After some key changes in Vienna's and Mike's life (i.e. getting an apartment) it was finally time for them to decide on a date for their wedding. Well, the date was already decided - the year wasn't. October 7th is the only date that Mike would accept - and for such sweetly romantic reasons, I just couldn't complain too much. That happens to be the anniversary of their first date seven years ago and of the day Mike asked her to marry him two years ago. So, it would either be October 7th of this year or next year. Well, they took a little bit more time to decide and so a month or so ago when I pressed the issue, Vienna decided on 2014. Ok, fine, I can wait. It wasn't my preference but at least I can invite everyone in the world and make huge plans because I'll have plenty of time. Well, no... she said they really just wanted a very small wedding with immediate family and close friends, only. "Gaaaah!! You're killing me!" was my text response. Thankfully, after a more reasoned response on my part, it became clear that if we were to have such a small wedding, we could certainly pull it off in a month. Yay - Agreed!!So we set about spreading the news and sending save-the-date emails. The theme would be Japanese, because the couple loves sushi and that was what they ate on their first date, and the colors would be red, black and white - a stunning combination, I think. It would be in a small chapel because Mike has always had his idea of a perfect wedding in a chapel (so sweet!) and there would be karaoke.
Unfortunately, because of the shortened timeline, most of our out-of-town friends and family were unable to come. This will always be my biggest regret of the event, that I couldn't convince bosses, buy plane tickets and fix family issues to get everyone I love here for the big event. And boy did I try to make up for it! I took video and even tried to do a group skype so some could see the ceremony but that failed epically. I'm still sad about it but hope to make up for it to all our friends and family in the future.
About a week or so into my month of joy and planning, I realized I needed to put on a bridal shower. This was going to be the time when I would invite everyone and their mothers to celebrate with me! I think I was as excited about the shower as I was the wedding itself! I had food to plan for both events, games to prepare and I would schedule the shower just 2 days before the ceremony so that I could use the same decorations and consolidate all the fun to one long weekend.
Everyone I spoke to was shocked that we thought we could pull this off in so short a time. But it wasn't too hard at all. And, none of us have a ton of money to spend on a wedding so we were keeping it cost-effective to say the least. The Origami flowers really helped with that. The venues were inexpensive and the food would not be cheap, but it also would not be extravagant and with only about 20 people planned to attend, the cost could be kept low. The only things anyone was going to put a larger amount on were the dress and the photography and I think we got really good deals on both of those. Mike's mom Lori felt the dress was a high priority and so was generous enough to make that her contribution to the wedding - thank you, Lori! I, myself think photography MUST be done well and professionally and since Andy and I, the resident photographers, were going to be busy being dad and mom of the bride, a good professional was definitely my preference. (See my own sad wedding photos for proof of why I find this to be so important).
The big weekend arrived and I was stoked. I took Friday off to do all my running around and last-minute planning. I decided to surprise Vienna with an Arch for the ceremony. She had expressed that she wanted one but didn't think it would happen. I made it my job to make it happen! I rented one for just $35 at Alexis rentals in Santa Cruz, along with some pipes and drapes to shield the bride in the chapel while she readied herself for the aisle (another $25), but when I arrived, I found that even with them broken down into smaller parts, there was no way they would fit in my Nissan Acura. Surprisingly, this was my first real problem - what was I to do? Well, I paid for them and then told the warehouse guys that I'd have to pick them up on Monday, not knowing how exactly I was going to do that but I knew I'd figure it out. So, that's when Lori and her husband Kenny came to my rescue! They were so kind to agree to pick them up in their SUV in the morning and drop them off at the chapel - thanks again, guys!!
Other than that, I had a great Friday, running around, coordinating, ordering food, thrift shopping for material to decorate with and getting things done. I love that super-productive feeling and after this and helping with the church Luau a month or so ago, I think I'd love being a party planner. But, that would only be my tenth great idea for a career change that I simply can't manage.
Saturday - Bridal Shower day!! I spent most of the day finishing up some origami flowers, arranging them in vases that I got from the thrift store the day before with beans serving as stabilizers for the floppy flowers and finalizing the details for the shindig at 5:00. We had the shower at my friend Ruth Kaspar's home who lives up on a high hill overlooking the rest of Santa Cruz and the bay. It's a gorgeous house with an amazing view and it was perfect - thank you, Ruth!!
I got there at 4 so I could decorate and get the place ready. Vienna arrived just around 5 but before others got there and she brought her dress so that we could show it off to everyone. We ate Sushi from Rumble Fish in Scotts Valley, my favorite sushi place, onigiri, lovingly made by Hannah Seegmiller (thank you!) and wonderful sides and desserts that the other ladies brought. Everything was awesome. Oh and we also had some ice cream mochi, a yummy Japanese dessert contributed by Kathy and Jessica Kernan - thank you ladies! We ate and visited for about an hour or so and then it was time to play some games.
