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Boy, did it ever! Ten days later, I am still reeling over what an amazing day it was.
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The good: Everything went perfectly--our table settings came together better than I could have imagined, and our center pieces, bouquets, and other flowers were beyond words. The food was tasty, though we suspect we may have ordered too much (hello, four different meat choices and six sides!), dessert was delicious, and our band rocked the house. I'm pretty sure we have the prettiest/most handsome idal party of all time. Everyone looked fantastic, and I still daydream about how beautiful the navy dresses/nantucket red pants/garden peach flowers came together. LOVE.
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The not-so-bad: The rain tried to dampen the beginning of the day, but by dinner's start, it had mostly cleared and made way for what I'm sure will be beautiful photography. The winds were too strong for our get-away boat, so we made do with a car, and we forgot to give our sparklers to our wedding planner, so at the end of the night we had an impromptu cell-phone lit sendoff, all of which suited us just fine. By that point, we were just happy little clams and MIA sparklers couldn't phase us. Also, we ran out of rum during cocktail hour. And we'd bought a lot of rum. Surprisingly, the news didn't seem to phase me--"we ran out of rum" translated to me as "people are getting this party started." Plus, we had great friends who snuck out to pick up more, and all was well in the world again.
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Like most ides, I experienced a serious whirl of emotion the next day. I cried our whole plane ride to St. Lucia because I was whisked away so quickly the night before I'd forgotten to thank my parents at the end of the night. Or had I? Apparently, I did! Who knew! (And I promise, my memory loss was not a result of the aforementioned rum situation. Purely a WHIRLWIND of a day.) In any case, news that I had in fact thanked my parents didn't stop me. Then I cried that I didn't spend enough time with everyone, and when I'd resolved that that, too, was okay, I started crying because I didn't get any photos with the ring bearers and the flower girls. (<--We ran behind getting ready and as a result, many of our formal photos got a bit rushed.) It's really one thing after another, but if there were two things I'd been told a million times in advance they were that 1. the day flies and 2. you get really sad right after. So at least I know I'm not crazy. (Right?)
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Now that I'm back and trying to resume somewhat normal life, I have calmed down a little bit and can appreciate the day for the perfect one that it was, not picking at could-haves, should-haves, and would-haves. Right now, I'm trying to focus on how happy the day made me, the exciting things still to come, and how great life is right now. These are the days to soak up, I'm pretty sure, and I'm doing my best to revel in them.
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Though I'm no longer the resident ide anymore (Remember the episode of Friends after the Bing wedding when Monica told the hotel concierge with disgust that she was "No longer the ide, just somebody's wife."? Just sayin'...) I still feel like there are thoughts and experiences to share and report on, and I'll do that over the next couple of weeks (when I can get my thoughts together). I can't wait to share more photos, and photos from the honeymoon in BEAUTIFUL St. Lucia. Which, by the way, ings me to...
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The Ugly: Having never left the country, I could only laugh at (alert: second Friends reference ahead) the episode in which Monica's hair reacts wildly to the humidity in Barbados. Now, I fully sympothize. My "island hair" as we called it was out of control. I won't be sharing photos, but I'll leave you to your imagination.
