The Wedding: Cont. (I can't remember exactly what the last subject was)...

OK, so, we were at the part where my dad refused to say "her mother and I do." I think everyone could see that it had upset Val and I hope they could see it had pissed me off. The reverend said he thought we should do it again and then did his "this is VALORIE'S day. Everything will be done as SHE wants it or you will NOT be in the wedding." So we tried it again and everything went fine up until the "who gives this woman..." and everyone held their breath.......but, alas, there was no "her mother and I do." We went through it a few more times and the reverend showed Nicole how to time the music and fade it out so it didn't sound weird when it just stopped. Everything else was done just fine. I did lock my knees a couple of times and the reverend kept reminding us not to. I don't think I was the only one doing it (at least, I hope not). He had to correct where we were facing a couple of times and reminded us to smile and always look and Val and Brad and not anyone else.
Finally we finished and Val said she was done with rehersal. Everyone packed up and we headed to Louie's on Eagle Rd. We were among the first of our family to arrive so I stayed out front and told a couple people which room to go to. Nicole was really upset and had started crying and I guess she was mad because my mom told her she shouldn't have been at the rehersal dinner because she wasn't in the wedding. I didn't quite agree with her because Nicole had actually been a big help (a lot bigger than I ever thought she could've been) with the wedding and especially the bachelorette party. I knew my mom wouldn't apologize so I just told her I was sorry and that I thought it was OK. Throughout most of dinner I played with Nicolas and Kiara (Debi's babies). At one point, Nicolas spilled his water in Deb's lap and then Kiki (Kiara) said hse had to go potty. Deb was too embarrassed to get up because it looked like she'd wet herself, so I took Kiki. While we were in the bathroom washing up, a little girl asked where Kiki had gotten her shoes. I had no idea so I explained that she was from out of town, but I was sure she could find them at Payless or some other similar store. We got some pictures and Val gave us our bridesmaids gifts. Kelly and I both got silver "K" necklaces and silver jewelry boxes with personal inscriptions. Emili got a beautiful silver clock with a diamond pendulum. I had actually been the one to pick up the gifts from the store in the mall and when the guy started taking them out to make sure they were right I told him I wasn't supposed to know about them and he was like "Omigosh!! I'm going to call and tell them!!" Of course, he didn't show them to me and wished me a good day.
THE DAY OF THE WEDDING
On Saturday, May 21st, I awoke early and took a shower because I had asked Val if my hair should be wet or dry and she said I should go in with wet hair. Emili showed up to drive us down there and freaked out because we didn't have time for them to dry my hair before getting it done. I dried it as best I could and we took off. There wasn't any parking, so Emili dropped me off at the door. The girl said, "where are the other girls?? You get on a phone and get them here NOW!!" I just told her they were parking and shouldn't be very long so she didn't have to worry. Most of the time she was doing my hair she was talking to her g/f about how this guy who had a crush on her was so annoying because she had told him she just wanted to be friends and he kept dropping by at her work and even if they were friends she wouldn't drop by his work every time she was nearby. Blah blah blah. Then, as she finished, she turned to her friend and said, "When you get married, I get to chose your hair style." I'm hoping she just was making a comment and not trying to say anything about my hairstyle. I had her put it half up and do spiral curls all over. Then Emili got her hair done and tried to call Megan because apparently she and Wendi had been pissed that they weren't in the wedding and had wanted to do something with Val in regards to the wedding. Whenever Emili had asked them to help out with something, they totally flaked. Megan called almost a half an hour after her appointment time and said she wasn't going to make it. Wendi did show up, but with her annoying little sister Sarah in tow. Sarah just would not shut up and kept making little comments while Wendi got her hair done.
