Wedding Planning 101

I don’t think I’ll give up my career as a nurse to become a wedding planner any time soon. But, things went well; great, even! There was never a more joyous bride than my daughter, Giselle. As far as for wedding planning, it all came down to logistics. The mother of the bride—that’d be me—couldn’t be in two places at once.
The venue for the wedding ceremony and the reception was in the same location: Deer Run Golf Course. I was pleased the bride and groom chose that particular venue as it simplified things to not travel between the ceremony and the reception.
I was even more pleased when I learned we could decorate the hall for the reception a day ahead of time. On Friday, the flowers were placed on the tables, the placards with names and menu selection were at each place setting and the guest book and wedding favours were displayed.

Early Saturday morning, I had my hair styled in an up-do by my sweet Korean neighbour. This was only the third time in my life I’ve had that done. It was quite extensive as you can see by the number of bobby pins, U-pins and jewelry used in the procedure.

It was worth it but set us back timewise.
Next, was a quick stop to the bakery to pick up the wedding cake. Neapolitan; three tiers of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. The bakery insisted the cake could be on display a day before but that didn’t sit right with me.
It was a one hour drive down the highway to Deer Run. I was worried about the cake—and our overnight bags crashing into it—if we had to brake suddenly. It survived the trip but was a little tilted. Leaning tower of cake, we joked.

Next, we filled helium red and white balloons to decorate for Canada Day.

A two minute break was taken to release a red balloon to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday.

Then, the panic started. The clock was ticking pretty darn fast now.
We drove to our hotel where we happened to run into my sister and brother-in-law. They needed a quick stop at Wal-Mart for a forgotten item of clothing. It was out of the way but I asked for a big favour.
“Do you think you could drop off Giselle’s wedding gown?”
Thankfully, they didn’t hesitate at all to help us out.
I was worried I would make it to her place with little time to do up the corset on the wedding gown. Some things cannot be rushed.
I think I set a world record for a mother-of-the-bride to get dressed for a wedding. My hubby, Guy and I were in and out of the hotel room in minutes.
Guy had promised the groom, Stephen that he’d snap some photos of the men getting ready for the wedding. Stephen was at his brother, Kyle’s farmhouse. The address was in the GPS.
So far, so good. Until we learned our necessary exit off of highway 401 was closed due to construction.
Plan B involved a lengthier drive down back roads. I know I’ve never travelled at such a high rate of speed on a gravel road before. And, I hope I never do again!
It was after 2 pm. The wedding was at 3:30. There was no way I would make it back to the city to see the bride. The seamstress had given me specific instructions for lacing the corset back.
Now, Giselle wasn’t going to let anything ruin her happy wedding day. She reassured me she was in the good care of her bridesmaids, her sister and my friend, the photographer. They planned to YouTube corset-lacing.
We made it to the farmhouse safely. I checked out the goat, Beaufort.

 

Then, I parked myself in the kitchen away from the men. I found a tiny mirror to do my make-up.

I am low-maintenance.

I teased the bride:

I remembered to tell the bridesmaids about the hidden clear buttons to hook up the bustle of the wedding dress.
Meanwhile, Guy took amazing shots of the men.

I took a nice one of the barn, too. Totally appropriate for Canada Day.

 

We made it to Deer Run. Everyone was now seated. Where was the bride?
In the parking lot in the grooms’ truck, being driven by a bridesmaid. Two of the bridesmaids had taken a train to Chatham, and then were unable to catch a taxi due to the Canada Day parade happening. They had walked four kilometres to reach Giselle’s place! Again, logistics were our downfall. The groom was driven by the groomsmen.
Guy stated, “There she is!” The window in the lobby was too high for me to see our daughter.
“And, there she goes!”
Giselle had wiped out on the lawn. She shook it off, though and was giggling when she entered the lobby.
“Mom, where are the bouquets?”
The bouquets! Yes, we had brought them on Friday and kept them in vases of water.
The bridesmaids with their bouquets started to enter the outdoor patio area where everyone was waiting.
The sky darkened. Menacing clouds loomed above us. The wind picked up.
Guy escorted Giselle with her little dog, Lucy out of the building to the patio. Two steps later, her veil blew away. She giggled more.

During the vows, I noticed the maid of honour hand her bouquet to another bridesmaid. I assumed it was because she was in charge of Lucy. She kept wiping tears from her eyes. I later discovered she was suffering an allergic reaction to her bouquet. She wasn’t choked up by the vows.
Tiny drops of rain fell. Guy and I and most of the guests remained dry due to a tree sheltering us.
Giselle started to confidently proclaim her vows to Stephen.
She was smiling all the while. I know Giselle loves rain.
An air raid siren pierced the air. Giselle tried to continue her vows. The extremely loud siren sounded four more times.
I was concerned it was a tornado warning. I could believe that easily. My sister thought it was a warning about an impending terrorist attack. We later learned it was to alert golfers of the danger of lightning.
The bride continued her vows. As the vows were finished, the light sprinkling became a torrential downpour.
Everyone raced inside the clubhouse. The marriage certificate was signed indoors. The dogs put their paw prints of approval on it too.

A half hour later, the sun was shining.
The bride was absolutely joyous throughout it all.

 

Even though her mother wasn’t able to be with her while she prepared for the wedding. Even though she fell in her wedding gown. Even though a storm suddenly occoured at the most inopportune moment. Even though sirens sounded as she tried five times to say her vows. She was now married to her best friend. And, that’s all that mattered in the world.