November 13, 2011
Finally it was the day of the wedding. I woke up fairly early. (I had been staying in Paula (my sister) and Lisa’s (my friend) suite on the pull out couch.) People always say make sure you eat on the day of your wedding. I didn’t think it would be an issue, but it turned out I didn’t have much of an appetite and had to make myself eat breakfast downstairs at the buffet. Oddly enough, I ran into very few of our wedding guests that morning.
I set up shop in the bridal suite and by 9:30, my make-up artist showed up. The rest of the morning was a lot of hustle and bustle as everyone got ready- people going in and out of the room getting hair and make-up done and changing into dresses. Mom and Dad showed up with a cheese platter for us as well as a tray of those big soft sugar cookies.
At 1:30, we headed to the synagogue. I felt a little underdressed since my bridesmaids had their dresses on already, and I was still in jeans because my dress was waiting in the other bridal suite at the synagogue. My hair and make-up looked amazing though! My co-worker Gladys put a mound of beautiful side swept curls in my hair that resembled the wig Belle wears on Broadway in the ballroom scene of Beauty and the Beast.
We arrived at the building and had to make sure that Derek was where he would not see me before I entered to out the dress on. When he was safely in another area, I dashed in to the room where my dress had been hung over the mirror for the photographer who had been snapping photos of various details. As I began to change, I discovered that to my horror, the shirt I was wearing had left big blue stains under my arms! I ran to the bathroom in my undergarments and desperately scrubbed at the marks with tissue until they came off. Whew! Thank goodness the wedding planner had packed extra deodorant to replace what I rubbed off!
Eventually, we got the dress on and did all the getting ready shots- zipping, putting on earrings, buckling shoes- etc. I had the photographer take pics of me on the floor adjusting my shoes to mimic a beloved childhood photo of me playing dress up at age 6.
Once I was ready, they lead me around the corner to a little courtyard where Derek waited with his back to me. I was instructed to walk to him and tap his shoulder. I did so, dragging my train over the grass, and he turned around. We smiled and giggled at each other. This was it! We were really going to do it! Derek jokingly wondered if the photographer had captured both the first look and the first laugh.
It was nice that we were able to do most of the group pictures before the ceremony. We did some fun ones too such as all the girls showing off our different shoes. We did a Vogue pose too- can’t wait to see how those turned out.
(This is one from Mom's camera...I don't think all my bridesmaids got the concept!)
After pictures, we did the signing of the Ketubah and the marriage license with the bridal party and close family watching. We did this thing in which the rabbi held a pen and we each took a turn pulling it towards us indicating that we owned the Ketubah.
Soon, it was nearly time to make our grand entrances. It felt very much like waiting for a cue to go on stage- appropriate since the whole thing was Broadway themed! The bridal party entered to one of my favorite pieces of music- “The Carousel Waltz.” My own music was, of course, “Sunrise, Sunset.” I couldn’t see a whole lot of what was going on from the back, but the absolute scene stealing moment was when Dianna entered with Erik- her son and my ring bearer- fast asleep in her arms! The whole audience was in stitches!
I entered with Mom and Dad. Dad stopped us a little far back and the whole parents give me a kiss and a hug and send me off with Derek bit got a little muddled. Then Dad accidentally stepped on the back of my veil, which tugged my head back and caused a collective gasp from the audience, but I recovered quickly and kept going.
The ceremony involved a lot of standing there and staring at each other while the cantor and rabbi spoke and sang. I snuck a few peaks at the audience. Derek and I kept giggling and making subtle faces at each other. I did manage to sip the wine without cringing. Dad really wanted me to do the Jewish circling tradition, but we decided it was just too much trouble with my train and the limited space.
During the ring ceremony, I held out my right hand because I thought I remembered reading that Jewish weddings did it that way, but I was corrected. Then with the last stomp on the glass and a “Mazel Tov!” we were married! (The rabbi made references to both J-Date and “It’s a Small World earlier on.)
