Rehearsal and Subsequent Dinner

So, we've made it this far, less than 12 hours to being wed. Amazingly, everyone important to the ceremony is present. The only person missing is my mom. Where did she go? She knows where we're supposed to be? Oh well, she'll show up eventually. We push on. We don't have the church for long and we need to get thru this. We only had an hour to begin with and then the organist informs us that he has to leave early. What ever, do we really care? He already has his instructions. They are not difficult. But he decides that he is going to try to play an integral part of the ceremony. He should have but out.

So, as if any of us know what the hell we're doing, we've got 3 different sets of people telling us how our wedding is going to work. I'm sorry, there is only one set of people that have the answer to most of the questions. Angel & I. Well, the ladies that volunteer for the church had their opinion and the organist had his own (and very poor at handling himself for that matter), and us. I was completely across the church from where Angel spent most of her time. It isn't our fault that if either one of us moved the whole production would stop.

Anyway, the first decision to make was what order. I'll be damned if I can't remember what order we decided on. We had this set up, but also managed to forget it too. Ok, grab a program. Shit, I messed up the order in there too. Ok, get everyone in one place at the same time. Ray - Dana, Josh - Chris, Dan - Kris, Jason - Tracey. Good, got that figured out. Everyone to your places. Jason & I to the ready room. Mom's come down the aisle, Ray & Dana are in the aisle and someone else coming down the side wall... WTF?!?! So, he we have the three parties beginning to butt heads. "Guys down the side" says one and the other saying "together" and the other party screaming faster. It was a pretty bad site.

Angel & I put our feet down and say that the groomsmen will be with the bridesmaids, no more questions about it. Oh, next question was valid. What about Tracey? She's by herself because Jason stays with me. Ok, start over, try again. Mother's down the aisle, Ray & Dana begin and a bellowing SLOW DOWN comes out louder than the organ. Damn, where am I, boot camp? I haven't heard someone bark orders like that since I was there. No, I'm pretty sure I'm not there. Anyway, so we make a successful trip down the aisle with the adults.

Next comes the kids. Every time Camren has been asked about the wedding he has said no, I won't do it. Well, we wanted to put the actual rings on the pillow. That didn't work out. We didn't have the confidence that he would cooperate during the ceremony. So, he gets fake rings. Well, once he made it to the front, he had a seat in the front pew. He was encouraged to scoot all the way down, but on the pew he remained. Ok, big deal. If he doesn't stand and that's the only thing that we don't right, I can deal with that. Let the kid sit. Conversely, I don't think we had a single issue with Ashley. She didn't say much either. Overall, both kids were well behaved.

Finally, we're to the part that everyone is looking forward to: the bride. Well, rehearsal, it wasn't very exciting, but very odd to see her coming down the aisle with dad. Odd different, not odd bad. Our participation in the ceremony was terse. Stand here, you'll do that, you'll do this, you'll say blah, blah, blah (literally) and then I'll (from the perspective of the Reverend) say this and that and that will be it. Blah, blah, blah, kiss, walk. Hey, that was easy. Organist got to play the last song and promptly left. Well, your being late is not my problem. We had you booked well in advance for this whole rehearsal thing. If you have to leave and you're late to your destination, I DON'T CARE. Enough of him, he caused enough problems.

Well, we run thru the process once more and the ladies are pushing out out the door. There was at least 15 more minutes we could have been in there. Don't know what we would have been doing, but our time wasn't up yet. However, they were sure to let us know that we needed a Unity Candle and Taper Holder set. Oh, it would have been nice had we been told that a LONG time ago. Why are we just finding this out now? I don't have a clue. Well, add that to my to-do list. No time to do that tonight and the girls won't have time to do it tomorrow. I hope I have time & am successful at finding something.

So, now it is time to make our trip to the reception hall. Now I have to step back a couple months. Since before I moved, I was aware of only one Rockerfellers restaurant. After I moved, the opened a second location, and some time after that, close/rename the original one. Well, when I was putting out the information for the Rehearsal Dinner, the question was always which one. Since I was most used to Roslyn Farms, that was my answer. Well, thankfully by the time the event needed to occur, everyone was straightened out as to which one & what time. We're going to Kennedy.

