A Perfect Disaster

[PGDesigns]

Yes, I admit it... my wedding weekend was one disaster after another. :)

We packed up the dogs and headed the two hours to our hometown Thursday morning. My dad called when we were about halfway there and said the roses from Sam's Club had been delivered in a huge box. I told him I'd take care of them when I got there since he had no clue and seemed a little worried about flowers in a box.

When we got there, I set the dogs up in their crates so they wouldn't get into any wedding stuff (or eat stems because when I was cutting the stems, they were flying everywhere! lol) It took me about 15 minutes to cut the stems on all 100 roses, and while they flowers were looking a little scary at that point, I knew they would look much better after being placed in fresh water with plant food.

In the meantime, DH was picking up the rental car across town. After we got the car, we headed to the airport about an hour away to pick up our friends from Virginia and Canada. Our friend from Virginia was late because her first flight had been delayed and caused her to miss her flight to SC by just a few minutes, so we had a few hours to kill before heading back to the airport to pick her up.

On the way home from the airport, one of my girls texted to say she was VERY sorry but her dress no longer fit. I think she was expecting me to flip out, but what am I going to do at that point? She has been having some health problems that have caused her weight to fluctuate and asked if she could wear another black dress instead. I told her if she could find one in time and have it altered, then do whatever. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed finding this out so close to the wedding, but I wasn't mad.

We finally made it back to GA and checked into the hotel. Then, we went across the street to the Waffle House because it was about the only thing open at that point, and our Canadian friend had never been to one.

[PGDesigns]

Friday... I really have no recollection of what I did Friday morning. I do know that we went to pick up the tuxedos from Men's Wearhouse and then went to run a few errands. We ended up having to buy all the pans and racks for the reception at the last minute, which really put us behind.

By the time the cookout was set to start, we were STILL at the hotel where I was putting together the gifts for each girl, the two FG, and our RB. Then, I had to write seven thank you cards and then put the gifts in their hotel rooms so they would find them when they checked in.

We were 45 minutes late for the cookout, and everyone was texting and calling. Two of my poor BM were at MIL's house and knew no one, and apparently, no one talked to them. Talk about awkward. They were very relieved when the rest of us got there.

Fortunately, everyone got along, especially the two FG who met there for the first time.
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With their gifts--bears and bracelets
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After the cookout, we headed to our hotel room to put the bouquets together. We had no experience with bouquet assembly, but it went rather well. The RB was a great sport about hanging out with us. He watched TV on the bed with DH until 12:30 or so.
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[PGDesigns]

Saturday, we obviously had to get an early start. I was already concerned because my original plan to be at the venue (when it opened) at 9am to decorate for 30 minutes went down the drain. Two of the five girls going to the salon decided to do their own hair and makeup, so that meant I had to be at the salon at 9am instead and eat my deposit.

This meant, DH and our friends and families were left to decorate without my guidance, and no one knew exactly what I wanted, despite my diagrams and descriptions.
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While I was waiting at the salon, I found out no one had ironed the table linens I ordered from efavormart, and DH thought they looked just dandy. When I got there, I made them take them off the tables and we took them to the hotel to put in the dryer and used Downy Wrinkle Release on them while we were getting dressed.

I was pretty **** proud of myself when it came to getting dressed. I'm very modest and didn't want a lot of people helping me into my dress. I hung the dress up on the bathroom door and slid into it myself without messing up my hair and makeup. Quite a feat. Trust me.

And then, it only took one girl to lace me up. Kudos to her!
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I ended up not being able to wear my shoes. When I put my slip on Saturday, it was a little lower than it had been during my fitting, so it was a little too long underneath. I didn't want to risk tripping over it, and I knew that barefooted, I would be able to feel the slip better and would decrease the chances of me tumbling down the aisle.
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The bouquets looked great. We left the stems long until right before the ceremony because the vases I had were all kinda tall.
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Our RB before we headed to the venue.
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The FG hanging out during set-up.
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[PGDesigns]

We also found out that the groomsmen did not take pictures on time because one of the Best Men had to go back and give his daughter (FG) a bath because she wouldn't let anyone else do it. Good thing she's cute, huh? LOL

This put the rest of the wedding party pictures behind schedule, and we were forced to take them after the ceremony.

Our FG
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My friend/baker putting the final touches on our cake.
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Trying to get them to look at the cameras before the ceremony.
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We were late starting the ceremony because a TON of people were missing. They called FH and said they were stuck in traffic across town and would miss the ceremony. Since most of them were seated at the same table (only one person was there for that table at that point!), we held off until most of them got there because they had driven two hours to be there.

