Long boringish recap. No pictures. SORRY.

You know what? I think I could start running again. (Someone ask me in a week or two if I actually started running again. Seriously.) 

Maybe I am only thinking about this because I was within spitting distance of pre-Emma weight and then I decided to eat an entire wedding plus an entire bag of Crappy Day Chocolate Cookies. But really. I think I could. 

ANYWAY. Wedding recap! Sort of! But no pictures. I am tired of posting pictures. (It's my website and I'll be lazy if I want to!) Yesterday I decided to stare down Facebook - I unfriended God knows how many people and restricted about half the people left. IT IS NOT PERSONAL. Well, I guess it is, sort of, it's just that maybe I would USE FB if it were more like my blog/Twitter community and less, you know, people I never talk to anymore. So I did not unfriend YOU, I promise, but I did get a couple friend requests from people I'm not sure I know. What I'm thinking is that you are a reader/lurker, but I either don't recognize your name from comments or you comment with a blog name or something, so if those friend requests are from YOU, could you just tell me you're a blog person? Is this horribly snotty of me? I'm just being REALLY PICKY and I HAVE had total strangers friend me before SO. That's all. 

Wait. All right. So pictures: all the good ones are on FB. If I get anything exceptionally awesome from the other wedding photo takers I will be sure to post them here. Especially if they are of 1) programs/seating chart/invitation/other Maggie-produced wedding item or 2) me looking photogenic because one day I hope to market myself as a lifestyle blog (HAAAAAA.)

As for the wedding itself... nothing went wrong! I mean, this will be a very boring recap! 

Okay SURELY something went wrong. I will think. UMMMM. People disrespected the seating chart? Certain people COMPLAINED to my SIL who was manning the Seating Chart Area that they couldn't find their tables? And she explained that the seating cards were in alphabetical order, this was not a graphic representation of the table area. Which apparently they did not/could not understand and so they just sat where they felt like it? Displacing other people? Who didn't really care and the wedding sort of shrugged it off and continued on? 

All day long I was losing my camera and my keys and sometimes my phone. I hated that. I was a huge embarrassing flake all day long. The only thing I was successful at managing was my sister's hair. People I ROCKED the Hair Management. I packed this glorious bag of Wedding Emergency Essentials: your hairspray, your safety pins, your lip gloss, your sewing kit, your anti-diarrheal medication. (Seriously - what if you were having Issues? Wouldn't you be glad I packed that little bottle?!) We had to fix the hair immediately after the hair appointment (honestly, I have never ever had a hair appointment where I did not go home and tweak/totally redo). And we fixed it up halfway through the reception. I was ON TOP OF THE LONG LOOSE CURLS. I was NOT on top of remembering where I put a $$$ camera that did not bleong to me. 

The ceremony was just! beautiful! All those colors really did work together and so many people commented on the multicolored-ness of everything. And it was so sweet and touching too - I wonder if I think it seems MORE touching than other weddings I've been in/attended because my sister is not a teary and sentimental kind of girl. So there was something SO LOVELY about watching her walk down the aisle with my dad and say her vows. Let's just say I was glad I grabbed a Kleenex from Phillip right before the processional began. 

The reception was in an old timey theater that now hosts weddings as well as rock shows and pageants. We put blown up copies of the invitation in the box office along with my sister's engagement pictures (which are gorgeous, I hate her.) The seating chart was stationed in the entry way along with a "guest book" - postcards that said "I remember B when..." and "Love is..." and "R & B should name their kids..." etc. Those were laid out with colored Sharpies and collected in a tall glass vase.

Inside the theater it was dark and felt like a party. There were appetizers and drinks while the bride and groom finished up pictures. The tables were white with tall vases of pink and orange gerber daisies, tea lights, and little white favor boxes with tissue paper flowers on top in all the different wedding colors. My sister bought the Hershey kisses with the cute little wedding sticker on the bottom - those were in the boxes. (Everyone ate the candy and left the boxes. Lame.) White chair covers with gauzy white sashes.

