was still sound asleep. Immediate flashback to his school days at home. He groggily looked at his clock, apparently thinking it was still something like 8:00. He did apologize, but I was fuming at the delay. I didn't know where the local restaurants were, or how crowded they might be late on a Sunday morning.

We finally headed toward downtown Plymouth, past Plimoth Plantation. I stopped at the first place that looked like it had parking (a problem in Plymouth), which was a Friendly's. The food was a known quantity, but the service was not. I figured out that this was where all those displaced Howard Johnson employees must have gone after HoJo's closed up shop. Service was slow, and it seemed that there were only two waitstaff for the entire place. We sat there, and sat there, and sat there. The cooking area was just on the other side of a partition from us. About 25 minutes after our order was taken, I heard the cook asking something about it, presumably to the waitress. They hadn't even started it yet! So now besides being tired, I was cranky. We finally got our food, ate in a hurry, and headed back to the hotel.

My cellphone rang a little before noon. GW. They're running late. No real surprise; do the math. Eleven women, two stylists. Four hours?? I was told to get the gown and petticoat (all six layers) into their respective bags, because BD would be coming to pick them up and head for the venue on her own. I was also to get out the MotB dress and have it ready for when GW got back. First, I went back to HS's room and told the kids to get ready now. We should have had a bit more time, but I figured to get going while we could. I got the petticoat into its bag all right, but when I zipped up the gown bag, the zipper kept going right past its poorly attached stop and off. So now I was frantically trying to repair the zipper so that the bag would hold together. (The things I'm going to remember about this day!)

BD came in and took up the bags, zipper unrepaired but holding. As she left, she turned back and commented that she hadn't expected that she'd have to drive herself to her own wedding. Them's weren't the plans, kiddo, but that's how it played out. I worked myself around the garment bags and gave her a kiss on her way out.

GW arrived, looking more gorgeous than usual, while I was helping HS with his tie, and changed clothing faster than I'd ever seen her. I'm not sure I could have changed so quickly just into regular clothing, let alone fancy duds. She was a blur. She had her own HS flashback, as he was in the bathroom on her arrival, another common schoolday problem. I got him out in a hurry. I did not need an angry wife at a time like this.

With everyone else gone, I gathered up HS, GF and the various items we were taking to the venue besides ourselves. I looked around the room one more time, left and headed down the stairs to the front of the hotel. I got to the first floor and looked out. It had started to rain. I stared. "You've got to be freaking kidding me!" I said out loud. Only those weren't the letters I used between the "'f" and the "k". Only then did I look around, and saw MotG standing about three doors down, getting her own stuff into her car. She had obviously heard me. She just chuckled and said "I said exactly the same thing."

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I got to the first floor and looked out. It had started to rain. I stared. "You've got to be freaking kidding me!" I said out loud. Only those weren't the letters I used between the "'f" and the "k". Only then did I look around, and saw MotG standing about three doors down, getting her own stuff into her car. She had obviously heard me. She just chuckled and said "I said exactly the same thing."

But I always tell the bride that it's good luck when if it rains on their wedding day. Of course I don't tell that to any parents.