I got to Lubbock around 3:00 on Friday, the 15th and followed my Yo and her family into Lamesa. I got to see her aunties and her grandma, people I haven’t seen in...hmm, I can’t even remember the last time I saw them! I finally got to meet her Fiancé, but I didn’t get a chance to give him “the talk” LOL. I guess I’ll have to do that later. On Saturday, we (the bridesmaids) took her on her Bachelorette-Get-Away-Weekend. Everything went wrong! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering I planned it in a town I hadn’t even heard of till a couple of months ago. The original plan was to go horseback riding, then to a wine tasting, dinner, and dancing. When we got to the horseback riding place, they’d lost our reservations, and since everything is done by reservation, we were SOL. So instead we took her go-karting, which was a total blast.
I ended up finding another place to ride horses later on, so that was nice.
Then we got all dressed up for dinner at a resteraunt I found on the internet. All the sites said that it was great, so how could I know that it was a Sizzler-style place?! Yeah, we were WAY overdressed! Luckily though, the food was very good.
We couldn’t find anywhere to go dancing because none of us were familiar with the area and the concierge at the hotel desk was not very helpful, so we decided that we would just go buy some booze and drink in the hotel room. Sounds easy enough right? Boy, were we wrong! Turns out that Lubbock is dry. Yup, no liquor anywhere. We had to go to “the Strip”, which was about ten miles away to get stuff. It was so cute though, it was like Mini Vegas with all the neon and flashing lights. : )
We got back to Lamesa on Sunday afternoon.
Monday thru Wednesday consisted of moving Yo out of the guest house behind her FMIL’s house and into their new house, which caused a byproduct that none of us counted on...A huge blow out between her and her FMIL that also involved the bridesmaids and myself more specifically. There were accusations, name calling, and threats to call the police; good times. On the upside, we were able to enjoy her grandmas’ cooking the whole time we were there. I must’ve gained six pounds! We ran around a lot and made three more trips to Lubbock (an hour away) before everything was said and done. I was pretty much ready to go home at this point ‘cause I was missing MyHoney.
Thursday was the rehearsal, but it wasn’t much of one. The people at the church didn’t give us nearly as much direction as we needed.
Monday thru Wednesday consisted of moving Yo out of the guest house behind her FMIL’s house and into their new house, which caused a byproduct that none of us counted on...A huge blow out between her and her FMIL that also involved the bridesmaids and myself more specifically. There were accusations, name calling, and threats to call the police; good times. On the upside, we were able to enjoy her grandmas’ cooking the whole time we were there. I must’ve gained six pounds! We ran around a lot and made three more trips to Lubbock (an hour away) before everything was said and done. I was pretty much ready to go home at this point ‘cause I was missing MyHoney.
Thursday was the rehearsal, but it wasn’t much of one. The people at the church didn’t give us nearly as much direction as we needed.
I've never been to a traditional Catholic wedding, so I wasn’t really sure what all I was supposed to be doing, and as the Bride’s Honor attendant, that’s not the best place to be. The Best Man and I tried to keep up, but since neither of us is Catholic; it was kind of a lost cause. I just did the best I knew how and hoped for the best. And since I didn’t get any disapproving looks from the Father, I’ll have to assume that I did alright. Later that night, the Bride and Groom decided that it would be a grand idea for all of us to go out drinking. OH MY GOODNESS. That’s all I’m going to say...
On Friday we spent most of the day decorating. The dinner was at the gym in the Baptist church down the street from the Catholic church. We had to transform it from icky gym into a grand affair.
My family and Yo’s family spent almost the entire time ironing the seat covers. But, by the time everything was set up (some five hours later) it did look pretty good! Then it was off to the Civic Center, which is also the local skating rink, to set up for the dance part. Yeah, there were three different locations for this thing! Something, I’m told, is not at all uncommon in Lamesa.
By the time Saturday came around, we were all ready to get it passed us, including the Bride. The morning started with a panic to find the receipt for the food that needed to be picked up in Lubbock. Then I whisked her away to get her hair and makeup done.
They also did my hair, but I wasn’t really happy with it. Yo liked it, but I thought I looked like Dolly Parton; it was way too high (but whatever the Bride wants!) Then we went over to her house to get ready, but she decided that she didn’t want to put the gown on till we got to the church. So we were running around like headless chickens trying to get out of there and over to the church. Her FMIL must’ve called her a dozen times that morning looking for things that she already had, but kept insisting that Yo had (ugh). I was just trying my hardest to keep her calm and happy, which wasn’t easy in that environment. And that’s where the “disappointment” part comes in. Because she didn’t want to risk seeing her Fiancé, she stayed in one of the Sunday school classrooms, and I went into the church to take pictures of everything so she could see it. After I made a few adjustments in there, she asked for her bouquet, which she hated. I don’t know what those people were doing, but they didn’t even use the right flowers; they didn’t cut off the excess stem, wrapped it up in green florist tape (no ribbon) and tied a weirdo bow on the front. I would’ve been pissed too. So me, being Super Matron! and her mom tried to fix it. We cut off the ends, untied the bow and wrapped it around to cover the tape; she was much happier with it when we were done, but still upset that they didn’t use the right flowers.