Hanging out at the bar as we waited for them to arrive.
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The ceremony finally started, and the DJ played ALL the wrong songs. At least, my song was right, but it was definitely NOT the version I wanted. (Despite emailing him the names/versions I wanted and even said I had a copy of them if he needed them.)
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[Deanna2112001]

I am sooo sorry things didnt go as planned... I am dedicating all of Friday to decorating the venue and the church. I can only hope that it goes smooth. :hug:

[PGDesigns]

The ceremony itself was beautiful. My dad had sniffled all the way down the aisle. DH started getting really choked up and teary-eyed, and everyone knew it. The ILs were crying, my BM were crying, and all I could think about was "OMG, they are going to break Rule #1--Do NOT make Allison cry!" I knew if I started crying, I would not stop, so I looked away from DH as he cried, and the pastor made me look at him. Funny. It's on the video and got a few chuckles out of everyone.

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We then headed out for the rest of the wedding party and family pictures, and someone was supposed to announce that everyone could begin eating... No one did. Some people even got up and left. Others came outside or were texting asking if they could eat. When DH and I said "YES, EAT!" this lady flipped a lid on me and begin going off about how everyone has to wait on the bride and groom. At this point, she doesn't know me, and I don't know her... I just knew she must be a family friend of DH's family, and I had to tell her WE were the bride and groom and WE said that it was perfectly ok for them to eat.

Then, the whole reason we went with a cake instead of cupcakes was that MIL insisted she would cut and serve the cake and that we HAD to have a cake. Fast forward to cake cutting, and we had no one to cut the cake for our guests. One of my aunts felt so sorry for us that she came over to serve everyone cake.

The DJ did not make any announcements for anything to keep things on schedule unless someone walked up to him and asked, "Hey, don't you think we should do this now?" So many people missed the cake cutting and toast and bouquet toss. Oh, and we didn't even have a first dance...
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When it was time to start packing up, DH's family did a great job with one minor problem -- we had NO idea where everything was packed.

DH became VERY sick. He apparently got the stomach flu that's been going around, and it knocked him out all night Saturday when we got back to the hotel and all day Sunday. At least he made it through the ceremony fine!

[PGDesigns]

Sunday, we had to take our friends back to the airport. DH still felt horrible. When we got back to the hotel, my family had just finished eating breakfast and was in the lobby catching up. DH felt so bad that he headed back up to the room to rest.

When it was time for us to check out, we had one more load to take down when our keys stopped working. I went downstairs twice to have them re-keyed but no luck. They said it must be the battery in the lock, which I'd never even thought about it having a battery, but they said they'd have someone meet me up at the room to fix it. I heard them call it in on the radio, but 30 minutes later, no one had come to fix it. Poor DH was curled up in a ball in the hallway because he was in so much pain.

It turns out another maintenance guy told the first guy it had already been fixed and that there was no need to head upstairs. My dad finally came upstairs to see what was taking so long and he went down to the front desk and told them they needed to get someone up there immediately. Needless to say, the first guy was VERY apologetic and fixed it within a minute or two, and he helped us take all of our stuff down to the car. We finally got checked out, and they offered us free food and drinks, but DH's stomach was in such bad shape he wasn't able to accept it.

This almost made us late in returning the rental car, and I had to go back to MIL's house to study for a test that I had first thing Monday morning.

[PGDesigns]

Despite so many things going wrong, the most important thing is that we are MARRIED finally, and now we can look back on it and laugh. At least the ceremony went well. :)

DH is finally feeling better, too. The weird thing is that neither of us feel any differently other than liking the fact that we can now officially use "husband" and "wife." We thought we'd at least feel a little different, but no.

[WebLady]

Sounds like a few snags, but no major disasters to me ;) I would be upset with the DJ though!

Anyway; you are married and that is the best part anyway right!?!

Congrats to you both!!

[Jacklynn]

Sorry there were some things that went wrong. Try to focus on the things that went right though, and YOU ARE MARRIED!! wooo hoo!!

As time goes on you will learn to laugh even more about it. We had a huge mishap about our honeymoon and while it was a huge deal at the time, and was kinda emotional seeing as it happened the day before the wedding. Looking back on it almost 2 years later we smile about it :) Glad that you are starting to be able to laugh about it, with time you can laugh more.

Congrats! And glad to hear your husband is feeling better!