Val's hair turned out pretty well. It wasn't exactly what she had in mind with her picture, but it was pretty close and it looked perfect with her tiara. I had heard them say that Kelly was getting her hair done somewhere else and I could tell by Emili's tone that she didn't approve. When Kelly got there I was just like "oh...my...gawd...what the hell did she do!?!?" Her hair looked so horrible. It was pulled up really tight and there were things that looked like fish fins sticking up all over the back. Just to kinda let Kelly know that it looked horrible (and maybe she would want to have it redone), I asked her when she was getting her hair done. **snicker** She was like, "I already did. I can't believe you just said that. Val, did you hear what she just said to me?!?!" The woman who had done Val's hair and my make-up asked Val if she wanted her to redo Kelly's hair really quickly. Val was already upset because Kelly had gotten these two huge tattoos on her back, and with the hair she looked more like she was going to a rock concert than a wedding. But Kelly refused and said she liked it. I do think the tattoos are pretty cute (they're angel and devil kitties), but I agreed with Val that they looked like total trash with the bridesmaid dress. It was almost 1 by the time everyone's hair and make-up were done and we were all pretty hungry. We were trying to decided where to go for lunch and Val had said she wanted to go to the Capri (because that's where we ALWAYS go). Kelly used to work at Rocky Mountain and said she wanted to go there and got really mad when I said I didn't want to go there. We got into a little tiff and Emili broke it up and said to apologize. Kelly said she was sorry for arguing and I just said, "OK."
We headed to the Capri and Wendi and Stupid Sarah joined us. Thankfully, they were later and left early. Nicole showed up, too. She was actually wearing a pretty cute, non-slutty dress. I was amazed. She had told everyone that she was either going to wear the sluttiest red dress or find a replica of Val's wedding dress and dye it black and wear it to the ceremony. We ate a big lunch and then headed to Emili's to drop off some stuff and make sure Trevor was getting ready.
When we arrived at the base and checked in at the gate the guy said, "don't worry, no sign of any big, ugly mexicans." Now, there's a story behind this...Aaron has been friends with Val since before she met Brad. He was best buds with John T and dated Emili for a couple years in Jr High. Nicole had decided to bring him as a date because Val didn't know where he lived and didn't send an invitation. Unfortunately, several nights before the wedding, he got completely $#!TFACED and threatened to beat/kill Emili. He also left a very disgusting message where he said, "f*ck you and your wedding!!" So, Val didn't want him to show up at the wedding and hurt or kill someone so she told the base security not to admit him onto the base under ANY circumstances. She was really upset that he couldn't be there and that he had become so violent. I knew that if no one woke him up and got him ready and brought him, that he wouldn't even bother, but she was freaked and felt better putting him on the "no entry" list. I still couldn't believe the guard had said that, but I wasn't in a position to say anything.
We didn't have much time at all to get ready once we got to the chapel. We barely got into our dresses and started getting Val ready when people started coming in. First Deanna came in and then Deb took some pictures of little Kiki getting ready and holding her flowers. She was really frightened and Emili and I did the best job we could to get her to "practice" throwing her flowers. She was too scared and we were afraid she wouldn't do it. The reverend said that if she didn't throw the flowers or took off running or something to just let her go because it was worse to chase her around or make her cry and freak out. He was actually really helpful because after Tish came in while we were trying to get Val ready, he cleared the hallway and locked the door. About 15 min before we were supposed to go, Val turned even whiter (which is saying something because she was devoid of color and had this scared $#!TLESS look on her face) and said, "I'm so sorry. I need to pee NOW!!" She has some bladder disease so when she says, "I have to go," she MEANS it. We didn't have time to take her out of her dress and then get her back into it before we were supposed to go, so we decided that all 4 of us would go into the handicap stall and hold up her dress while she went. It was actually pretty hysterical because we couldn't even find her legs for quite some time because of the huge dress. Finally Emili found it and pulled down Val's undies enough so she could kind of squat over the toilet. We made sure the dress was completely clear and let her go. She had trouble just reaching around to wipe herself, but she got it OK and we put her undies back on and then did a kind of shuffle away from the toilet before we let the dress down. Then it took a good 5 min just to refluff everything and get it fine. The photographer hadn't showed up yet, but Emili knew that Val would throw a coniption fit if she knew that was the reason the wedding was late. Emili told her that one of Brad's relatives hadn't shown up (she remembered that the reverend had said that Brad would let him know when all the important relatives had arrived because he didn't want to stall if it was some distant cousin who was always known to be late, yada yada). Of course, Val accepted that and calmed down a bit until we got in the hallway and Dad said, (with a big smug smile on his face) "well, the photographer's not here yet." I felt like screaming. There have not been many times that I was justifiably angry with my father (I think the only other time was when he fired me), but I could've smacked him a good one for that. Val started having a panic attack and we had to calm her down and get some water.
