Wedding Day!

Okay, let's start with the night before ;-)

Our home was a flurry of activity.  There was so much happening between the newly-bought steamer and the iron--clothes were being tried on for one last time, making sure all was ready to go.  There were clothes hanging everywhere!

I realized that we had quite the schedule we were going to be following in the morning, and I wasn't sure who should take what car to do what so I sat down with a legal pad and drew it all out:

• Hannah had the earliest appointment at the hair stylist, followed by Glo.  Glo wanted to be able to come back home before we drove to the temple.
• Somebody needed to pick up the doughnuts from Dom's as well as the flowers for the temple photos.  Thankfully both of these locations were in Ypsilanti.  Unfortunately, it meant that the entire back of one car would be full (with no back seats available).
• John's Tesla wouldn't make it all over southeast Michigan without a charge so his car was out.  We had Mark's car, Ethan's car (which would be filled with his family), Reddi, and Johannah's car.

In a moment that we couldn't have scripted better, the power went out during the night.  About 2 a.m., I woke up to the use the bathroom, and I thought I heard our neighbor's generator going.  "No way.  This can't be happening," I thought as I sat down on the toilet.  I hesitated to flip the light switch next to my head, but as John always says, just rip the band-aid OFF.  Sure enough, no light.  As I crawled back into bed, I woke up John and told him.  He then reset his alarm so he could get up early enough to start the generator which you would think we would want for hair appliances, but it's not strong enough for that.  He started it up so that we had just the basic necessities....and a freezer full of meat that wouldn't get ruined.

 

So first thing in the morning, I drove Hannah to her hair appointment.  I then drove back to pick up Glo to take her to the appointment.  I rushed home and took a shower but did nothing to my hair.

Let's pause a moment here.  I am not a high-maintenance beauty person, but I DO care immensely about my hair.  I had gotten a blow-out the day before, but again, in a moment that we couldn't have scripted, Michigan was in a "heat dome" for the day before and day of the wedding.  95 degrees was expected.  Mind you, it had been in the 70s every other day for the month of August.  But not August 24, 2023.  It was HOT! And my hair does NOT do well in heat and humidity.  I figured it was just par for the course--three different weddings of my children, all with my hair looking bad....

I still wasn't sure what to wear.  I had gone through FIVE dresses the night before and had trimmed the choices down to two dresses--a green one from Eshakti that fit right out of the box, and a floral pink dress from Baltic Born that I had had altered for modesty.  Everyone in the family told me that the pink one was THE dress for the day, but it was full-length with long sleeves (albeit sheer fabric).  The green dress was just cooler.  So I decided to wear the green dress for the temple and then decide once I got to Cornman what I wanted to wear for the rest of the day.

John had already left for Ypsi (for doughnuts and flowers), so I picked up the girls from their hair appointments.  Both of them looked stunning, and it gave me some satisfaction that all of the stress Hannah and I had gone through to find someone who would open early for hair appointments had been worth it!  I put the girls in the car and off we went!

It felt surreal walking into the temple as the mother-of-the-bride.  I've seen other mothers experience this moment of bliss, and I couldn't believe it was finally my turn.  Sister Cameron was standing right beyond the recommend desk, and she had the marriage license all filled out and ready to go for signatures.  I had done some sleuthing and had discovered that if Glo was going to change her name, she had to sign the marriage license with her new surname (thank goodness we knew that).  So there it was, her signing her new name.

And with that, Glo decided to keep her Kennedy surname as her middle name.  It was a bit sad for me, considering I gave her the middle name of Grace, but she had good thoughts behind becoming Gloria Kennedy Bridge:  Kennedy has been a huge part of her life and her identity, and she wanted to keep it. And at the same time, she was very excited to become a Bridge and to start her own little Bridge family with Gordon.  I do appreciate that she didn't want to hyphenate her last name.  Really, Glo just always has things together, and she constantly amazes me with her thoughtfulness and maturity.

We then went into the bride's room in the temple and had to figure out how to get her temple dress over her newly-coiffed hair and headpiece.  It wasn't easy! And after we got her into her ceremonial clothes, she was ready to go so we left her there to make her appearance with Gordon.  We all went into the sealing room, and at 10:00, we thought we were ready, but Beth (who had shown up almost an hour late to do Baby's hair) was still out in the lobby doing Baby's hair.  I had to tell Sister Cameron that we weren't ready for the sealing to start because we were waiting for Beth.  To be honest, it was a bit embarrassing, but I had to remember that this was OUR day, and it was okay for our temple folks to wait on us a bit ;-)  Finally Beth walked in, Brother Pabst took his place at the head of the altar, Shannon and I took our seats as witnesses, and the couple walked in.

