Kerry and Michael's Wedding
Friday:
It was pouring in Wausau when I was leaving and I had to pick up cake from 2510. I wasn't that nervous about transporting it, but for some reason my mom was. Perhaps she has little faith in my driving or habit of responsibility? That’s to unpack for another post though. Kerry had said that the cake guy she was in contact with said it would be best to have it on the floor in my front seat so that’s the spot I had clear for it and piled all the rest of my junk in the back of the car. Well then the cake guy came out with this big box that the cake was in and I had to rearrange my stuff to get the cake in the trunk area. Let me tell you I could feel the doubt in these cake guys as I frantically repacked my car to clear up the trunk. Ah well. The heavy rain stopped by the time I got to the discovery center, so that was good. Kerry's aunt, Kelly helped me unload the cake and get it into the kitchen. My first impression of the center was just how beautiful it was, lots of trees and greenery but nothing looked too manicured everything seemed very natural. The lodge was a good sized building with a commercial kitchen, and seating area. The building also had two shower houses/bathrooms and two "apartments" which were a hotel type room with two twin beds and a half bathroom in each. I was staying in one of the apartments for Saturday night, which I very much appreciated that I didn't have to deal with the hassle of travelling to the place, and all the hotels had a 2 night minimum for booking which I didn't need because I was staying with Kerry at the director's cabin on Friday night.
When I got there I started helping in tent hanging lights then moved inside the lodge to make the bouquets and corsages. It took about 4 hours, to complete and it was only really successful because Kerry's mom's friend, Sheila was there for their high school reunion and she had been a florist for nine years. So Sheila took over and I was her number one helper! Kerry had gotten white roses and baby's breath from Sam's club so it was simple enough and they all turned out really nicely. I'm glad I hadn't gotten my nails done beforehand though because doing that would have ruined the manicure.
For the rehearsal we went through the motions of the ceremony and figured out how we were all walking down to the little amphitheater looking out over the water. It was such a beautiful spot to have the ceremony, she didn't even really need decorations around because the natural beauty of the lake. The boys started misbehaving a bit, not paying attention and just being typical northwoods boys. Then we had a really yummy taco bar, which I was really excited for because it was at this time I realized I hadn't really eaten since breakfast. Got to hang out with the bridal party for a bit which was, ok. It's always hard ingratiating yourself into a group like this where no one really knows each other that well, but are still more acquainted than they are with you. After dinner a lot of us hung out by the fire, but then people started getting too obnoxious so Kerry and I headed to the cabin for the night. The cabin was about a quarter mile down a trail from the lodge and maybe a mile if you took your car to it through the gravel path. Holy super nice cabin! It had so much space and all modern appliances, a nice bathroom, and a super pretty view of the water. Kerry was stressing a bit so we both just kind of vented and chillaxed. I didn't really get any sleep that night, probably only 3 hours. I think the bed was too soft and I couldn't get comfy so I was up at 2am, trying not to make noise but restless.
Saturday:
The hair lady was a shit show (her extremely hungover boyfriend spent the time she was there sleeping out in the truck) and an hour late (reason was getting extremely hungover boyfriend out the door), but did a good job on Kerry's hair. My hair was ok but not exactly what I asked for. I had an offset part and then rope twisted my hair around to the back of my head. I wanted two or three low buns in back, but she ended up doing just some twisty things and bunched it up back there. It was fine though. Looked ok and didn't get too frizzy because she knew not to use texture powder on me and I had showered and styled my curls that morning. Lots of waiting around that morning, not sure what to do with myself because I didn't want to get dressed too early but didn't have much else to do. Had to help pretty much everyone with their straps because the thread loop the dress was made with to attach the straps wasn't holding, and every time I silently thanked mom for putting in two metal hook and eyes in each end of the straps. We had some getting ready/just ladies pics before, which were fun. I was able to make Kerry smile by being goofy, and that made me happy. Headed to the ceremony then. It was so beautiful, and very much Kerry and Michael. They picked acoustic versions of some metal songs and also some more traditional love songs for the ceremony. They also released homing doves at the end of the ceremony and I was nervous it would fail or something but it really went off without a hitch! I cried, everybody did. Boys behaved mostly.