Finally, the moment had come and everyone got in their places and I could hear Val talking to my Dad. I was kind hoping she would say something along the lines of "please just say 'her mother and I do' for MY sake." I know if she told him that, he'd prolly do it. People were talking so loud that we didn't hear our cue music. The reverend kept nodding to Brad's brother that it was time and he took off running (he'd kept doing that in the rehersal and the Rev would tell him to slow down...I'd been in 3 other weddings and knew the pace, so I tried to keep him held back a bit). As we reached the pews, he must've remembered or decided that was where he was to slow down because he went at a little slower pace. I thought that maybe Val had asked the Rev not to even ask the "who gives this woman?" but when he said it I just sucked in a huge breath and waited. He finally said, "Deanna, her mother, and I do." I hope Deanna saw me scowling at her. I'm not sure that it was Deanna who was making a big deal to my father about it or if it was purely him. He's weird like that sometimes. Deanna wasn't involved enough that she should've gotten a say, but if my Dad felt that she did, he was the only one who could give it. Everything else went over well until it was Val's turn to answer the Rev. He got through half of it and she started saying "I will" before he finished. He just laughed and said, "OK then!!" It was kinda funnny, but Val turned a deep shade of red. When it came Brad's turn to answer, the Rev shortened up the sentences so it wouldn't happen again. Val did remember to give Emili her bouquet when the time came to join hands with Brad (Val kept forgetting during rehersal and that was the last thing she'd said to Emili). Then when the time came for the Rev to introduce Val and Brad as a married couple, Val started to get down off the altar and he said "wait, before the bride takes off without you!! I present to you all..." He did a pretty good job. He just rolled with it. Kiki did end up throwing a handful of flowers and didn't fidget too much during the ceremony. The only glich was Val's "I will" too soon and that Nicole didn't play the exit music. Val was only a little upset at that, but she got over it.
We got back into the hallway and I shut and locked the door. The Rev cleared everyone out and told them how to get to the Officer's Club for the reception and then he came and got us. We got pictures and Deanna kept getting in all of the parent ones. I felt like saying, "Val, don't you want one with Mom and Dad??" but I knew it wouldn't go over well. Most likely, Deanna would just get in it anyway and it would be awkward. The photographer said, "OK, one with the parents" and I think she was trying to do the same thing, but Deanna got in next to my Dad and pushed my mom to the outside. Emili was REALLY pissed. She said (somewhat loudly) that she thought Deanna should be on the outside. It ended up working OK because Deanna was shadowed and my mom stood out more because of the lighting. I'm thinking that Val might even be able to photoshop Deanna out and move my mom to her place, but I didn't bring it up yet. If Deanna had acted that way towards my wedding and then been like that for the photos, I would've given her a piece of my mind. Van was even pissed about the whole non-"her mother and I do" incident, but I told him it wasn't our place to get involved. The photographer finished the group photos and I wanted to go to the Officer's Club and eat, but Emili said we had to all go together. They took a few more pictures of Val and Brad and then we set off. It took quite a while because all of our feet hurt and Val could hardly walk in her shoes. We got there and it was so dark in there that I couldn't really see for a good 10 min. They didn't even have a real door. Usually people went into the room through the bar, but because no minors were allowed to step foot in there, we had to go through a side entrance over a bunch of little sharp rocks. I put my shoes back on once we got there and I saw the little edges that you could skin a bear with.
I was pretty pooped and hungry by the time we all got in there. I went to get food and when I got there and saw nachos and meatballs I felt like screaming bloody murder at Deanna. It looked like they'd taken the leftovers from an Octoberfest and someone's Quinsenera and put them out for Val's reception. It was terrible. They did have a salad with some side stuffs, but the rest of the food was just awful and in bad taste. Of course, Deanna had left already and Emili and I couldn't corner her and scream. Later on, Tish told me that Deanna hadn't even planned the food, that she had left it to Val. Hmmm, would've been nice for her to tell someone that she wasn't going to plan her part of it so someone else could've fixed it.
OK, well, it's time for me to go home, but I'll finish this tomorrow. More goodies to come!!
MUAHS,
Me