We went to the synagogue’s bridal suite for some private time. Our caterer provided us with a serving platter of things from the cocktail hour. For some reason, nothing tasted as good as I remembered, but I still didn’t have an appetite. I spread napkins all over my dress to avoid stains. By some miracle, I did make it through the entire night in a white dress without getting anything on it!
We weren’t sure how long we were supposed to stay in that room until the wedding planner told us we could come out whenever we were ready. It was nice to be able to relax before we were bombarded with well wishers. They snuck me into the little courtyard for some more family shots. I ducked behind some people as we went outside. The photographer also took some seductive shots of just me with my billowing veil. I think she had wanted to do more creative shots of Derek and I but ran out of time.
Finally, I made it out to greet my fans. Everyone went nuts when they saw me! I could hardly have a conversation with one person without someone else coming up to congratulate me. A group of my co-workers were there and we did a picture of all of us.
I had already changed my look a bit for my reappearance, replacing Derek’s mother’s veil with a darling birdcage veil I’d bought at a craft store. My new look was a big hit. I also received a ton of compliments on the Playbill style programs my friends and I had created.
By this time, everyone had begun moving into the social hall for the reception. I had to stay outside and wait for our introduction. In hindsight, I’m rather bummed I missed out on some of the dancing! We had a great band called The Buzzcats.
After the band introduced our bridal party, there was a big drumroll and then, “Please welcome for the very first time, Mr and Mrs. Derek and Angela ------------!” The room filled with cheers as everyone went wild. I didn’t see a lot of faces at that moment- the bright lights being very reminiscent of stage lights.
As we’d practiced in our dance lesson, Derek led me around the dance floor. We locked arms and began our dance- slow-quick-quick-slow repeating in my head. For once I actually felt graceful now that I had a swishing gown to wear. Every time I did a little twirl, the audience cheered. I laughed and smiled and sang along with “As Long As You’re Mine” from Wicked.
Once that was done, we immediately went into the horah. So many people spun around with me that I got rather dizzy, but it was still fun! Two chairs were brought over for the chair dance. I had wanted to do that since I was a kid. Up we went! I do wish the chairs had arms. Derek and I held the ends of a cloth napkin together so I only had one arm available to grasp the chair. I wrapped my legs around it too. Unfortunately, my lifters didn’t think to tilt the chair back, and I could feel myself sliding out. I kept shouting “Guys, I’m falling! I’m falling! Guys?!” but no one could hear me over the music! Finally I just let myself slid gently to the floor to avoid a spectacular crash. I think I scared everyone for a moment but we got resituated, and this time they remembered to tilt the chair back. I noticed they were having trouble getting Derek up in the air too.
The shape of the room made it difficult for everyone to join in. We noticed that a good chunk of our friends just stood on the sidelines taking pictures. Actually, during much of the night our friends didn’t appear to have left their tables!
Dad and I did our father/daughter dance to “My Girl.” It was so funny because the whole time Dad was pulling me around the dance floor telling me to follow his lead, and I would laugh and insist I was trying. Derek and his mom did a slow dance to a song she picked out.
Both dads were called up to do the blessing over the challah. My dad was caught off guard. I had forgotten to warn him that he’d be expected to say something! We had toasts given by the best man- Derek’s friend Chris from high school who read his speech off his cellphone- and Paula, my maid of honor. Paula had been really nervous about having to give a speech, but she had some help putting it together and did just fine. It was short and sweet and ended with a “happily ever after” ala Bernadette Peters in Into the Woods.
Somewhere in all that hulabaloo, I nibbled on my salad and my chicken dish. I still didn’t feel much like eating. My corset was a bit too tight plus I had been doing a lot of bouncing around on the dance floor.
We’d hired a Broadway style piano player and singer to do a set during dinner, which I really enjoyed. It made my eating go even slower because I kept stopping in order to sing a long! Then I had trouble singing along to some of the songs because he was using alternate lyrics!
