Wedding Day Afterthoughts

Several people say that they forgot everything about their wedding day (though, coincidentally they were people who were either not happy with their wedding or their marriage), so after the ceremony Andrew and I sat in our hotel room just talking about the day. I didn’t want to forget anything. It’s hardly complete, but I came up with a list of things to remember about the day.

• The wedding grasshopper was hilarious. Sweetie, Suzanne and I walked out of Starbucks to find a grasshopper on the roof of the car. While this might not seem odd, it was still there after a 10 mile drive on the beltway at 70 mph and a bumpy ride through Old Town Alexandria. It was there after we’d spend a half hour in my Mom’s room, stayed on while we drove the mile to the salon, and might have even been there after we had gotten our hair done (I don’t remember…)
• “Bride sandwich” was shouted several times as we were posing for pictures.
• Mushi was quite happy that we waited for the ceremony to begin in the “tool room” of the planetarium. We all picked items we wanted to take home with us, though I can’t remember what I wanted…might have been the Mars globe.
• The stormtrooper in the back room was funny. I made the photographer take my picture with it, and then after the ceremony we dragged it out for a couple shots with the wedding party.
• There were 67 bobby pins holding my hair up.
• The girls made me cry before we left for the ceremony by saying their favorite thing about me. Suzanne said it was that we could just pick up where we were whenever we got together, whether it was a day, a month, or a year from the last time we’d seen each other. Sweetie said that it was that I say “Yay” whenever she calls with good news. Mom said that it was that I put up with her and something else, but I’ve forgotten. Mushi said that she’s as close to me as her childhood best friend, even though she’s known me for only half as long. I was already feeling great before we were going to head off to the ceremony, but that made me feel even better. I love my girls!
• At one point I noticed my niece, Kira, turned around in her chair looking at us, singing her ABCs. I joined in, and the head table grew silent as, I think, everyone tried to figure out if I’d gone crazy or what. When they saw Kira singing, the girls joined me in singing with her.
• Mom said that at one point she tried to sing with Kira and play with her, but Kira shushed her and pushed her away because she wanted to watch me. I did notice that almost every time I looked, Kira was turned around in her chair watching me.
• Monday morning we saw Kira when we stopped home before heading off to the B&B in Purcelville. She asked if we could go back to Auntie Barb’s wedding. Apparently she’d been asking all morning. I think she had a good time!
• I tried to give a toast after dinner — I’m not sure what actually came out of my mouth, but I had something really good planned in my head. I could hardly make it through, though, and when I was toasting my parents, I completely forgot how I was going to end it. Fortunately, this got a laugh out of everyone, and lightened the mood a bit. Mom said that she thought everyone needed it.
• I regret that I didn’t find a job for my nephew Brock. I asked his dad if he thought Brock would want to do something, but Kevin didn’t really know. I decided to just let him enjoy, but he asked once what his job was. We did give him a couple of the disposable cameras at the reception, and he enjoyed taking pictures. I think for the Minnesota reception in a few weeks I’ll either buy him a film camera and a bunch of film or put him in charge of my digital camera.

That’s all I can think of for now. Much of what I want to remember will be documented in pictures, so I look forward to seeing the photographer’s pictures and the pictures from the disposable cameras (which we’ll get back on Tuesday or Wednesday).

Mrs. Kuchling

The Goddess smiled on us yesterday. The wedding was perfect. I’m not going to write much now, since we’re trying to get out of the house for the honeymoon… Andrew and I woke up this morning around 3:30, unable to get back to sleep because we were thinking about what a wonderful day yesterday was. I’ll write more on the honeymoon, and post when we return (and should have some cool pictures…).

Wedding Day Reception

What a wonderful reception! I had the greatest time, though we left a bit earlier than planned because I started getting really tired.

The reception was at the Stardust Restaruant in Alexandria. We were greeted by a chalk message on the sidewalk.

We checked out the cake right away

And on my way back to the bar for appetizers, I ran into Kirsten, a friend from New Mexico, now living in Idaho, and I hardly recognized her! She looks too grown-up now!

