WOWZA what a CRAZY weekend I had!!! It all started on Thursday evening…immediately after work I ran to Trader Joes to pick up car snacks for the drive to San Luis Obispo after which I stopped at Chick-Fil-A to grab dinner for Kevin, Jamie, and myself. My brother and sister-in-law met me at my house and we had dinner together, loaded the car, and hit the road for Orcutt, California where we spent the night at my Uncle Pete and Aunt Loretta’s house. We laughed through the 3.5 hour drive and were met by our cousin Tyler upon our 11:00pm arrival. Kev and Ty played Wii for a bit while Jamie and I were content to chat, snack, and watch the male bonding occurring in the living room. When we woke up the next morning, all the Swope’s enjoyed breakfast together (consisting of Costco muffins and caffeinated coffee) and then we got ready for the day. By 11:00am we were on our way to downtown San Luis to meet Amber (the bride) for lunch and pedicures. Lunch was delicious and I don’t think it should EVER be legal to complain about a pedicure (and I have had some seriously illegitimate pedis in my day! I say no thank you to the garbage bag lined 25 cent bin from wal mart that is considered a “spa pedicure”). With freshly painted toes, we went drove to Atascadero where we picked up a bunch of stuff to decorate the venue and then we were off to the rehearsal dinner. As I was the wedding coordinator, the rehearsal was one of my big responsibilities and I was a tinge nervous – but everything went just fine and after practicing twice, everyone knew exactly what to do (not that it actually went as planned on the wedding day…but still…).
We spent quite a while decorating the venue after the rehearsal – Amber has been unemployed for several months now and has had far too much time on her hands - which has come in handy for planning a wedding. She definitely picked up a lot of wedding blog ideas and created quite a theme for herself. We spent hours hanging mason jars with candles and shepherd hooks and bunting and bulb lights, etc. She definitely had the whole package.
After the rehearsal was over and a bit more decorating was completed, we were off to Amber and Sean’s for a few more hours of fun with the wedding party. The guys hung out on the porch smoking cigars and enjoying their beverages of choice, while the girls stayed inside and chatted in the kitchen over champagne and snacks. Right around 1:00am we collapsed into bed knowing that the next day would be FULL. We woke up just before 7:00am and started the showering process (and yes it is a process when all the girls are in one house). By 9:40 we made a quick pit stop @ Starbucks and then headed for the venue where Amber’s hair and makeup people were waiting to get her (and the bridesmaids) all dolled up. From there the day is basically a haze of setting up tables and tablecloths and runners and florals and the welcome station and the guestbook table and the favor table and the coffee area and the dessert table and meeting with vendors to make sure everything was good and running the timeline by the dj and getting the bride down the aisle and making sure the bride and groom actually came to the reception and being sure the cake was available for cutting and dancing a lot and handing out sparklers and drinking champagne and dancing more and hugging Amber and feeling overwhelmingly relieved that we had done it. By the time the wedding was over, I was more exhausted than I could even comprehend. However, I can honestly say it was a beautiful wedding and Amber is now Mrs. McGaughey – just what she had hoped for.
After cleaning everything up late Saturday night, Kevin Jamie and I trekked back to Orcutt and spent the night with the Swopes one more time. We had a French toast breakfast with them on Sunday morning and then got in the car and started the drive home. I can now officially say one wedding down, one to go…and this time I live with the bride…oh man, what have I signed myself up for??????
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