Lost In the Prairies.....Found by God

So, everything was ready. All plans were a go. Everything should fall right into place. I spoke too soon.

I took two days off before the wedding so that I could relax and do any last minute running around. My family was slowly coming in from BC and I had to be chauffeur for most of them. The first pick up was my aunt Sylvia. She and her daughter (1 of my flower girls) were staying at Leroy's until the night before the wedding. We had a great visit and joked about the dress she had bought to wear to the wedding. It was my "I will fit into this dress when I lose 20 lbs" dress. When I finally gave it to her, it was only under the condition that she would never wear it to my wedding oh did she hear about that night.

The day before the wedding we had a lot to do. I had to get some appetizers for our open house after the wedding; pick up my aunt Francis and and her daughters, one being my junior bridesmaid, from the airport; get to the Wedding Rehearsal; get to the Wedding Rehearsal Dinner; and go to my ex-roommates new condo to spend the night.

By the time we got organized that morning, we were already a 1/2 hour off schedule. We quickly went to Costco; purchased some appetizers; and went back to Leroy's, where I dropped off my aunt Sylvia and the food. I went to the airport and low and behold, my Aunt Francis's airplane was delayed. So I had to wait 1/2 an hour. While waiting at the terminal I got to watch the media get ready to film fans from BC coming to the Grey Cup, as well as the cheerleaders. Once my aunt and her two daughters came in, we picked up a lunch and went back to Leroy's.

My cousins were all at Leroy's house, goofing around. At some point, just as we were about to leave for the rehearsal, someone spilled pop on the rug. Since the open house was at Leroy's, I started freaking out (Bridezilla had arrived!). My aunts and I quickly cleaned the rug and then I sped off with my cousins to the rehearsal. To make matters worse, we got stuck in traffic. I knew I was going to be late for the rehearsal, but 1/2 an hour late.....I think Leroy got worried that I wasn't going to show up. Everybody was there and on time, but the Bride. We quickly went through the wedding procession and placement issues (ie. where the flower girls would be during the ceremony).

After the rehearsal, we went back to Leroy's and started cleaning up and getting ready for the open house. The phone rang. I answered "The Insane Asylum!" A very serious voice asked for Leroy. It was VISA. It was VISA advising Leroy that someone had stolen his card number and that he had to go make a police report regarding it as they had caught the individual in question. They also advised him that they had canceled his card and would provide him with a new one within two weeks. We started panicking. We still had to pay the final payment for the wedding, we were leaving right away on our honeymoon and we had the hotel for the wedding night. Leroy quickly explained to VISA what was going on. After some desperate pleas, on our part, they said they would arrange to forward a card to him by the next day (SATURDAY) at our hotel (see sometimes they can be helpful). We breathed a semi sigh of relief, as Leroy went to go make the report.

On the way to the Rehearsal Dinner, I had to stop off at my aunt Judy's (I know I have a lot of aunts), to pick up my grandmother. Everyone decided that those who weren't going to the Rehearsal Dinner, would follow us and go to a restaurant close to where we were having the dinner. However, on the way I took a wrong turn and had to drive around to get back to where the restaurant was. Again, we got to the restaurant and everybody was there but the Bride. I think Leroy was starting to get a complex!

At the rehearsal dinner I realized that I had forgotten my veil at the house and I wasn't going back to the Leroy's. Luckily, one of our Ushers, Rob, volunteered to go and get for me.

I went to my ex-roommates new place, along with my sister and cousin. That night we had fun and actually got a little sleep, only after we kicked Rob out.

When we got up, my roommate and I went to get breakfast at McDonalds. Then we started waiting for the hairdresser. About 45 minutes later, she finally showed up. I was freaking out! However, she got it done within 1 hour. The limo was supposed to show up by 8 am. At 8 am, there was NO limo. I was worried that my wedding day was going to match my rehearsal day. We immediately phoned the company, who advised us that they had the wrong address and about 10 minutes later, the limo showed up. By the way for your information, it was the same limo that Ricky Martin had been driven around in when he was in town.

We got to the Wedding Pavilion with 30 minutes to spare. I quickly got into my dress and then the pictures started. However, most of them were not of the lovely bride.....they were of the flower girls. The wedding coordinator came up and announced that it was time. As I was walking down the staircase, I noticed that my best friend had just shown up, something I still bug her about to this day. I could only think about breathing. I almost hyperventilated due to nerves. I finally calmed down sometime during the ceremony, which was short and sweet.

I am going to end on this note. I want to thank Rachel for hosting this walk down memory lane. It has been a lot of fun for my husband and I to reminisce about this time in our lives as this summer marked our 10 year anniversary of meeting each other. God has been so good to us and has blessed our marriage with three beautiful gifts. I know that not all of our 10 years have been joyous and there have been some pits, but I know that God is with us through everything.