usahgrad
05-11-2006, 01:38 AM
My brother wrote this after his wedding and I thought would give you all a good laugh and also let give you an idea of maybe what your FH will be doing the day of the wedding. It was published in a bride's magazine awhile back.
Enjoy:
Sarah and I were married on September 14, 2002. Several of our friends asked me what was going through my mind the morning before the wedding. The following monologue is how the day appeared to me.
Read on and I hope you enjoy it
7:45 am Ok, so I woke up 45 minutes before the alarm went off (don’t look so shocked, I can wake up early sometimes) and couldn’t get back to sleep. I lay there thinking about everything and nothing.
8:20 am 10 minutes before the alarm goes off, Scott (an usher) calls just to be sure I’m awake. Scott also asks if there is anything I need him to bring. I request caffeine and food as I won’t have time to get either before arriving at the castle.
8:25 am 5 minutes before the alarm goes off, Ryan comes bouncing into my room to tell me that he’s ready to be a ring bearer (that’s good to know since I already have his tux) and to make sure I’m awake. I turn off the now useless alarm and get Ryan into the bath.
8:35 am Matt (another usher) shows up to help me wrangle my son, and to make sure I’m awake. I leave Ryan in Matt’s care and get into the shower.
8:45 am While I’m in the shower, Gary (Best Man) calls to make sure I’m awake. (Notice a trend here?) Matt assures him that I am.
9:30 am We get in our cars and get moving for the castle.
10:25 am We Arrive at the castle and get all of our stuff into the groom’s room. While I am doing this, one of the catering staff asks me when the groom will arrive. I tell her I am the groom and she then tells me about problem #1 for the morning. The cake topper sank into the cake because the baker didn’t put any stays in the top like we asked for. We figure this one out and I get ready to change into my tux.
10:35 am A friend and early arrival points problem #2 that the chairs are all off to one side instead of in the middle with an aisle through them. I send him to the caterer to correct this.
10:45 am Scott wants to know where the unity candle is supposed to go. This shows us problem #3 as there isn’t a table where it’s supposed to be. I send Scott off to the caterer as he is already in his tux.
10:55 am Matt has managed to wrestle Ryan into his tux and the little guy looks good, and knows it. I also get into mine and point out that the rest of my ushers should get dressed as they should be seating guests soon.
11:00 am I should also mention that there were several people who were absolutely wonderful helpers. They constantly ran back and forth from the Groom’s room and the Bride’s suite (How come she gets a suite and I just get a room?). During all the fun, realization dawns that the flowers for the centerpieces have been left at the hotel, ushering in problems #4 & #5. Problem #4 is that we need someone to go back to the hotel to get them. The hotel is only 10 minutes away, so this should not be an issue. Problem #5 ensues when a family member is the one to go get them. Here’s a tip for the future. If someone has to run an errand 30 minutes before a wedding, do not allow it to be a family member or close friend. Pick the person that neither the bride nor groom know and is only there because he/she was dragged along as a date.
11:30 am It’s show time!! Oh, maybe not since the family member isn’t back yet and we aren’t starting without my family. Also it looks like a sizable number of guests are running late. OK, we’ll wait…..
11:35 am Waiting…..
11:40 am Cool, not only did my family member make it back, but it looks like the rest of our guests did too. Now it’s show time! We line up the guys with Rev. Peters in the lead followed by Ryan with the pillow and the rest of the guys and I. I see all the guests looking happy and making comments about the guys in their tuxedos. “Isn’t Ryan adorable?”, “Matt is so handsome”, “I didn’t know Scott could clean up that nice,” “Ken looks elegant.”, “Chris looks so distinguished.”, & “My God! Conan looks like Orson Wells”. (Thanks Walter)
I stand there watching as the bridesmaids start walking up he path and up the short staircase t where we are. The first is my youngest sister Gabrielle and I can’t help thinking that she can’t be the beautiful young woman I see, she’s still my little baby sister. Next comes my other sister Kellianne and with her the same feelings. These girls were born when I was 13 & 15 and I can’t help thinking of them as little kids.
Third comes Beth, a friend of Sarah and she is smiling ear to ear. Following her is Jessica and she can’t stop grinning.
A note about our flower girl and ring bearer, we put them in outfits that duplicated ours. Ryan was the only member of the groomsmen with the same style tuxedo as mine and Kristiana wore a scaled down version of Sarah’s dress. Now I see my daughter in her flower girl dress and I’m stunned. Two thoughts hit my mind right on top of each other. First is that I can’t handle seeing my little girl looking so grown up. My mind has fast-forwarded about 20 years and I realize I am not ready to think of her in a white gown. The second thought is “If that is even a pale reflection of what Sarah is going to look like in her dress, I’m a dead man!”
After Kristi, Kathleen comes up. She tips me a wink and a smile to relax me as the music changes and everyone stands up. Everyone looks down the path and here comes Sarah.
Sarah…..
...Oh….
...…..My…
......GOD!!!...
She’s so beautiful!
I can’t believe this beautiful woman is really willing marry me. I don’t hear the music, I don’t hear the crowd, and I don’t even hear Rev. Peters tell me to breathe. I do, however, notice a bit of movement to Sarah’s side and look. It’s Kathleen making a face at me to clear me out of the shock. I remember to breathe, and look at my bride to be. The rest of the service is just a blur to me. I remember saying “I do”, I remember Rev. Peters saying “I now pronounce you husband & wife”, and I definitely remember kissing the bride.
Sarah and I stopped by both of our mothers on our way by in order to give each a rose, and then we went out front of the castle for pictures. Now we’re the ones who can’t stop smiling. The reception was a lot of fun and a great time for us. I will leave the reception description up to someone who wasn’t walking around 10 feet off the floor.
