Wedding Day! Getting Ready

Okay, let’s get this recap started! I slept like a rock on Friday night after all the rehearsal festivities. After a shower, I sat in the living room writing thank you notes while waiting to be picked up. Margaret and Nicole came over before 10 armed with pastries from Tartine. We drove across town to the hair salon.

Warning: hitch approaching. I had a plan with the hairdresser that I was going to let my curly hair dry naturally and she would pin it up. But when I got there she instantly started combing product through the curls and blowdrying. If you have curly hair, you know that it doesn’t like to be “fussed with.” I finally spoke up at the end and made her fix it a bit…but I still thought it looked kind of dumb. I was tempted to shower at home and start over, but decided to just go with it.

We drove over the bridge (a gorgeous day with no rain in sight!) and to the club to get ready. The dressing rooms upstairs are particularly nice with views of the entire bay. I did my own make-up and also helped everyone else get ready. Jordan lent us her steamer, which was so handy. My sister’s boyfriend brought us cheese, cookies and mimosas.

Rob sent over a gift from his dressing room: a note about starting our marriage like we started dating, with a long island iced tea (mixed by a nervous groomsman) and a copy of Princess Diaries. I sent Rob a present I had made a few months ago: a collage of our life in the city made out of extra scraps of our wedding invitations. He loved it and hung it on the front door of the club for everyone to see! (I’ll share a photo in a separate post)

Finally, it was time to get into the dress. I’d only tried it on once in its finished state and no one else had seen me in it before. It was an exciting moment! And with the dress and the make-up, my hair didn’t seem too bad anymore. And I think it came out well in the photos, so not much of a hitch after all.

We took some portraits before and lots of happy relatives and friends were escorted “backstage” to say hi to me before the wedding. Our pianist friend was belting out classics downstairs the whole time. It was a little tough being sequestered from all the action (thank heavens I decided to get a day-of-coordinator to keep everything straight downstairs!) but I was cool as a cucumber.

We had set the start time for 2:30, thinking we’d actually get going at 3:00. But everyone arrived early and we got started right at the posted time. We all lined up and walked out. I waiting in the wings with my parents (one on each arm) for the music to start. At the last minute, my mom gave me a kiss, leaving a red kiss mark on my cheek for the ceremony. I didn’t mind a bit!

Next, the ceremony…