Chapter Twelve* The Wedding Eve

I know I wrote another chapter only yesterday, but it was really just a catch-up chapter to get me to where I wanted to be–right here. The night before our wedding. If you missed yesterday’s post (Chapter Eleven* The Day Before The Wedding) you may want to read that first before reading this one.

Friday, August 19th, 2005

As we finished setting up the hall for the reception the whole thing just seemed really surreal to me. Maybe it was because I was so overtired, or because I hadn’t seen the soon-to-be-Hubster in days, but in many ways it hadn’t set in that all the fuss was for me… like I was watching someone else’s wedding preparations. It was such a bizarre feeling.

The Hubster and I decided not to do any kind of a rehearsal dinner as we purposely planned to have our reception be less formal, so we felt it wasn’t necessary. So, by 5pm I came home from setting up the reception hall to my mom’s “wedding workshop”. :) My entire family was engaged in different tasks all over the house–Big Dad was constantly running errands, my aunts and uncles were making different kinds of food for the dinner, and my mom was head of the entire operation, somehow managing to do 100 things at once.

Telly, my maid of honor happens to be a fabulous esthetician, so we ducked down to the basement for a quiet place where she began to give me my wedding manicure and pedicure. Sitting in my quiet basement with Telly was the first time that weekend that the reality that I was getting married the next day really sunk in. Actually, the conversation went like this:

Telly* SO. What color do you want your toes to be?

Me* Oh it doesn’t really matter… I’m not fussy. The Hubster likes pink I think. Do you have a nice pink?

Telly* Oh this will look cute with your wedding shoes!

Me* Haha… wedding shoes. Wedding… shoes… HOLY TOOT I’M GETTING MARRIED TOMORROW.

Telly* Hahaha… um, are you just figuring this out now?!

Me* No, of course not… it’s just… I’m getting married TOMORROW. Like, the day after today. As in a matter of hours. As in by this time tomorrow I’ll be Mrs. Hubster. Wow.

…leave it to me to have shoes be what make my wedding seem real to me. haha! Sitting in the basement with my toes have painted I realized that after 5 months of waiting I was finally going to get to marry the man of my dreams. I waited for the nervousness that everyone said I’d feel to sink in, but I just didn’t feel it. I assumed it must be more of a wedding-morning thing.

After Telly made my feet pretty, we went upstairs to see if we could help in the kitchen at all… and ended up peeling eggs until nearly 1am. haha!!! My uncle was making trays and trays of deviled eggs, and so we peeled… and peeled… and peeled… until I realized that it was getting late and I hadn’t yet called the Hubster.

In the eight months that we had been dating, we never once missed a day of talking. Even when I escaped to the bush for a week in July to be help out with a camp, I managed to find a way to call him every day. As I snuck up the stairs to find a quiet bedroom to call him, I realized that this would be our “last” phone call… and I felt a little nervous. I had no idea how he was feeling as he was 2 hours away with his family, and I was in B Town with mine.

I dialed his number and after a few rings I heard that familiar “Hello?” and my heart melted once again. I could be incredibly corny and pull a Jerry Maguire “he had me at hello moment”…

…but I’ll spare you. haha!

I honestly wish that I had had the foresight to write down what we talked about that night. I remember our conversation wasn’t long, but just by hearing the sound of his voice I was reminded yet again of all the reasons that I loved this man, and I couldn’t wait to marry him the next day. He didn’t sound nervous or distracted, he was just… himself. And I wished that I was with him.

After we said goodbye, I trudged back down to the kitchen where we continued to work until 1am, when my mom finally shooed me and Telly down to bed, as I apparently had a big day the next day or something. ;)

As I got ready for bed, I knew that even though my body was dead tired there would be no sleeping yet. Telly and I squeezed into the little double pull-out I had been sleeping on all summer and talked quietly in the dark. We talked about adventures she and I had had as single ladies, the boys we had liked, the ones that broke our hearts, and the fact that I was embarking on a whole new adventure the next day. We talked about what my life with the Hubster might be like, how we hoped my wedding day would go, and of course, the impending “wedding night”.

…but I’ll spare you and leave that part out. :)

I’m not sure how long we talked, but at some point I drifted off knowing that when I woke up in just a few hours it would be my wedding day…

…and I’d be getting MARRIED. :)

Shop Girl*