Meet the Conners

Congrats to L&R! They tied the knot after an incredible wedding weekend packed with a bridesmaids' luncheon, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, day-long bridesmaid beautification experience, a gorgeous wedding, and a super-fun reception. In a word, I'm exhausted, but it was fabulous, so I thought I'd share a few highlights, plus a few pics of my adorable friends... ok, and me, too.

On a side note, I will say that, since getting engaged, I'm suddenly realizing how much goes into a wedding. It's not like there are a ton of huge decisions (though there are a few... dress, location, groom. You know.), but there must be 156,000 tiny ones. Do you want attendants in a line or staggered? Exit in pairs or by themselves? Invitations on the table or in the basket? Sashes tightly knotted or loosely draped? I think I'll assign these few I've thought of now to B...

One of the best parts of the weekend was spending time with my high school girls. We all live on the same side of town, so we carpooled to every wedding event, at times in curlers (stay with me), and had a blast.

Friday began with a bridesmaids' luncheon at an adorable Italian restaurant in a neighboring town. Before you begin to worry about gas mileage, let me be clear that you can drive 10 miles and pass through about as many towns in our neck of the woods, so, while it was a drive, it wasn't as far as it sounds. It was fun meeting all L's family and family-to-be over heaping plates of pasta (fitted dresses be damned!), then a few of us skittered off to shop at a boutique across the street (oh come on, lunch was over. I promise!).

I got to spend a few hours with mom and dad (ok, laying on the couch with People Magazine) before starting the carpool line again to head to the rehearsal. L&R picked a beautiful golf location (one of our potential rehearsal dinner sites) as their wedding and reception venue and it's gorgeous. We gathered to practice at sunset, right when they'd be saying their vows the next night.

If you haven't experienced wedding rehearsals, they're a sight to see. Someone lines you up, you walk out, walk back in, walk out again, then you're rewarded with dinner and, if you're lucky, a drink or two. R's family had planned a wonderful rehearsal dinner at a lodge resort in (yet another) neighboring town, so we all packed in the car and headed off to meet the boys (sans B! :( ) for the obligatory (and adorable) slide show, dinner, and glasses of wine.

Saturday, the real fun began. The instructions for the bridesmaids were to show up at 8am in curlers with foundation. Feeling a twinge of angst at an early wake up time, I decided to just curl my hair when I got to the dressing spot. Feeling a twinge of guilt, I told my girlfriends in the carpool that I overslept (Sorry suckers! Er, I mean, friends.)

We'd planned to arrive at 9am, so at 8:59 we were pulling out of the driveway in a car loaded down with four dresses, four overstuffed bags, and approximately 32 curlers (3 girls, 10 per head, and 2 extra for, well, someone), plus my set of 14 still in the backseat when we get a call from L telling us that we don't need to be there until 10am, but would be mind running my Target on the way?

So, let me paint this picture. Four girls. Not a stitch of makeup among us. All in hoodies or other button-up options. Three with curlers on their heads. In Target. With the Saturday morning crowd. There aren't words.

There was coffee, though, as we stopped at Krispy Kreme next. We pulled into the drive through and I ordered four coffees and one donut (seriously, who are we kidding?), then shut off the engine. H freaks out from the backseat. "Did your car just die??" she asked, panicky behind her Jackie O sunglasses with a head full of curlers. "No, I shut it off," I said. "Well praise God," she replied. "I though we were going to have a broke down car and a Hot Now situation."

We made it to the venue where we spent the day getting made over, our hair "did," and tormenting the poor wedding coordinator (ok, that was H). We watched our dear friend walk down the aisle to marry a man she's crazy about... ok, and we love him almost as much, too!

The reception was fantastic. Lots of dancing and delicious cake before L&R drove off in the Hot Rod L's daddy bought her back in high school.

So they're married and off to California for the weekend, and I'm better for having spent a weekend with some of my dearest girlfriends. I miss you ladies! Next time, my place... How does May sound?

**Yes I realize I titled this "Meet the Conners" then posted pictures of my girlfriends instead of the couple. It's my blog. You want specific pictures, you start one yourself!