Wedding Stories -- The Rehearsal

So, after being in Santa Fe for almost two days, Friday was the day that stuff finally started happening. I had a trial-run hair appointment at the salon, went and had portraits made (which is an entirely different story we may or may not ever tell) and finally, at 3 pm, we all headed to the church for the rehearsal.

Brandon and I got to go over the entire wedding ceremony with our priest here in California as a part of our pre-marriage counseling, so we knew what to expect, and we were ready. It was really very straightforward -- you stand here, you stand here, you say this, we move here, badda-bing badda-bang and you're married!



What we weren't quite expecting was that Father Coleman would have us recite our vows then and there, to get used to saying them, I guess. He was great, having me recite that I was marrying Brandon "for richer or for poorer -- preferably richer..."

I was doing great until Brandon was reciting his vows and started to cry. There is nothing that will make me cry faster than seeing him cry, let me tell you. But we pulled it together and made it through the service.



We practiced the vows and such first, and then did the procession. Emily had been distinctly worried that they would make her do the whole step -- PAUSE -- step thing, but they told her to just walk slowly, much to her relief. My dad walked me down the aisle, and when Father Coleman asked, "Who presents this woman to be married?" he answered "I do."

There was an audible throat clearing from the audience and I heard my mother's voice saying, "Um, EXCUSE ME?"



He was SUPPOSED to say, "Her mother and I do," and we teased him relentlessly that if he forgot on the day he would be in some SERIOUS hot water.

At some point in here, Emily, Anne, and Allison decided to dub themselves "Team Lacy" and even came up with a secret handshake. There were Team Lacy tee shirts to follow. Oh yes. With sparkly gangsta letters on. Emily told Brandon that his team had better "Bring it!"

Ahh. There is nothing funnier than watching my incredibly white sister try to represent.

They even made me carry the paper plate and ribbon bouquet that Emily had made from the ribbons on all our gifts at the bridal shower! (For the record, I actually had TWO paper plate bouquets -- one from each shower -- but Emily was just a tad touchy about there being more than one, so we used hers which, I assured her, was far FAR superior! Notice the superior-nicity in the following picture of my mom, Team Lacy member Anne, and Team Lacy member Allison -- holding the bouquet for me.) =D



You like that? Here's one of my dad with the infamous -- I mean! Superior! Far superior! -- bouquet.



Brandon and I signed the marriage certificate with Emily and my Poppy as our witnesses, and that was IT! We were OUTTA there!



All told, the rehearsal took 28 minutes. Father Coleman said it was a new record. He even mentioned it in his sermon during the ceremony: "The rehersal only took about thirty minutes -- I didn't know what to do with myself!" What can I say? We are just that good.

To see some more pictures of the wedding rehearsal, you can go to my flickr page. I'm slowly uploading and organizing pictures there, and I'll make a post whenever I have a new set to share! Up next: the rehearsal dinner. All I can say is pizza and beer, baby. Pizza and beer.