The Rehearsal

The weather was not cooperating with us the morning of the rehearsal. It had been such a lovely week then it seemed out of no where we awoke to a cold, grey, wet, and I mean very wet world. It was one of those days where I just wanted to crawl back into bed and hide out under the covers all day and read and nap the time away. But we had to check into the hotel, drop off out of town bags, I had hair and nail appointments, and plus we had last minute items to pick up as well. I will admit I was a nervous wreck, a little cranky, and anxious, basically borderline bridezilla. However, Roe remained calm that whole morning despite the awful weather, slow traffic, and fact that my suite was not ready yet when we arrived at the hotel.

So I went off to my nail appointment and Roe went to get the rings cleaned. Getting my nails done really relaxed me, the woman at the Phoenix Salon and Spa (whose name escapes me) did an excellent job and it was soooo soothing to just sit there and be pampered. She gave me the best darn pedicure I have ever had in my life and I want to go back to her on a regular basis to get my footsies pampered. After nails I went to my salon and had as I like to say "my wig tossed". Because of the style of my dress I went with a very simple and classic updo. I also wanted to insure that my hair for the rehearsal be completely different than how it would be day of the wedding.

Upon arriving back at the hotel I checked into my suite and was just pleased as punch by the accommodations. I mean how can you go wrong with an Executive Suite at the Four Seasons!

We were lucky enough to have our rehearsal in the same room that our actual wedding would take place which was not a guarantee leading up to that day. There was a fairly large convention at the hotel so there was a chance that our ceremony room may not have been available. Our catering coordinator Elizabeth, however, was able to get us in the room and have the room set up on a small scale mock up of how it would be that day. They also provided us with water and candies (which I really thought was a nice amenity). Since our wedding party was so small (2 attendants on each side) the actual rehearsal took less than 20 minutes.

All photographs unless noted are by Chris Hayes Photography.

The Four Seasons had recently renovated their meeting rooms and I loved the gold wall which would be the back drop for our ceremony. We originally were planning to drape the wall with white fabric but since we loved the new decor so much it helped in saving us $300-$400.

Look how happy my husband to be looks.

Our wedding planner Kathy Bado of The Wedding Factor in action.

My dress was from BCBG and was an unexpected find on the sales rack at their Vegas store. I had originally planned on wearing pink but the dress was so lovely I couldn't pass it up. My rehearsal bouquet was done from the Martha Stewart tissue flower kit carried in Michael's. I think they are now on sale fro $5. However, if you have her craft encyclopedia you can find instruction for most of the flowers there.

After the short rehearsal we all made our way over to Maggiano's restaurant in Center City Philadelphia, where we met up with some of our out of town guests. Due to the weather some of our guests were late due to the horrible traffic conditions on I-95 and some were no shows which was understandable. It just left us with a lot, and I mean a lot of food. Maggiano's is well known for their portion size but we had no idea that the family style dinner would be so substantial. Most of our guest left with leftovers and we were able to chow down on some Sunday before we left for our honeymoon.

Maggiano's did a wonderful job with the set up. All florals were included in the price and I was really surprised at the quality. I was expecting something much smaller with lesser quality flowers.

After allowing everyone to enjoy appetizers and drinks we handed out our attendant and reader gifts. For the bridesmaids we got them infinity necklaces from Blue Nile and for the groomsmen we got stainless steel bracelets from our family jewler Mc Garry's. For our two readers we got bath sets from Lush.

During dinner we showed a slideshow of photos we put together from our childhood and pictures of us through the past year. (We had some issue with the TV only displaying the images in black and white. Due to the issue Maggiano's removed the charge for the TV rental from our bill and gave us a complimentary bottle of wine. How is that for customer service!) Right before dessert we presented our parents their gifts. We really wanted our gifts to be personal and have special meaning to our parents. I contracted with GracefulStudio to recreate our family tree in lovely calligraphy for my mother and uncle (who was giving me away). Roe made a collage of family photos for his parents. I must say they went over quite big with our parents.

The last big event of the evening was the presentation of Roe's grooms cake. Roe was training to qualify to compete in the Atlanta Olympics in the 800 m race However, he had to quit track due to a series of injuries. So I thought it would be cute to give him the gold medal for which he never got the opportunity to compete. I originally had no intent of getting a grooms cake but heard about two ladies Pamela and Kim who run Fantastic Cakes from a friend of mine and heard that prices were affordable so I reached out to them. Not only were their work fantastic but so were there prices. Roe was so happy with the cake that he would not allow us to eat it. (Boo to him!!!!!!) It is still sitting in his parent's freezer while he figures out some way to preserve it for all eternity. (What a waste of yummy cakey goodness)

Overall it was a great evening. I was just hoping that the weather would break by the next morning so I would not have a rainy cold wedding day.

I also had a little surprise waiting back at the hotel for me, but I will tell you about that when I officially kick off recaps of the wedding day.