What?!?! The Brides’ FIRST official Mani-Pedi!?!?! What a terrific opportunity to spoil ourselves!

This was a sensational time spent with some very lovely ladies! Of course, due to time constraints, we weren’t able to have all the girls together for this but it was special to experience this traditional Bride activity with out-of-town guests like Kathy (mother of the Udy Bride), as well as very, very close-to-home gals like Tyler (MOH of the Selway Bride)…and many people in between! How can it be that we felt so relaxed and so excited at the very same time?! The pedicures gave us a little chuckle and the manicures made us feel like divas!! The Brides got the deluxe treatment so we were feeling like new women when we were done! …now let’s hope it lasts through wedding day tomorrow!!

It amazes us, and we do spend time discussing, how memories can be magical! This mani-pedi get-together happened in the midst of a very hectic and crazy day. We had Kathy, Laura, and Liz buying flowers and putting together beautiful bouquets, Jody and Aishie picking up food and kegs, and Tyler and Kiana at school and coming back from outdoor lab. We got all that together just in time to make it for our appointment at the salon. Impressive?? I’ll say!!

But wait a minute! Don’t be too impressed yet because that’s not even close to all we were fitting in that day! We had the rehearsal dinner directly after salon time! We headed straight for the wedding location to unload some stuff there for the big day - don’t even ask me when we actually loaded the cars because at this point, that part is a crazy, fast-forward looking blur in my mind - and to meet our wonderful reverend and family for a wedding run-through.

We thought it’d go pretty smoothly, give Kev, Ty, and Tom a chance to practice their musical pieces, the siblings a chance to read through their passages. One thing, though, do you remember the weather that weekend?? Well we sure do…and I can guarantee you a couple friends from Georgia do, too, *wink wink*. Of course, it’s warm and sunny all spring and summer long…except the weekend of our wedding. Mostly, that was okay and not too big a deal in the grand scheme of things; but I do have to say, it made for a little bit of a soppy and quick rehearsal and ensuing barbeque.

That being said, when we think back to the mani-pedi day image, it wears a warm and smiling face, reminding us of the time we were able to sit and visit, ooh and ah, and take a well-deserved and needed breath.

Once again, the weather effected how much of a reality our vision of this night was to become, but the main aspects remained unchanged. We ate and we were warm. Haha. Of course, there were more important things than just those two pieces but I gotta tell ya, it was a bit of a miracle to achieve those two things! Thanks to wonderful family support (eh-hem…Kevin Udy), we were still able to pull off a barbeque in the midst of the, by that time, pouring rain. It wasn’t only guarding against soppy food that Kevin and Liz had to contend with, but also the fact that our grill was screaming to be thrown out with the trash. The poor thing had seen it’s day. That being said, it – and they -  did produce a pretty darn yummy barbeque before the night was over.

 As far as being warm, yes, we did manage to keep everybody dry and at a comfortable temperature. We enjoyed close quarters inside our house and were so grateful to have so many wonderful, smiling faces in attendance. We were lucky enough to have this opportunity to visit with out-of-towners Dan, Angela, and Marilyn and to show them our home for the first time. Well, thinking back, maybe we didn’t really show them our home, as much as run around from person to person and hope that they got a good glance at our home. Teehee.

Because we had to keep the party indoors and not venture out to a more roomy situation where folks could mingle better, the Bride’s families didn’t get as much of a chance to interact as we hoped. Although, enchantingly, everybody still appreciated the chance to interact with people we already know but hardly get to see, as well as becoming more familiar with faces and personalities of the lovely families that were soon to be even more solidly connected the very next day.

I used the word “personalities” to describe what we were able to become more familiar with because it is true…even through some separation and limitations set forth by the lack of space, even though a lot of direct and personal communication wasn’t always possible, we were all in the same area, sharing the same environment, and learning how very lucky we are to be surrounded by so many people who are flexible, well-intentioned, caring, thoughtful, welcoming, funny, good sports, complimentary, positive, honest, and above all, together. We were all together and I can’t think of a better way to spend the night before one of the biggest and proudest days of my life.