In the other room, with the dress as the main decor, we sat around and the first activity was simply an introduction around the circle so everyone could get to know everyone else. This turned out to be a lovely time when people said such nice things about Vienna and showed her how much they love her. I thoroughly enjoyed that. The next game was Two Truths and a Lie. The ladies got a handout with several sets of "facts". In each were two truths and one lie and they needed to choose which they thought was the lie. It was so much fun discovering interesting and unique facts about the couple. The maid-of-honor, Alexis won with missing only 4. Figures she would know them best. (Lori and I exempted ourselves because we didn't want it to be unfair.)
Next up was the Newlywed Game - or really in this case the almost married game, but you get the idea. For this I had a special video guest - Mike! I interviewed him a week before and asked him 20 questions about himself and Vienna and so, through his video he was able to tell if Vienna could guess all the same answers. It was such fun seeing him there and letting everyone who hasn't met him get to know him a little bit. Vienna did well but not perfect. There were a few questions she missed. But, it was a lot of fun. And two ladies guessed correctly how many Vienna would get right.
Finally, we did what I call an Advice Round Robin. I gave each lady a card to write down one piece of advice for Vienna. So, now was the time that we would go around and have everyone read their advice. Several had more than one piece of advice but we kept it to reading just one. Again, it was a lovely time to express ourselves and let Vienna in on how we each keep our relationships strong. I loved it and loved all the advice Vienna got. She took home the cards but I want to make some sort of book out of them so she can keep them. That was it for the shower. After that we mingled a bit more, cleaned up and went home. Vienna had a lovely time and reconnected with some old friends. She was the bell of the ball as everyone flocked to her to get a bit of time with the guest of honor.
Sunday, we kinda rested. I worked a little more on flowers, fixing up the bouquets which I wasn't satisfied with and discussing some final details with Vienna but otherwise it was the calm before the storm.
The big day!! Monday, October 7th, 2013 will always be one of the very best days of my entire life. It was filled from beginning to end with driving to and fro, packing and unpacking boxes of decorations and celebrating the best time in my daughter's life. In the morning, I started off by meeting Lori and Kenny at the church to deliver the arch and pipe/drapes. I put out a few decorations just to get the feel of it and then on the way home, stopped for a witches' hat at the local Halloween store (I'll get to that in a bit) and then at I Love Sushi to set up the tables the way I wanted, put out table cloths and do any other things I could at that point.
The rehearsal went well with no snags. Everyone understood what to do and so then it was time for Vienna to hide away in her dressing room while the boys went back to the apartment to get dressed. This next couple of hours was quite filled with me running around, trying to do a skype, get dressed and help Vienna with whatever she needed. Lori, thankfully had her makeup and hair in hand so I could concentrate on being mother of the bride. We did successfully skype two of my friends in individually so they could say hi to Vienna, ask questions and meet Mike and some of the others in the wedding party. That really was fun to do and I hope that Mary and Michelle and their families enjoyed it as much as I did. We couldn't get the group thing going and poor Geni, Andy's step-mom, couldn't come in at all. Still sad about that.
I had such fun being the one to lace up Vienna's dress in the back. I didn't expect to do that but I loved it and hopefully Ashton, our photographer got some good shots of that. Yes, he was running around for a couple of hours before the ceremony getting lots of pictures of shoes, makeup application, the chapel and decorations and then the boys when they returned wearing their tuxes. Mike had a tophat! I loved that! The ceremony was supposed to start at 5:45 but like all good weddings, the bride took a little longer to get ready. 6:00 went by and we still weren't quite there but by around 6:15 we were ready to go!
Vienna, her dad, the best man, Tom and the maid of honor, Alexis (who are also dating and may hear wedding bells, themselves one day) Tristan, (Mike's nephew and ring bearer) and Reese, (Mike's sister) all waited behind the curtain in the chapel while little Scarlette, (Mike's 1-year-old niece) was cajoled into getting ready to walk down the aisle. She was adorable in her little white poofy dress and though didn't really spread any flowers down the aisle (she did hold a couple of petals in her hand the whole time) she actually made it all the way down the aisle without wandering off! Tristan was great as the ring bearer and looked so handsome in his tux. Tom and Alexis were perfect as they glided down the aisle.
