So after the drama of the previous night, we looked forward to Rehearsal dinner Day.
Now for those of you who have never been in a wedding in the US, the Rehearsal Dinner is the meal that follows the Rehearsal which is theorhetically the run through of the wedding so that no one, like the groomsmen, the bridesmaids, the minister, the groom, whatever, screws up the Bride's big day.
Rehearsal Dinner Day, for most of us, Hubby, Parker, and I, was planned to be a quiet day of sightseeing followed by a dinner at the venue. We had no idea where the venue was because 1) Neither of us had actually looked at the invitation since February and 2) Peaches, the bridesmaid had never actually seen the invitation.
So, first order of business...free breakfast at the hotel.
Why do hotels offer free breakfast, and then close it up by 10 AM? That's like making check out time 11 Am, it's just wrong. It doesn't take into account what most people use hotel rooms for...messing around until late at night and then sleeping in.
So we were about the last people to show up for the free hotel breakfast. That meant we had a choice of toast...and toast.
No worries, the coffee was adequate. We planned on doing some shopping and sightseeing and what not.
And then Peaches announced she was getting picked up by the maid of honor to pick out the flowers for hte wedding. Oh, and we had to be at the rehearsal because we were driving Grandma, so we all had to be at the venue by 4.
After you get five people of different generations moving in the same direction at once you realize you have about 90 minutes to sight see before you have to get the five people moving in another direction.
Side note: The maid of honor couldn't give us the name or address of the wedding venue either. I'm just sayin'.
We got to the venue...five minutes late due to the fact that apparently when it rains in North Carolina all traffic on the highway STOPS moving, and it was lovely. IT was some sort of resort house/palace where everything smelled amazing.
The rehearsal took about twenty minutes, which was good since the Bride's mother, Hubbby's sister (A master chef in her own right) forgot she'd left the beans to cook on the stove. The rehearsal ended when she yelled, "THE BEANS" and ran back into the house.
The meal that Sis in law and her husband put together was pure Wisconsin, with some flair. We had corn on the cob, watermelon, brats, beer, wine...more beer, more wine. The flair was a great green bean and bacon dish and crab rolls...yum!
One of the bridal party...we called her an assortment of names based on the clothes she wore, imbibed a tiny bit too much. How do I know? When she was looking for the wine opener to uncork yet another tankard of wine for herself, she referred to Parker, a fifteen year old boy, as her "Sexy little monkey."
Meanwhile, Sis in law made fried cheese curds. For those of you not familiar, well, clearly you haven't read my book "Dream in Color" So now you must go to Amazon and buy it...right now...I'll wait...
Anyway, deep fried cheese curds are simply the best food you're ever going to eat. Ever. Period.
It is as this point I should remind you that I'm one of those women who doesn't eat food so much as wind up wearing what she's had for dinner. Soup, salad dressing, sandwich toppings, meatloaf, whatever, if I'm aiming for my mouth, a portion of it can, and will, fall onto that handy shelf 18 inches below my chin. I'm telling you this because hubby, in a fit of romantic passion, fed me a deep fried cheese curd, and about half of it wound up on that shelf.
Except I was wearing a dress.
I don't wear dresses. I don't like how dresses tend to accent the super gut I'm building on myself. But I figured I'd wear a dress. So the cheese curd went down the neckline of the dress...through the gap between my new and therefore still stiff bra and my cleavage, past my waist, which was unencumbered by a belt or waistband since I was wearing a dress, past my knees and onto the floor.
Sort of like an elevator ride through hell and onto the ground.
There is no way you can emerge from something like that gracefully.
So I didn't. I continued having a conversation with my neice, and I kicked the cheesecurd away from me...I think it went under the fridge. I have no way of knowing.
We had a lovely time, but by 8 Pm it was time to go. We had a couple things to get before the wedding (most important was a pair of shoes for me. Oddly enough, when the Bride told Peaches to wear flats to the outdoor wedding, I didn't think that applied to me, in my dress. After navagating the grounds all evening, I realized...style be darned, I was going to be crippled by the end of the wedding if I didn't get some flats.)
So we went to the place where everything is possible: Walmart.
As we got out of the car to go to Walmart, Parker said, "I think I forgot my phone...at the venue."
Let's remember this for the next chapter, shall we?
So Hubby and mother in law agreed to run back to the venue while the children and I got some snacks (wine) and looked for shoes.
Ten minutes into our shopping spree...I realized that my system hadn't quite gotten used to meat yet.
Especially not the spicy grilled goodness of a bratwurst.
I was at the back of the Walmart, and it was a SUPERWALMART, but thank goodness I know my way around the super walmarts. Of course, I was still in my dress...and high heels, so I was basically doing a weird sort of butt clench hobble limp run to the bathroom before my entire digestive system ruptured.
I made it in time...and thank goodness I was wearing a dress! (No fussy zippers or buttons to get in the way.) Of course, I'm pretty sure my picture is now up on a wall in that restroom with a note that says something like, "If you see this woman in this restroom...run!"
Something about firing an entire day's worth of food right out of you...it pretty much wears you out. hubby returned to the Walmart with Parker's camera and we drove the 30 minutes to the hotel, where I hit the hay and was asleep within minutes.
Sooo...what's left?
Well, my friends, what's left is the wedding day!
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