[Nekochanpurr]

The pictures are beautiful!! I know how you feel with the kinks.. We had a lot of them at our wedding, too. Doesn't it feel nice to be married now, though? :D

[Mrs.Goff]

I'm sorry that so many things went wrong. Looking at your pictures, I would have never guessed that you were stressed.

You are a inspiration to me. It's good to know that things can go wrong and everything will still be OK. It honestly makes me a little more relaxed.

[NOTKT]

Everything still looked wonderful and although your mishaps were scary and crazy remember they are very common and you are finally married! I'm really proud of you :)

[PGDesigns]

I'm sorry that so many things went wrong. Looking at your pictures, I would have never guessed that you were stressed.

You are a inspiration to me. It's good to know that things can go wrong and everything will still be OK. It honestly makes me a little more relaxed.

Oh, yes, everything will still be ok! Most people had no idea that anything went wrong, other than the wedding starting really late and the guests having to wait an loooong time before they ere told they could eat. The people that did know everything that had gone wrong could not believe that I was not freaking out (except when I told them they HAD to get those wrinkled tablecloths off the head table lol.)

I mean, I'm a little sad that I spent countless hours working on things and for them to be totally wrong kinda sucks, but none of that matters because we're married and still had a great time with all of our friends and family that we rarely get to see.

We literally had people take over our wedding to the point that our guests commented things like, "I guess today really isn't about you two at all." And it still didn't matter because the day was too important to let things like that worry us.

[amisteratwisterandme]

We literally had people take over our wedding to the point that our guests commented things like, "I guess today really isn't about you two at all." And it still didn't matter because the day was too important to let things like that worry us.

Love your attitude. Congratulations to you both!

[Kfancii]

Allison - Wow! Sounds like you had quite the weekend!! Your pictures are beautiful and I'm so glad to hear that even with all the problems you are considering your day a "perfect disaster". I'm so happy for you and Jahmal! Congratulations and I can't wait to see more of those beautiful pictures!

[gwenshack]

Everything was so beautiful - especially you! :)

Those flower girls were adorable...:)

[dizy1j62881]

kudos to you!!! and congrats..reading you posts about your weekend I couldn't believe how calm you were writing that. Me i would have been so frustrated throughout the whole thing. But the pics are so wonderful and you 2 look very happy together...Congrats again!!!

[RosieAngel]

Congratulations, my dear! You can't tell that anything went wrong at all in your gorgeous pictures! :wub:

Sorry the DH got sick. Mine was also sick on our wedding day. And then he got me sick. :gurn: Good times.

[Kay]

The only thing I noticed was how nice you look in your pictures ~ so calm, so happy ~ and how all your wedding guests/the people in the pictures, well, they all look happy. Kudos to you for being so cool about it all. I hope & pray I can be like you when things start going bizarre. :ooh:

[tk93]

Ditto everyone else's sentiments and congratulations!! You're married!!

BTW, where are those shoes from? They're adorable!

[PGDesigns]

Ditto everyone else's sentiments and congratulations!! You're married!!

BTW, where are those shoes from? They're adorable!

Thanks! The shoes are J. Renee "Roxy." I just happened to see them while browsing through gold shoes on Amazon, and they were on sale. They retail for something like $125, but I got them for less than $40. LOL

[fireprincess2009]

I just have to say, what a wonderfully positive attitude you have. I swear, I WILL remember you when something goes wrong (cause it probably will and I'm trying to prepare myself.) The pictures look beautiful. Congratulations!

[igurbisz]

sorry to hear things didn't go according to plan but it looks like you had a beautiful wedding despite the issues. Congrats!

[bichonlvr]

Congrats...everything looked beautiful!!

[Gertie]

Congrats, sorry some things didn't work out so well. On the plus side, you were an absolutely fantastically beautiful bride and hey...all's well that ends well! You're married and it's OVER! YAY! :)

[VickiLynn84]

Everything looked beautiful despite any mishaps. I LOVE your hair. I want my hair done like that. :)

[mariannav81]

Just chimming in - seeing all these pics just makes me want to be at your wedding! All i see is smiling faces:) Congratulations to you both and am so surprised and happy that you kept a positive attitude during and even after all the mishaps took place!

[pinkbride]

congratulations!!! i really admire your calm through all the little hitches!! you look beautiful, your whole wedding does!!

I hope you have a wonderful married life together!!! xxxxxxx

[iDoCakeToppers]

What would a wedding be without all these hiccups to make for interesting stories after. :-)