hallelujah

[alenxa_classic]

There's nothing like having a panic attack while overheating with your arms above your head protecting an expensive hairdo and makeup job as two people try to halfway unlace the dress you're stuck in.

There's also nothing like being on the other side of that and realizing you never have to do it again.

I still highly recommend absconding Vegas-ward to those intending to get married, but for those not so inclined, a word of advice from a control freak: only trust what you know.  If you don't have proof that the location does good food, don't have them do it or don't go with that place.  If you don't have a personal recommendation on a vendor or a good look at their work under your belt, don't go with them.  If you've never hooked up your iPod to the location's stereo, don't come without clearly labeled CD backup.  Our food was fantastic and our vendors were great, but we didn't do a dry run of the music hookup at the rehearsal and it didn't work.  Thank goodness for mix CDs and a system that would play them.

The stylist at the hair salon took one look at the picture I had printed off the net (Princess Leia from the end of Star Wars classic), said something like, "Oh yes, I can do that," and pretty much did.  I had the braid crown with the Arwen headpiece in front of it, which was disappointingly hidden but visible to those who knew to look for it.  Not what I had intended, but gorgeous.  We have pictures, which will be posted somewhere once they come back and we can decide what's safe for public consumption.

After this, I had almost a solid half-hour of freakout, starting with the payment situation we ran into at the salon (as described here by sekl), continuing with the lateness it caused and the traffic and detours along the way, and finishing, post-dress fiasco, with the knowledge that one of my great-aunts would have to miss the ceremony because they couldn't get her and her wheelchair up the stairs.  I did manage not to bounce in place and/or fall over during the ceremony, and as far as I can discern, most everybody had a great time.  We actually got to eat cake after the first bites, we toasted with mead, and I think every woman in the place who wasn't over 65 or under 10 (and some who did fall outside the boundaries) commented positively on my dress.

I was really happy with the ceremony as well.  I've seen some doozies in my wedding-going years, where the couple obviously doesn't know what the officiant is going to say beforehand and you get flabbergasted looks when he puts his own stamp on things.  I've known the minister since I was in about middle school and I knew that if he did stamp the ceremony, I was likely not to be too bent about it.  He gave a nice introduction to our relationship for anyone who didn't know us or hadn't seen us in ages, and a message about the difference between a cauldron and a crucible (which in this context has nothing to do with Arthur Miller, Percy Weasley, or the difference between AP Chem and NEWT-level Potions), which prompted zehntaur to ask, "Does the crucible bounce?"  Okay, that last does have to do with AP Chem, which he wasn't even in with me, but I digress.

Anyway, kelson and I did some absconding of our own, to a hotel for the night and to California Adventure on Monday.  Great fun and worth almost every penny.  (It's amazing what a night at a resort hotel in Laguna, dinner at a really nice restaurant, and room-service breakfast can do for your perspective on Disney prices.)  I feel a sudden need to write about the hotel food......organic tomato and mozzarella salad, risotto with roasted beets, incredibly tender and perfectly cooked steak, blood orange sorbet.......yow.  The quality made me glad my hairdo and makeup stayed viable all day long--it was easier to feel like I belonged there.

So far, married life is treating me pretty well.

Comments

[maldis.livejournal.com]

Now that you mention it, the dress WAS pretty damn cool. Did you do the beads?

[alenxa.livejournal.com]

Nope, the beads came with the dress. I was impressed with how well they were done--even with all the trampling and the swishing, I don't think any of them came off.

[maldis.livejournal.com]

Nice.

(btw, if you'd said you'd done the beads, I'd have believed it without hesitation)