Day 2 of the 4 Day Wedding Whirlwind

3/18...Thursday...Remember in the last post how I mentioned that I announced to everyone that I wanted to sleep in until at least 9 am? uh, huh. Well this is how that all went down.

In order to save money...hahahaha....we rented a hotel suite so that all 4 of us...Chuck, me, Cameron and Will could stay in one room. We thought "suite" would be a divided area...as in wall and door with a living area with a pull-out sofa and then a bedroom with a queen bed. We had all that minus the divider. It was one room. ONE ROOM.

So I was in bed first the night before but others were watching t.v. and coming in and out and whatever they could do to make noise. I heard Chuck call the front desk and leave a wake-up call for 7:00 am. And then I fell asleep.

7:00 am. RING. RING. RING. RING. RING.

Apparently Chuck isn't going to answer the phone...WHICH IS ON HIS SIDE OF THE BED.... so I start to turn over and reach for it when my elbow punches his eyeball.....accidentally. He screams out in pain and continues to moan and groan and say ow. I apologize and say I'm sorry...it was an accident....are you okay?.....I'm so sorry....

and all the while.......RING. RING. RING. RING.

He finally picks it up and hangs up ('cause that's all you have to do to stop the ringing.) And he goes back to sleep.

And I lay there and try to go back to sleep.

And then. A loud roaring noise that sounds like we're at a Nascar race starts up outside our window.

bbbbbbRRROOOOAAAAARRRRRuuuuummmm. RRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR

bbbbbbRRROOOOOOOOAAARRRRRRRRRRRuuummmmm.

(THE OBNOXIOUS NOISE COMING FROM THE CHAIN SAW STARTS UP THEN STOPS, REPEATS, REPEATS. SO NOW I AM LAYING THERE ANTICIPATING IT STARTING UP...THEN STOP...THEN START UP...THEN STOP.)

Chuck sits up, calls the front desk and says very loudly....

"We are trying to sleep. Can't you do something about the noise outside our window?"

They say, "Sir, they're trimming the bushes around the pool and will be through in 30 minutes. We apologize...."

Chuck responds, "Well, we're awake now."

Now at this point, it strikes me as funny/ironic that Chuck called for a 7:00 am wake-up call, gets the call but goes back to sleep. Then 10 minutes later when the yard men wake him up he calls the front desk and complains about the noise and says "well, we're awake now...".

Like a Seinfeld episode.

This is how we operate. And now I am awake at 7:10. So much for sleeping in.

The 8 of us (my family and my sister's family in the same hotel) begin to rotate in and out of the free breakfast buffet and take turns going back to the room to get showered and dressed for the day. I don't need to tell you that that takes a long time. The guys head one direction and the girls head towards the direction of the place where the bride and her bridesmaids are having their pedicures.

And the bride-t0-be and her beautiful bridesmaids get pedicured....

You got boyfriend? You so pretty.

She do for us.

All pedicured.

By the way, this is the same place that Catha and I had our pedicure the day before. My lady commented on the hair on my big toe. Yes. She did. She remarked that it's black and white. I told her I highlighted it....because my husband likes it that way.

What else do you say to that comment?


She giggled and moved on to the sea salt application.

I sat appalled that I have hair on my big toe and she didn't offer to get it off...merely commented on the different colors of the hair. ugh.







Anyway...time flies and now we head back to get cleaned up
and re-dressed for the Rehearsal at the Royal Palm Resort.




Waiting in the bar until the Rehearsal begins.

This is the Ivy Family....Jack, Catha, Kim, and Mark. They did not need to rehearse anything but Chuck wanted Kim there for support.

Chuck is starting to get nervous at this point.


Me and Nervous



24 hours before I Do.


Bride and Maid of Honor.

Jordan and Cameron.

Passed this walking towards the garden where the ceremony will take place....

Camelback Mountain with

the setting sun shining on it.

Getting ready to rehearse.....

...and finished and headed to the Rehearsal Dinner. It was held at Aunt Chilada's about a 30 minute drive away. It was great food and lots of fun...and time spent with the groom's family.

Bridesmaid Rachel.....interned with Jordan at The Fiesta Bowl, became good friends, lives in Phoenix and works for the ballet company, she is more beautiful in real life, quick witted, sweet...

and she was the official make-up artist for the bride.

Bridesmaid Veronica...also interned with Jordan and Rachel, hired on at The Fiesta Bowl when Jordan did, lives in Phoenix, hails from Louisiana....a LSU graduate, Geaux Tigers, is so gorgeous and funny.

I think she's Ethel to Jordan's Lucy.

The Bride To Be ...Jordan

Maid of Honor Cameron....younger sister by 2 years and 6 1/2 months, shared a childhood with Jordan, sweet, smart, loud, funny, beautiful, an Aggie,

soon to be a mechanical engineer

Bridesmaid Brittany...met Jordan at A&M, roommates their Junior and Senior year, a faithful friend, a young bride, talented singer, as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside...and she was the hair stylist for all the girls.

Some of Jordan's new family...Chris's side.

From the left: John/brother, Dave/brother, Joe/brother, Nancy/mother,

Chris, Jordan

Front row: Natalie and Alex and Laura/daughter, son and wife of Dave

Good fun....new friends.

Dave and Laura and their kids, as well as Nancy, live in Phoenix.

I know they will take good care of Chris and Jordan....they started this week with dog-sitting for them.

Teaching Alex "Gig'em"

Maid of Honor Cameron and Best Man J.T.

John, Cameron, Chris, Joe, J.T. and Troy

Mark, Jordan, Jack and Jack's hand.

Genetics in action. They get each other.

The fathers....Chuck and Jim.

Chuck, Chip, Debbie and Happy

Our best friends and old neighbors from Richmond, arrived on Thursday in time to join us at the Rehearsal Dinner. We picked up where we left off more than 15 years ago when they moved from Richmond, TX, to Atlanta, GA. This couple knew us when we had an 8, 6 and 3 year old and they had a 6 and 4 year old. Good old days.

The Chuhs.

(Chuck and Chip....Debbie and I refer to them as the Chuhs.)

So Day 2 was Pedicures and Rehearsals. And more food.