Getting married: it's tricky! (Part Four)

Saturday afternoon, we went back to Cromwell, where we spent the weekend with Kyle's family. We had a good time, and we even got to go to the beach Sunday evening! I got to squidge my toes in the sand, and wade in the water, and just enjoy the beachiness of it all. (I haven't been to a beach in, oh, probably 12 years, so it was way cool.) We walked about forever (several nuffs, anyway), down to the jetty and back to the car. But it was still fun.

And now we're up to today: Monday! The day before the wedding! And it's been at least as crazy as the rest of this trip has been. Kyle, Josh, and I left Kyle's house at 11:15 this morning. First stop: Walmart, in search of one of those big, classy black umbrellas. We wanted one in case it's raining tomorrow (Have I mentioned the weather? It's been raining for weeks here, and it's not shown any signs of stopping.), so we can still do some pictures of Kyle and me under the umbrella. This stop was unsuccessful. The closest we could find was a big black one with rainbow-colored polka dots. I wasn't really feeling it. (Don't worry, Kyle's sister Erin found one later one.)

Second stop: David's Bridal, to pick up my dress. We had planned to pick the dress up just after 11, but we didn't get there until 12:15. I go back to alterations to pick it up, and after giving the girl my receipt, she heads back behind the curtain. I can't understand anything I'm hearing, but the tones of voice are not good. She rushes back out front, then comes back to tell me that my dress hasn't been touched. Yes, I left it with them on Thursday with the understanding that I would pick it up today. Yes, I had paid for it. But no, it's not done. Not at all. But they'll start on it right away. That's cool; this wasn't time-sensitive. Oh wait! Yes it was. We were on our way out of town! To get married! And my dress wasn't ready!! But that's cool. Estimates ranged from 20 minutes to an hour. I went out and told Kyle, and my face must have looked worse than I thought, because he just wrapped me in a hug and said it would be okay. Which, of course, it would. But I was severely annoyed. And hungry, so we went to McDonald's for lunch. And when we got back, it was ready to go. So really, it didn't end up being a huge deal. But it sure stressed me out for a bit there.

Third stop: Belmont Town Hall, to pick up the marriage license. This time, things were okay, direction-wise. We'd borrowed Kyle's parents' power inverter, so things were charged. Of course, there were still the rain and the psycho intersections to deal with, but it wasn't too bad. Except the part where we almost died, which was less than awesome. This intersection had a straight only lane and a straight/right turn lane. We were in the straight/right turn lane, intending to go straight through the intersection. (It was actually one of those screwy intersections, so "straight" was really "leftish," but yeah.) Well, mid-intersection, a car to our left decided it needed to turn right. This would have put that car squarely into our side, but Kyle saved us with some evasive maneuvering. This rattled us all a bit, but we eventually got to the Town Hall. We walked in, and the lady came up with our application saying that there was a question and she had tried to call us. At this point, my heart almost stopped. I mean, really. Could nothing go right for us? But it was only a tiny thing (she wanted to verify the unusual spelling of Kyle's mom's name), and we were good to go. We exited the building, license in hand, feeling pretty proud of ourselves.

I think it's right around this point that Kyle hypothesized that the powers that be are not trying to actually derail or ruin the wedding; they merely want us both stressed to breaking point. Or just shy of it. If that's the case, they're doing a pretty good job.

I don't think anything else not-quite-catastrophic happened today. We got to the hotel that Kyle and his family are staying at tonight (also where the luncheon is tomorrow) and got him and Josh settled in. After Kyle's family arrived, we all headed over to a delightful little candy shop nearby for some fun. Kyle and I didn't buy anything (we weren't really feeling the sweets at that point), but we may well return tomorrow after the luncheon. After that, we came back to my family's hotel for dinner and such (they're separated by about 25 minutes). We finally settled on Chinese for dinner, followed by Cold Stone for dessert. Kyle got some finishing touches put on his thesis, and he and Josh headed back to their hotel. I should already be in bed, but I've been doing my nails and such. I think it's finally time, though. So g'night y'all; next time you hear from me, I'll be married!