Last night was
the rehearsal dinner hosted by my fiancé’s family at their lovely home (which
is also the site of the actual ceremony) taking place today. After gathering everyone together, which took
about a hour longer than expected as we were working all day to take care of last
minute details and running late with that (or at least my fiancé and I
were-everyone else was ready) and deciding that the sun was still too high in
the sky to do the rehearsal at 5 pm (at least the sun was out, and the rains
have stopped-Yea!!), we were ready to begin around 6. Or so we thought...Having been married before
(as my son so aptly and with a confused look on his face pointed out to me as
we were waiting to do our practice walks down the isle when he asked me about
some small detail of his duties, and I answered that I didn’t know because I
hadn’t done this before), you would think I would know wanted for the actual
ceremony, but I never had a rehearsal dinner or a rehearsal before and neither
has my fiancé. Thankfully, my cousin (our minister) has attended and been the
officiate for many weddings, so he took the reins and led us through it all,
sorting out how we wanted it to go and before you knew it, our wedding party
consisting of my matron of honor and the best man, my two ring bearer sons, and
our two flower girls took off down the aisle.
Next, it was time for me, in my gold Jessica Simpson skinny heals with
my dad by my side as I tried NOT to catch one of those heals in the slats of
the decking I was walking on, to head toward my honey. It was the most fun I
have ever had rehearsing anything. We made jokes while my brother took pictures
to catch all the candid moments, and then it was time to eat!
As far as I’m
concerned, I couldn’t be marrying into a better family. We just go together,
“like peas and carrots” as Forrest Gump would say. They planned an entire dinner with an
Oregonian theme and special dishes (our favorites that we have had over the
years with them) made by each family member. From a yummy start of Tillamook
cheeses and crackers, fresh corn salsa w/chips and vegetable crudités to the
McMenamin’s Brewer Salad and Mediterranean Pasta salad and a fruit platter to
the main course of Marinated Grilled Steelhead “locally landed” by our best man
and one of my fiancé’s brothers, it was truly gourmet!! For dessert there was
Marionberry pie w/ Tillamook ice cream and strawberry delight w/ local Oregon
strawberries. I’ve said it again, and
I’ll say it many times over, I am so blessed and lucky! After dinner and
dessert, my fiancé and I took a moment to say a few words and present a few
gifts to each other and our best man and matron of honor, and I was very
surprised with a photograph of the actual bride and groom coconuts which will
be “racing” down the Kwajalein lagoon by the Roi-Namur Surf Shack later today
competing in the annual “Coconut Cup” fundraiser for the ECCF (Enniburr
Children’s Christmas Fund) as we tie the knot as well as a beautiful white gold
and pearl necklace just like the one painted on the coconut. We met at the Coconut Cup 5 years ago today,
so it was a very sentimental and meaningful gift as all the gifts my fiancé has
given to me over the years. In turn, I
presented him with framed versions of the Balinese batiks we bought on our
first trip together and will soon hang in our “new” home back on the
islands. And my matron of honor and I,
we will be drinking Oregon wine out of our hand painted Oregon wine glasses in
just a few hours. The best man was given
a new filet knife, so he can “land” us some more of that delectable steelhead
to eat next time we are here! And with that, the evening began coming to a
close, as much as I didn’t want it to as there was not enough time to chat with
everyone and catch up, not enough time to share the experience….there’s never
enough time, but I will treasure the time we had and look forward to more to
come tonight. I can’t believe the day is finally here!!