And it was pretty laid back. Nothing formal. People just hung out until the bride and groom showed up. They were announced, then there was just more hanging out until the buffet opened. That was probably my favorite part, just going around to all the different people I haven't seen in a year (or longer) and catching up. As you know I am Afraid Of Chatting, but something about big family occasions and really LIKING everyone and knowing that they really DO want to know about me and that new baby I have now and everything's all FESTIVE and HAPPY... it brings out the talky. SO FUN. 

Eventually there were toasts (which were perfect. PERFECT. The Maid of Honor and the Best Man were SO GREAT, you guys), then they cut the cake, then their first dance to "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" which is a Frankie Valli song from 1960 something, but REALLY is a Lauryn Hill song / the song Heath Ledger sang on the bleachers in '10 Things I Hate About You'. WE LOVE THIS SONG. 

(OH. That is a thing that went wrong! SO. Apparently the venue (also in charge of the music) lost the playlist? Which was only a handful of songs? And called my future BIL during picture taking to ask what the dance songs were? OMG I KNOW. But no one could remember the name of the first dance song which is why my sister and I were singing it at the top of our lungs in the church vestibule while Future BIL was on the phone. AWESOME.)

Apparently they did NOT want to dance in front of EVERYONE and were only doing it GRUDGINGLY and the bridal party had strict instructions to storm the stage mere seconds after their first dance began. But honestly, they were SO sweet and cute that we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. 

Of course, there was pah-lenty of dancing later on. I discovered that my normally quiet, reserved, on the sidelines, introverted BIL (husband of FPC) is QUITE the dancer once he's had a drink or two. Honestly, he was the only one with any business dancing to any of those songs. I knew he had it in him, but the "teaching everyone all the dances" part DID surprise me. 

EJ had a rough time skipping that afternoon nap, but there were so many nice ladies willing to hold her and/or push her around in a stroller until she fell asleep. Which meant I could 1) drink more and 2) dance more. YAY.

I realized, after it was over, that I felt like a GUEST. Which was so nice! I loved the FPC's wedding and was MUCH more involved in it, but I needed therapy after it was over. Something about how the FPC and I were the only ones in the city where the wedding was held made it MUCH more complicated than Other Sister's wedding, you know? (For ME anyway, and this is MY BLOG, I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO COUNTS.) Plus it was at my church and I was figuring out so much of the logistics. This one was in my parents' and sister's town and the reception venue handled nearly everything, and no one needed me to do anything. Of course, you know how I abhor not being needed, but it really WAS nice not having to manage anything the day of the wedding. 

My sister changed into the MOST ADORABLE green dress and then she and BIL escaped. They went to Hawaii. They are in Hawaii right now. I am not jealous at all. 

The rest of us packed up gifts and and guest book cards and flowers and table numbers and gave up looking for lost cameras (PHILLIP HAD IT THE ENTIRE TIME OMG) and then hunkered down at my parents' dining table to debrief. For hours. WAS EXTREME FUN.

I did my own wedding almost entirely by myself. (My parents lived in Italy at the time, my in-laws were helpful but planning our Chinese wedding banquet in Vancouver, my sisters were 19 and 20 so somewhat oblivious to wedding stuff, and my best friends from college had all - ALL! - moved far away. My close friends were only starting to be my close friends then.) But over the years I've helped with friends' weddings and I did a lot for my sisters' weddings. I feel like a know a thing or two now and IF ONLY I KNEW THESE THINGS WHEN I GOT MARRIED!!! (Future post: How I Will Do Things When I Get Married Again.)

I am STILL tired. I slept fine enough last night and even passed out on the couch for a bit this afternoon, but I still have that tired eyes/headachey feeling. So of course I spent hours painting the doors that go on the credenza/buffet thing I bought and painted in JANUARY. Someone needs a new project? 

This was a pretty pathetic recap, it seems. Light on the drama, heavy on the sniffles. But that's the way we want things to go, right? Right. Well done, family of mine. I can't wait for our family beach weekend (THIS WEEKEND) (TO WHICH SISTER AND NEW BIL ARE COMING, I KNOW, THEY ARE CUTTING THEIR HONEYMOON SHORT, THEY ARE CRAZY) (SERIOUSLY) so we can talk about it all over again!!!

