A Wedding Story: Angela & Colby

The morning of November 24, 2007 at nine o'clock in the morning, my alarm clock went off, heralding the last day I would wake up as an unmarried girl.  The first thing I heard was the steady tapping of raindrops hitting the windowpane, and although our blinds were closed, I could tell that it was far too dark in the bedroom for it to be a sunny fall morning.  However, we had 3 girls that had to get through the shower before the bridesmaid's brunch began at eleven, so I rolled out of bed to begin my morning ablutions.

Brunch was absolutely delicious--it was catered by a family friend and I can't imagine the food would have been any more delicious if we'd had it done professionally.  In fact, it was probably even better since it was all made and presented with love.  I wish I had pictures to share with you of the gorgeous table setting, the amazing selection of finger sandwiches, soups, desserts, and drinks, unfortunately I have zero pictures of the wedding day on my camera so unless any show up in my mailbox sometime soon, we'll all have to imagine the fabulosity.

Brunch went until around twelve thirty, when our nail girl showed up and the getting ready process began in full force.  Everyone had told me that the wedding day would fly by in the blink of an eye, but honestly, up until seven o'clock in the evening, the day felt like it was going to last for an eternity.  Shortly after we started lining up to have our nails done, our hair and makeup artist arrived and the house turned into an explosion of nail polish, eye shadow, hairspray, and giggling.

One of the most vivid memories I have of getting ready was the 20 minutes or so we all spent transfixed on the story of Abigail and Brittany Hensel, a set of conjoined twins that one of my bridesmaids brought up randomly while my hair was being curled.  Every one of us, down to the makeup artist was fascinated by the story and my younger sister spent her time looking up articles and YouTube videos to try to answer all of our questions.  I just love and adore my bizarre friends and family!

The rain had continued throughout the day, and I'd done my best not to let it get to me.  At that point, it was the only thing that was going wrong, and it was so far out of my control that I didn't want it to bring us down.  My florist called to assure me that the decor would still be gorgeous, even if we did move the ceremony inside, and the woman in charge of our string quartet called to verify where the ceremony would take place and confirmed that the acoustics would be even better if it took place inside.  I received periodic calls from Colby throughout the day--and just to highlight how different the wedding preparation process was for him, they spent the day at LSU visiting Mike the Tiger while us girls were all running around at my house like chickens with our heads cut off.

Finally, at 4:45 we made the decision to go ahead and get ready at my house since the rain had stopped and I wouldn't have to worry about trying to dash through the rain in my wedding dress to get inside the venue.  It was a bit of a trial to find somewhere to get ready since there were 5 bridesmaids, a flower girl, a ring bearer, a reader, a mother of the bride, father of the bride, and a fabulous girl friend, as well as the bride all getting dressed in my parent's house.  We eventually did manage to make it happen, and after 45 minutes of attempting to corral everyone in the dining room, we got our pre-wedding photos done and at six o'clock loaded up in the swanky black limo to make the ride over to the plantation.

We were running a few minutes behind schedule, so once we were at White Oak, we all dashed inside and spent most of the rest of the pre-wedding time attempting to get my veil centered and jammed onto my hairspray shellacked head.  Not long after my head was properly attired, the bridesmaids were ushered out to line up, and suddenly the sounds of the string quartet switched from prelude music to the strains of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.  I waited, clutching my father's arm, as the music wafted back to us, and then as the music changed to The Sleeping Beauty Waltz for the bridal party procession, I realized that I'd forgotten one last lucky token in my purse.  My dad retrieved it for me, and I carefully slipped the old six-pence given to me by our officiant into my shoe.

Just as I straightened up, our coordinator poked her head in the door and in that moment everything hit me.  Up until I'd just been focused on getting dressed, making sure my hair was right, worrying about whether there would be enough room for our guests in the parlor where the ceremony was taking place.  Now that I was hearing the final strains of the waltz, everything else melted out of my mind and when I finally saw Colby standing at the head of the aisle I realized that all that really mattered about that day was that by seven thirty, I would be the wife of my best friend.

The tears had threatened to start for the first time when my dad told me how beautiful I looked, and as the Trumpet Voluntary started, they threatened again as I began my walk down the aisle.  So much of the ceremony is a blur, but there are certain things I remember.  The lighting of the vigil candles from the back of the room up to the front, our parents using their candles to light the unity candle, repeating our vows while trying not to laugh at the ring bearer who was hooking his index finger into his collar and pretending to choke in his tiny tuxedo, the gorgeous sounds of my uncle playing the guitar while my aunt sang There is Love, and the warmth and love I felt when all of the guests joined in the group prayer for our wedding.  Everything, right down to the kiss at the end was absolutely perfect, and as we walked through the saber arch during the recessional,  I felt such a sense of joy and certainty that this night was one of the greatest of my life.

