The Rehearsal

Sheila and Chris are married! It's official...and sometime tomorrow they will be en route to Costa Rica. Jealous. The weekend could not have gone more perfectly!

Friday, some of the bridesmaids, the bride, and our mom got our nails done (a treat on any day) and some of us went to lunch at Cosi. I hadn't been to a Cosi in a while but after such a yummy meal I'll be sure not to let such a time lapse between visits happen again. Our family (Jeff, Cece, and I) had a pre-rehearsal. As the Matron of Honor, mother of the flower girl, and wife of the ring bearer (yes, you read that right), I was a smudge stressed about the role my family and mostly my daughter would be playing. I knew that no matter what, the show would go on. Whenever we talked about Cece walking down the aisle with daddy, she would interject, "No, mommy.". We tried to explain that that wasn't what would be happening, but we thought some hands on experience inside the church would be good. So, we went early and our organ player was there so we practiced with music. We watched YouTube videos of other flower girls walking down the aisle, and we practiced, practiced, practiced. When it came time to practice with everyone else, Cece was doing a hesitation step march (which was super cute) pacing back and forth in the back of the church. She made it about halfway down walking and then asked daddy to scoop her up for the rest of the walk. During the rehearsal ceremony, she was able to walk freely between daddy and I. We bribed her before, during, and after the rehearsal with Annie's brand fruit snacks. Cece has an addictive personality when she finds something she loves so we had to dose these out. She hadn't had them in a long time so they were an extra special treat. And they worked wonders.

Back to the bride. Sheila was beautiful, calm, cool, and collected. Our parish priest presided over the rehearsal, but Chris' home parish priest would be presiding over the wedding the following day, so we were told things could change based on preferences. Sheila and Chris were both flexible and open to ideas. The wedding party, though somewhat large with eight female attendants and eight male attendants, were all attentive, respectful, and good at following directions. Everything went smoothly and we continued on to dinner at Cafe La Fontana. Sans Cece. Cece went home with Jeff who met up with Nana. Nana stayed home with Cece so that we could both attend the dinner. It was so nice to spend time with friends, family, and new friends, and family as well. Both our family and Chris' family both get along so well, so this union has seemed both natural and seamless. More on the wedding day tomorrow.