Hey Ladies!
I's married now!
Well, we survived the strenuous five day Indian/African American wedding we planned.
The first day was an intimate gathering of my sister, best friends, mother & aunt to get our henna done at my house. That went off without a hitch and it turned out great! It was stress free and pretty fun.
The next day was the mehndi party with both men & women close to the bride and the groom. All in all about 70 guests total and the event went over smoothly. We had pink, yellow, and white Indian decor and the evening was fine. We had one hitch, the henna artist ran out of time to finish all the female guests. A few of FI's cousins had attitude with my mother because of the henna artist's rush to get done, but we added another hour in order for her to finish their elaborate requests. We tried not to get too mad & tried to be gracious hosts. Everyone was getting two sides done and they wanted four. It is because of them that our whole evening was thrown off, but in the end, it all worked out, and everyone was happy.
The day after that was an Indian pre-ceremony blessing which thankfully FI & I did not have to plan, we just showed up. And later that night, the rehearsal & rehearsal dinner. Which turned out to be something like a wedding anxiety dream! We chose to do a beach bonfire on a local beach but that was a problem! It happened to coincide with a marijuana legalization rally and it took us two hours to park. Everyone was late, I didn't have cash & had to call someone to come bring me some so I could park. THEN, all of our timelines were blown away by the wind so we had to do the entire rehearsal off the cuff. The night went well with dinner, smores, and fun, but at the end FI decided to pull my brother-in-law's truck onto the sand to make it easier for us to pack up. BAD IDEA!!! The truck got stuck in the sand and every attempt we made just dug a deeper hole. The police came, tow trucks, you name it. One cop told me "You're lucky you're getting married tomorrow because it gives me an excuse not to arrest your husband". We eventually got the truck out, got home, and did not get a ticket! Thank God!
The next day was the wedding. EVERYONE was late getting to the wedding so our pictures were rushed, but we got them all in before the ceremony was supposed to start. Right when it should have been time to start up the music & start ushering guests to their seats, the coordinator came to tell me that the priest was stuck in standstill traffic on PCH behind a deadly accident and was still 20 miles away!!! I, of course, freaked out and after exploring all options, DH and I chose to move up the cocktail hour & serve drinks & hors d'ouvres and crank up the band then while we waited for the priest. This was a relief to the guests that were waiting around, and also a relief to those that were caught in traffic hoping they didn't miss anything. One guests told me his drive was 4 hours long!!! DH was such a GREAT support during those rough hours of waiting. We even snuck in a dance at the cocktail hour. My MOH went down to the bar and brought us both drinks and a waiter with a tray of hors d'ouvres! It actually turned into a very romantic & intimate moment for us.
But as soon as he got there we started the wedding & got through both ceremonies in record time. After that it was all fun and games. It was honestly the best time I've ever had. We initially wanted to elope, but after being able to share all the fun with our friends & family, we could not have done this any other way.
The next few days were small intimate gatherings, bbqs and a few other ceremonies. Then the in-laws surprised us with a surprise honeymoon to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica!!! We had a blast. Now that we're home, its all thank you cards, gift storage, and photo organization... my goodness does it every end? LOL
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