Comments

[Ruth]

HI Maggie, I'm a long time reader from Bellevue, and just sent a FB friend request, but couldn't find a way to send along a message to tell you that I'm a blog reader. But you can see my name from my email address, OK?

[Beth]

I still remember buying flowers for your wedding at Pike Place Market on the wedding morning. I thought that was brilliant and fun, and the live quartet/trio(?) at the reception was also very cool. So even though you feel like you could pull it off even better with all your accumulated knowledge, it still was a pretty classy affair.

[HereWeGoAJen]

Aww, this sounds like just the best wedding! The recap made me so jealous that I was not there.

[Hillary]

I loved your green dress. LOVED.

[Life of a Doctor's Wife]

It sounds SO lovely! I'm so glad you had such a nice time and that everything went smoothly.

[Sonya aka Glam-O-Mommy]

Maggie, sounds like a fabulous wedding! You looked seriously gorgeous in YOUR beautiful green dress (which I'm totally coveting-I love green) from your Twitter picture. I would love to be your FB friend and will send you a request (you'll recognize me because my FB pic is the same as my Twitter picture). However, totally understand if you are not cool with being FB friends since I am just a blog commenter/Twitter person and bad about keeping up my own blog! So no worries. :)

[Jesabes]

They're coming back early from HAWAII? Family beach weekend sounds great (we're having one next month)...but I'd go with Hawaii.

The wedding sounds wonderful and I LOVE your seating chart. Very pretty.

[Megan]

Thanks for accepting my friend request on FB :) The pics of the wedding are gorgeous!!! :)

[PinkieBling]

I am probably going to need you to write a post on all the things you wish you had known for your wedding. Please and thank you.

I've already stalked the wedding photos on FB, as you've seen. It looked so pretty and fun, and you were rockin' it! HOT MAMA!

[Christiana]

Okay, so I'm reading this post and I have to interrupt my reading to make sure you didn't unfriend ME. :) And then I had to go BACK to FB a few paragraphs later and peruse the wedding pics and WOW. You and your sisters look SO much alike. At one point, I thought FPC was YOU. (thanks for the captions!) Anyhow - it all looked lovely and you looked fabulous!

[Mark]

These are the posts we all should be writing more of...so happy. I'm not normally a wedding post reader, but your comments on running caught my eye and I was hooked. Also, cookies, in my book, are great pre-run carbo-loading. Btw, have you signed up for Endomondo? It's what makes me enjoy running (read: I *hate* running, but seeing how far I ran is pretty cool).

[Kanuck]

Love the postcard "guestbook" idea!

[Doing My Best]

The whole thing sounds WONDERFUL! How nice to have such great memories of the wedding experience =)!

[Andrea Shirey]

Okay. I've been reading your blog for two years and I think commented once. Maybe twice. Today I clicked over to follow you on Twitter and you are like, super hot. All this time you (your blog) makes it sound like you are way overweight and frumpy and not attractive, and whoa, you are. You sell yourself way short. You are a mom of three, sound like super mom to me, funny, and now I find out hot too. I'm officially jealous. Love reading in this space and appreciate your honesty.

[Crystal]

Your blogged reminded me of MY sister's wedding. (not the sister who eloped...blah, I am so sad about that NO PARTY). I was the matron of honor and also the organist. I threw her a shower, which went spectacularly well. Then on the day, I was uber anxious to make it through to the toast. I walked up the aisle, played the organ for everyone else, and after the ceremony (it was only a JP) I played the organ while everyone exited. Then I had to make the toast before dinner. I honestly can't remember what I said, but I had prepared it perfectly and it came out perfectly and everyone laughed at the right spots. And after that all I remember is dancing and dancing and drinking (open bar!) and dancing. It was so fun to feel like a guest after my "duties" were over. I'm glad you got to enjoy your sister's wedding so much!