Oh my gosh, I didn't mention the harp!! Probably my favorite part about the ceremony other than the couple themselves was that Mike and Vienna's friend Marinda Mitchell flew in from Seattle to play the harp for the ceremony. Ahhh, the sound of that harp as we waited for it all to start was so soothing and lovely. And I just know that as she started playing Pachelbel's Canon while Vienna started down the aisle, that's when my emotions started coming.
I didn't think I would but I cried through the whole thing! From the minute Vienna walked down the aisle to the harp music and I saw Mike's face when he first saw her, to the lovely reading by Rita, the officiant about hands, to the personal vows Mike and Vienna read to each other to the so-sweet tender kiss at the end. And then when Rita presented them as husband and wife, I lost it even more! One of the video cameras caught me grabbing and holding Andy as I wept - what a baby! The whole thing was wonderful. I don't usually cry out of joy but this was overwhelming. I guess I had to because I couldn't jump up and down squeeling. And the KISS! It was the most beautiful kiss I've ever seen!
Once the ceremony was over, the stress began - no, I wasn't stressed until this point when I realized I had 20 minutes until the time they wanted us out of the church to clean out everything - the decorations, arch, pipe/drapes and all our stuff in the dressing room and also take pictures. The light was fading fast so that was the priority. I went back and forth a bit scrambling around to get everything done. After pictures I realized that Vienna and Mike's friends from school were hanging out and chatting so I recruited them to help. As always they were right on it and were stars! Thank you Chanda, Colin and Jessica! I've always loved Vienna's friends - they're the best! Together we got everything out by 7:05, just in time for the custodian to take over. Whew!
Then it was time to get the heck out of there and over to I Love Sushi. We were already later than I thought we were, plus Vienna and Mike were basically done with pictures since we lost the light so they left right behind us. I was hoping to have like 20 minutes at least to decorate the room and set up a slide show, which never happened. I got there and there were people already hanging around waiting for something to happen. I had only enough time to put flowers on the table, give the servers some instructions and answer a bunch of questions from people before Mike and Vienna came in.
They were wearing their Mickey Mouse bride and groom ears! So cute! I was a bit stressed for a while and disappointed that some things didn't work out like I'd wanted, but I moved forward and got the video cam set up to record the festivities. It wasn't long before food started coming out, people started eating and we were making toasts with Martinelli's. Vienna and Mike sat at a table on the stage where we could admire their cuteness the rest of the night.
We interspersed toasts with some karaoke and everything was wonderful and so much fun. The best man, Tom started off with his toast. Afterward Andy gave a great toast and then through the night several others toasted, including me, Mike's mom, Alexis, Reese (his sister) and other friends. They all said such lovely things about each of them and I was more impressed with Mike than ever. I was so happy to hear things that convinced me he is in this marriage for the long-haul. He'll make her happy and that made me happy. We all felt the love.
The singing was a blast! Vienna and Mike started off with their "first
song" (instead of a first dance since neither of them like to dance).
They sang Journey's Don't Stop Believing - a perfect choice! We all
loved it! Afterward, Andy convinced Mike to sing AC/DC's Back in Black
which he did and very well! Vienna, Andy and I sang Love Shack which was
awesome. Vienna and I sang our Wicked Medley which included the
witche's hat that I had bought on Friday and was super-awesome! Vienna
and Mike also each had a song they sang for the other: Vienna sang Dream
a Little Dream of Me and Mike Sang the Hawaiian version of Somewhere
Over the Rainbow. During that number, little Scarlette wanted to get on
stage with Mike so he picked her up and sang with her in his arms - it
was so sweet!! Lori did a lovely a capella version of Simple Man and I
sang what turned out to be a weird version of We've Only Just Begun. It
was all poppish and had images of people setting things on fire but
hopefully the sentiment got across. Vienna, Alexis and Jessica sang
Sk8ter Boi from when they were in 6th grade. And the last song of the
night? Mike invited everyone who wanted to come up and sing Bohemian
Rhapsody. We had almost everyone up there and what a great time it was!
It was the most fun wedding reception I've ever been to.
Once they kicked us out, we gathered all our stuff and went on home with hugs and well-wishes all around. I was exhausted but elated. It was a near-perfect day and I will remember it as one of the best days of my entire life - right up there with my own wedding and Vienna's birth.
Since that day, I've been floating a little on air and smiling a little more than usual. I think what moves me most is that I have new family members, especially a son-in-law, whom I will probably think of as a son of my own. He's a wonderful guy and I know he will take good care of my little girl. He is stubborn when he puts his mind to something and he has committed to Vienna so I know he'll stick around. They are so happy and they just glow when they're together. I'm so excited for the two of them! Their next step is a honeymoon at Disneyland!