(Mushi, Sweetie, and Kirsten)

I had put together gift bags for all the kids, and I think they went over fairly well. Here’s Kira playing with her Dad and the pinwheel, and another picture of Brock showing me the Star Destroyer Legos he’d put together:
  

I had also given Brock a Dover “stained glass” coloring book of rocket ships. He colored one for me, but I don’t have a picture just yet — the photographer did get a picture of him giving it to me, so I will have one later.

The Stardust usually serves their soft drinks with little plastic animals, which I love (in fact, I still have all of the animals from previous trips there). I found these fascinating, and started poking them in the cleavage of my dress. The waiter saw how much I loved the animals and brought me a glass full of them!

I tried taking a picture of the animals on myself, just to remember my view of them, but it didn’t turn out. Then Sweetie tried taking a picture, which was just silly, but she didn’t have any more luck. I think the photographer got a shot of her photographing my cleavage…

This picture gets the award for most bizarre — it almost needs a caption contest. Note that Andrew and my grandma both look like they’re shouting. Trouble with the in-laws already??

Wedding Day Ceremony

I hate to admit that I don’t remember a whole lot about the ceremony itself. I remember walking down the aisle with Dad, and negotiating the star projector a bit awkwardly. I remember thinking that I should look at Andrew, since I’d been concentrating so much on negotiating the aisle that I’d forgotten to. I remember looking around to see the stars during the ceremony, since we weren’t at the best place to see them, at the front of the planetarium. I remember crying like a baby through my vows. I remember Andrew struggling to get my ring on, since it’s a tight fit. I remember Suzanne jumping in a bit too early with her second reading (it’s okay, Suzanne, it really isn’t a big deal…in fact, I loved the way you recovered when you started again, “Finding Love, by Robert J. Doleby, Take 2” — that got a chuckle from everyone, and lightened the mood after I’d been crying like a baby). I remember hugging Andrew out in the foyer after the recessional.

We did pictures afterwards — standard shots with my family, Andrew’s family, and the wedding party. When the formal shots were done, Andrew and I walked around with the photographer and got a few shots around the planetarium with the two of us. I’m really looking forward to seeing the photos.

Wedding Day Dressing and Waiting

After we arrived back from the salon, the girls got dressed first. Here’s a great shot of Mushi’s hair as she’s zipping Mom into her dress.

The first thing I put on was my wedding tennis shoes:

Then the girls cinched me into my dress:

Once I was dressed, we realized that there would be wedding guests milling about in the lobby of the hotel, since there was a van waiting to take them to the wedding. Sweetie pointed out that this is considered bad luck to have the guests see the bride before the wedding, so we had Dad move his minivan to around the side of the hotel, and Mushi and I escaped out of an Emergency Exit (which was okayed by the front desk).

We arrived at the planetarium 20 minutes later, and I was wisked away into the back room to wait. Andrew was not going to see me before the wedding, so he and Greg were waiting in the planetarium director’s office. The girls and I were in the back storage room, which had cool tools and globes and things.

I have no idea what each of us was doing in this picture, but it looks like a study into the various stages of insanity:

Here’s a nice one of us girls, just about to go line up:

Wedding Day Hair and Make-up

We arrived at PR and Partners a bit early for our 10:30 AM appointment, so decided to take a before picture:

(Mom didn’t seem to want to be in the picture…I wonder why not!)

They started with me and Mom. My hair needed a bit of body, so Gina put my hair in rollers with gel and then stuck me under the dryer.

Karina took care of Mom’s hair and make-up while I was still under the dryer (for ever and ever and ever).

When Karina started on Sweetie, I asked for my camera, since Sweetie had been taking many of the pictures (that and Mom and Suzanne disappeared to seek out new shoes for mom, so it was just me, Sweetie and Mushi, and they were both busy having their hair done). Anyway, Karina had a very fine glitter on her hands, and it got onto my lens.

I worked at getting the glitter out, and finally was mostly sucessful.

Here’s Sweetie getting finished up:

I’m finally out from the dryer, and everyone but me is having lunch. I have no idea what Mushi is doing behind me…

Through all of this Suzanne is an absolute goddess. She ran out to grab pop for all of us, and she called in our lunch order. She ran out to get a new silver chain for Mushi, since the one I had bought was a bit too short. She helped Mom get new shoes after Mom’s hair was done. She grabbed our lunch with Mom’s help (I think). She ran around making sure we all had what we needed. I don’t think today would have gone as smoothly as it did without her. Thanks, Suzanne!

