Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The famous wedding cupcakes

The night of my sister's wedding, I woke up while it was still dark out and couldn't get back to sleep I was so excited and anxious about the next day.

So I asked The Gryphon to get my mind off it by telling me a story or something, so he told me the plot of the anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was sufficiently confusing to get my mind off the wedding and allow me to sleep.

I still got up early, about 7:30, and let the dogs out to pee. My brother was sitting in a chair in the living room, with my nephew on his lap, who looked perky and wide awake. But he was the only one of that family to have gotten enough sleep. Turns out the air mattress they'd brought to sleep on had sprung a leak and deflated overnight. They tried pumping it back up, but that was only a temporary solution and they ended up grabbing cushions off the couch downstairs to sleep out the rest of the night.

Just as my brother was finishing relating the story, my sister bounced down the stairwell, as happy as a kid on Christmas morning. When she heard about the air mattress, she immediately offered they could get some more sleep in her bed, if they wanted to. My brother gladly took her up on that, letting his wife know she could rest for awhile in comfort.

I also went back to sleep for a short while, since my sister was taking a shower and there was only one bathroom. When she was done, I also got ready.

We were told to help ourselves to breakfast from whatever was in the kitchen, since they'd bought plenty for guests. Once we were all ready, my sister, my brother's wife and I headed out to the hairdresser, who would be doing our hair for the day.

Her name is Luann, and she had only recently ended a bad long-term relationship when the guy, a total loser, left her for a married woman whom he has since gotten pregnant. Even though she could be understandably cynical about weddings, she didn't seem to be, cooing over my sister as she relayed all of the planned details. And Luann did an excellent job with our hair: between the many hair pins and copious hair spray, it was guaranteed to stay in place.

While we were getting our hair done, we each got ourselves some lunch from the Brother's Pizza in the same plaza. They're a popular State College chain, and it had been awhile since I had some of their Sicilian pizza.

We got done a bit earlier than we expected, but we had all our stuff with us, so we drove out to the Tussey Mountain Ski Lodge to start getting ready. We were earlier than the coordinator expected, because she wasn't there to tell us where to change, and we couldn't get into the downstairs locker room. Just as we were deciding to get ready in a storage room upstairs, she showed up and unlocked the locker room for us. She also hung a sign on the door directing guests to enter around the side, so as not to disturb us.

In the meantime, we'd discovered that the wicker archway and glass bowls from the rental place had been delivered. However, while unpacking the bowls we discovered one was broken. My sister called the rental place, which agreed to let someone pick up a replacement (they'd better!), and she called Dad to let him know to do that, as well as pick up a couple extra bowls for the front table. They were being used as the centerpieces, with red beads in the bottom, and water and floating candles.

When we pulled our dresses out of our bags, we discovered the one belonging to my brother's wife was really wrinkled, probably from being folded in half and set in a really hot luggage container on top of the car with a bunch of other items. So when my brother and my nephew arrived, she got him to go with her to buy a steam iron.

Since my brother didn't want to take my nephew in the hot car again, I agreed to watch him. They showed me his sippy cup and gave me a rattle, and I bounced him on my knee, talking and singing to him. He was very easily entertained and seemed to like anything involving his name, so I made up a song, which made him giggle. But then again, he seemed to giggle at anything.

After a little while, he seemed to get uncomfortable, and I thought he might be thirsty so I tried to give him the sippy cup, which was filled with water. He could get it in his mouth but didn't seem to know what to do after that, and I don't think he got any water.

But soon enough, they returned with the iron, and I returned my nephew to my brother, who minded him until his wife had finished ironing the dresses and was ready to breast feed. My dress was fine, but my sister's needed a little touch up, too.

There were a couple other details to be tended to. We had to be careful, though, because my sister was trying to follow the old tradition of not allowing the groom to see her before the wedding. So there were a couple times she needed to go upstairs to show someone how to do things, and we had to make certain the groomsmen got the groom out of sight before she did.

Then it was time to get ready, and we did our makeup and then helped each other into our dresses. This is when my sister really started to get nervous: her hand was shaking as she read over her vows one last time.

"Good," my brother joked. "Now I know what they are in case I can't hear you out there."

As time neared, we began to wonder if someone knew they had to notify us when to come up. We sent my brother up as an emissary to find out what was happening. He returned, five minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start, to tell us that they were still waiting for the groom's parents.

When my sister heard this, she almost panicked, but we reassured her. My brother's wife was particularly good at calming her down, reminding her that they knew where it was, because they'd been there last night and that they probably would be here any minute.

My brother said he'd go upstairs and find out if anyone had any news. When I heard him returning, I heard the bounce in his step and knew it was good news. "They've just arrived," he said. Upon talking to the groom's parents later, I discovered they'd had some mishaps of their own involving, among other things, a wrinkled dress. Must have been the high humidity.

Then we just had to wait for the usher to nudge everybody outside for the ceremony. Fortunately, I had remembered to listen to the processional music earlier, to figure out exactly when we could all begin processing. They were processing to "I Will" by The Beatles. I told them that my brother's wife should start when the lyrics began, I would start with the second verse and my sister and our parents, who were escorting her, should start during the bridge, where he sings all those lines about love. Just in case that was too confusing, I told her she could also start when I was about halfway up the aisle.

