Wedding Dress Fiasco

So...I felt the need to reflect on something other than potty training, since we are celebrating four years of marriage today.  (But really, potty training does more accurately reflect our marriage at this point).

And I realized that I have never written about the near disaster caused by a wedding dress that just wouldn't cooperate.

Soon after Scott and I got engaged (which I never told the story, oh well, maybe next year), I started thinking about wedding dresses.  Okay, I had already been thinking about wedding dresses for a very long time, but I started thinking specifically about what wedding dress I wanted to actually wear, on my actual wedding day.  I had three specific things I was looking for--a big skirt, box pleats, and a dropped waist.  Oh, and I was fairly certain that I wanted strapless.  Well, it dawned on me that Ann's wedding dress had a big skirt, with box pleats, and a dropped waist.  Perfect, right? 

So we took the dress to a local Scottsboro shop to see if they could change it from an off the shoulder to a strapless dress, and they said, sure, no problem.

In the mean time, I began to diet and work out, you know to get in shape for the big day.  What girl doesn't do this?  I mean if there is ever a time to look your best, this is it.

Well, I was going to fittings, and of course I noticed that the dress was rather heavy, and I noticed that they were having to take it up quite a bit in the bodice, but no big deal, right?

Wrong.

On the day of my wedding, when I finally had the dress on, and I began to walk around, I realized we had a problem.  The dress would not stay up.  This dress was not meant to be a strapless dress, and it was just too heavy.  Plus, I had lost some weight between the final fitting and the wedding day.  Combine these two things, and I was in a bit of a panic.  Luckily, I had 13 bridesmaids to help me out:)

We tried duct tape.  We tried holding my arms very tight against the dress as I walked.  I tried panicking and crying and racking my brain for an alternate plan.  Guess what?  I had no back up wedding dress, which is what I announced to the room.  "This is my only dress option,"  I announced.  You think?  And we went back to holding my arms against my side in an attempt to hold the dress up.

Well, we hoped this would work, and I went on with the day.  And soon it was the big moment.  Time to walk down the aisle. 

I am so very happy, eyes on my groom, believing that everything is going just as it should, and I reach the end of the aisle.

And then I feel my mother walk up behind me, and give a big jerk on my dress--as in she pulled it up.  As in, this was not done in the rehearsal.  And I had no idea how low my dress had been as I walked down the aisle.  In horror, I imagined that I had walked down the aisle flashing the world.  Oh the horror. 

My back was to the crowd at this point, and every one of my bridesmaids could see the terror on my face.  The guests were singing the hymn that I had picked, and I was silently pleading with Ann to reassure me that I had not, in fact, flashed the entire sanctuary.  on my wedding day!!!  She, along with the other 12 bridesmaids, kept huge smiles on their faces, as they were facing the crowd, and she kept mouthing, "it's okay, it's okay." 

I managed to get through the ceremony, and actually pay attention to the vows I was making--the covenant I was entering into--but in the back of my mind, all I could think about was my mother pulling my wedding dress up. 

As soon as the ceremony was over, I did find out that it wasn't as bad as imagined.  The dress was coming down in the back, but my mom pulled it up in order to prevent anything worse happening. 

I loved my wedding, and I often wish I could relive the day.  But if I did, and I once again opted for a strapless dress, I would choose one that was made to be strapless.  Single girls, learn from my mistake.

p.s.  Ada has used the bathroom in the potty twice!!!  And on our anniversary, I have called Scott three times at work, not to tell him how much I love him and how happy I am that he married me, but to update him on the potty training progress.  Now that is what marriage really is, right?

Anniversary Week

On Thursday, Scott and I celebrate four years of marriage, so I thought I would use this week to take a little walk down memory lane.

What you see above is a picture that was taken when Scott I had been dating for maybe two weeks?  We were headed to ADPi's Spring semi-formal, and we were new enough that I was feeling a bit nervous.  We were double dating with my dear friend and future bridesmaid, Shannon Farrar (now Vinsen--she married Allen, the guy in the picture).

What is significant about this night?  Scott held my hand for the first time;).  I know, big deal, right?  But I still remember him reaching back to take my hand as we made our way through a very crowded room, and I felt a bit "giggly" on the inside.

