Sorry, No Pics!

Well I think that it is about time that I blog something...thought I'd tell you about my sister's wedding. Unfortunately I didn't think that it would be in good taste to carry a camera with me up the aisle so I don't have any pictures of the wedding.

My sister got in a week before the wedding and I must say that I have never seen someone so organized...ever. Because my sister doesn't live in the city in which she was wed she had to have everything planned ahead of time, meetings arranged with the JP, the DJ, the florist, you get the picture. Everyday we had a list of things that needed to be done and by golly we got them done and so there was not a lot of stress (except for the wedding dress! I'll get to that in a minute) close to the wedding day. It was nice to be totally relaxed, especially Thursday when we went to Rejeuve Spa for manicures and pedicures!

I'll skip ahead of all the planning things cause it's really not that interesting. Things really started to be real - my little sister is getting married - on Friday because family and friends all started arriving. Friday morning Tara (one of the bridesmaids) took Kay's dress in to be steamed. I spent the morning getting things ready for myself and then after lunch we all headed over to the hotel to decorate.

I was really amazed by the groomsmen. They did most of the table decorating; putting all the centerpieces, bells, favors, menus, candles and glass marbles on the tables themselves. We took a look through (did I get it right this time V?) later and only had to make some minor adjustments! I was really impressed. We didn't have a whole lot of decorating to do so we were just about finished by the time we had to leave for the rehearsal dinner.

We went home briefly to changed before the rehearsal dinner and Kalyn remembered that her wedding dress was still at the cleaners and Tara still had the pickup ticket!! Kay called Tara and was lucky to catch her at home so she picked it up and brought it over. Whew!

Ok. I know that normally you do the rehearsal and then go to the rehearsal dinner but we had to switch it around for some reason that totally escapes me right now. The dinner was at a Greek restaurant called the Acropolis. The food was absolutely amazing. We didn't get to linger long though because we had to go back to the hotel to have the rehearsal. We practiced a few times and then we went to the hospitality rooms to visit. I however went home at 9pm cause I had been sick for a couple weeks and did not have much of a voice. I was giving the toast to the bride at the reception so I wanted a good nights sleep.

The day of was an amazingly relaxing day. We didn't have to be at the salon until 9:30am. I got my "wedding" hair and makeup done. My hair looked good for a wedding but it scared me literally. I was talking with my grandma, cousin and sister-in-law when my hand brushed my hair. I didn't recognize it as my hair though because it was so far out from my head! I actually screamed and jumped! Yah, I rock.

After we were all beautiful at the salon we went back to my parents house where us girls were getting ready. The photographer had met us at the salon so the picture taking had begun already. The photographers name is April and she was really good. You hardly noticed that she was taking pictures. Tara and I were able to get Kay into her dress on the second try! It laced up the back and could be difficult to get it tight enough. We had to make sure that it was because it was strapless.

We left for the hotel (the Holiday Inn by the way) and whisked ourselves into our 'waiting room'. Once we were in Reg and the guys could come down and get themselves to their pre-ceremony posts. Kay was anxious to get the ceremony started. We were only a few minutes late of 3:30pm because of a few straggling guests. I did ok walking down the aisle but once I got to the front and Kay and Dad started walking down the aisle I just about lost it. I reached for the bridesmaid beside me, Sherry, we grabbed hands and held on tight until I had to go do my maid of honor duties. It really saved me. When we were done the ceremony and had returned to our 'waiting room' Sherry and I laughed about it. Kay and I hadn't gone through the procedures for the ceremony itself so when it came to me doing my duties I had no idea what I was doing! I felt like a retard up there. During the ceremony the JP kept saying her name wrong! She was saying it like kal-in instead of kay-lyn. Everyone was just waiting to see what Kalyn was going to do. She did well though and when Kay had to say her name corrected it and the JP did catch on:)

The pictures were the part of the day that was like work. It was quite chilly out and we had sleeveless dresses with no covers. Oh well we made it through and now just waiting to get the pictures back.

Dudes sorry this is so long.

The dinner was fantastic. I had to give my speech first. A toast is to honor and celebrate the person for whom you are giving it, so that is what I did. There were a lot of people crying. I didn't because I was trying so hard to keep my voice up. Skipper, the MC was awesome and so were the other speeches. Everyone was tasteful and respectful which makes the reception so much better.

oh...I gotta tell you about the Haka. Joe was awesome. If you go to my blog about the Haka, click the link and watch the video it was just like that except it was only Joe and not 15 scary guys. I talked with him later on in the night about cricket and stuff. He was really cool.

By the end of the night I had a huge headache and no voice. I had to scream all night so people could hear what I was saying.

The next day we had a gathering at the hotel and then later at my parent's house. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the whole weekend.

There is so much more that I could write but this is ridiculously long already.