Brother Pabst is the best.  He is yet another person who is the embodiment of our wish to have supportive family here on earth.  Really, Heavenly Father has never let us feel alone despite the fact that our family isn't part of our lives.  I truly believe he loves our family as much as any blood relative.  He had told me that he doesn't give any advice to couples, so I was worried that the sealing would be done in a blink of an eye, but instead he gave some background about the sealing power which made us appreciate the weight and beauty of the moment.

And then it started.  The two of them kneeling across the altar from each other.  They had decided (at Gordon's request) to look at each other during the sealing (and not at Brother Pabst).  It was, for me, a moment frozen in time.  I could hardly believe that one of my daughters was getting married, and I felt such gratitude in my heart that the man I had been praying for for her entire life had finally found her.

And like that, it was done.  The greatest power in the universe had been enacted for my darling girl, and for the love of her life, and because of it, their bond would never be broken.

They stood at the head of the room as people left the room, receiving congratulations.  We also were on the side, and it was wonderful, being able to thank everyone for coming.  The moment that stands out in my mind the most is when Ryan Barney hugged me and said, "I'm a bit jealous."  Ugh, that tore at my heart strings.  I knew exactly what he was saying and feeling with no children who are married yet but wanting it so badly for his kids.

We went back to the bride's room and finagled Glo's temple dress over her hair and got her wedding dress on.  There were so many buttons, and Hannah and Hermana Assumpcao were amazing getting them all fastened.  I got her shoes on, and I ran out and got the flowers from John.  There were so many people waiting outside which was really fun.  And then out they came!

They had been practicing "the dip" for weeks, and they are pros at it! Too, Glo never knows when Gordon is going to dip her, but when he does, she's always there and ALL IN ;-)  First they ran the gamut of people, and to be honest, those are some of my favorite temple photos because everyone looks so happy for them.  And thankfully Katrina caught that Gordon's pants leg was stuck in his sock and corrected that for him.  But holy smokes, what a beautiful couple (kudos, Glo, on knowing you wanted Gordon in a burgundy suit), and what a perfect dress for Glo.

And then everyone was off.  The reception started two hours later, and because we ended up with 75 RSVPing, we had the place for the day so we started the drive over.  It's funny to think that the newly married couple hopped in the back seat of the car with Hannah and Hermana ;-) As predicted, Glo fell asleep....and ruined the back of her hair!  John and I got in a fight on the way because he didn't agree with the way the GPS took us, but then I got a text from one of my young women who was driving over as well who told us to avoid I-96 because it was backed up.  

We had some things to do once we arrived.  Glo had printed up menu cards (totally gorgeous), and we had place cards for every seat at the reception that we needed to set out.  We also had extra flowers to place around the venue, and Allison needed to set up the bookcase with the book favors.  The boys headed to the lawn to set up the log and the saw buck, and it brought a smile to my face to see them out sawing a practice circle.  In other words, they were leaving nothing to chance! ;-) We also had the doughnuts to bring down to the bar area.  I could hardly believe it when I walked in the barn--we didn't ask for much, but we had greenery on the table and a sprig of something in each napkin, and Glo had requested the mismatched china.  It was so dreamy and beautiful and GLO.  After Hannah fixed Glo's hair, she and Gordon got to work in the barn.  Meg was hanging out with us as well which was so fun.  She threw me a really nice compliment when she saw me delegating, telling me that a lot of people can't do that.  I always figure the more I can get other people to do, the less I have to do ;-)

At some point, Micah asked me if we were ready to start the ring ceremony.  Because some of the wedding party hadn't shown up to the barbecue the night before, we hadn't had a moment to rehearse.  It was my bad that I assumed that everyone could perform last minute like my own children, because it was a rather messy ring ceremony.  I tried really hard to just BE in the moment, especially when I was walking down the aisle to my seat.  I knew all eyes would be on me, and I just wanted to show how happy I felt inside.  By the time I sat down, the rest of the party started coming down the aisle, and I had to try and "pssst" to tell them what to do, or use my eyes or fingers to point.  In all honesty, we couldn't have it any other way, being Kennedys ;-)

The Joneses were the officiators, and despite my best efforts to give them text and an outline beforehand, they went a little off script (especially President Jones), and it turned a bit long.  But I'm getting ahead of my story.

The Joneses didn't stand in quite the right spot which worried me as the wedding party approached.  Too, there was a giant oak tree in the way off to the right.  But the piece de la resistance was when Baby started her approach as the flower girl.  We had a bubble gun hidden inside of a bouquet of flowers (again, kudos to Rebecca for creating that thing of beauty), and all Baby had to do was walk down the aisle shooting the bubbles.  But she didn't even get down the driveway BEFORE the aisle before she started crying.  Honestly, we probably should've anticipated something like this would happen, but again, my bad for my high performance expectations....  Rebecca ran over and walked down the aisle with her crying.

