Ok guys, I briefly posted about our second reception and how everything that could go wrong, DID go wrong. Let me tell you all what happened.
The weather for that week had been beautiful mid-70s and then, all of a sudden a storm was coming through over that weekend. Like, really?! Another rainy wedding day? C'mon!
Saturday finally arrives and the weather report says NO RAIN! hallelujah!!
So we got about the day preparing, running last minute errands and such. My florist calls and says that my peonies are actually blush pink, not ivory like she ordered and that my garden roses look yellow. So, not off to a great start that my flowers for my bouquet are the wrong colors! Thankfully, when I picked up my bouquet, she opted to not use the yellow roses and you could only barely tell the peonies were blush.
Cole, my dad and brothers and a few helpers from my parents' ward go to head over to the gardens to set up. By 4pm, we have most everything set up. Tables and linens, chairs and chair covers, the food table is laid out ready for platters, centerpieces on the tables.... you get the picture!
I drive over to help with the finishing touches and out of no where, it starts raining! First, it's just a little drizzle and my mom says, let's hope it just passes in a few minutes. A few minutes goes by and it is a torrential down-pour. I'm sitting in the car, because I just had my hair done and it's already starting to frizz, just holding back tears.
We decide it's too late to try and wait it out. Everything was getting soaked. So everyone starts throwing things in the back of their cars and trucks. My poor mom is running around, picking stuff up as quickly as she can, with her curlers in her hair, getting completely drenched. The linens were sent to various friends' homes to be thrown in dryers.
My mom tells me to just head home and get ready and that we may just be starting the reception a little late. By this point, we had about an hour to move everything over to the church and get it set up.
meanwhile,
I get home and my brother's gf starts on my makeup. I apply her moisturizer and after a few seconds, it starts to tingle. I tell her it's tingling and we both just think it's nothing. A minute or so goes by and it's still tingling, and getting significantly worse. I ask her if my face is red at all and she says, a lil but that it's not bad. Another minute or so goes by and I feel like my face is literally on fire. Cole comes downstairs, ready to go and I ask him if my face is red and he looks at me, wide-eyed and looking shocked and nods his head.
I run upstairs and look in the mirror and my whole face is painted brilliant bright red. Not like a little flushed, but bright red, redder than a tomato red. It's burning so badly, and felt really hot to the touch. It felt like a 1st degree burn all over my face! I immediately start bawling and hyperventilating. I was supposed to be walking into the reception in about 15 minutes!
As if this day could get any worse by having the set-up rained out, everything soaked and having to change locations at the very last minute, now Im having a severe allergic reaction!
My mom comes home and into the bathroom and I just start sobbing all over again. I told her we needed to cancel the whole thing. She tries to console me by saying that she had sent my younger brother to the store for Benadryl.
Cole had already left for the church without me and was there greeting guests and telling them what was going on. You know you've got a keeper, if he goes to your reception alone, and greets all your guests and mingles with a bunch of people he doesnt know! He's my rock. I couldnt have made it through all my breakdowns without him, reassuring me that it would all be ok.
Ok, I know I have a flare for the dramatic so, long story short-the Benadryl kicks in and my face calms down just enough for us to be able to get makeup on. I get to the reception an hour and a half LATE and to my surprise, all our friends and family stood and clapped for us as we came in. It was seriously the sweetest gesture. All I could say to everyone was how sorry I was for making them wait. It meant so much to me that so many of them waited for my arrival and were understanding. It had seriously been THE worst day. But, made sweet by all the help we received in moving locations and setting up at the church. My parents are so blessed to have truly wonderful friends who came together to help us in our time of sheer panic and chaos!
It was also SO wonderful to have Cole's dad and stepmom, aunt, uncle, cousin and grandmother come out to California. We went to San Francisco the following day and toured Alcatraz island, which we all enjoyed. Im so grateful for them and the effort they took to be there with us.
Here are some pics from the reception.
Photo Credit: Ron Aguilar
XXO Mrs. Odle