Enjoy:
Sarah and I were married on September 14, 2002. Several of our friends asked me what was going through my mind the morning before the wedding. The following monologue is how the day appeared to me.
Read on and I hope you enjoy it
7:45 am Ok, so I woke up 45 minutes before the alarm went off (don’t look so shocked, I can wake up early sometimes) and couldn’t get back to sleep. I lay there thinking about everything and nothing.
8:20 am 10 minutes before the alarm goes off, Scott (an usher) calls just to be sure I’m awake. Scott also asks if there is anything I need him to bring. I request caffeine and food as I won’t have time to get either before arriving at the castle.
8:25 am 5 minutes before the alarm goes off, Ryan comes bouncing into my room to tell me that he’s ready to be a ring bearer (that’s good to know since I already have his tux) and to make sure I’m awake. I turn off the now useless alarm and get Ryan into the bath.
8:35 am Matt (another usher) shows up to help me wrangle my son, and to make sure I’m awake. I leave Ryan in Matt’s care and get into the shower.
8:45 am While I’m in the shower, Gary (Best Man) calls to make sure I’m awake. (Notice a trend here?) Matt assures him that I am.
9:30 am We get in our cars and get moving for the castle.
10:25 am We Arrive at the castle and get all of our stuff into the groom’s room. While I am doing this, one of the catering staff asks me when the groom will arrive. I tell her I am the groom and she then tells me about problem #1 for the morning. The cake topper sank into the cake because the baker didn’t put any stays in the top like we asked for. We figure this one out and I get ready to change into my tux.
10:35 am A friend and early arrival points problem #2 that the chairs are all off to one side instead of in the middle with an aisle through them. I send him to the caterer to correct this.
10:45 am Scott wants to know where the unity candle is supposed to go. This shows us problem #3 as there isn’t a table where it’s supposed to be. I send Scott off to the caterer as he is already in his tux.
10:55 am Matt has managed to wrestle Ryan into his tux and the little guy looks good, and knows it. I also get into mine and point out that the rest of my ushers should get dressed as they should be seating guests soon.
11:00 am I should also mention that there were several people who were absolutely wonderful helpers. They constantly ran back and forth from the Groom’s room and the Bride’s suite (How come she gets a suite and I just get a room?). During all the fun, realization dawns that the flowers for the centerpieces have been left at the hotel, ushering in problems #4 & #5. Problem #4 is that we need someone to go back to the hotel to get them. The hotel is only 10 minutes away, so this should not be an issue. Problem #5 ensues when a family member is the one to go get them. Here’s a tip for the future. If someone has to run an errand 30 minutes before a wedding, do not allow it to be a family member or close friend. Pick the person that neither the bride nor groom know and is only there because he/she was dragged along as a date.
11:30 am It’s show time!! Oh, maybe not since the family member isn’t back yet and we aren’t starting without my family. Also it looks like a sizable number of guests are running late. OK, we’ll wait…..
11:35 am Waiting…..
11:40 am Cool, not only did my family member make it back, but it looks like the rest of our guests did too. Now it’s show time! We line up the guys with Rev. Peters in the lead followed by Ryan with the pillow and the rest of the guys and I. I see all the guests looking happy and making comments about the guys in their tuxedos. “Isn’t Ryan adorable?”, “Matt is so handsome”, “I didn’t know Scott could clean up that nice,” “Ken looks elegant.”, “Chris looks so distinguished.”, & “My God! Conan looks like Orson Wells”. (Thanks Walter)
I stand there watching as the bridesmaids start walking up he path and up the short staircase t where we are. The first is my youngest sister Gabrielle and I can’t help thinking that she can’t be the beautiful young woman I see, she’s still my little baby sister. Next comes my other sister Kellianne and with her the same feelings. These girls were born when I was 13 & 15 and I can’t help thinking of them as little kids.
Third comes Beth, a friend of Sarah and she is smiling ear to ear. Following her is Jessica and she can’t stop grinning.
A note about our flower girl and ring bearer, we put them in outfits that duplicated ours. Ryan was the only member of the groomsmen with the same style tuxedo as mine and Kristiana wore a scaled down version of Sarah’s dress. Now I see my daughter in her flower girl dress and I’m stunned. Two thoughts hit my mind right on top of each other. First is that I can’t handle seeing my little girl looking so grown up. My mind has fast-forwarded about 20 years and I realize I am not ready to think of her in a white gown. The second thought is “If that is even a pale reflection of what Sarah is going to look like in her dress, I’m a dead man!”
After Kristi, Kathleen comes up. She tips me a wink and a smile to relax me as the music changes and everyone stands up. Everyone looks down the path and here comes Sarah.
Sarah…..
...Oh….
...…..My…
......GOD!!!...
She’s so beautiful!
I can’t believe this beautiful woman is really willing marry me. I don’t hear the music, I don’t hear the crowd, and I don’t even hear Rev. Peters tell me to breathe. I do, however, notice a bit of movement to Sarah’s side and look. It’s Kathleen making a face at me to clear me out of the shock. I remember to breathe, and look at my bride to be. The rest of the service is just a blur to me. I remember saying “I do”, I remember Rev. Peters saying “I now pronounce you husband & wife”, and I definitely remember kissing the bride.
Sarah and I stopped by both of our mothers on our way by in order to give each a rose, and then we went out front of the castle for pictures. Now we’re the ones who can’t stop smiling. The reception was a lot of fun and a great time for us. I will leave the reception description up to someone who wasn’t walking around 10 feet off the floor.