We finally left the salon at about 1:30 PM, and headed back to Mom’s room to get dressed.

Wedding Day Morning

I did not sleep last night. I tried and tried and tried, and despite the large amount of Bailey’s that the girls gave me, I just couldn’t. I wasn’t actually nervous about the wedding, but excited. I kept thinking about how cool the ceremony was going to be, how great Andrew looked in his tux, how beautiful I would be in my dress with my hair and make-up all done, and on and on and on. I think I did dose for a bit between 5 AM and 7 AM, but I remember every other hour of the night. Sigh. That’s a zombie bride, not a blushing bride!

After a quick shower, Sweetie, Suzanne and I went on our way to my parents’ hotel, with a quick stop for wedding-day Starbuck’s on the way.

When we got back out to the car, there was a grasshopper on the roof of the car. I had to have a picture of the wedding-day grasshopper

We also had to stop in Alexandria at the historic cobblestone road for a quick picture.

(Those dogs were with the nice lady who stopped to take our picture.)

Oddly enough, the grasshopper was still on the car after pictures at the cobblestone road. This is even weirder considering it had to stay on the car during a 10-mile ride on the beltway at about 70 mph!

We actually arrived at my parents’ hotel room just on time — a switch for me, since all week I’ve been running about 15-20 minutes late. We waited around for a while, and Mushi joined us, before heading off to get our hair done.

Rehearsal & Rehearsal Dinner

The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were this evening. We arrived at the planetarium a bit before the wedding coordinators, but the girls and I started setting up right away.

The rehearsal went fairly quickly, since we had scripted the lighting with Jonathan on Tuesday. The photographer took a few test shots, and let everyone know that we should stop by the star projector for a second on our way down the aisle — that way he would have a better chance at a good picture. They also tested the flash a couple times, which was blinding, but necessary.

After the rehearsal, Jonathan offered to do a mini-star show for us, which we happily accepted. It’s obvious that he enjoys his job, and we had a fun time as he took us through the night sky.

Next we herded everyone to Anita’s New Mexican Restaurant in Vienna, one of Andrew and my favorite restaurants. This was a bit of a task, since not everyone rented cars and one of the rental cars we were expecting to have wasn’t present (see yesterday’s entry for more on that), but we triumphed.

Dinner was fun — I got to hold my new neice, Sofia, for the first time, and got to catch up with my other neice and nephew, Kira and Brock. Brock wanted to sit across from me, which was great, since I don’t get to see or talk with him much. Our families seemed to get along quite well again, though there was some segregation of the families (not on purpose).

Andrew and his parents	Brock, Kira and Me all being silly
Andrew and Me	I think Suzanne liked her gift!

Afterwards, Sweetie and Suzanne took me home — they’re staying with me tonight.

Bachelorette Party!

The girls took me out tonight for my last single-fling. Sadly, I’m not into drinking (never been drunk, never care to be), so we did not do the traditional stripper and get-the-bride-to-be-drunk kind of trip. Instead, we started with dinner at Bertucci’s near Dupont Circle, and then moved on to the Natural History Museum for a show by Second City.

Girly-Girl

Mom, Mushi and I all went to the nail shop to get our nails done this afternoon. I have never done something so girly in my life….at least not that I can remember.

Oh, and did I mention that two other semi-crises came up today? Nothing major…or at least nothing that can’t be dealt with. I picked Suzanne up this morning at Dulles at about 7 AM. She and Sweetie are staying together at a hotel in Alexandria, and Sweetie was going to rent a car and pick up Suzanne early this afternoon, after her plane came in. While at lunch, however, Sweetie calls to tell me that her driver’s license has expired, and she can’t get the car. Sooo, I drove Suzanne back out to the car rental place at Dulles, and she put the car in her name.

Later, Dad got a call from Kevin, my brother, saying that he wasn’t able to get the car he thought he’d be renting. The reason? His driver’s license had expired. Weird.