On Friday August 12th, I woke up feeling overwhelmed and frazzled. Friday was the day we were to erect the tents, put out tables and chairs and lay out all the things people would need on Saturday as I handed over the reigns to the fantastic crew of people that were willing to help us out. 
This is the way I imagined the hill would look on my wedding day. I kept my hope that all the forecasts were going to be wrong and that during the most important hours of the day the clouds would break and all would be fine.
We all were slated to meet on the hill by 8am. The delivery truck with the toilets as well as the truck with the tables, chairs, dance floor and sound system were estimated to arrive sometime Friday- "probably in the afternoon" the lady had told me. After positioning the balloons I planned to run some errands back in town. I headed out and passed both trucks before I even got off the hill. I immediately turned back because they were hours ahead of when I was ready for them and a decisive bride on site makes for a happy family and set up crew. Errands were officially crossed off the list. Never got to them and honestly don't remember what they were. Couldn't have been that important... right?!
My Father, Stepfather, Brother, arrived on the hill just about the same time as the over eager delivery trucks, as well as Amy, Ben's parents, and my Brother-in-Law to be, Matt. My mother would be coming later with my Gram so we got to work laying out where the tents should be. All the people that showed up on Friday to help us really love us. This we know because they showed up to help us and then didn't leave us. Everyone kept a fantastic attitude and, even now that they know it would be safe to tell me, they say they really had fun. I know they love me because this has to be a lie. These guys could make gourmet lemonade slushies out of life's crushed and rotting lemons.
With the rain moving and the whole crew on site, things got right down to business. We had to make some last minute adjustments to the tent plan. I spent a lot of time.... even making diagrams of the tents and property.. to scale.. so I could rearrange tents and be decisive and in charge on tent day. We decided to move the ceremony from in front of the trees where it was open and beautiful, to on the dance floor, under the big tent. This wasn't something I had ever considered so it through out any planning I tried to do in advance. I reworked it, Ben let me run with whatever made me feel happiest and not freak out, and we came to a good plan that ensured everyone could see while being under the tent and still keep dry. I remembered again why I loved him so much, the guys went to work on the plan and I went on to coordinate some of the food with my team of awesome culinary helpers that were coming by to hammer out some logistical details.
The next thing I remember is standing inside the house, mid-sentence, when from the corner of my eye I see brother-in-law Matt go by the window completely and utterly soaked... to the bone. The poor guy had rain streaming down his whole body and dripping off his glasses. Upon further investigation, all of the guys looked like they had just crossed an ocean to come put up these tents. I hadn't even noticed the sun had retreated and then all of a sudden everything, including people, were covered in rain.
It was that moment when I truly began to regret keeping my head in the clouds for 14 months. I began to realize that my plans had no room for rain and that I ignored any real possibility that the sun wouldn't shine on my wedding day. I began to crumble inside knowing that the best of my intentions just as waterlogged as everything else. It was about Noon by this point and my Mom and Gram were at my house waiting for an escort to the hill. When I went down to meet them I was not the happy bubbly bride they expected. I was stressed, felt like an idiot, and irritably just kept trying to trudge along.
My Mom, as probably most Mom's do on wedding weekends, got the brunt of my bad mood and she didn't deserve it. She works hard on everything she does and all she wanted was for me to have fun and enjoy it and I felt like a brat. She even greeted me with a present... a gorgeous white orchid plant with bright purple spots that look like they had been painted on with watercolor. She gave me a card filled with all the things you want to hear when you're a stressed DIY bride that feels like she isn't pulling it off. My mood was having none of this touchy-feely crap but my heart was finding it hard to resist. I realized I was doing it wrong. She didn't write the motto of the wedding in the card but all her words reminded me of it none the less. I wasn't having fun and that meant I was doing something wrong. I decided that come hell.. or most likely high water.. I was going to enjoy this. Whatever the day turned out to be ultimately didn't matter. Stephen Kellogg taught me that "Not every day is so easy and they're tough to plan. When the good day comes, you've got to do as the good day demands." This good day was demanding I cheer the hell up.
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| Flower Maiden Willow and Me at the rehearsal dinner |
We headed back up to the hill and finally got tents together, tables and chairs set, lights hung, and everything was looking great. My heart kept growing every hour and by the time it was ready for a rehearsal I realized I didn't really coordinate one. I briefly walked through the plan with everyone who was involved and moved on. My rehearsal was the sacrificial lamb of the weekend and I hoped that would be enough to appease the wedding gods. They are fickle f#$%ers though and apparently one sacrifice was never going to be enough.
The rehearsal dinner was fantastic and everyone enjoyed the little gifts we had gotten them, especially our flower girls. They each got a digital camera to document the day and anything else they wanted to shoot. Both of our girls love to play with my camera when we are together and I wanted them to have one of their own. Who knows, maybe I'm helping to build the next generation of photography lovers. They had a blast and the food was great. Kel-Mat Cafe in Skowhegan had opened that night just for us. The ladies there are awesome. They made us all feel welcome and at home. They executed the meal with very little wait time and before I knew it, it was over.
We returned to the hill to do some last minute decorating. The place looked fantastic when we were done. I had some more things to do in the morning but overall I thought we were in good shape. I was again having fun and feeling much better about how it was going to go. We even had a little friend show up to test out the dance floor. Brutus wanted to eat him but couldn't bring himself to do it.
When I left that night all my faith had been restored and I felt like we just might pull this off after all. I promised myself that I would just take things as they came and that tomorrow I wouldn't worry about what was going wrong if it did. I would focus on Ben. I would focus on enjoying the day and trying not to let it go by to fast and making it feel like a blur.
This was a lofty challenge...
<3 Mrs. Luce
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