I pretty much sat back and relaxed for Ryan and Allison's eight month engagement. And then suddenly, I found the wedding week upon us and I was busy playing with Holli and Parker Ann and at the last minute, I had to get on the ball! The last twenty-four hours before we left for Texas, I washed clothes and packed boxes and suitcases and checked things off of my mental check list and then it was Thursday and time to head out. I put part of my stuff in my mother-in-law's vehicle and the rest in mine; Not only did I have our wedding clothes and decorations for the rehearsal dinner...I had forgotten how many things a small baby needs to travel...
Robby, Caitlin, Holli and I left Thursday morning and stopped in Shreveport to pick Kevin up at the airport there and eat lunch. Then it was on to Texas...HOT TEXAS! We settled into our hotel a day earlier than other guest were expected to start arriving because I thought I needed a little time to acclimate and relax a little...HA HA!! Did I just refer to "relaxing" during the wedding weekend?! What was wrong with me; was I delusional?!
Robby's sister actually lives in Mt. Pleasant, where the wedding was being held, and it was at her house that evening while eating dinner that this all began to hit me. Robby asked what was wrong with me as I appeared to sit staring into space in a catatonic state. Although I was the mother-of-the-groom this time, there was a lot going on and I needed to keep things calm and balanced for just two days...surely that was do-able.
Friday morning I woke up remembering that it was "Rehearsal Day". We had rented the Barrel Room at Los Pinos Winery in Pittsburg, which was about 17 miles from town. Since they didn't open until noon, I had time to leisurely have my morning coffee and breakfast before we headed out there. My friend, and wedding coordinator/floral designer from Dallas would be coming later that day to decorate the room, all I had to do was leave the containers for the flowers and some photographs. Since that left most of the afternoon open, those who traveled out to the winery with me decided to have a little lunch there...
And we also made a little stop afterwards at Efurd's Orchard...Where they use their fresh fruit to make DELICIOUS homemade ice cream!
We all returned to our hotel to rest a little before the wedding rehearsal at the church and dinner that evening, however, that didn't really go as expected...this wedding weekend was about to "officially" start! I had only been laying down for about ten minutes when housekeeping tried to pull the door off the hinges. It was the middle of the afternoon! They had, had plenty of time to clean our room while we were gone...maybe if I ignored them they would just go away (sigh...). Well, they finally went away, but I was wide awake, while Robby lay soundly sleeping. But not for long, because all of the groomsmen started arriving and immediately came to our room and before long, we had ELEVEN PEOPLE standing around talking and laughing and I could tell by the electricity bouncing around among them that this wasn't going to stop for twenty-four hours.
Somehow, we all got dressed and made it to the church for the rehearsal and now THIS was the part I liked best about being the mother-of-the-groom; all I had to do was take a seat, listen and do as I was told. It was a large wedding party and that electric excitement continued throughout the rehearsal and that's when it happened...I got that HUGE lump in my stomach. I began to feel nervous and a little sick. Oh, it wasn't a physical illness, it is what I refer to as "wedding sickness". It starts when you realize that your child is about to get married and you have all of these intense feelings that are at war with each other inside your belly. And to make things worse, I had noticed that unity candle sitting WAY up on the top of the stage that I was going to have to light...in front of three hundred people...walking by myself...in stilettos (Double sigh...).
Caitlin was a bridesmaid...
And both brothers were groomsmen. Don't these guys look like they are having a great time?!
An hour later we were on our way to the dinner at the winery and I couldn't wait to see the finished project! And I couldn't be more pleased. The Barrel Room was decorated beautifully and the dinner, itself, and service were wonderful!
Lori, my best friend (Who also was Caitlin's wedding coordinator/floral designer), made all of the beautiful floral arrangements for the dinner using hydrangeas and sunflowers.
The Barrel Room at Los Pinos Winery was decorated by them and they not only did a WONDERFUL job with the decorations, but the food and wine were top notch and the service was some of the BEST we have ever had.
We returned to our hotel to hopefully get a little shut eye before the "Big Day". After learning that all of the groomsmen were staying on our floor, along with the rest of the facility being full of little league ball teams, I doubted that was going to happen (sigh...).
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