I'll start with the wedding rehearsal. With a good chunk of the wedding party being from out of town (Edmonton, Sioux Lookout, Pembroke), we were hoping to have the rehearsal the night before the wedding so everyone would be available. The priest, though, had other ideas. It absolutely had to be the weekend before, and we had to bring our "donation" to the church as well as for the priest with us. I wonder if he didn't base how good of a service he would be giving on the size of the donation. The rehearsal itself was a bit of a cluster, uh, well, it was screwy. Basically we were directed about the church for 20 minutes and left with no one knowing what we would be doing. Time well wasted indeed. I think the only good to come of it was to make sure that the best man and maid of honour knew how to find the church.
We were getting married on the 3rd of May, and knowing that it's still early spring, we were a bit worried about the weather. April was a fantastically warm month and as such we had high hopes. Checking the weather forecast, though, made us wonder what the hell forecasters actually do. It honestly would alternate between a sunny 24 degrees and 10 degrees with rain. I swear they just make this stuff up as they go along.
Between checking the above mentioned "forecast", the week before also consisted of a lot of little details like final meetings with the DJ and photographer, picking up tuxes and dress, and getting the rental in order. This is where my life starts to go to hell. We had originally arranged for a Suburban (big SUV, seats 9) so we could get most everyone in the truck and have as few vehicles as possible. The problem, though, was that you apparently (it was no where obvious on their website or on the confirmation) have to be 30 or older to rent one. Thankfully I was able to use my Aeroplan miles to book a slightly smaller but much nicer Acadian instead, and all was good. Once the Aeroplan website was back up, that is...it went down for the entire weekend beforehand and apparently you can't call in and reserve a rental when the system is down. Fun times.
Wednesday I got a call that my tux was in and to come in as soon as I could to try it on. Having done this before for grad and GJ's wedding, I was expecting everything to go smoothly. I got to Bayshore and was told to try on the pants and shoes. Uh, what about the shirt, jacket and vest? We'll get to that later...okay. Shoes and pants fit fine, jacket was good, vest was good and "you don't need to try on the shirt, I'll just check your neck and arms". 30 seconds of measuring later, I'm trying on the shirt and finding out that it's indeed too short. I was told that they would order me a new one and it'd be ready for pick up on Friday at the latest. I decided to leave the rest of the tux there so I could try it all on when the shirt arrived.
Friday rolls around and my shirt is in. We pick up the rental at noon and swing by Bayshore again. The guys see me and hand me my shirt. "Uh, where is the rest of it?" I ask. Never have I seen someone's face drop so much...it was obvious that they had no idea where my tux was. 15 minutes of futile searching later and I'm being told that I picked it up yesterday morning. Funny, I distinctly remember working on Thursday morning. Well, maybe one of the groomsmen picked it up. Did they sign for it? Cause if not, I'm coming in every weekend to pick up someone's tux. Another 10 minutes of yelling at the manager and I'm told they will rush a tux in for Saturday morning. As if I didn't have enough to worry about. I did make sure to take the shirt this time though.
That night was the rehearsal dinner (I know, the rehearsal was the week before) in Arnprior. This is the first time that Jenn, her family and my Ottawa friends have really met my friends from Thunder Bay, and I don't know that they will ever look at me the same. GJ and Jeff were in fine form, having pre-drunk for dinner to continue their apparent 3 day bender. GJ is as loud as ever, saying pretty much whatever popped in his mind (I think my family and I were the only ones not offended), and the beer flowed like water. When it came time to open the groomsman gifts, I was really wishing I had picked something other than engraved knives to give. I was picturing my best man and groomsmen getting in a knife fight in the parking lot later on. Thankfully I managed to pocket both before the stabbing started. At the end of dinner (well, when they started putting chairs on tables), the guys decided to head down to the local sports bar for a few more drinks. How we were ever served is still beyond me. Guess they don't have liquour inspectors in Arnprior. We get a couple of pitchers of beer, a Strongbow (a whole one) for me, and GJ immediately starts talking trash with the girls beside us, then calling their boyfriends a "bunch of pussies". Just what I need, a brawl the night before the wedding. Thankfully the other guys were more interested in drinking and having a good time than fighting. All in all, I think a good time was had, and the Ottawa crowd got to see where I got my patience from.
Saturday morning. All I have to do is pick up my tux, eat, and make it to the church by 1:45pm. Not too hard, right? I get up around 8:30, shower, shave and toss on some clothes. Get to Bayshore, try on the tux, bitch some more at the manager, head back home, call Jeff and arrange for them to swing by early for breakfast. While waiting, I remember that I haven't picked up a card for Jenn yet so I speed off to Hallmark and grab one. Thankfully I looked at hers first as there were only 2 cards for people on their wedding day. Get back to the house and keep on waiting...I'm starting to get pretty hungry so I crack open a bag of chips and start munching. 11am rolls around...where the hell are they? 11:30...12...12:30 the guys from Ottawa show up, and 2 minutes later I get a call asking how to get to my place from Arnprior. Keep in mind that it's about 20-30 minutes from Arnprior to my place...yep, we're gonna be late and I still haven't eaten really. We all get dressed, TBay shows up and zips through a quick tour/getting dressed, and we race off to the church. Even though we didn't leave until 1:35, we still managed to get there almost on time for flowers and a few quick pictures.
By this time the priest is getting pretty impatient and wants Jeff and I in the church. I'm not sure what for as this wasn't part of the rehearsal, but what the hell. I give the dude the rings, pre-sign the registry and wedding license, then back out front to wait in a "closet" for Jenn to show up. 10 minutes later and we're on...I don't remember too much after that other than looking over to see GJ ready to pass out in the pew. Awesome stuff.
Fast forward an hour and we're out of the church, pictures on the steps, off in the SUV for more pics (sadly no burnouts...I hate all wheel drive sometimes), more pics and even more pics (none of which I have so don't ask Brian), and it's back to the hall for dinner. Dinner was good, the speeches were awesome, and thankfully my best man left out all the stories that my family had been waiting years to hear. Not much more to add than that.
And yes, I will post more pictures in the future...this is all I got from Jenn's uncle.
The wedding party...I'm doing my best to look as good as Jenn
5 comments:
I'm still waiting for the stories from Jeff.
I guess you'll just have to talk to him then...I've got his original speech and it was pretty clean and I think everyone knows most of the stories. Maybe at my next wedding :P
Jenn looks really pretty and u look handsome urself. How I wish you'd have at least worn a white tie tho'! Say my hi to Jay.
White Tie? WTF?
Wow - awesome story. you guys look great - wish I could have been there! Now post more pics =)
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