Wedding Wishes & Tina Turner Dreams

So, my Maid of Honor duties are officially over and I must say, it's kind of like the let down after Christmas.  I SO looked forward to last weekend and I was spoiled by having so many people that I loved all in one spot.  It just doesn't happen anymore.  Because I am not quite ready to let the weekend go (even though it was three days ago), I've decided to relive the entire thing here!


The rehearsal was magnificent, complete with hilarious & heartfelt speeches and phenomenal food.  Ansley stayed with me the weekend!  Apparently I missed the color memo...

The storms were beginning to roll in at this point.  Definite cloud coverage, but Em wasn't letting a few rainy skies dampen her excitement for the weekend and I was SO proud of her.  I can't say that everyone (or me for that matter) would have been that cool and collected.  


Wedding day was a whirlwind...in more ways than one.  We had a gorgeous and delicious bridesmaid brunch the morning of the wedding eloquently presented by Emily's Aunts and relatives.  As gracious as our hosts were, the weather was not so...and our power went out.  Honestly, maybe I am (as one of my professor's said last year) a "frigging ray of sunshine," but I thought the brunch by candle light was magnificent! It added a unique and intimate touch.  Emily so generously gave us our jewelry to be worn during the ceremony...nothing less than beautifully delicate earrings. 

From the brunch, Caroline Ans and I ran home, grabbed our stuff and quickly made it back to MtnBrook to be the Bride's chauffeur, a task we were glad to master.  The entire day seemed like deleted scenes from Father of the Bride.  We took Em to have her hair did and boy was it a treat.  Sister Liz (aka cast member of Hairspray) was also there to have her hair done.

Emily was also being lifted and so we decided to celebrate the gravity-defying volume with a mimosa...

or two...

We finally made it to the Birmingham Country Club where we made some final touches and Emily put on her STUNNING wedding dress.

After months and months of planning, everything looked gorgeous.  

The ceremony was perfect and thank goodness, I made it up and down the stairs without even a stumble.  Everything was perfectly timed and ceremoniously beautiful.  Especially the bride!  We had pockets in our dresses, and I asked Em if she would mind if I took my camera with me down the aisle...she said it might not be best.  Oh well, I guess we will have to leave it to Bryan Johnson to capture those photos. 


The reception was SO incredibly fun!  The entire wedding party stayed together for picture's sake and because the couple had a private dinner upon arrival to the reception, that meant we went into a holding room where innocent passersby would've seen a troop of bridesmaids pounce on a plate of chicken fingers like it was their last meal on Earth.

Little shout out... LOVED seeing Mrs. Tatum, Dr. Novara, Mrs. Kyle, Ms. Germany, Ms. Fetz and Ms.Bronczek!  Yay for Out-of-Towners!  All of you keep looking better and better.  I was especially sad to see this particular part of the weekend go :-(.  And I was SO happy Mom & Dad were there too!

And another part I was sad to see go....the band...Big Swing and the Ballroom Blasters.


Yes, miracle of all miracles....one of my dreams came true.  Emily had the most amazing band, complete with 5 singers and a horn section.  And so, when I heard those trusty three chords repeat, I could feel the stage beckoning to me (bare with me on the dramatic...this is a milestone people).  I believe I may have been a little too open about my love for Tina Turner's rendition of "Proud Mary", because as the band tuned up, I had multiple people (ahem...Beno, Sarah and BO) pointing to me and yelling at the band that "this is HER song!" No in fact it is not my song however much I would love to lay claim to that fact. The lead singer, in her blindingly metallic silver dress and stiletto shoes, does the unthinkable...she beckons me on stage.  She gets me to dance with her, and before I know it, I have the mic in my hands.  Just for the record she did practically force the mic into my hands...nevermind that if she hadn't, I would have knocked her right off those shiny stilettos and ripped that mic  out of her grip, even if she was like a foot taller than me. Because of Emily...I lived out my dream and did my best (take that with a grain of salt...bare in mind that I am not singer...at all) Tina Turner impression.  For a little clip of this delightful memory that enables me to die happily...visit Cay's blog! I believe this will allow me to go on a Tina hiatus for a while.  When your boyfriend can actually start a sentence with "Of all the times I've seen you do that...," you know it's time to go into retirement for a bit.

At the end of the night we sent Em and Jim away in a beautiful, vintage powder blue Mercedes.

The entire weekend was a blast and I can't believe it's already over!  I was so happy to be your MOH!  You're a wonderful friend and I love you so much!

I say we do it again in the fall.. oh wait! We will, at Erin's Wedding on November 20!  Exciting!!!!