A Rainstorm, A Power Outage, and A Wedding

I mentioned in my previous post that two weekends ago I was in town for one of my best friends' wedding.  When it came time to say their vows it was so beautiful, sweet, and living, but man did it take a lot to get there!

Julia should give all brides lessons on staying calm on their wedding day.  She was so poised through the entire day and kept her thoughts on saying "I do" and rolling with the punches.

Julia originally chose a gorgeous vineyard for her wedding less than a month after they got engaged last summer.  She is such a planner, and wanted to lock that down asap.  Then in January the venue called her and cancelled. (!!!)  Okay, they technically didn't cancel because that would be a breach of contract, but they called her saying they had lost their liquor license, couldn't serve food, and if they played music they couldn't guarantee the neighborhood wouldn't call the cops.  Um, excuse me?  After some scrambling he managed to find another option that she liked, and maintain most of her vendors.

This venue was a gorgeous golf course in Baldwinsville, NY.  There ceremony site was outside at a gazebo right next to the water with gorgeous flowers exploded everywhere (tastefully, of course).  With the sun shining at 4:30 it was so stunning at the rehearsal!

Then, we woke up Saturday morning to 45 degrees and a torrential downpour.  No worries though, as a bridesmaid it was our job to keep the positive thoughts rolling!  We met at the salon, beautified, and did multiple sun salutations praying for it to show itself.

Well, the salutations must have worked because by 2pm the clouds parted and the sun was shining!  We all headed over to the venue to get into our pretty dresses and take some pictures.

At 4:20, about 10 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to begin, we saw a gigantic, dark, angry cloud coming towards us...and coming fast.  Thankfully, the wedding coordinator was on top of it and suggested postponing the start for about 15 minutes, since it was just one cloud and once it passed the outdoor ceremony could begin! To make a long story short, the rain came pouring down, some guests were hidden in the gazebo to stay dry and more guests were waiting in the reception tent up the hill to try to stay dry.  People kept bombarding Julia with negative comments and I about went Bridesmaid-zilla on them!  The two wedding coordinators kept going back and forth with Julia about what she wanted to do and it just got really stressful for everyone!  Finally, Julia put her foot down and just decided that since most guests were in the tent they would just do the ceremony there.  Problem solved.

Then another wedding coordinator came up and told her the tent had lost power. At this time the rain had passed and the sun was back out.  Since the tent had no power, we suggested just doing it outside.  The wedding coordinator then had the audacity to say "Well you can do the ceremony outside, but now your reception is going to be a big problem." To the bride! I was absolutely floored by how unprofessional he was and if the other coordinator hadn't profusely apologized to Julia about him I might have flipped.  This is when having bridesmaids comes in handy.  We blasted music, danced around and kept the atmosphere as positive as possible.  She was about to be Mrs. Liu! Her name was going to be Julia Liu! Cutest name ever! Yay Aruba in 2 days!  I swear it worked a little. :)

When the time came for the now-inside ceremony to begin you would have never known about all of the drama before.  The men looked so handsome and watching Julia walk down the aisle was so moving!  I pretty much held it together until Mike said his vows and then GOODNIGHT. Tears everywhere!

Contrary to the Scrouge of a wedding coordinator, they were able to set up a generator and by the time the cocktail hour was supposed to begin the tent had power.  Of course, there needed to be one more bump before wedded bliss.  About every 15 minutes once the dancing portion began the music and lights would overpower the generator and everything would go silent and black.  So, in true happy bridesmaid form we would just start cheering, clapping, and clinking our glasses to make them smooch whenever the lights and sound went out! Not going to lie, it became pretty funny!  For the last hour the power came back and they were able to switch everything over and it ended without a hitch. :)

Julia was the epitome of grace the whole day.  Even when upset she kept the final goal of marrying her best friend at the front of her mind, and it showed the minute they saw each other! They fill me with such joy!


Also, I have to give a special shout out to my best friend, Felicia, for sharing her hubby with me!  Dom wasn't able to come due to an exam, so Kevin took one for the team and had two dates.

{Poor guy ;)}