Our Wedding: The Rehearsal

...a few of my favorite people at the rehearsal...

So that the memories of our wedding don't get lost in the haze of life and worms and running, I'm going to spend some time writing a few recaps of the weekend. To start - the rehearsal.

I have to admit that I was pretty nervous for the rehearsal. For the first time, our families were going to hear our ceremony and, more importantly, our vows. I'd built so much up around the ceremony since we'd written it ourselves. It fit us, but I worried it would alienate both of our families. I worried it might be weird or cheesy or too religious or not religious enough. I worried that we hadn't given enough information to our families about what their roles were during the ceremony. I worried no one was going to get the tree ceremony. Even though Alex and I had put so much time and effort into writing what was right for us, at the end I was consumed with worry about whether or not it would be right for everyone else!

Anyway, in the sweltering sun, we began.

...beginning to rehearse...

Since I didn't have the typical bow bouquet, I used a bouquet made of handmade fabric flowers. After the rehearsal, I then gave each of the flowers to my female family members so that they could carry a part of our ceremony with them through the wedding. Each flower was sewed to a hair rubber band so they could wear them on their wrists or in their hair or wrapped around a purse strap. (I secretly hope that they're still using them!)

We hit our first hiccup early on when we realized that we hadn't written in any cues for my dad to leave. Our officiant saved the day by editing in a traditional father exit early on in the opening prayer. Other than that, everything went well. The tree ceremony also felt a little more awkward than I'd hoped, but we were having to mime everything since we didn't have any of the props on hand. Saying our vows in front of our family for the first time was actually incredibly special. We'd already said them to each other after writing them separately, but we hadn't ever said them in front of anyone else. Having that moment with just our immediate family was wonderfully powerful.

...Alex saying his vows...

After finishing the ceremony, we recessed up the aisle following our coordinator cues. We then walked through the processional and were finally able to call it a day.

My last bit of anxiety hit as I walked around the reception site (the garden in which the ceremony was held was right next to the porch where the reception was). The tables I'd so painstakingly planned were not arranged as I'd imagined. I fretted over what to do with the coordinator, came up with a plan A and plan B, and then basically left it in her hands.

My mom and I had always said that we'd let the planning be done with the rehearsal, and, amazingly, we held true to our word. As soon as we were driving away from the gardens, I was done. My nervousness was gone, my worries and anxiety were gone, and I was on my way to the hotel to see my early arrival guests for the first time. After so many months of preparation, it was a great feeling.