the bridal chronicles: chapter 7: the day before...

After a harrowing night, involving rain, hail, thunder, tornadoes and intruders.... So began the wedding weekend.

Friday night, before the wedding, there was talk of LOTS of bad weather. I was too tired to care and went to bed.

At 3AM my brother called and said "OK, be calm, you need to go downstairs and take cover. There's a tornado coming toward you." I stayed calm and went to the downstairs half of my duplex to camp out in my neighbor's hallway. She was supposed to be out of town, hence the breaking (or using our common door) and entering. I safely hunkered down in the hallway to wait.

After a few minutes I looked to my left to notice that her back door was OPEN. Not just unlocked, but OPEN. And, there was a black SUV in the garage. I didn't know what to do!

Upstairs was unsafe because of an impending tornado. And downstairs was unsafe because of the intruder! I called Anne-Katherine (my neighbor) to ask if someone should in fact be in her home. She assured me that it was her brother Carson and that he was supposed to be there. I walked around her apartment calling out his name to no avail. He was nowhere to be found.

I called my parents back, and told them what was going on. They were still worried about me, seeing that the back door WAS open and no one was in the house. My dad told me to calmly go upstairs and get my purse and leave. Quickly.

So, as soon as I went outside, I found AK's brother watching the storm with a neighbor. (He's a search and rescuer, and gets excited about storms.) I was still so shaken up, and exhausted, that I didn't think "all is safe" so I drove the 30 minutes to my parents house to spend the rest of the night.

My dad assured me I was ahead of the bad storm at this point. But, in hindsight, WERE WE CRAZY!?!?

By the next morning, much of the midsouth was flooded. I drove home and saw one of my neighbors open his car door to see water gush out. I think I was somewhat lucky to not be parked in my street. I could have experienced some nice dampness!

The next day the weather wasn't much better. It was still very wet. And, the tornado sirens were blaring all day. (County wide, Memphis wasn't in direct danger.) Marjo called me and said "don't you love the wedding sirens going off in your honor!?"

Several people almost didn't make it to my bridesmaids luncheon. And, most everyone was somewhat delayed. But, once everyone got there, we had a wonderful time!

My mom's sisters hosted the luncheon at the wonderful cafe at Palladio. My sweet friend Michele's parents own Palladio, so when my aunt mentioned it, I got so excited!

The menu was incredible:

The Cafe's signature peach tea (to.die.for.)

Fried green tomato BLTs (WOW)

Potato Salad

Desserts: by my aunt's friend:

Mousse cups with rasberries

Homemade toffee with chocolate (kicks any Heath bar's butt!)

Wedding cake shaped sugar cookies perfectly iced!

Here's how the table looked. Perfectly pink and green. My aunt brought in her julep cups (appropriate since the derby was that day) and silver chargers. The takeout boxes had everyone's names written in calligraphy on them with the desserts inside.

This is such a priceless cousin picture. All the girl cousins on my mom's side. I'm so happy we were able to capture this!

My sweet Mb. Love you!

My mom made these bags for the bridesmaids gifts, along with pearl necklaces tied with pink grosgrain ribbon.

Half of my bridesmaids, left to right: Michele, Abby, me, and Liz.

Aunt Susan with Liz. Aren't they a pretty pair?

Michele came with coffee in hand! "Sweet beans of life!" Michele taught me how to love black coffee, for which I am eternally grateful.

Cute girl. I just love this photo of my sister.

I didn't get a picture with my dear aunt Janet. She helped to cohost the luncheon. I'm so happy she was able to come to the wedding. I can't tell you how humbling it is to find out that people want to travel great distances for YOUR wedding!

Sadly, I have NO pictures from the rehearsal or the dinner. I think Ethan took some, but I just never got my camera out. It was at the incredible Central Barbeque. It's our favorite Memphis barbeque. And believe me, we're Memphians, with means we're experts!

Although the two nights before the wedding were insane weather wise, we didn't let it dampen our spirits.... my frizzy HAIR on the other hand could tell a different story!