Wedding

May 10, 2009. The big day. I've had nightmares of this day. One, for example, that I walked down the aisle and no one was there, no flowers, and everything was a mess. I suppose that dream was a reflection of what little planning I had done for the wedding. I am glad that didn't come true.

I started the day with a short jog around the lake at Montreat at around 7AM. I was already running late when I received a phone call from Rebecca saying she's about 15 minutes away from Homewood (the wedding place). I quickly packed, handed Raymond my veil and asked him to iron it, and then left. My stylist, photographer 2 (Melissa), maid of honor (Rebecca) was already there when I arrived at 9:30AM. I know I am the bride, but I felt a little bad for being late.

The day had already become chaotic when my breakfast had not arrived at 10:45AM. Raymond was in charge of picking up the breakfast, but when he arrived at Starbucks there was a wait for picking up a jug of coffee. When the coffee was finally ready, the Starbucks cashier accidently dropped it, and spilled the coffee. Another wait for brewing more coffee. My breakfast finally arrived at 11AM. Starving! I quickly chowed down what was in my face and back to make-up.

Noon, my veil finally arrived. I had almost decided to do without a veil until I visited this veil shop in South Charlotte. It's tucked in the back of Quail Hollow shopping center inside of a bridal dress shop. The owner, Jet Tayler, was fantastic. We tried on almost 15 different veils, different layer, lengths, width, color (I thought there was only white, but I was proved wrong), trimming, etc. And finally found one that was perfect. It was a bit off white, with a blush layer, long, no trim, and with a slight shimmer in it, that brought out the shimmer in my dress. It will take one month for her to make the veil for me, while steaming it four times in the process to get it perfect. Then she handed me a card with her name, number, and price -- a whopping $250.

My veil arrived in a David's Bridal bag, I was a little stunned. I quickly looked inside the bag and pulled out a one-layer, short, white veil. What happened to my veil?!?! I called Raymond as fast as my finger could dial his number. He explained -- He was ironing my veil this morning after I left, while speaking to Kim about why I trusted him with the task of ironing my veil with the iron in his hand. Then as soon as he put the iron down on my veil, it just melted and put a huge hole in my veil. I gasped at this.

$250 was a bit out of my budget to spend on one veil, so after hearing the news that Raymond had burned a hole in it on the day of my wedding, I was relieved to have decided to only spent about $6 dollars making my veil instead. Still, I wanted a blusher and not a single layer veil! My stylist suggested that we still use the old veil and just hide the hole on the top of my head. He was amazing.

By 1PM, we were putting finally touches on my hair. Everything is coming together. I can feel that I was getting really excited. At the same time, Melissa and Vara (photographer 1) were taking a million pictures of me getting ready. And now the finally step -- slip on my dress while my mom helped tie the back of my dress.

I'm ready, ready to walk down the aisle and I have 5 minutes to get down there. Wait... Where's my maid of honor? Where's Rebecca? This is where things became a complete blur. For the next 30 minutes I remember being cramped in a tiny bathroom with about 7 other women trying to fix Rebecca's dress that had come apart along the zipper. I remember trying to help rebecca sew up the dress in the tiny bathroom, but my hands were shaking so badly that someone else had to take over.

I was a very lucky girl on Sunday, May 10th, 2009. It had been raining for 2 weeks straight prior to my wedding. For 2 weeks, I checked weather none stop and hoped that the rain would clear up. And according to the weather channel, the future looked gloom. But on May 10, 2009 at around 10AM, the sun came out. And by 1:30PM (wedding time), the sun was blazing and over heating every single one of my guests. Guests were forced out of their seats and stood in the shade, while they waited for us to start the ceremony.

Linda, my wedding director was very good. And before long, the wedding continued back on track. It was the shortest ceremony I have ever been too, lucky me. The reception started at 3PM, and I was exhausted. I greeted my guests/friends smiling as much as I could, but I was mentally drained. I ate my food, but could not taste or saver the experience. I was a walking zombie, but a smiling zombie. I posed for pictures, cut the cake, and had one dance with Raymond. And we were off...

The wedding day came and gone. The day a bride, sometimes, plans for 3 years are gone in matter of hours. To me, the whole day seemed like a dream, a blur, a hazy experience. I often wonder if this happens to anyone else, any other brides. It may be blurry, but it was a good day that left a sweet after taste. Beautiful day, filled with lots of sun shine, flowers, greenery, wine, food, great friends, family, and a few exciting adventures.