I was a senior in college when Scott and I started dating.  I lived in a very big old house with 12 other girls, and Scott and his guy friends often hung out at our place.  Scott had a class with Shannon (pictured above), and he came over to study one night.  I shared a room with Shannon, and I had just changed my major from fashion to English second semester of my junior year.  I remember sitting on my bed, clumsily making my way through The Canterbury Tales written entirely in middle English.  Every once in a while, I would say something out to loud to Shannon and Scott, venting my frustration over the language of the story.  From that night on, Scott and I were good friends, though it would be many months before the relationship would become anything more than that--good friends.  Scott was liking someone else at the time, as was I, and we had the luxury of getting to know each other apart from any complicated games that often come with guy/girl relationships.

I think discovering that we liked each other as more than friends came as a surprise to both of us.  My life was in a messy place at that time, and I was somewhat confused that this was when God decided that my future husband should show up.  I remember thinking, as I waded through the mess of that year, that surely Scott was going to decide that it just wasn't worth it.  I prayed, oh I prayed, because it didn't make a lot of sense that he was sticking around.  But he stuck.  And we stuck.  And here we are, two babies later, and my life is still pretty messy most of the time.  From the very beginning, Scott has been a calming force in the midst of my mess, and I am so thankful for who he is.  It was his kind heart that first attracted me to him.  He seemed like the safest person in the whole world at the time, and he continues to be my "safe place."

Tomorrow I will share the proposal story...I know you can hardly wait;)

Celebrating the New Year

Today was a great day because I got to spend some time with a dear friend who is unexpectedly home from China. Amy and I first met when we were roommates in China the summer after our Freshman Year. We were great friends from then on out. We ended up living together at Auburn (along with 11 other girls), and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding (along with 12 other girls; yes it's true--13 bridesmaids). It was such an unexpected treat to get to spend a chunk of this day with her. Though we haven't seen each other in months, it was as if no time had passed. It was a bit surreal to hug her good-bye, knowing she was headed back across the Ocean for several more months.

Amy and I have spent several New Years together, the most memorable being four years ago. I was freshly graduated from Auburn with my Master's in Education, engaged to Scott, and briefly living at home until our wedding in April. Rambo (Amy's last name and what we call her) was living and working in New York at the time, and she and two of my other bridesmaids went in together to buy me a plane ticket to NY as a wedding gift. So the day after Christmas I headed to New York for one last hurrah as a single girl.

We had so much fun seeing the sights through the eyes of a local, and we ended the fun-filled week with a midnight run through Central Park to ring in the New Year. It was surreal to say the least.

There I was in the middle of that glorious city with two of my best friends, thinking about all that the coming year held. I was this 23 year old college graduate nervously trying to grasp the gravity of the vows that I would make in just a few months, and I somewhat understood that life was about to get very real. I knew, as I ran that midnight race through Central Park, that 2006 would bring much change. Little did I know that I would ring in 2007 with little Ada growing in my stomach.

Here we are, what seems like a lifetime ago, enjoying a fun dinner before the race later that night. Did I mention that Rambo was born on New Year's Eve. She always gets to celebrate her birthday in style:)

And then in Amy's apartment. (me, Laura Leary, and Amy Rambo)Excuse the quality of the photos. These were taken with a disposable camera.

I can't believe that only four years have passed since that night. It feels like a lifetime. And sure enough, life has become very real. I sat across from Rambo today at a table in Moe's, so very pregnant with baby number two, and we reminisced and caught up. I like to live vicariously through her many adventures--before New York, she lived and worked in Colorado, then after NY, she was in Africa, and now China. There is talk that she might spend a couple of years in the Atlanta area next. I am crossing my fingers.

I am so thankful for the friends that I made at Auburn. The Lord blessed me with so many girls who were very much in love with him. Rambo is one of the many that he has used to mold and shape and draw me closer to himself.

Anyway, four years later, I think I will meet the New Year fast asleep on my pillow. I am 34 weeks pregnant, after all.

update: to answer Mary Ann's question, we did end the night on Times Square after the crowds had cleared. We avoided Times Square before then. We wanted to miss the craziness. There was still confetti floating around by the time we got there, though, and in the wee hours of the morning we hopped on the subway and made our way back to Rambo's apartment. It was the perfect way to celebrate the New Year.