To sum up the Wedding Weekend:
* Thursday: Kris arrived. We went to pick up my dress, but there was a tiny spot on one of the sleeves. We left it at the shop for them to spot-clean it. Kris & I were going to have a big drunk party-girl night, and instead we ended up at home, eating Thai take-out and drinking while watching TV. I think we were sound asleep by about 11:00. Sad.

* Friday: Salon day. Kris, Mags & I went for manicures and pedicures. I met up with Dave (at the same shopping center where the salon is located) and we picked out our wedding bands – we sort of waited until the last minute to get them. Luckily, the first jewelry store that we went to, they had bands that we both liked and that fit us. No sizing necessary. Woo! Lucky us, since we didn’t really have time to get them sized. That night, my parents plus my sister and her boyfriend Adam arrived. Kris & I met up with them at the hotel and we all went out for dinner. We also saw my cousins Alphagal and her husband SNG at the hotel, but they were pooped and didn’t join us for food.

* I freaked out all day Thursday & Friday with stressed-out-ness. Went to bed on Friday night jittery and anxious. Woke up on Saturday and decided that I was NOT going to look back on my wedding and have bad memories associated with it because of how stressed out I was. Gave myself a mental ass-kick, and I had fun from then on. No, the house was not exactly perfect when all the relatives showed up for the rehearsal dinner on Saturday. And you know what? The world didn’t stop turning on its axis, either. The food was good, everyone had fun, and that’s that. Honestly, my family is loud as all hell, but my god, they’re a fun group. We have a picture of my sister and 2 of my cousins grabbing my ass. It will be posted soon, I promise. There’s a lot more to be said about Saturday and all the fun we had, but I’ll wait until I get all the photos from the various photographers that were there, and I’ll use those to tell the story.

* Sunday: Back to the salon for hair & make-up. Cell phone kept ringing with people needing last-minute stuff. Mom & I finished at the salon, and hauled ass out to the lodge where we had the wedding. The photographer got there about 2 minutes after we did. We started taking pictures immediately, and before I knew what hit me, it was 3:00 and time to go get married. The rest of the day is a blur of images that I’m still trying to process: how Dave’s hands were shaking when I held them (which he later told me was a combination of not enough sleep and too much caffeine, not nerves); how I grabbed his head for the kiss so I could get my red lipstick all over his face; that it rained almost all day and that I totally didn’t care; how my sister somehow got the idea to toss a dinner roll around the room like a baseball, and whoever caught it was the person who gave the next toast; how all of my girl cousins made me cry with their toasts, whether it was through laughter or real tears; the way my face ached from holding my smiling pose through so many dozens of photos; drinking way too much champagne with my bridesmaids (my sister, aka Cosmopolitan, and Kris) plus their respective dates in their hotel room in the middle of the night (and the ensuing noise complaint from a hotel guest who had the misfortune of getting the room next door); the hideous garden gnome from our house that was left on our honeymoon suite bed, a la the Roaming Gnome on those Tr@velocity commercials. So many things. I’m not sure that all of it has sunk in yet.

* Monday: we spent most of the day in bed. Yeah yeah, the whole newlywed thing, but we also slept a LOT. We both woke up in time for our massages in the afternoon, which was great. Oh, and the jacuzzi bathtubs at the lodge are indeed big enough for two adults. Good to know.

* Tuesday: I’m back at work, and counting the hours until I can go home and crawl into my own comfy bed with my husband (hee!) and my cat. I think everything from the last 2 or 3 months is starting to catch up with me, and I am completely exhausted. I feel like I could go to sleep now and sleep until Thursday morning. Sigh. Oh well, soon enough. And this weekend, the in-laws are off to Lake Chelan, so we’ll have the house all to ourselves for two glorious, fun-filled days. Whee! Awesome.