I'm not sure what to think of the events for the dinner. There was a bunch of milling around, reacquaint with this relative and that relative. It was very nice to see everyone and in hindsite, it was wonderful to see everyone because I don't think I talked to a single one of them at the reception. Not on purpose, just happened that way.

So, right before dinner, we're asked to give a toast (for some reason, my mom expected Jason to do it, this one was my job, but I was under prepared, but what's new about that). I made a joke about what I wanted to say, "Yeah us, lets eat." Well, I made a slight modification to that to not make it so pretentious. I think I remembered thanking everyone for traveling, if I didn't, I wanted to. Anyway, it was short, to the point and I don't think anyone yelled at me for it.

We, once again, did the mill around thing after dinner (grabbed some smokes) and it was back to work. Presents time. I pushed Angel into handing hers out first. Why, I don't know. I guess I wasn't ready for that part either. Anyway, I fudged my way through the presentations and was quite happy at the reactions from the guys. It wasn't until much later did I realize what I did screw up. Niether a gift for my mom or my dad and Steffy. WTF was I thinking. I should have covered that hole. Angel should have smacked me for that one. But, hindsite is 20/20. Thankfully, neither one of my parents have told me that it was a problem. I hope they both realize how much their help was appreciated. Angel & I couldn't not have fronted what they contributed to the events.

Of course, me being me, I had to do something very different for Angel. Those of you that were surprised at this, raise your hands so I can call you a liar. Angel knew I was looking for an engraving machine while we were still in Atlanta. I wasn't able to find one, but Dana hooked me up. I had to make two of them. I had used Camren as a cover story so she wouldn't get suspicious. I think it worked. So, I created this engraved tag for Camren for his zipper of his new backpack. What I created for Angel was no my intention, but it worked out just as well. I wanted to have created real dog tags with her new last name. I could have gotten it done, if I would have thought of it sooner, so instead she got a dog collar tag from a pet store (in the shape of a heart) with her new name, date & an I love you from me. It went over really well with the family; my friends, not so much. They saw it for what it was, not what it meant. Anyway, enough about that. In addition to the tag, I also purchased another gift for her. One that was a bit more serious. In my gift searching, I found a very unique site. This site was linked from another wedding gift giving site. I decided to check it out. The site creates posters out of books and plays. The first one that gets my attention is Romeo & Juliet. I also considered A Midsummer Night's Dream, however, this wasn't a mid-summer wedding, nor at night. I'm not as familiar with this play as I would like to have been. Therefore, I certainly opted for Romeo & Juliet. It turns out I made a good selection. It is her favorite Shakespeare. I didn't know that, but I did like the symbolic nature of the relationship. I guess I did good. However, the one thing that I didn't realize was how large this was going to be. I should have checked here. I saw the gift sitting there, but I didn't realize that it was that one (mom wrapped it for me because I had it shipped to her house). All in all, I think I did well.

Then we were going to open our gifts from the other family members that brought them this evening. Well, we were bombarded by Dana first. She was 100% insistent that we open it right then and now. Of course, we oblige. What we discovered inside was nothing short of amazing. She decided on her own, that she would share with us a portion of her windfall (if you want details, please ask her). It was emotional. I'm not sure if Angel did, but Dana and I were both crying. Of course the guys saw this and didn't understand what had taken place. It was part shock, part amazement, part gratitude, and then the revelation of the source of this money was and then I was upset. Regardless of what I or we tried to say, she was not taking any of it back. Her only comment was go, have fun (and don't spend it all in one place). It was just so selfless of her to have done so. We can't possibly thank her enough for it.

The only thing that I remember that was a bit rocky on the night was when the bus from the hotel got lost heading to the hall. Kathy called Sue & she handed the phone to me. They got off at Crafton and forgot to turn at Kings. They were down past the Pittsburgh Motel & everything when I got the phone. It was funny, it was minor, and it all worked out.