My favorite part was when my camera battery died right before the ceremony. With all the planning I did, and all the lists I made, I didn’t think to bring my camera charger! The ceremony was beautiful, the Father was funny, and they looked really happy up there. I couldn’t help but notice that she (like me) held on to her honey’s hand the entire time. Then came picture time, I love taking pictures!
When we were finished there, we went over to the Baptist church for the dinner. Lightning strikes again. Everyone knows how the head table goes right? Well, apparently in Lamesa, no one does. The whole wedding party ended up sitting next to the Bride because his whole family had claimed his side. Whatever, no big deal. Then we realized that the food was stone cold. Eew. And the caterers wouldn’t heat it up. Um, excuse me? We didn’t really eat anything until they cut the cakes; but the cakes were freakin’ awesome!
And it was so funny; us girls didn’t get a piece of the groom’s cake right away because we were trying to get the other cake, so by the time we turned around, there was a big ol’ line, but all we had to say was “the Bride wants” and the crowd parted like the Red Sea (and of course, we also got pieces for ourselves LOL). The newlyweds went back to the church to take their pictures alone and the rest of the crowd commenced to breaking down the party. How strange that the guests had to clean it up...
The dance wasn’t for a couple of hours, so we passed a little bit of time at the house, just kickin’ back and watching a movie. When we went over to the dance at seven, there was no one there. At all. No One. Yo looked just as confused as the rest of us because the invitation said seven, but we were the only people there at 20 after. The owner was there when we were, but wouldn’t allow us to buy a bottle of water for the Bride (gritting teeth here). We had to send one of the groomsman on a Walmart run for water and other drinks. The dance itself was fun, except that those weirdo Lamesa people dance while walking around in a big ol’ circle. It was just too confusing for me at first; I ended up dancing with the rest of the girls any my family in a little corner of the hall. Once I caught on, it was fun. I totally LOVED doing the bouquet toss 'cause it ended up going to the girl we wanted it to! And the garter toss was hilarious!!
The dance wasn’t for a couple of hours, so we passed a little bit of time at the house, just kickin’ back and watching a movie. When we went over to the dance at seven, there was no one there. At all. No One. Yo looked just as confused as the rest of us because the invitation said seven, but we were the only people there at 20 after. The owner was there when we were, but wouldn’t allow us to buy a bottle of water for the Bride (gritting teeth here). We had to send one of the groomsman on a Walmart run for water and other drinks. The dance itself was fun, except that those weirdo Lamesa people dance while walking around in a big ol’ circle. It was just too confusing for me at first; I ended up dancing with the rest of the girls any my family in a little corner of the hall. Once I caught on, it was fun. I totally LOVED doing the bouquet toss 'cause it ended up going to the girl we wanted it to! And the garter toss was hilarious!!
The trip home was also an adventure. I was supposed to go from Lubbock, to Dallas, and then to Phoenix. On the flight to Dallas I got an aisle seat and no one was in the middle; score! (not!) right before the flight was getting ready to leave, a big fat guy decided that he wanted to sit in the middle seat. Ugh. And it was one of those creepy looking, could-be-a-child-molester kind of guys. He totally took over the section with his newspaper and overfilled his seat to the point where I was hanging over into the aisle. On top of that, he was wearing way too much cologne. *Sigh* No one told me, and I didn’t find out till I got to Dallas, that there would also be a stop in El Paso. The Dallas to El Paso flight was much more pleasant; I got a window seat this time (yay) and sat next to a nice looking, average sized guy. I was happy to find out that I didn’t have to get off the plane again because that same one also took me to Phoenix. Finally!
So all in all, it was a pretty good trip. I had fun for the most part and was happy to see my Yo married off. I’m going to have to say that I’ll probably never set foot in Lamesa again though. So when they start having kids, they’d better be doing it somewhere else!
So all in all, it was a pretty good trip. I had fun for the most part and was happy to see my Yo married off. I’m going to have to say that I’ll probably never set foot in Lamesa again though. So when they start having kids, they’d better be doing it somewhere else!
I felt dumb smiling at myself in the mirror, which is why no smiles. And also, Little Man came at exactly 37 weeks. I was in the hospital in labor, so taking that last belly pic was not at the top of my agenda :)