Finally, Glo and Gordon came around the house and down the driveway and up the aisle.  They were a vision.  Just beautiful and perfect and wonderful.  BUT then when they got to the top of the aisle, they SPLIT.  Like, Gordon on one side and Glo on the other.  I mean, I know Gordon hasn't watched many movies, but maybe Glo has also missed that nuance of standing together because she's always doing something else while listening to movies.  At this point, I couldn't give direction one more time from the sidelines so I just let it be.

Remember that power outage from the night before? About five minutes in, the microphone just died.  I motioned to Micah that we couldn't hear, and for the next 20 minutes, we would see her popping her head up and around different sides of the house trying to figure out if something needed to be plugged in.  John figured the microphone needed to be charged and just hadn't had the time to do so.  Who knows? Anyway, by the time Glo wanted to sing her song for Gordon, only the first row or two could even hear her.  Because I had been in the house prepping for the ring ceremony, I didn't appreciate how many people had actually shown up (I knew EVERYONE would be there for dinner), but looking back at pictures, it's too bad that all those people couldn't hear anything!

But Glo's song was so tender.  She pulled out her guitar and sang "Future Days".

If I ever were to lose you
I'd surely lose myself

Everything I have found dear

I've not found my myself.

Try and sometimes you'll succeed
To make this man of me
All my stolen missing parts
I've no need for anymore.

I believe

And I believe cause I can see

Our future days

Days of you and me.

Back when I was feeling broken
I focused on a prayer
You came deep as any ocean
Did something out there hear?

All the complexities and games
No one wins but somehow they're still played

All the missing crooked hearts

they may die but in us they live on.

I believe
And I believe cause I can see
Our future days
Days of you and me

When hurricanes and cyclones raged
When winds turned dirt to dust
When floods they came or tides they raised
Ever closer became us

All the promises at sundown, I've meant them like the rest. All the demons used to come round.  I'm grateful now they've left.

So persistent in my ways
Hey Angel, I am here to stay
No resistance, no alarms, please this is just too good to be gone.

I believe, and I believe cause I can see, our future days, days of you and me.

It's just you and me.

I love that Glo found this song, because honestly, it describes her journey to find Gordon.  She really did rely on prayer when she was feeling like she couldn't find anyone, and Heavenly Father heard her prayers.  What a miracle.

Meanwhile, Buddy had arrived with Kathy (John's mom), but she refused to come up to the ring ceremony on the lawn.  So the whole ring ceremony, John had a visual on his mom and Buddy, sitting out of earshot over by the barn.  Yeah, nothing makes John happier than being reminded of his dysfunctional mother.  And I could hardly believe it when I looked over to the other side of the chairs and saw Blake splayed FULL OUT across three chairs during the ceremony.

After Glo's beautiful song, I introduced the log cutting ceremony which is always a favorite at all of my children's weddings.  We allowed the bridal party to start the cut (poor Hannah had the first attempt which is always the hardest), and I thought more people would get to participate, but shoot, our family is too efficient--we had to get Glo and Gordon up there before the final cut went through! It's funny to look at the wedding photos and see how many people were taking video of the entire process ;-)

And so began the socializing hour which really turned into a socializing day for John and me.  As John said afterwards, we would finish talking to one set of people, turn around to take a little break, and end up talking to someone else.  Not that this was a bad thing! Everyone there was there for a reason: we LOVE them, but wow.  We didn't even get to try any of the appetizers that were being served nor the doughnuts! But we did see them getting eaten by everyone else ;-)

It was beautiful to see so many people whom we love, and to see that so many of them came dressed so beautifully.  I had felt strongly to invite several of my young women which meant we invited their families as well, and I could tell they really had a fun time.  It was the kind of wedding I've always dreamed of for my girls--it was an event and not just a stop-by kind of thing.  I wanted everyone to feel the love of the day and to feel welcome and to feel like they could step back from their lives for a couple of hours.

Next was the cake-cutting ceremony.  When Micah had first suggested this in the schedule, I thought it was kind of strange to cut the cake before we ate, but she pointed out that oftentimes people will leave after the meal and they miss the cake cutting.  Plus, the staff could cut the cake while we were eating dinner so really it was a win/win ;-)  Glo did NOT want any cake shoved in her face, and I sure didn't want any cake down her dress, so Gordon was a gentleman.  The pictures of the two of them cutting the cake really are adorable.

Then it was time for dinner.  I won't lie--I was pretty excited about the food.  We had done quite a bit of taste testing, and I had high expectations.  We had a seating chart down in the bar area, and everyone found their seat quickly.  But before the food was served, Glo had asked John to give a toast.

