The Big Day Has Come and Gone

WHEW! What a whirlwind of a weekend we had!

Saturday we had the rehersal, followed by a lovely visit with the Fairbank family from Topeka at our house for a couple hours, and then dinner at The Rio with the entire wedding party and their significant others. That just happens to be Honey's favorite restaurant in Denver and, since it's usually too spicy for my sensative palate, we don't go there nearly as often as we used to, so he was in green chili heaven, to say the least!

Saturday night I tried on my bridesmaid dress one last time just to see how everything looked all put together, only to find that the arms were too small. Actually, they were too tight around my arms, causing me great discomfort and irritation. After a mini panic attack and a few tears (just to test the dress's fabric to see if it stained easily - which it did not), daddy's gf Carol swooped in Sunday morning to fix the problem! A handful of pins, a half-dozen try-ons and two donuts later (to appease my dad while we worked!) and she made more room for my arm in the dress! Carol saved the day! HORRAY! Thank you, Carol!

Sunday was the BIG day! I joined Lindsay and the other girls at her house for "hair and makeup." Fortunately, I don't have enough hair to do much with so I got to skip that part. I did need some help with my makeup though, since my pale blonde eyebrows are growing back but are almost invisible from three feet away. I needed help with that. Oh, and I only have about four eye lashes on each eye and no matter how much mascara I'd tried to apply just days before in trial runs, I could not pull off the illusion that there were more. So the darling beauty artists at Lindsay's did a great job on my face. And all the other girls looked beautiful, too! But truly, the most beautiful among us all there in Lindsay's living room was the bride herself, in her comfy robe, hundreds of pin curls and flawless makeup. In fact a few hours later, while we girls were outside getting our photos taken in various poses and groupings, there were two snapshots taken of me and Lindsay. The first one is of the two of us with an arm around each other, looking at the camera with our heads tilted towards each other with pretty smiles on our faces. The second one, we were told to face each other and I was instructed to just look Lindsay in the eyes. When I turned my head and did just that I literally flinched, I was so stunned by her beauty! I mean, I always knew Lindsay was a pretty lady but on that day, in that lighting outside, in her blissfully glowing state, looking straight into her eyes almost blew me away! Her hazely-blue eyes were bright and had a sparkle to them I'd never seen before. I think that sparkle was her extreme happiness of the day. Her and John's whole family and friends had gathered together just for them. The months and months of stress and planning and creating with her mother all the details of the decorations etc. had finally come together for this day, the final performance. And, above all, within that sparkle I saw an unending love she has for John and the realization of a dream come true: she finally gets to spend the rest of her life married to her one true love.

So now you know why that simple look into her eyes just blew my heels off! I sure hope that photograph turns out to be a keeper when they go to see the proofs. It's just a very personal image to me that says so much.

The ceremony was unlike any I had seen before. The weather was P-E-R-F-E-C-T (which is truly a miracle in this transitional season in Colorado!) and the trees around displayed a thousand different shades of yellow, red, green and orange. Nobody tripped on the way up or down the aisle. The flower girl and ring bearer clearly took their jobs very seriously and they pulled their jobs off perfectly. I had the opportunity to be placed at the very end of the line of the bride's four attendance, so I got to discreetly look around at all the guests in their seats. I also got a perfect shot of John as he recited his vows to Lindsay and remember all that magical stuff I said earlier that I saw in Lindsay's eyes while we were taking pictures? I saw all that in John's eyes too so I knew right then that they are a match made in heaven. Colleen, one of the bridesmaids played a beautiful Ben Harper song on her guitar that seemed to have brought subtle tears to everyone's eyes. I'd been hit with random bouts of dizziness in the past week so fortunately, where I was standing, I was about two feet away from where Honey was sitting and he had an open chair just for me, should I need to sit and catch my breath. I only had to use that chair once, discreetly, as we were all reciting the Lord's prayer and then the dizzy spell passed.

And what can I say about the reception? Words fail me. There are no words to describe how magical it felt in that room. Lindsay and mama had spent the past 10 months desiging, purchasing, cutting, writing, gluing, and otherwise putting together all the tiny details on the tables and chairs. (And, to whom it may concern, I overheard many comments on how comfortable the chairs were so it's a good thing the "stick chairs" were overruled!) A few people mentioned to me that it felt like we were in a fairy woodland in that reception room and I whole-heartedly agreed. They had incorporated so much nature from our beautiful Colorado that it really did feel like we were in a magical forest. The help-yourself candy bar was fun, the cake was not only beautiful but delicious (the bride's cake looked like the trunk of an aspen tree while the groom's cake was in the shape of a cute mushroom with various Super Mario Brothers characters scattered about. The music was fun to dance to and boy did people ever get down!

By 8:00, though, I was completely worn out. Horray for me for having kept my high heel shoes on 90% of the time, though! Of course, the hired photographer will have lots of fabulous pictures for the new Mr. and MRS. Sullivan to keep for a lifetime, but the brother of the bride also took over 300 pictures! I'll snag them from him and upload them tonight for sure. Then tomorrow, if time allows, I'll put them online for you to take a peek.

So now the newlyweds are off to Vegas for their honeymoon this week and will hopefully get to catch up on some well-earned sleep!

How did I hold up after all the "doings?" Let's just say I literally slept ALL DAY yesterday. I got out of bed at 10, ate breakfast, drank my coffee and fell asleep on the sofa until 1. Got up, ate some lunch, let the dogs out and back in again and then slept again until Honey came home at 4. Then I lingered in and out of sleep until dinner and then went to bed and straight to sleep earlier than I normally do and slept straight through the night. Ahhhhh did that feel good! Not quite as sleepy today but my body's still worn out and sore in some places so I'm still HEALING, as Carol would say, since that is my job right now. :) I'm sure th e rest of the family that was involved in planning and participating in the wedding is taking a big deep breath and resting as well!

Congratulations to John and Lindsay Sullivan!