JohnandRain&Eric
31 December 2000
Sunday 31 December 2000
(John, apparently nervous, rises at 6:00 am. His first contact with the outside world is his sister's call at 9:00 am. The rest of the morning is a blur...to him and to Rain, as he related it!)
Rain and the bridesmaids rise at 9:00...as per schedule. There is time for chatter and coffee, then Crystal heads for home for a shower and will meet Rain at the hairdresser's shop for curls later in the morning. Rain hits the shower...then April (maid of honor). While April is showering, Rain dresses in April's room and packs/stacks everything "neatly" on April's bed. When April is dressed, they head for the hairdresser's chop. Crystal is already there (and has never met the hairdresser). April drops Rain at the shop and then heads for the stores looking for hair trinkets for HER hair...and to pick up everything that was left at her house and transport it to the church!
Well, so much for the schedule! More coffee, a wash, a set, and a couple hours under the dryer. When Crystal is dry and set, she heads out to do a few errands promising to come back to take Rain to the church. (By the way, the other bridesmaid, Brooke, is having her hair done in a nearby town.) Another aside...the hairdresser has just sold her house and is moving that day...not everything, but enough so that they can ring in the new year in their new house!!!)
Crystal and Rain get to the church a little later than expected...but there is also a lot less to do than we thought! We hang the pew bows...the florist comes into decorate the Unity stand...the photographer arrives (Oh my GOD, we must be running REALLY late!) Is April here? What about Brooke? Should we be getting ready? ARGH!!!! Breathe!
Crystal sits down to do her nails...not just paint, but to apply acrylics!!!! Rain starts her make-up. April finishes bringing things in from her car. The host couple arrives and takes over ALL organization! WHEW! April has forgotten some of her hair pins at home (in the confusion of the morning) and calls her niece to bring them to her. Her niece actually ends up staying and finishing April's hair. Then April begins painting HER nails!!!! Brooke finally shows up...she stopped off to get a bite to eat. The others are jealous...but food will come soon enough.
Contrary to tradition, Rain is the first one dressed (forgetting that she wants a picture of her sitting in her jeans with her dress behind her...DAMN, guess I was a bit nervous, too). (Luckily, April's niece was still there to zip Rain's dress...seeing as the others all had wet nails
or Cheetos powder...or both...on their fingers!) The hostess eventually motivates the girls to get dressed and the pictures begin.
The photographer gets us back onto schedule...and Rain and the bridesmaids go back into seclusion in the ready room waiting to be called out! At 4:00, a light snow began to fall...just like Rain had asked God for (so that the snow would be fresh and clean for pictures after the ceremony).
When it is time, Rain and the bridesmaids step into the hall. There have been a few tears, but the day was mostly fun...and the best part is about to begin!
The Ceremony
The music is perfect...the church is packed!!! Everything is going according to plan. The Wedding Song (There Is Love) starts and the bridesmaids enter. The guests' candles are lit. The Wedding March starts, the aisle runner is unrolled, everyone stands, and Rain enters with her parents. Being short and the angle of the aisle of the church, John and Rain still can't see each other. As we round the turn in the aisle, the host couple (Rain's cousin, Tammy, and her husband, Bob) adjust her train so that it falls nicely. (Later, guests said that the sound of her train on the aisle runner actually sounded like rain.)
John and Rain can only smile as the ceremony begins. The minister leads them up the stairs of the altar...then he admits that it is too soon. We have a giggle on the altar! Next, he hands John his scroll for the vows; Rain tells him that it seems too early...the minister shows her his notebook, they all shrug and go on. Later, the minister discovers that he had gotten the pages out of order while making more notes after the rehearsal...oh well...he covered it well and still managed to get all of the parts of the ceremony in! We are so relaxes with one another and with the step that we are taking that we are able to talk to one another and giggle and play a little winking game on the altar with one another. We are HAPPY to be taking this step in the company of our friends and families. (Later, that is one of the things that our friends noticed most during the ceremony...that it just seemed to be so perfect and so "us"!)
When the time came for the lighting of the Unity Candle, Rain's dad and a friend of his, Roy, came to the altar and sang a song that they wrote for their wives (Mary and Judi) more than 30 years ago. April and Keith (maid of honor and best man) were supposed to sign the license at that time...we wanted our friends to know that it was REAL! However, and the minister admitted later, he was so taken with the men singing that he completely forgot what he was supposed to be doing! (I just chalk it up to one more hippy-dippy thing...except for the rehearsal and the wedding itself, I have never seen the minister where anything but "Jesus" sandals! He's a cutie!)
People noticed the little things in our ceremony...like the inclusion of Eric in the Family Medallion ceremony (a surprise to Eric because we did not rehears it the night before...you should have seen his eyes when the minister asked him to come to the top of the altar stairs!!!!!) People also liked the way we included our deceased friends and family with an additional candle lighting! (We later heard repeated "it made me cry" from most of our guests.)
We concluded the ceremony with a great big KISS...don't be afraid to kiss, it is the greatest outward expression that we have for our love! We stepped down off the altar, approached Rain's parents to kiss them, then proceeded out of the church to begin our life together! After all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen and families had been ushered out, John and Rain went back in to the church to "dismiss" their guests row-by-row. It was a great way to meet everyone who was in attendance!
The guests filtered out to their cars to prepare for the tolling through town...with more champagne. We stayed and had a couple of pictures taken. When it was time, we all went out to the limo...our friends had filled our limo with 100 ivory, hunter, and wine balloons! It was great!!!!!! As we drove through town, we released the balloons through the open windows. It was better than if it had been planned! We returned to the church a few minutes later to finish the pictures. (Later, we were told that the heart-shaped Mylar balloons that had been tied on the antenna of the limo broke free when we returned to the church and had managed to wrap themselves around an overhead wire...they are still there now!!!)
After the last of the pictures, we all made the move to the reception. We dropped the groomsmen and bridesmaids off...then the limo driver took John and Rain across the street to the hospital to see Rain's grandfather who had been admitted Thursday night with pneumonia. We had to dash through the hospital because the driver had more pick-ups that night (it was after all New Year's Eve) he driver took us back to the hotel where we prepared to be announced in to the reception...preparation included donning Mickey and Minnie mouse bride and groom ears!!!!!!!