Emily and Scott got engaged in December 2009 after dating for 4 years or so. The wedding was in April 2011…the last day of April in 2011. That is exactly 485 days of planning.
And that is what we did for all of those 485 days. And when the week of the wedding came, after two engagement parties, countless trips to David's Bridal, a bachelor party in Mexico, a couple of bachelorette weekends, two showers, and more emails and planning meetings than anyone ever expected, we arrived at the Lakeway Resort and Spa with the bride, groom, and both immediate families on Thursday morning April 28th.
That's really when the chaos began.
Scott had 8 groomsmen (and two junior groomsmen). One was coming up along with two of the ushers from San Antonio, three were coming in from Michigan (where he is from) along with the other two ushers, one from Colorado, one from Arizona, one from Georgia, and the best man was flying in from Denmark. Crazy I know, but it doesn't stop there.
One that same Thursday, just 48 hours before the ceremony, Emily's 8 bridesmaids were traveling in from California, Dallas, New Jersey, San Antonio, Elgin and Maryland.
And add to that both bride and groom having family from California, Michigan, and Florida; and other guests coming from North Carolina, Houston, and New York.
Of course with 485 days of planning we had plenty of time to orchestrate airport pickups. And our plan was complete with spreadsheets. I was scheduled for two airport pickups, one in my car for a couple of bridesmaids, and one in one of the rental vans for a big group of groomsmen. Emily and Scott each had assignments, as well as a few mom and dad trips too. That was the plan. Then the Midwest was hit with tornados and storms. Chicago O'Hare was shut down for a few hours. Detroit International had several hours’ worth of delays, and Atlanta did too. We threw the spreadsheets away, and went into damage control mode. Luckily after 9 total trips to the airport the extended families and wedding party were all at the resort.
So we started getting ready for dinner. Emily and Scott had planned on having an informal dinner with everyone who had arrived at Iguana Grill. She had talked with Kevin at Iguana Grill about bringing in the big group. Because they didn't want a private room or catered dinner, rather just for everyone to split up, and enjoy dinner in small groups, eating whatever they wanted from the menu, Kevin told her to just call ahead to give them time to get set up.
Thus, during one of my airport trips I called up Kevin at Iguana Grill, and told him we had a party of 40, didn't want a fajita buffet, but just to split up and all order from the menu.
Kevin was a complete JERK. He basically said nope, not only will they not allow that; they didn't want our business at all. So I, in a not so polite delivery, said that was fine, and that we would go to Carlos n Charlie’s.
And that’s exactly what we did. After we scrambled a little changing up the itinerary, it was so simple, and so delicious. Kudos to Carlos n Charlie’s for their excellent customer service.
Then the moms and dads and grandparents all went back to the resort, and the wedding party and friends headed downtown for a night out. Emily and Scott had arranged for a limo bus to transport all of us downtown and back to the resort at the end of the night.
We hit Hangar Lounge and Speakeasy’s and had one of the best nights of my life.
Friday started with monster headaches all around, but absolutely no time to nurse a hangover. Rehearsal was scheduled for 10AM. We would be taking a boat ferry from the resort over to the wedding venue, and that boat was leaving at 9AM.
We all assembled at the dock and started pouring the OJ as soon as we boarded. The bride and some of the groomsmen were the only ones able to add a little "extra" to their OJ, but we all managed to have a nice trip across the lake.
And while the rehearsal seemed to go off without a hitch, there was one major bump in the road. The judge performing the ceremony got stuck in traffic and missed the whole thing! Luckily, he did show up eventually, and the wedding coordinator walked him through the events even though we had already loaded the boat, and headed back to the resort.
The rest of Friday was spent at the beautiful pool at Lakeway Resort. The groomsmen provided plenty of entertainment, like when they tried to bring 20 Mr. Gattis pizzas into the pool area after being told no from the start. Imagine hiding 20 pizzas. Yah, it didn't work.
The Rehearsal Dinner was at The Oasis overlooking the lake. Emily had arranged for two limo buses to take the resort guests to the rehearsal dinner, but one of the buses broke down so half of the resort guests (including the bride) were 30 minutes late, but it was still delicious and gorgeous. Emily and Scott handed out gifts to their wedding party and everyone got to watch a really amazing slideshow that the incredibly talented Maid of Honor put together. (duh, me)
Friday night was not without drama though because, well hello, it never is with my family.
Now, because all the groomsmen were coming from all over the place, all the tuxes were rented through Men’s Warehouse. The procedure goes like this, they go to one near them and get fitted, that store sends their measurements to the San Antonio location (where the groom was picking up his tux) and all the tuxes will be available there. So before Scott headed up to the resort, he picked up all the tuxes... 15 total or something, maybe 18. Anyway, as each of the guys (dads, ushers, groomsmen, etc) arrived, Scott sent them to his room to pick up their tux. Well on Thursday one of the ushers randomly tried his tux on, and guess what, IT DIDN'T FIT...not even close either. So before the rehearsal dinner Emily had all the guys try on their tuxes, and 2 of them were so off in size, they could not be worn.
Luckily there is a Men’s Warehouse close so we ran them over. They promised to have the tuxes replaced, and ready to pick up first thing Saturday morning. (i.e. the morning of the wedding, whoa)
Then Saturday came. 485 days of planning down to the day of the event.
