Wedding Wednesday - Pre-Wedding Events

It’s going to take me a few weeks to do recap the wedding. It would be way too long to put into one post. Today, I’ll cover Thursday and Friday’s events.

Thursday

Michael and I got up ran early on Thursday morning, then I headed to the cabin with his dad and he went to work for a few hours. We were at the cabin by 9 since we were told that the tent set up guys would be there around 9 or 10. Well, they didn’t show up until 2. I was pretty annoyed, mostly b/c I made sure I was there in time and would have loved a few more hours at home to get things ready. Once they arrived, they were efficient and really nice. They were gone by 5 and I pretty much spent the entire time watching them set up. It was fun to see backyard as a blank canvas, then transform with the tents. Based on some trees in the backyard, we had three different tents, but I thought they blended together pretty well. It was kind of like having “rooms” and I liked that vs having one giant tent.

Before the tent

Setting up

That would be the roof of the main tent

Roof up on one of the side tents

Getting closer to being done

I love this view from inside before anything else was in there.

All of the tents are up!

After the tents were up but before the sidewalls were put on.

 I had been checking the weather report for the past week (ok, three weeks) and today, I noticed a new prediction for Saturday: wind. A lot of wind. They were predicting gusts of 20-30 mph. I immediately starting hoping that would go down (spoiler alert – it didn’t).

My family arrived that afternoon as the tent guys were finishing up. My parents and Jami had stopped by the tuxedo rental place to try on and pick up my dad and nephew’s tuxes. Michael had been there at the same time with two of the groomsmen so they all got to meet. Michael and our best man, Patrick, arrived at the cabin in the late afternoon and everyone relaxed by the lake before the delicious lasagna dinner prepared by my parents. Then we had a fire and some smores. It was a nice, low-key night.  

Hanging out by the lake

Jami and Kynleigh

Self-portrait time!

My nephew Kaden LOVED the lake. He could not get enough of it. He just kept wanting to wade in and pick up rocks and throw them. Unfortunately it was a bit cold so we had to take him out after awhile and he did not enjoy that.

My dad and Kaden

Dad pointing out something

Precious

Auntie also spent time with Kaden down by the lake

Friday

My mom, sisters, Michael and I went on an early morning walk before the decorating began. The tent decorating crew arrived around 9:30am and while they got to work on the lighting and draping, the rest of us did some decorating – hanging signs, placing wine barrels, arranging tables and chairs, setting up tables in the garage and inside to save time the next day, etc. It did not take nearly as long as I thought it would, which was nice. The lighting and draping, however, took the entire day. No wonder it had to be done on different days! 

As the day went on, it got cooler and cooler. And windier and windier. By the time the afternoon rolled around and we had the rehearsal, we were zipping through it so we could go back inside. We worked out a few kinks during the rehearsal and then it was time for the rehearsal dinner. All of Michael’s family and most of mine joined us in a town about 20 minutes away for the rehearsal dinner. We hosted the dinner at a golf club and the chef there was really accommodating to our group. We were able to have the whole restaurant to ourselves and he let us plan the entire menu. Michael’s parents had come up with the idea of having a “family” theme early on and we all liked it. We gave the chef several family recipes and he made them for the dinner, then we gave away recipe cards with all of them. It was fun to see the blending of two families in this way. For the main dish, we had a pig roast and it was quite good. It was a bit unconventional but a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we didn't get much for pictures. Thanks to my uncle Christoph for taking the few we have!

The pig

Michael's cousin Lauren handing off the bud vase to us. It is supposed to sit on my nightstand throughout the first year of our marriage. Each month on our anniversary date, Michael is supposed to out a fresh flower in the vase. This tradition and vase have been in Michael's family for 42 years.

Only picture we got together the whole night. At least it's a good one :-)

Next week, I’ll talk more about the big day!