Okay here we go...
Wednesday before the wedding 3 out of 4 of Mark's sons made it to Chicago. The 4th to arrive on Friday night! His 4 sons and one army buddy would serve as his Best Men. His sons stayed with us the first night of their visit here, so I being super step mom decided it would be nice to make dinner for the family before all the official craziness kicked off. I made spaghetti and we all enjoyed a great meal together. I was a little ticked at FI because he was off work this day and had done NOTHING on his to do list for the wedding. Like putting 33 batteries into the 12 centerpieces. He was soon forgiven when he recruited his sons to complete this task. It warmed by heart to see them all working on our centerpieces. Of course I have a photo of that!
Thursday, my last day at work thank GOD! I had my manicure and pedicure done that afternoon at lunchtime. She did an excellent job exactly how I wanted it. The rest of Mark's family made it in safely. Brothers, Aunts, and cousins... Thursday evening rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Errbody showed up to rehearsal on time! We only had the venue for an hour. The DJ, Officiant and photographer all attended as well. I wasn't expecting the photographer to take pictures at the rehearsal but he did. Bonus. Soooooooo, I lost it at the rehearsal seeing all of Mark's family, my Godmother and good friends all hit it off. I cried through the entire rehearsal! They were taking bets about me crying at the wedding but what they didn't know is that I'm far more vain than I am sentimental! So I got ALL my tears out at the rehearsal! LOL.
Now time for the rehearsal dinner. We decided to do it casual at a pizza restaurant here in Chicago. I thought since Mark's family were all from out of town it would be nice to give them some famous Chicago Style Pizza. He's from New Jersey so they are used to that New York style "pizza"... We all had a good time. Now Mark's sons are 25, 22 16 and 10 so I thought there's no way we'll have any bridesmaid/bestmen hanky panky going on.... Uh no, his sons were looking for cougars and found them in my friends! I found the 22 year old sitting at the bar with my oldest bridesmaid (55) tryna get his mack on! I put a stop to that real quick. LOL. In case ya'll wondering damn, how old is Monica? I'm 43 and Mark is 46...
So it's Friday, i'm off work and my intention is to do NOTHING but relax the day before the wedding. Well, what I had not anticipated was that all of Mark's family and friends would want to hang out at the house. The hotel was nice, I thought they want to chill there. But no, our place was the spot. Mark had to run and get wine and some snacks because we were leaving right after the wedding for our honeymoon so of course we had no food in the house. I also served them leftover spaghetti! Even though my plan to relax and do nothing was wrecked I really did enjoy his family and friends being over. His family especially has really embraced me, I love them to much! Oh and I also never put a stitch of makeup on or combed my hair that day so I was looking real special. I apologized for my appearance and told them I was saving all my beauty for the wedding. They totally understood! LOL. Everyone pretty much left by 8:00 p.m. so I promptly passed out on the couch! Mark picked up the last son from the airport and he hung out with his brothers and army buddies at the hotel bar that night, so I finally had my peace!
Until 2:30 a.m. when Mark decided he wanted to come home and sleep in his bed... LOL
Saturday morning we wake up around 8ish, I hadn't planned to see him until the wedding but oh well. We prayed together and I made us breakfast. My phone starting blowing up with lots of happy wedding day greetings and such. Only one person decided they wanted to inflict some drama in my day but I made a call to my MOH and she nipped that in the bud real quick!
I dropped Mark at the hotel around noon. Finally i'm at home by myself and it's time to start getting myself ready. I did my own hair and makeup. I was a little concerned about my hair because it's natural and the more I have to manipulate it the fuzzier it might get, so I basically needed to get it right on the first try. AND I DID! I was so happy with my hair! Okay, so makeup wouldn't be a big deal for me. That's my thing, I do makeup for other people all the time and wedding makeup. What I didn't anticipate was that my own hands would be a little jittery from my nerves. That was challenging, doing my usual perfect makeup with shaky hands. I had to slow down so it took me longer than usual, but I was very happy with it. Eyelashes and all! After I finished my makeup I did a few shots of tequila and that was perfect for my nerves.
My MOH picked me up at 3:30 we went to the hotel so of course I had to make sure not to run into Mark! I didn't have my dress on but from the neck up I was wedding ready. Oh and it was unseasonably cold in Chicago on this day. It was 20 degrees! I get to the venue at 4:30, my coordinators are there working hard to set everything up. I peak at the reception and ceremony site and i'm very happy that they are doing exactly what I had envisioned.
I'm in my bridal suite with my ladies and they all look lovely. At this point i'm just plain ole HAPPY! No tears within a mile of me. My coordinators inform me that the officiant, Mark and his best men, and family have arrived and guests are arriving as well.
We started at 6:00 p.m. on the dot. The joke everyone kept making is that they KNOW me and therefore knew this wedding was starting on time! Hello!
It's time for me to walk in, everyone is standing and snapping photos, I'm oblivious to all of this because I find Mark and our eyes lock and I'm aware of nothing but walking towards him and watching him fight back tears.
Or ceremony was 30 minutes. His oldest son wrote a poem and the second oldest read a scripture. His sons did something we weren't expecting. A few days before the wedding they texted us both and asked what each of our top 3 R&B love songs were. We told them but I didn't think much of it after that. Well, the poem his son wrote was more of a spoken word type vibe to it and he had incorporated the songs we gave him into it with his second son at certain points singing a few verses of the songs. I was absolutely blown away! It was sooooo cool and I loved the vibe it added! Hopefully I can share some video of that!
We said our vows and the officiant blessed our rings with oil. SOAKED them in oil! I was thinking please don't let me drip oil on my dress! LOL! When I say those rings were soaked in oil I mean soaked! She could barely pick Mark's ring up and when she did, she dropped it! I was thinking Lord please don't let any of his stones have fallen out after clanking across the floor! They didn't!
We jumped the broom head out and it's PARTY TIME! We head to the area to take photos and the wedding party is congratulating us and hugging us. When his 10 year son hugged me he started crying. I was soooooo touched and moved by this but I still didn't cry! LOL!
The food was great, from what I heard because of course we didn't get to each much, the only cake we tasted was the cake we fed to each other during the photo op. All in all it was wonderful and exactly what I had envisioned. I can't complain at all because there were no major mishaps. In the end I married the absolute LOVE OF MY LIFE!
Oh and my sister who is notoriously late for EVERYTHING showed up at 10:15 p.m. I was expecting that so I couldn't even be upset. Although I hate that I counted her for a dinner! I should have gone with history and not included her in my count. But oh well...
Thanks for reading this novel and thank you again for being there for me. And of course you know i'm not going anywhere! I love my AA knotties!
With Love
Mrs. Monica Meek :-)