Obviously the first order of business was for Emily and one of the groomsmen to go back and pick up the corrected tux (the junior groomsman had already picked up his corrected tux). They did so, in Scott’s jeep, then stopped and picked up the shuttle van that would be used to shuttle some guests (those who didn’t do boats or lots of stairs) to the wedding and back, and got back in plenty of time for the groomsmen to all jump in Scott's boat for a few hours on the water while the gals all got ready at the resort.
It was a great time getting ready. We all sat around, drank champagne, and did our makeup and hair. Then we all went over to the wedding venue to do final touch-ups and begin pictures.
Two hours until the ceremony the girls were taking pictures, and the guys had just pulled up to the dock at the venue. It would seem that all was finally clear for a nice afternoon/evening of celebration. But that's when the real disaster occurred.
As the guys unloaded the boat, one groomsman realized his tux was nowhere to be found. It was the one he and Emily had picked up earlier that morning.
Not too big of a problem right? Just run back to the resort and grab it. Except the resort is 40 minutes away by boat, and over and hour by car. And the guys still have to take pictures. Whoa.
Then we realized we weren't even sure where the tux was at the resort! In Emily's room? In the groomsman's room? Where???
So we called someone still at the resort waiting for the big, guest ferry to bring people across, and he checked everywhere. No tux.
Finally we decided to ask the bride. So we very carefully asked Emily where the lost tux could possibly be. She immediately knew! It was in the trunk of her car! She put it in there thinking her car would be among the group of vehicles used to taxi the bridesmaids to the wedding venue, but it ended up not being needed. No big deal, have someone go grab it, and bring it on the big guest ferry.
Oh wait...
Emily had the only key to her car with her at the wedding venue. No joke.
So we finally sent two of the ushers ( the only person who knew how to drive Scott's boat and the other one who knew the lake) back to the resort with the key, to get the tux and get back, as fast as possible. And he did. Meanwhile, the tuxless groomsman borrowed boat driver usher’s tux for pictures, so no time was lost.
The group pictures were finished just in time for the ceremony to begin!
And as the bridesmaids lined up to walk out temperatures were reaching 95 degrees…on the last day of April! That's not too bad for us Texans, but in long dresses and half the people there from above the Mason Dixon line, it was sweltering. A few of us bridesmaids even gathered our dresses above our knees and started doing the "Walk it Out" dance to cool off before walking down the aisle. I'm pretty sure there is a FlipCam video of this somewhere, but I haven't seen it yet.
After a short 15 minute ceremony and a first kiss that was more than adorable, we were ready for a few pictures of the group as a whole, and then off to the reception.
And what a reception is was! The temperature had dropped, the food was outstanding, the cakes were scrumptious, and everyone was having a fabulous time.
Then came the speeches. Now, I must say, and if you read this blog often you know, I am pretty good with words on the fly. I'm not always the wittiest or most sincere person, but if you need something quick, I can usually come up with something. So my plan was to wing my speech. Well sort of, I had gone over the types of things I wanted to share in the 485 days I had to think about it, but I never actually wrote anything down. Not until about 10 minutes before go time.
That was when panic set in. Not because I was speaking in front of 200+ people that were all family or family friends, but because the Best Man freaked me out!
See the Best Man not only had a typed speech, but he knew exactly, to the second, how long it should take, and had practiced with the other groomsmen numerous times. Great. I'm going to look like an asshole at my sister's wedding when I stumble through my speech, I thought.
So I frantically searched for a pen and paper, and wrote down the ideas I had gone over in my head so many times before. Just as I finished, the Best Man was finishing his speech (which was a job well done). I got up, delivered my best, and only looked down a few times at the notes I so urgently scribbled. Crisis averted, I did not fall on my face.
The rest of the night was dancing and happiness and fun…a whirlwind of excitement really. My dad told people after that it was "a night he didn't want to end." 485 days of planning really came together, finally, and was worth all the headaches.
Now there was one last bit of drama...more like hilarious-ness. As the guests boarded the ferry going back to the resort, the bride and groom, my boyfriend and I, and a few others were jumping on Scott's boat. We were all on and pulling away when a groomsman on the dock realized that a buoy from Scott's boat was still on the dock. He untied it quickly, and without looking, tossed it out to the boat. At the very same moment Jin, one of the bridesmaids on board, turned to look, and BAM. Jin was smacked in the face with a buoy! Luckily she was not hurt, well maybe her pride, but not physically. We all laughed and enjoyed the ride back to the resort (as the bride drove the boat!)
Emily and Scott have now been happily married for almost 4 months. I was so honored to get to be Emily's Maid of Honor, and I won't trade the memories for anything in the world.
I can say I learned a lot about what my preferences will be when it is my turn to walk down the aisle from the 485 days of planning their wedding with Emily.... here are a few....
1. The fewer people, the fewer the headaches (although the more people, the more presents, so this is a toss-up)
2. DESTINATION wedding is the way to go.
3. Get married at the beginning of the weekend, like Friday at 5pm, and then just party the rest.
4. PIZZA for dinner. It satisfies everyone.
5. For invites, call the people you want there, ask them to come, get an answer on that call, then hang up and call the next person. RSVPs generally mean nothing.
Those might be silly, but then I'm pretty silly so, whatever.
xoxo Sara Marie
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