Todd and Christine’s Wedding

     Man oh man, what a day!  Anything that could have gone wrong on a wedding day did…. and then some!  The day started out bright and early when the girls met up at 7am to get on a shuttle bus to go to a salon to get our hair done.  We went to a salon called Aveda Circe Salon in Old Town Alexandria and I must recommend that anyone in the area should stay away from the place if you are wanting to get your hair done!  First of all, Christine had asked the salon a few days before the wedding how much they would charge to curl everyone’s hair.  They told her $35 a person and that it would be extra if anyone wanted an up-do.  $35 sounded reasonable but for a salon in Old Town, it is also pretty unrealistic.  You may get one or two curls for that price but that’s about it.  Anyhoo- she made an appointment for us all and we went in to get all dolled up.  The first two girls just got their hair curled and let me just say, a five year old could have done a better job.  I was really nervous that mine would turn out the same way so I decided to pay a little extra and get an up-do (half up half down).  My stylist was super nice and did a great job with my hair; I was very pleased.  I walked up to the counter to pay and was told my total was $90 *GULP*.  I thought “Surely an up-do wasn’t THAT much more than plain curls” but didn’t want to argue so I handed over my credit card.  The rest of the girls (except one) looked like they had curled their hair the night before, went to bed, and then woke up and had a hair-do for the wedding.  One girl went to pay and was charged $125!  While all of this mess was happening, Chrissy was in the back getting her nails done.  The nail tech totally screwed up her ring finger and that upset Chrissy a little bit because the photographer wanted to take pictures of her ring.  Luckily he said he could photoshop it and make it look nice so it was no biggie.  After we told Christine what we paid for our hair she threw a fit.  She told the receptionist that we were told it would only be $35 and that it needed to stay that way… yada yada yada.  The lady called her manager and after a long time of negotiating, the manager finally said that we each needed to pay $50.  Ok… $50 wasn’t too bad, but my hair was actually o.k.  I felt so bad for the other girls because they pretty much wasted $50.  Chrissy doesn’t own a curling iron so luckily Tyler came to the rescue.  We live right down the road from the salon so he rushed up there with my curling iron and hairspray so all of the girls could fix their hair when we got to the house to have our makeup done. 

                Once we arrived back at Christine’s house, her dad realized that his tux didn’t fit because Men’s Warehouse gave him the wrong size.  There wasn’t enough time to go up there and get another one so he had to make do with a suit.  After we got ready everyone but the bride, maid of honor, and father of the bride headed to the reception hall at the Navy Yard because we were going to take a 30 passenger bus over to the Church on Fort Myer.  We pull up to the reception hall and I’ll be damned if we didn’t see a little tiny car hooked up to a giant bus trying to jump it. The dang bus wouldn’t start and the jumping was not helping.  Since the boys needed to be there by 1:45 (the wedding was at 2:30) they all jumped in regular cars and headed out.  The rest of us waited back for a mechanic from the bus company to come.  We couldn’t decide whether or not we should find some other way to get there and then after a few minutes the truck had jumped the bus and finally got it running.  We all rushed to the bus and hauled ass over to Fort Myer.  Once we got through the gate we had to go through a security check point (because the bus and driver didn’t have access to get on base).  The guards did a quick search and we made it to the church at about 2:45.   Once we got to the church we found out that the limo driver was having issues getting onto base to pick up the bride, maid of honor, and the bride’s dad because he didn’t have the proper clearance.  I still have no freakin clue as to how he managed to pick them up because they didn’t have a car to meet him up at the gate.  Somehow he was able to pick them up and made it to Fort Myer around 3:15.  Soooo the wedding finally started about 45 minutes late but it turned out to be beautiful. 

                Once we were done with the ceremony, the bridal party jumped back onto the bus (that the driver kept running so it wouldn’t break down again) and headed out to D.C for a photo shoot.  It was a wonderful idea and a beautiful place to take pictures but there was a ton of walking going on and nobody (expect the bride) thought to bring flip-flops.  So after a ton of walking in our cute heels, we all had cuts, scrapes, blisters, etc. on our feet.  A few of us decided just to walk barefoot because we were in lots of pain and just couldn’t take it anymore!  Aside from the heel issues, the pictures were so much fun to take and I cannot wait to see them!  After pictures we headed back to the Navy Yard for the reception (which was in a different room than the one they had picked out and paid for) and had a great time.  Food was good, dancing was fun, and the chairs were oh so comfortable.  Most of the bridal party (including myself) sat down and relaxed because we were EXHAUSTED from the eventful day we had.  When the reception was over there were a few people that needed rides because no one thought to figure out how people were getting home haha.  After calling a cab company and being hung up on about 40 times we finally decided that Tyler and I would take a car load to their hotel and a groomsman would do the same.  Then we would return to the reception hall and pick up the rest of the group and head home.  What a crazy and eventful day!  Looking back on it, we laugh because it was something that would definitely happen in a comedy flick…. I didn’t know wedding days could go so badly until I actually lived it haha.  The wedding turned out to be beautiful though and Chrissy and Todd looked wonderful!  They both seemed to have had a great time and that is all that matters.  Congrats to the two of you!  Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day :)