We had our rehearsal dinner the night before our wedding last month. I emphasized to everyone to please be on time. Almost everyone was there on time, however I couldn’t find Andrew or his family anywhere! I found them upstairs, just talking.

And then my brother shower up.

My brother Steven, who is our resident “crazy” sibling, came to our rehearsal as a homeless man. Yup a homeless man.

At first, I couldn’t believe it – but then again it is my brother so it really didn’t surprise me too much. I jcouldn’t stop laughing and I still laugh now when I look at that picture. I mean, not many brides can say that their brother showed up to their rehearsal dinner looking like that! Plus, I was kind of impressed with all the effort he put into it and how well it turned out! He had a family friend help him with the makeup, though she didn’t want me to know because I thought she would be mad. ;P

The groomsmen didn’t realize it was a joke until after the wedding. ;P They thought that he was actually homeless! Once they understood the joke, they thought it was a lot funnier. Andrew’s poor mother had to be escorted down the aisle by him. I know she thought it was funny, but he even told her that she didn’t have to hold his arm. I am just giggling writing about this!

The actual rehearsal was a little rough. I may have broken down into tears on several different occasions which was absolutely mortifying. Everyone was looking to me for decisions, asking me a million different questions at the same time, and then when I would make a decision, they wouldn’t agree or like it! It was driving me absolutely bonkers. And when I get overwhelmed and upset, the floodgates just open! So embarrassing. In the end, however, everything worked out and we ran through it once more and everything went smoothly!

I just wanted to eat! x_x

The fellowship hall, where we had planned on having the dinner flooded the day before, so we moved the food upstairs to one of the Sunday School rooms. I actually think I liked it better up there! Andrew’s parents catered Olive Garden so we had chicken parmesan, fettuccine alfredo, breadsticks, salad, and his sister baked cookies! It was all so good!

Since we had to move all of the food upstairs, we brought up tin holders and bunson burners to keep the food warm. They placed water under the tin food, so that the burners would warm the water, which would keep the food warm. When I went to scoop myself some chicken, though, the whole thing collapsed and water went everywhere. I just stood there, frozen, as everyone tried to put the food back on the stand, but kept dropping it because the tins were so hot. All my girls just giggled at me. -_-

After dinner, we handed out our gifts. I wish I would have taken pictures because I made really cute bags for everyone with their names on it. We used yellow bags with mint blue tissue paper we found at the dollar store to match our wedding colors. All of the groomsmen received a flask with their name and our wedding date engraved on it. I bough all of my bridesmaids pearl necklaces and earrings and then some lotion and body wash from Bath & Body Works.

I bought Andrew’s mom a necklace I found from Etsy with a sweet message on the inside. It was so cute how it was packaged! I think she really like it! I mean, I would have liked it if I got it!

My dad’s side of the family is from Pennsylvania, and it’s about a 12 hour drive from there to St. Louis, so we don’t get to see them very often! They went out for margaritas afterwards and Andrew and I joined them. We had a great time – and it was perfect for me because it kept me from worrying and stressing about my big day tomorrow!

This is the first post in a series about my wedding. Read about the morning of my wedding next!

I have been so wedding stressed out lately. Last night, I laid in bed for hours last night just thinking about all of the things that I still need to do, decorations to buy, things I have to make, questions I need to ask, people I need help from. There are 48 days until my wedding (!!!!) but, good gracious, it might kill me before it gets here. I am just feeling very overwhelmed.

I had a dream two nights ago that I went to have my wedding dress altered and when I went to pick it up, the seamstress has dyed it purple and made it into a tulle romper. I am not good at confronting people or saying no, and I didn’t want to hurt the seamstress’s feelings so when she asked if I liked it, I said, “ It’s different than what I was expecting.” But everyone else absolutely loved it and thought it would be so modern and chic, so I just paid for it and had to wear it like that on my wedding day.

Then I had a dream last night that my wedding photographer forgot about the wedding. I didn’t even notice she wasn’t there until the reception. So she just decided not to come and we didn’t have wedding pictures despite paying the ridiculous amount we’re paying. During this whole photography debacle, my dress turned yellow and I was freaking out – I couldn’t wear a dress that was yellow! So I had to wear a dress someone just went and bought really fast at the nearest department store.

Oi.

My mother and I went to the ballroom Saturday morning. We had a lot of questions about the floor plan and how many people and tables could fit on the floor with room still for dancing, etc. We got them all answered and I feel a little better about that now, knowing that there will be enough room for everything. However, we weren’t planning on doing a seating plan and the lady there highly recommended we do one.

I’m a little bit split on this, though. Two hundred people can sit on the ballroom floor, but then any number exceeding that (we may/may not have up to 50 – still waiting on RSVPs for a final head count) have to sit in the balcony. If I created a seating chart, I could ensure that elderly people could sit on the floor and not have to climb the stairs to the balcony. Also if we are full (the ballroom holds max 250) and a group of people arrive, but there are only scattered seats left, they will have to split up and won’t be able to sit together. Plus I think it will just overall be less chaotic if everyone knows where their seat is.

On the flip side, I then have to choose who has to sit in the balcony and they have to sit away from everyone else/have a harder time seeing everything. Then there are also going to be people who don’t like where I have them sitting and I’m sure will voice their opinions (*cough*grandpa*cough*). Plus it’s a lot of work haha.

My mom is really opposed to the seating chart, but I’m kind of leaning towards it. Do you guys have any thoughts on this? Have you been to a wedding before where the seating chart was great/disastrous? I have been to both: one wedding it was really nice knowing I had a seat the whole night and it was mine! The other two I had to sit far away from friends and with a bunch of people I didn’t know which was a bit awkward.

Then I think I just need to do what I want to do because it is my wedding and I need to stop trying to please everyone. Ahhhh. My head hurts just thinking about it all.

After we went to the ballroom, we did some shopping for some decoration projects – that was a complete failure. Turns out the small and simple projects I had in mind were going to end up costing hundreds of dollars which I hadn’t budgeted for. It’s just hard saying no to something that you love and know will be perfect. But I just can’t justify spending that much money on small decorations so I’m trying to find things that I still like that are more affordable, but so far have just had to settle with something that is just cheap and that will work – even if it isn’t cute.

With all that being said and done, I did have a small silver lining at the end of the night: I was ordering some mailing return labels with Andrew and I’s name on it. A friend had suggested I get some that way I can slap them on thank you notes and whiz through them, not having to handwrite our names and address over and over again. I was typing in our names, Andrew & Rebecca Smith, and just had to take a moment and soak in that line and how good it sounds.

And that’s when I knew that all this stress and anxiety and my empty wallet doesn’t really matter all that much – because in the end I get to marry my best friend and I couldn’t be happier.