And that's when everyone's warnings came true and the rest of the evening flew by in the blink of an eye.  There were pictures in the parlor once the guests had been ushered into the ballroom, then as the James Bond theme song played over the loud speakers, Colby and I made our grand entrance into the reception as husband and wife.  The first dance, to Idina Menzel's Come Rain or Come Shine, was a blur, as was my dance with my father to  Unforgettable, by Nat and Natalie.

Then I came crashing back down to earth with the sudden realization that I REALLY had to go to the bathroom.  So with the help of my sister and two friends, we maneuvered our way into a tiny bathroom stall, and we all shared in the gloriousness of relieving my bladder.  When we got back to the ballroom, the bridal party was all standing around waiting for me to get back for the toasts, then it was on to the cake cutting and the wedding cake pulls.  Once all of the formal business was out of the way, my friends produced two heaping plates of food, as well as the Wedding Cake martini from our martini bar, and I proceeded to stuff my face as much as possible, before making it out on to the dance floor where I spent the rest of the night.

The next two hours were spent dancing, greeting guests, sampling all of our martinis, putting out the fire caused by the combination of my sister's tote bag and a precariously placed votive, and finally it was time for the bouquet and garter tosses.  I knew the evening was drawing to a close, but before the night was over we managed to squeeze in a Second Line, The Shout, and a last dance to Harry Connick Jr's It Had to Be You, before ending the night with Frank's New York, New York.  Our photographer ran Colby and I outside to get a quick outside nighttime shot in front of White Oak, and then we snuck back inside while our guests lined the front walk and the limo pulled around to the driveway to pick us up.

We made the final walk of our wedding night through the crowd of our family and friends and before we knew it we were in the limo flying down the interstate to the Hilton Capitol Center where Colby had decorated in true honeymoon style earlier in the day.  There were red rose petals strewn across the floor, champagne chilling in an ice bucket and two dozen gorgeous long stemmed roses on the bed along with a beautiful coffee table book on Italy. 

And of course, given the classically romantic setting with the roses, champagne and stunning river view, we did what every couple dreams of doing on their honeymoon night--kicked off our shoes and stuffed our faces with the delicious crawfish etouffee, mini Natchitoches meat pies, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, jambalaya, stuffed chicken, and cake packed by White Oak.  And then... well, you know!

All in all, it was truly the night I've dreamed of my entire life.  With the exception of the weather, everything went off without a hitch, and if there were any hitches, I never heard about them, which is the way it should be.  My two goals for the evening were to create an enjoyable experience for my guests while also managing to have an amazing time myself, and I really feel like I achieved both goals.  I had such an incredible time, and I just wish that I could have those friends and family surrounding me more often.  When I think back on that night, the overwhelming emotion is sheer elation, and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to have that beautiful night mark the beginning of a marriage with the most charming, handsome, intelligent, funny, and most importantly kind and loving man I've ever met.

Our amazing photographer was Corine Tran, out of New Orleans, and all of the pictures from the wedding can be viewed here if the slide show just wasn't enough for you! (Event ID is colby_angela_112407)

Comments

[Fraulein N]

I'm glad your day went so well, and that you were able to relax enough to enjoy it.

Don't rightly remember if you blogged about this already, but are you going to be changing your last name?

[Bre]

The more I hear about it, the more I'm certain that you had a perfect wedding! So sweet!

[wordnerd]

Sounds perfect. Every last bit of it. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. I've teared up more than a couple of times already.

[Ashlie]

Oh my goodness! That sounds so wonderful. You are now a married woman. Its weird right? And amazing, lots and lots of amazing.....

[Becky]

Sounds like a fabulous day -- who would've thought that you would literally have to put out any fires? ;)

[Jass]

What a beautiful and amazing wedding day!

Thank you for sharing your day with us. But one question, what song did Colby dance with his mom? Sorry, inquiring minds need to know.

;-)

[La]

What a wonderful time line! It'll be great to have this to look back and remember all of the minute details. I'm glad you had such a fantastic day!

[Shannon]

Congratulations! Your pictures are wonderful.

[Girl, Dislocated]

I can't add anything to what's already been said--it was just perfect! I knew you'd filled your mishap quota in the days leading up to the wedding!

Oh, and I love the fact that you had the James Bond theme playing as you and Colby made your entrance! :D

[L]

OMG, that sounds so perfect! Wow, what an amazing night! It's like a fantasy . . .

[TasterSpoon]

*sigh* It looks like a royal wedding.

Inquiring minds also want to know whether you danced in your heels.

[Caro]

Okay, reading all this just made me tear up again! The pictures are gorgeous..everything was so perfect :)

[simplypink]

What a great update of your big day! It's so nice that you were able to enjoy your family and friends on your special day. Hope married life is awesome. :)

[Lisa]

I loved reading this. And your photos are lovely. Have I told you how much I love weddings? Haha. How's married life treating you? :)

[flower girl dress]

aww i must say you had a lovely wedding :-p
i enjoyed reading your story its preety much similar to mine , i have added your blog to my watch list .