For a while, I had tossed around the idea of singing at the wedding myself, but I wasn’t sure if I’d feel up to it. However, by the time the party was going, I realized since I was already the center of attention that I wasn’t nervous at all. In fact, I was absolutely itching to get up and sing.
I had chosen “I Feel Pretty” so my friends could join but I had trouble finding anyone who knew the friends part! I kept flitting back to the tables with different suggestions. I eventually settled on just having them do “What mirror, where?” and “Which one? Where? Who?” It worked out great with the accompanist just doing one run of the song. A whole group of friends/family sang the back up part for me.
I’m so glad I did it! I know I would have regretted it if I’d skipped out. I immediately got a shout out for an encore, which I wasn’t expecting! I fumbled for another song to sing and settled on Dad’s suggestion of “If I Loved You” and Lisa’s suggestion of “Impossible.” Both times I managed to skip the first line of the song and start on the second! Oops! But as I have been trained, I kept going as if it was supposed to be that way.
I would have sung all night but I figured the band would probably like to have their jobs back! As I handed the mic back, the leader said they had another surprise that I didn’t know. Actually, I did know that dad was going to sing- just not which song. When I first heard that he was going to do that, I feared that I’d be a blubbering mess. Instead, I found myself grinning away and thinking, “Daddy is singing for me! Isn’t he the best?” He sang a song about letting go, even changing a few lines to fit me- horse camp instead of horse show and catching sandcrabs on the beach instead of dancing on the beach. When he finished, I gave him a big hug and he lifted me off the floor.
We did another traditional Jewish dance called the “Menzinka.” It is to congratulate the parents on marrying off their last child. Everyone danced around Derek’s parents who sat on chairs in the middle and wore flower wreaths on their heads. Derek and I along with his sister Alexis and her husband Andrew held hands and swayed behind them. His dad’s yamaka kept falling off, and one of us would pick it up and put it back on. Then the four of us got silly doing different moves behind them.
A handful of my friends had to leave at this point because they had to work the next day. I couldn’t believe it was already time to start heading out! It was the beginning of the end of the evening.
The only thing left on the itinerary was the cake cutting. Our cake was so pretty! It was based on a sketch I drew with the enchanted rose in a glass bell jar, each layer draped in a fondant cloth and lined with golden tassels and hidden Mickeys.
We worked together to cut the piece, and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. We behaved and didn’t smash each other’s faces. It was so good I kept reaching for more crumbs from where the piece had been cut! Derek and I each had our own little mini cake at our table that said bride and groom, respectively. Those were chocolate ameretto! MMM! Only it was very rich, and neither of us finished them. I seriously regret not asking to have the rest of mine boxed up for later! They also brought us our own slices on the white cake, but I only had room for one bite.
The rest of the evening was more dancing. It was really great seeing even my mom get into it. I don’t see her loosen up like that too often, but I have to remember that my parents actually met while out dancing. The handful of little kids at the wedding called me Princess Angela throughout the night. Dianna even got Erik to give me a kiss on the cheek.
Derek and I were able to greet most of the tables- some together, some separately. More and more people trickled out the door. The band played the last dance and I could talk without shouting again. The calm was refreshing after a night of partying, but as we began to pack up and move out, I was not eager to see the night end. I had wanted to keep the Broadway posters adorning each table, but several of them escaped and I’m not sure where they went.
And just like that, the event we had spent 8 months planning was over. This will probably be the worst case of “post party” depression I have ever faced. Everything was so amazing, and I’m so glad we decided at the last minute to hire a videographer so that I can relive it over and over!
Before heading back to the hotel, we gave each set of parents a framed silhouette portrait of us that we’d had done at Epcot the week before. We drove back to the hotel still in our wedding clothes with all our gifts stuffed in the trunk. I had hoped more people would be in the lobby so I could milk those last precious moments in my beautiful gown, but at that point everything was pretty quiet.
Other people have told me that your own wedding day becomes a big blur. I don’t think it was. To me, it was a series of very clear moments that I have now written down to make sure they stay that way. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that night. I miss it already.