The timing was perfect. You would have thought we'd rehearsed it several times. With all of us walking slowly, we had just enough time at the end of the song for Mom and Dad to give my sister a kiss and sit down and for her to turn and meet her husband-to-be with her eyes.

The ceremony was simple and beautiful. They had picked all sorts of passages that said what they wanted to say about their wedding, and the pastor gave an address based on the First Corinthians passage about love. I read something I'd written at my sister's request, which was a personal view of their relationship, ending with a poem.

Before we knew it, they were kissing and linking arms to head back down the aisle to "Fly Away with Me" by Norah Jones. The music this time was being handled by the same DJ who would be taking care of music at the reception.

My sister hadn't wanted to be pelted by birdseed and had even put in the program that people should throw the bird seed in the air. But I knew what would happen, and sure enough, they were met with tossed bird seed, all for good luck.

When the coast was clear, I linked arms with the best man and we headed down the aisle ourselves. My sister and her husband, with the two sets of parents, greeted guests in a receiving line, and we had a little time to greet old friends before being nudged out back for pictures.

The Gryphon got some nice candid shots while the pictures were being taken, including a really sweet one of my brother and my nephew. Although they hadn't been able to find a baby tux, they had dressed my nephew to match my brother. In this picture, he seems far more interested in his own fingers than in the camera.

I had to be sent in twice to get the flowers, because the first time I forgot to bring my sister's bouquet, which I'd placed at her seat at the table. What a slacker bridesmaid I was, losing track of the bride's bouquet!

The photographer took a series of family pictures and bridal party pictures on the patio where the ceremony had been held. At my sister's suggestion, we then moved to a slope near a willow tree on the side. Unfortunately, when we'd been scouting for places for pictures earlier, we hadn't realized there was a bee's nest in the ground. My sister got stung under her skirt, but thankfully, she's not allergic. Just the gods making sure that nothing is too easy; otherwise, they might not appreciate it fully.

After the bridal party pictures were done, we were sent back inside so the couple could get some taken by themselves. We got drinks and began to relax. The Gryphon showed me some of the pictures he'd taken during the ceremony. I had given him my camera because he'd done such a good job at my belly dancing performance a couple weeks ago. He got some great candid shots.

I greeted a lot of old friends, many of whom gushed over how good I looked. I felt great and was really happy with how I looked in the dress, with my hair done. More than anything else, I looked so great because of my big natural smile. I was so relieved that everything had gone well after all the little wedding preparation snags over the past year.

The best man, the groom's brother, didn't know everything required of a best man, and the pastor had to tell him he had to give a toast. She also tried to tell me that the maid of honor gave a toast, and I told her I'd never been to a wedding where that was the case. Besides, I'd already said everything during the ceremony.

"Girl, I am not giving a toast," I told her. (She's a good family friend.)

The best man did a good job of winging it, even if he did pause during the toast to announce there were cupcakes on the table instead of wedding cake. And even though my sister didn't want to make a big show of cutting the cake (one reason she'd opted for cupcakes), the best man announced at the end that the bride and groom would now be having their cupcakes.

Everyone ran over with cameras, so my sister and her husband obliged and fed each other a bite of cupcake.

After dinner, they danced to a slow dance and then my sister danced a fast dance with Dad. He usually hates dancing fast, feeling really self-conscious about it, but he kept up with her and got a lot of compliments, too. Watching them, I was reminded of her as a little girl, always asking Dad to dance with her whenever she heard music.

While my sister was distracted dancing, I connected up with my brother's wife and the best man to decorate the couple's car. Now, I'd assumed the groomsmen normally took care of that, but fortunately, my brother's wife planned ahead and brought tissue paper, in case he hadn't brought anything. As it turned out, he hadn't.

Even with the tissue paper, though, we needed string, which was in the couple's car. So we sent the best man up with an excuse: that he'd left something in the car while helping bring things in earlier.

He returned with the key, and I made a sign that said, "Just Married" using the lid from the flower box and a marker from the guest book upstairs. We were just starting the bows when a friend, The Artist, came downstairs looking for me. "Your sister requests your presence on the dance floor," she said. I told her to give her an excuse and make it nonspecific.

When I told my brother's wife what was happening, she said to go ahead and join her, so as to throw off suspicion. She and the best man would finish alone.

My sister was glad to see me. I told her that I'd been having trouble with my contacts. I kicked off my shoes and then kicked up my heels on the dance floor. We boogied the night away.

Before the evening was over, Mom started instructing people to load the flowers into cars. She was under the impression that they had to be completely out of the place by 11 or face an extra fee. My sister insisted they would have been flexible, and she urged Mom to just enjoy herself, but Mom couldn't relax as long as she was worrying so it was best to let her pack things up.

The Gryphon and I were some of the last people to leave, so I happened to be in the parking lot when my sister discovered the decorated car. "I knew it wouldn't take you so long to fix your contacts," she said. Then she and her husband were off for their wedding night at a nice local hotel.

The rest of us went home, took out all the hairpins, removed the suits and stockings, and almost immediately fell asleep.

The Gryphon takes time off from
his photog duties to pose with me

More from the wedding weekend:

June 28, 2005 - Finishing Touches

June 30, 2005 - The Story of Love

July 1, 2005 - More Wedding Pics

July 5, 2005 - Beach Baby

July 6, 2005 - Browsing Bellefonte

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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