Our Wedding - The Rehearsal & Rehearsal Dinner

This time exactly nine years ago, I was knee-deep in wedding planning, as the big day was just over two weeks away.  Surprisingly, I was calm, cool, and collected despite the fact that I was planning the biggest day of my life and it was almost upon us.  Wedding planning came easily for me, and I pretty much had zero stress over the whole process from start to finish (with the exception of one fairly scary hiccup the morning of our rehearsal).  2007 will always be one of the best years of my entire life. 

Since I didn’t blog back then (did Blogger even exist in 2007?!) I am going to recap our big day here and there during the next couple of months since our nine-year anniversary on December 1st.  This is mostly for myself to keep as a memento, but I do hope that you’ll join me on my stroll down memory lane.  It sure is a sweet one. 

In case you don’t already know our history, you can read a little bit about how Brian and I met and some other random facts here and you can read our proposal story here. 

*  *  *

The morning of our rehearsal I had tons of errands to run, and my mom was supposed to accompany me to the flower shop to check on the bouquets and arrangements for the ceremony.  As I pulled into their neighborhood to pick her up, she and my dad were leaving and my mom was driving the car with my dad in the passenger seat.  I knew something wasn’t right about that, so I drove straight to their house to talk to my brother to find out what was going on.  He informed me that my dad was having severe pain in his abdomen and that my mom was taking him to the emergency room.  Oh boy.

I immediately went into panic mode.  B picked me up and took me to check on the flowers but all I could do was worry about my dad, and tears streamed down my face the entire time we were there.  I continued to keep myself busy after we left, and a few hours later, we finally got a call from my mom that my dad had kidney stones.  The doc had told him to chug a ton of water and then to chug a ton of beer later at the rehearsal dinner because beer is good for flushing out your system.  He did just that, and he passed the kidney stones that evening.  Whew.  I’m not sure what I would have done if he had not been able to escort me down the aisle.  I’m so thankful that things turned out the way they did.

Anyway, our rehearsal and wedding took place at the church where I have been going for my whole life.  It is also the church affiliated with my grade school and high school (where Jacob now goes to school), the church where my grandmother and momma both worked (and my mom still works), and the church that we still attend to this day.  Unfortunately I only have one picture from the rehearsal itself being as how everyone who attended was involved.  This one was taken after it was over... I'm still holding my practice "bouquet" made of all of the bows from the gift wrap on presents I opened at my wedding showers.  :o)

The rehearsal dinner immediately followed at the country club downtown.  It is nestled just over our river walk, so we had sweeping views of the river on three sides.  Simply gorgeous.  Since it was a December wedding, the country club was decorated to the nines for Christmas… there were huge Christmas trees in each corner adorned with hundreds of little twinkle lights and there were garlands and ribbons and bows and bells draped here and there.  Christmastime has always had my heart so it was a dream to get married during the most magical time of year.

The entire wedding party as well as Brian’s and my immediate families were invited along with significant others, my grandparents, and our favorite priest who officiated the wedding.  Upon arrival, everyone mingled while sipping on wine and beer from the open bar, and then we all sat down to gorgeous place settings along with a feast of grilled filet mignon and chicken breast with marsala sauce, roasted vegetables, and salad with raspberry vinaigrette,  followed by apple tart with cinnamon ice cream and caramel sauce and coffee for dessert.  I was picture-crazy back then, but not on the level that I am now, so unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the food.  Trust me when I say that the meal was perfect in every single way. 

B with 3 of his 7 groomsmen

Me with 6 of my 7 bridesmaids

My Maid of Honor and me

My wonderful grandparents... Big Daddy, I miss you terribly.

Daddy and me

Daddy and Momma... the only pictures I had of them were blurry.

Once everyone was done, the servers brought out trays of champagne and it was time for the toasts.  And boy, do I regret every single day not recording each and every one of them.  Brian, as well our friends and family members, said some of the sweetest (and funniest) things imaginable, and I will cherish all of their words forever. 

Brian’s toast was by far the best and there was not a dry eye in the room when he was done.  I won’t go into great detail, but he ended by thanking my parents for raising his favorite person in the entire world.  Me.  His words were so poignant that the priest who officiated our wedding ended up mentioning that portion of his speech in his homily during our actual wedding ceremony the next day.  Again, not a dry eye in the room, including mine.  I sure do adore this man of mine.

Once the toasts were complete – and boy, were there a lot of them – everyone was free to mingle again.  It was a time to cut loose, and everyone was up to their typical shenanigans of being funny and goofing off… a lot of it a product of the open bar, I’m sure.  ;o)  A bunch of us also practiced our Soulja Boy Dance for the reception the next day.  Yes, Soulja Boy will forever go down as our wedding theme song, and yes, I did do the Soulja Boy in my wedding dress.  Haha.

The rehearsal ended around 9 and B and I, along with B’s cousin and a few of our friends ended up at one of our favorite bars downtown for nightcaps, and then it was time to hit the hay because…

The biggest day of my life was the next day!

*Linking up with Jessi's Design and Going the Distance for What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday.