wedding prep

Up until the day before the wedding I hadn't felt much stress. I had everything planned out and that was the day we would put it all together. Now, I must share with you my breaking point.

*The names in this story have been changed to protect the identities of the people involved.*

A couple months before the wedding I booked the Royal Oak Chapel for my reception through the booking agent in the stake. Let's call him Bob.

Everything was going smoothly and then I received an email that I would need to contact a different person in the stake to obtain the key. Let's call her Suzy.

Well that was alright, things were dandy, and time flew by until about a week before the wedding. I emailed Suzy to inquire about the key and got an email back from Bob saying that Suzy was actually out of town so I needed to contact another lady in the stake to obtain the key. Let's call her Gertrude.

Okay, so I called Gertrude two days before the wedding and we arranged that I go pick up the key the next morning at her house. The next morning, the day before the wedding, the only day we had to set everything up. I went to her house, knocked on the door, and Gertrude's daughter answered. Let's call her Mary.

P: "Hello, is your mom home?"
M: "No."
P: "Oh, well, do you know where she is?"
M: "She's picking up my brother from soccer."

(Boy walks up from downstairs. Let's call him Todd.)

P: "Do you know when your mom will be back? I need to pick up the key to the Chapel"
T: "I'll call her."

(A couple minutes pass.)

T: "So apparently Suzy has the key right now."

Um...Suzy? Really? I don't even have her number!!! What am I supposed to do??? I called Burns and just broke down crying in my car. I just wanted to hear that everything was going to be okay. I called Denise and had her look up Suzy's number. I called, no answer, so I left a message. I tried calling Gertrude but it went straight to voicemail.

I then remembered that I knew where Bob lived so I went to his house, explained the situation, and he connected me with another lady in the stake. Let's call her Eliza. So I finally got a key! Hallelujah! We went to Denise's, handed off the key so they could go set up, and Burns and I left to do some errands. While we were on our way, Burns realized that he had the key in his car. WHAT?

Apparently Matt had given him the key because they both thought Burns would be there to help set up. We went straight over to the chapel and on our way we got a phone call that their key was not working (they were using a friend's key). We arrived, went to open the door, and....it didn't unlock it. All that and we still had no key. Luckily for us there were a few people inside who opened the door for us. Oh and apparently we could have asked Burns' cousin for a key the whole time.

I returned the faulty key and I still have no idea why everything went so terribly wrong. However, after that incident I was as happy as could be and only a little nervous about the next day. Setting up was a breeze and everything fell into place after that.

The day before all that I went to Kutarna's to fit Natalie's headband and to see the whole feather girl outfit on her.

Natalie practiced being my feather girl and she was such a pro! Navy was super cute too.

That night I went to Chestermere with Rick and Matt's family. Denise felt too stressed out to come with us and Burns was on his way home from Edmonton. We had a lot of fun and it was such a beautiful night.

Capri and Rhett

 We even had some s'mores!

And little Charlotte was being such a doll as usual. 

After the key incident I completed my errands with Burns (which includes getting a marriage license - we're really good at this whole procrastination thing) and we met my parents at Heninger's to help set up.

Luke and Mandi were great helpers too! Unfortunately they weren't able to bring their children up from Utah for the occasion (school, too much travel, and such).

Hanging lanterns.

Very safe.

Thanks so much to Steph Harris, Carol and Caitlyn Stehmeier, and Carol Leishman for tying all the bows on the chairs!!!! And anyone else who helped of which I'm sure I've forgotten.

My dad built us a beautiful walkway which was better than I ever imagined, and my mom helped so much with anything that needed to be done. It looked even better than how I had pictured it. Perfect.

After we set up at the house, Carol, Marshie, and I went to the chapel to see how it looked and to finish the centrepieces. Thanks so much, you two, for putting up with me!!!

And a huge thank you to Steph, Denise, Rick, Sam, Matt, and anyone else who helped set up the gym for the reception!!! Burns was a busy bee all day, too. Thanks for all your help!

By the end of the day we were pretty tired and pretty ready to get married the next day!