I had asked John to not turn it into a testimony meeting where he would talk about his sad childhood and compare it to the kids we have, and thankfully he steered clear of any of that.  Instead, he made it all about Glo and the great girl she is.  He also spoke about Gordon since we've gotten to know him well over the past six months.  He did a great job of taking what would normally be two toasts by two different people, and he combined them into one.  My only wish would have been that someone (besides me) would have thought of recording it so I could have the words now, but alas, we will have to replay it in heaven when our memories are made perfect.  It was going to cost us several hundred dollars to have sparkling cider for the toast, so John made a cute joke about using the water glasses.  And something that I didn't catch until I saw the photos was that Glo was holding John's hand throughout the entire toast.  Again, another perfect moment.

The food WAS to die for, and I told Cornman afterwards that they should offer bread baskets to every event because my suggestion was a huge hit.  And all those teenagers who thought they wanted chicken dippers over porchetta? Yeah, they regretted that decision BIG TIME ;-)  I had put a lot of thought into the seating chart, and of course Grammy changed up her seat (no surprise there), but it was fun to look around and see people from different parts of our lives all getting to know each other.

Near the end of dinner, it was time for the sentimental dances.  First it was Gordon and his mom, Shannon, dancing to "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac.  I had never seen Shannon smiling like she was when she was dancing with Gordon, and I think she liked all the fun things he did while dancing with her.  Next it was Glo dancing with John to the Kennedy classic, "The House That Built Me" by Miranda Lambert.  None of us had a dry eye, including John and Glo.  But then THE favorite moment of everyone happened, completely unscripted.  As Gordon came up to dance with Glo, John hugged them both.  The emotions were tender while he just held them both, again with tears of happiness (and possibly a bit of sadness).  

I ended up choosing Glo and Gordon's song since they never really landed on one.  I chose "Runnin' Home to You" by Grant Gustin.  Considering our little runner girl, it just felt really perfect, thinking of Glo always running home to Gordon.  Sure enough, the Kennedy water works were in full force, and it was very tender watching Mark sing it to Allison while staring into her eyes.

And then in a moment of brilliance, John asked if Glo could sing her song to Gordon again so that everyone could actually hear her.  Afterwards, Shari Maxwell (John's boss) came up and said we need to sign Glo to a contract ;-)

I think I imagined there would be one core memory from the day, but it was just a series of core memories.  In fact, here I am three and a half months later, and I can still picture the day as if it were yesterday.

To keep a fair record and to not slant history in any way (and this actually comes after corroborating with John), the Bridge family was a dud all around.  They looked like they hated every minute of being there. Even John noticed that they never left their corner of the barn, and they just watched us like visitors to the zoo.  They didn't talk to anyone but their own family, and at the end, after the couple had left for their honeymoon, Shannon turned to me and said, "I hope you will let them come and visit us sometime."  I don't know what she meant by that, but I wanted to say to her that she would need to form her own relationship with Glo...and that I don't control my adult daughter's actions.  It definitely wasn't a good way to end her time with me, and I haven't really heard from her since.

Anyway....Glo had insisted that no matter who she married, she wanted a dance par-TAY (hence the practicing with Gordon earlier in the week), and we delivered.  Three months later, Meg still talks about the dancing--how fun the kids are to be around and how they know the words to every song ;-)  I had helped Glo change out of her wedding dress (I wasn't sure I would actually get her out of all those buttons) into a little white cotton dress because she wanted to MOVE!  And even when the power went out again, Hermana and Hannah led everyone in Disney songs for a good ten minutes ;-)

Finally, it was time to end.  Most of the guests had left with the dancing (no surprise there), so it was a small group to send them off with sparklers (left over from either Ethan and Rebecca's wedding or Mark and Allison's).  I heard several naysayers who complained about the fact that it wasn't dark, but I just did the figurative eye roll and moved on.  Honestly, I had been running around, trying to get all of their luggage from multiple cars moved into Reddi so when I heard the complaining, I wanted to throw them out on the street, but my Christian charity kicked in....along with the eye rolls.  Ethan and Rebecca had cutely decorated Reddi, but they had invited the groomsmen to do so as well....and theirs wasn't as cute.  But man, it was fun to see them ready to go.  They came out to the sparklers, hopped in the car and off they went.

Thankfully I could track Glo's phone so I knew they made it to the hotel safely, and the next day I could see that they made it to Mackinac Island for their honeymoon.  And that's the difference with having girls I guess--Gordon is such a great protector of Glo, but I will still always worry about her.

As I end the memories from this day, I have to give full credit to John again.  I so appreciate that he didn't rein me in with expenses but instead he gave Glo and me the freedom to have the day Glo wanted.  He was really so generous both with his money and with the extra time he worked to cover it all so we didn't go into debt.  Yes, we could've just given the money to Glo and Gordon and done a backyard event, but there were so many beautiful memories from the day that I wouldn't trade any of them for any amount of money.