Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Mythmatched: Wedding Day Prep and a Surprise!

The morning of the wedding, I woke up at the ass crack of dawn. Seriously. It was still dark out. All my bridesmaids were fast asleep, so I quietly snuck out of the hotel room and slunk off to my car. Honestly, hive, it was so early in the morning, I didn't know where to go. I sat in my car and watched the sun rise, feeling sleepy and nervous and excited. I’m sure to an outsider, I looked like a total creeper, sitting in my car in a near-empty hotel parking lot.

Finally, I decided to drive over to my mother’s house to kill some time. To my surprise, everyone was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, enjoying a delicious breakfast that my mom, aunt, and grandma had cooked up. It was so nice to spend time with my family before things got crazy. My aunt, uncle, grandparents, and cousins had flown in from Venezuela to be here for me. It meant the world to me to have them there, and I tried to just let it all sink in.

I had one sweet surprise that morning when Mr. Unicorn showed up unannounced to give me a little present! Months prior, I had mentioned to him the “signature scent for the wedding” trend, and this studly man took it to heart. He worked up the courage to set foot in Sephora and sniff bottle after bottle of girly perfumes…to get me this. I was so excited. I mean, who doesn't love presents? Mr. U stayed long enough to get photographic evidence of how much I loved his gift. Then he was whisked away by his groomsmen.
What is it??? -Personal photo

Guess I'll find out. -Personal photo
ERMAGERD PERFERM!!! -Personal photo

I will smell purty! -Personal photo

Before long, it was time to head to my nail and hair appointments. I don’t have any pictures of the getting ready because I went alone. My bridesmaids were busy helping my mom load up the cars with case after case of champagne bottles and wine. In any case, I didn't mind having a few moments to myself while I was getting pampered.


Up next: The Ceremony


Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Mythmatched: The Unicorns Rehearse...Or Do They?


And now you get to hear all about the Unicorns’ rehearsal…or lack thereof.

You see, after all my careful planning, Mr. Unicorn managed to derail my idea of how the rehearsal dinner ought to go. 

Allow me to explain.

I’m sure ya’ll remember my diagrams detailing the EXACT order in which the bridesmaids and groomsmen were to walk up and down the aisle for the wedding. My original plan was to have them practice a couple run-throughs before the rehearsal dinner. Sounds perfectly reasonable, right?

Apparently, Mr. Unicorn disagreed. For whatever reason, he got it into his head that he wanted to make a huge production of it. He wanted us to wait until all the guests arrived before calling our bridesmaids and groomsmen down one by one, in no particular order, to receive their thank-you gifts. 

Rather miffed that my very specific plans for the rehearsal were falling to pieces, I reluctantly agreed. Though, if looks could kill, there is a very good chance Mr. Unicorn would not have made it to the wedding day.

Once the guests arrived, Mr. Uni gave a little speech thanking everyone for coming. He thanked our parents, and we presented them with thank-you gifts. Then he explained that food would be served after he introduced each bridesmaid and groomsman. Let me do the math for you: that’s thirteen introductions.

Needless to say, by the end of it, everyone was eyeballing the barbecue with hungry looks. As soon as Mr. Unicorn finished his presentation, the horde descended upon the buffet line like locusts, and any attempt to divert their attention was in vain.

Some of the groomsmen trying on their new hats! -Personal photo

“Hey guys, if you don’t mind doing a really quick run-through for tomorrow, that would be great!” My pleas fell upon deaf ears. “Please pretty please?” I felt totally ignored, diagrams in hand, begging for a run-through of the processional and recessional.

“We’ll just do it after dinner. Everyone’s hungry,” Mr. Unicorn said, calm as you please. For the second time that evening, I glared daggers at my soon-to-be husband.

By the time everyone was finished with dinner, the sun had set. It was too dark to rehearse, and I was too full and happy to care. Mr. Unicorn and the groomsmen got a fire going in the big stone fire pit, and we watched the moonrise. 

The picture doesn't quite do it justice. Personal photo

For the first time in nine months of wedding planning, I stopped stressing about all the little details. I simply snuggled up to Mr. Unicorn under a beautiful full moon, feeling ridiculously happy at the prospect of spending the rest of my life with this man. 
The Unicorns. Personal Photo.
Next up: Wedding Day!!!



Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Mythmatched: Post-Bachelorette


Well, Hive. I’m sorry to keep disappearing on you. Married life has surprised me with ups and downs that have kept me on my toes and away from Weddingbee for longer than I would have liked. And, I’ll confess, Mr. Unicorn and I haven’t even finished writing our wedding thank you notes. Bad unicorns!

Clip from Disney's The Emperor's New Groove via YouTube.com

In all seriousness, though, thank-you notes have been a huge pain. A word of advice to any and all brides-to-be: knock those suckers out the week after the wedding. If you procrastinate, like we did, you'll find yourself writing very generic notes for gifts you don't really remember. 

Dear So and So,

Thank you so much for coming to our wedding. We hope you had as much fun as we did! Thank you so much for the generous gift! We have already put it to excellent use in our new home.

Much love,
The Unicorns

It's not that we aren't grateful; it's just that we can't remember exactly which one of our guests gave us a garlic press...

But I’m back to finish up my recaps, if you haven’t forgotten me.

We left off with the most epic bachelorette party of all time…

The morning after, my lovely bridesmaids took me out to a nice brunch. We reminisced on our college dorm days, and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world to have such amazing friends. It’s funny, really. We don’t live near each other, and we don’t call each other very often to keep in touch, but every time we see each other, we pick right back up from where we left off.

After brunch, we raced home to pack up wedding things and take them to the venue. After months of meticulous wedding planning, I finally realized how much STUFF I had accumulated. From moss squares to apothecary jars to customized yarmulkes (for any non-Jews, that’s the skullcap that Jewish men wear), we packed everything into several different cars and headed to our wedding venue, Heritage of Sandy Springs.

For any Georgia bees, definitely consider Heritage of Sandy Springs. Apparently, it’s usually a concert venue, but the lovely old farmhouse made the perfect backdrop to our medium-sized wedding.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a frantic blur as my friends and family helped me set up as much as possible. Hive, there was just so much to do!

Mason jars galore! -Personal photo
Is my OCD showing?-Personal photo.
Coming up: The Unicorns Rehearse...or DO THEY????