The pictures after were kind of a shit show wrangling everyone, got through it though. Started dancing with the bouquets behind the photographer as a way to get genuine smiles from people in the photo and it was big hit. The weather was really cooperating by being not too hot and having some cloud cover and a good breeze. Heavy drinking commences by most of the bridal party at this time. One bmaid, Jess should have stopped at this point, but did not. Dinner was exceptional! The food all tasted wonderful. There was brisket, roasted chicken, rolls of all varieties, coleslaw, broccoli bacon salad, baked beans, cucumber salad, mashed potatoes, potato salad. The cake from 2510 was a phenomenal chocolate with vanilla frosting, and was just the right level of fudgy goodness. The speeches were good, Kerry's dad made everyone cry because he was so sweet and just loves Michael and Kerry so so much and he is so proud of them. He's is a pretty reserved guy when it comes to his feelings so it was touching that he was able to open up like that in front of everyone. Kerry's mom set up and ran a categories/battle of the sexes type game with the bridal party. So how it worked was Karen would have a groomsmen and a bridesmaid go back and forth naming things in the category she specified for the round. The first one was to list states. Jess the bmaid who should have stopped drinking four hours earlier named one state and then repeated the state the groomsman had said right before her. Haha, she's sweet but defo a hot mess. I won my round no problemo, our category was name types of cake. The groomsman I was paired with is a baker, so I have reached god level at categories basically. I think it threw him that my first one out the gate was victoria sponge, plus the probably 12 pack of beers he had already put away may have put him at a disadvantage. Who's to say.
After this was just a period of me kind of doing laps around the place not really fitting in anywhere, but also being really helpful if anyone was needing me to run get something. I asked Karen if she needed anything, and she said she would love a water so I got her a bottle of water. As I was walking away I heard her say to the person she was talking with that I was her favorite and that warmed my heart. Like I know I didn't have a new baby or partner to look after so I was the most free to help, so yes that's what I should have been doing, but still felt nice to hear. There also was a photobooth which was fun to get silly with. When we tried to get a bmaid picture it was a challenge to locate Jess, so I made a chalkboard sign with "Where's Jess" on it to pose with in the picture. Once I made it like magic she showed up. Haha we still did a photo series though where it was just us with the sign in the first and then Jess popped in for the second and third photos.
Then it got dark and dancing happened. It was fun and exhausting, and the dance floor got yucky with spilled beer. Michael almost bit it on the dance floor so I decided it was time to activate safety Sarah mode and asked Karen if she knew where I could find a mop or something to clean the floor. I retrieved the mop and with my patent pending "dance cleaning" I took care of the mess, gave people a laugh, and made dancing safer for everyone. I was able to last until the very end of the night and dance the last dance with everyone. It was Burning Down the House by Talking Heads, which was important because according to Keith it was the song the doctors were playing in the delivery room when Kerry was born. A pretty great song to be born to in my opinion.
Sunday:
Sunday morning was quiet, as it was just me at the apartment and the newlyweds about a quarter mile down the trail at the director's cabin. I got up, turned the coffee on in the lodge and took a nice shower in the shower house. I felt tired, but happy. Packed up my stuff and loaded up my car so I could focus on helping get breakfast, and gift opening ready. People started trickling in and looking pretty rough, Kerry and Michael included. Breakfast was delicious with lots of fruit and bagels with melted cheese, eggs, and bacon on them. Then they opened gifts, I got them a set of moscow mule style shot glasses and then all the fixin's to make moscow mules. I think they liked it! Then it was just an hour or so of clean up and loud up of all their stuff, and I was on my way home!
I had a really great time, I'm glad I didn't let myself get into my own head about stuff too much. That’s easy to do when you're flying solo like I am, and pretty much explains most of my 20's. I almost want to send Kerry and Michael's parents thank you notes or something because I feel so happy to have been able to be a part of the day. I don't know maybe that would be over doing it. I still might though.