Wedding Wednesday: The Catastrophes

I only really had one REAL wedding catastrophe. But there were a couple of other things that happened that seemed like catastrophes in my stressed-out-bride state.

Catastrophe #1: The REAL Catastrophe
I'll start with the real one first. It was the day before the wedding. I was at the reception hall decorating along with my mom, Aunt Beth, cousin Rachel, and Grandpa. Grandpa was helping with the flowers, because he owned a nursery for most of his life. Well, I was busy fixing some bows on the backs of chairs (if you read my last Wedding Wednesday post, you know I was obsessive about making them all perfect!) when I heard some commotion coming from the table where everyone was working on the flowers. I turned my head to see my grandpa, passed out on the floor. My heart stopped. We all ran over, and my grandpa woke up, laughing because he had no idea how he ended up on the floor. He didn't remember passing out at all.

Well the rest of us didn't think it was funny. My Aunt Beth brought him to the hospital, and he passed out in the waiting room there. It turned out that he was having heart problems. The next morning at my bridal party brunch, my grandma told me that he would not be able to make it to the ceremony, because he had to have a pacemaker put in. I was a little heartbroken, and had to run to the bathroom to have a mini breakdown so that I didn't start bawling in front of everyone. It was sad that my grandpa wasn't there. My other grandpa died of a heart attack when I was barely old enough to walk, so he is my only grandpa left. But after the ceremony, my sister and cousins went in to visit him at the hospital in their bridesmaid/groomsmen attire. My mom went in on Sunday or Monday with LOADS of wedding pictures, and they watched the DVD of the ceremony together. And I even got to put my dress on and get some wedding pictures taken with my grandpa about a month after the wedding. So it was almost like he was there :-)

Catastrophe #2: The Apartment
This catastrophe happened on Wednesday night, 3 days before the wedding. Luke was away at band practice, and I thought I would take that time to sneak into his (soon to be our) apartment and clean. It was a total disaster area, as it had been a bachelor pad for the past 4 months. I was so overwhelmed by the mess and everything else I had to do. I started cleaning, and it wasn't long before I realized that Luke had run out of paper towels. Okay, not a huge problem for most people, but it was a big deal for a bride who wanted to spend her wedding night in a romantic, CLEAN house (yes, we spent our first night together at our apartment. I thought it was special, because it was our first night as a married couple, and our first night in our own apartment).

I called my mom in tears. I mean, I was crying so hard you would think I had just found out someone died. I could barely get the words out on the phone. My mom was totally alarmed and kept saying "What's wrong?!" I'm sure she thought we had called off the wedding judging by how hard I was crying.

"This place is totally a mess. It's disgusting!! And...LUKE...HAS..NO...PAPER...TOWELS!!!!" I said through tears. My mom told me to BREATHE, calm down, and just come home. She could tell I was having one of my few bridezilla moments, and that the wedding stress was beginning to take its toll on me.

Well, I came home and eventually realized that it was, in fact, NOT the end of the world. Luke surprised me when I entered the apartment on our wedding night, because not only was it spotless, but it was also partially decorated with the late shower gifts and decor items I had received or bought the week before. I had no reason to freak out after all :-)

Catastrophe #3: My Hair
I woke up at 6:00 AM on my wedding day in order to take a shower, and have my hair be completely dry by the time of our bridal party brunch (my hair is extremely thick and takes FOREVER to dry!) I looked like quite a bum at the brunch, because I knew I was getting my hair styled and make up done later, so I just let myself go in the morning!

Here I am at the brunch...I received the pink boa that morning from some of my in-laws, and they assured me I could take it with me on the honey-moon. Awkward, much? lol

When I went to my hair appointment, the lady did my hair while I was not looking in a mirror. I was facing the wall, and couldn't see what she was doing. Well, without me realizing it, she decided to STRAIGHTED and RE-CURL my hair. If you have thick, curly hair like I do, you probably know that this is a no-no on a 90 degree mid-July day. She finished the 'do, and it looked okay. But I had a bad feeling that the curl wasn't going to hold.

Here I am smiling hesitantly, not feeling real confident that this hair-do would hold, or that I really like it!

Well, my feeling was right. By the time we left for the church, my hair was a frizzy MESS! I was absolutely sobbing and practically having a panic attack when I got to the church. And believe me, this was a legitimate freak out. All of my bridesmaids were giving me sympathetic looks, because my hair looked SO BAD! Before I knew it, I was being ushered into the lady's lounge at the church, and 2 curling irons were being plugged in. My sister, Julie, and cousin/best friend, Rachel, both took one curling iron and one side of hair. I think they used a full bottle of mousse and TONS of hair spray, too. But in about 30-40 minutes, I had the "princess" hairdo that I had been going for. I felt eternally grateful to them.

Here I am, veil still securely attached, while Julie and Rachel both fix a side of my hair. And that's my mother-in-law laughing at this silly picture.I think the end result looks pretty awesome, though, no? You can tell by my smile that I like it (and that I'm excited to finally become Luke's WIFE in an hour). Exactly what I have pictured since I was a little girl. Definitely got 10 inches chopped off a week later, though!
So glad my wedding day turned out to be so completely perfect, besides those few minor catastrophes :-)

Did you have any catastrophes on your big day??