The night of the henna party, I got home at about 10:30 or so, and had to remove the crusty, sticky henna paste from my hands and feet before I could crawl into bed.
Everything was in readiness for the morning. My dress and slip came home with me from the party, and I had my plans laid out for getting ready in the morning, so that I could relax and maybe get a little sleep.
I took a non prescription sleeping pill, and headed to the kitchen.
With a butter knife, I scraped and pried. It was, in a word, painful...but eventually, most of the dried henna was in, or around, the trash can.
The fragrance was heavenly!
Off to bed, and restless sleep.
In the morning, I made my coffee with Bailey's, and took a long, luxurious shower.
By the time I was putting on my make up, having had scrambled eggs for breakfast, my sister had arrived.
She'd left a note for the boys to NOT FORGET the bug spray and, most importantly, the "fogger" for spraying insect repellent around the wedding site.
I sent her off to pick up the flowers, with a call to the florist to alert them that someone other than me was going to do the pick up.
They were surprisingly friendly and courteous on the phone. Must have been a different person working, than any of the ones I had dealt with previously!!
While she was out, my ex father in law arrived. He had successfully navigated his way HERE, which, later in the day, became recognized as a miracle!
We were due to arrive at the Morton Arboretum at 11:45, for a noon wedding. All was going as planned.
I did try to primp my hair up a bit, but it was thunderstorming out...yes, thunderstorming...and the humidity changed my hair plans irrevocably! It was just long and wavy. Period.
As I finished getting ready, I quietly did a little "witchy stuff" to try to influence the weather.
The clouds stopped thundering. The rain stopped pouring. The skies began to clear.
I may be delusional in thinking that, perhaps, my efforts, and those of everyone else who said they were praying for the rain to stop, actually worked.
But, whatever the case, the rain stopped, and it just became incredibly muggy and buggy out.
No rain, however, was key to out plans to marry in the woods!
A, my ex father in law, had been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, you may recall.
We had planned to have him ride with us in my sister's car to the wedding and reception, and then have someone bring him back here to get his car after the reception.
He was not going for that. He insisted upon driving his own car to the wedding, because, he said "I have a handicap permit for parking."
We could not understand the logic of that, since where he parked was irrelevant. We were planning to park near the wedding spot, and walk into the woods from there. There was no handicap parking spot there! But he insisted on being self sufficient, and having his own car at the woods. HE could not understand OUR logic.
So, we decided he could follow us, and park in the main lot, THEN get into our car, and proceed with us to the wedding site.
We were running on time.
All went well, until we got to the Arboretum lot, and, because of his handicap placard, A was routed away from us.
Rather than telling the parking attendant that he needed to stay WITH US, he allowed himself to be re routed to a totally different area in the main lot, where he could use his handicapped pass!
Then he got out of his car and started wandering.
Anyway, I was late for my own wedding because I lost the man who was to give me away! It took us a full 20 minutes to find him.
When we did, he was agitated, and sweating, and so was I!! But, we proceeded to the site, with my brother waiting for us at the parking area.
My sister in law had joined us in the lot, and aided in our search for A, so she met her husband, and took D's boutineer to him.
My sister in law also alerted everyone that the bride had finally arrived, and they made ready.
The wedding proceeded perfectly. Well, except for the million mosquitoes which were voraciously attacking us.
The boys had ignored my sister's note, and no bug spray or fogger had been brought to the site.
Because of the rain, and the fact that it had been a wet summer, the mosquitoes were worse than I had ever seen them. They were landing on faces, and necks, and scalps, and getting under skirts, and biting through clothes.
It was horrendous.
BHD had a big straw hat with her, and she was constantly using it to fan away bugs.
My sister in law had a bad reaction to all of the bites, and was unable to attend part of the reception!
I will not go into detail about the ceremony, other than to say that the sun broke through and shined on us at highly pertinent moments. The words spoken were powerful and evocative. The ceremony itself was sacred and perfect!
hobbitt took wonderful photographs, which can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/druidlabs/sets/72157606195493833/
and by 12:30 or so pm, on July 12, 2008, D and I were husband and wife!!
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