Yes, Another Wedding

Another happily married couple begins their life together under the watchful eyes of yours truly. My college roomie Sketch got herself hitched this past weekend, and my mom, NavyGuy, and myself attended the wedding in Portland, Oregon. Between traveling with my mom, and being in a wedding where there were three flower "princesses" (apparently, the name was a stipulation for one of the five-year-olds), I've collected many memories...

~ Hours after we arrived in Oregon, Mom and I and Sketch stole the iron and ironing board out of our hotel room in order to help iron 35 tablecloths for the reception. Apparently, we would make good jewel thieves if necessary.

~ Sketch took us girls out for a fabulous tea party at a shop in Tillamook (her home town) called "La Tea Da." We had scrumptious little sandwiches, scones, tea, and a delightful cherry cheesecake tart for dessert :) Yum! Sketch also spoiled us with eco-green-reused-material purses; mine was pink, of course, and the two other bridesmaids got neat green and blue ones. I feel so green using it - but it doesn't look like a hippie made it out of hemp! It looks like you could have actually bought it at Target :)

~ The rehearsal went fairly smoothly, save for a few flower princesses who did not want to share the spotlight with anyone else. One of the adorable youngsters was unhappy that she was not allowed to walk out the door of the church first, and a meltdown ensued. One of the other bridesmaids and I debated bringing leashes in order to wrangle the flower girls during the ceremony the following day.

~ Morning of, we all gathered at the church to prep for the big event. The bride paraded around in a smashing ensemble of her large crinoline skirt, and her soon-to-be-hubby's oversized button up flannel shirt tied around her bust in order to avoid making any strap marks. It was a sight. The room started out peacefully, but once you added several flower princesses, plus their moms, plus their siblings, plus the groom's mom, plus the ring bearer's family, plus the florist, plus random other relatives... it more closely resembled the racing of the bulls rather than a church classroom. People yelling, clamoring for food, worrying about how they look, constantly checking the time, and on and on and on. We escaped to a different room not a moment too soon. It was quite cold outside for pictures before the morning ceremony, so us bridesmaids huddled together for warmth. Then miraculously, the moment we needed to walk down the aisle, the sun broke through and it was magical.

~ The reception was somewhat busy for many of us as we got things ready for the newlyweds, but that actually worked out really well, because none of us knew anyone else at the reception, so we'd just have been sitting around eating extra pieces of cake that we didn't need (though, I did still manage to get one of each flavor... just to test them... I'm doing research for my own wedding people - I'm just trying to look out for your well-being!).

~ Best moment of the reception had to be when the bride and groom finished their first dance together. They had been swaying romantically to Ben Folds' The Luckiest, and were getting ready to transition into the father-daughter dance. The music was supposed to be a classic song by Nat King Cole or something, but a technical glitch got in the way and instead the guests were treated to a blaring rendition of Amy Winehouse's Rehab song! The iPod that was serving as DJ was left on "shuffle" mode, so instead of going through the dance playlist, it skipped to the next random song on the iPod! Priceless. Awkward. Highly memorable.

~ Following the reception and clean up, we caravaned to Portland, and us youngster's headed to an after party at the Brewery where Sketchy's husband is head brewer. It's a brand new brewery and restaurant that just opened in March - and they're already winning awards for their beer! The other bridesmaid and I (friends from college) attacked the food spread and taste-tested each type of pizza that was brought out throughout the evening. We didn't stay too long though, because we'd been up since 5:00 am!!

Overall, the wedding was great. It was really personal to the couple; for instance, their favor was two different kinds of beer that the groom had created himself. Each of the tables was decorated with a favorite quote, which is sooooo the bride, and the whole vibe was very casual and fun - which is DEFINITELY this couple. I'm still in shock that both my sister and my best friend are now married off... where did time go? Weren't we just in college eating cookie dough and watching movies? Weren't we just little kids, reading books in the car during our summer road trips? Sigh. I'm so old. Alas, I'm not sure wisdom came with age... ;)