After a few days of visiting friends (Herr J in Georgia and me in Myrtle Beach), catching up with our parents, and doing a little siteseeing, it was finally time for the official activities of wedding week to begin on Friday.
After a morning trial run with the hairstylist, I had a bridal luncheon with the bridal party, Herr J's and my mother, Aunt A, and Cousin B. It was a lovely treat to get to go out to the beach on Kiawah, and I'm so thankful to everyone for such a wonderful afternoon. Everyone looks so beautiful and colorful!
We were incredibly lucky with the weather - it was windy but sunny at the beach, but the rain began as soon as we left Kiawah. By the time we got to the church for the rehearsal, it was pouring, with thunder and lightning. We ran through the ceremony quickly, had a few laughs, and signed the marriage certificate with our witnesses. It made quite a funny picture of Herr J and I standing around the book with our pastor - and our attorneys! We were well represented by counsel licensed to practice in at least 4 states....though they were only present in their capacities as Maid of Honor and Best Man!
By the time we finished the rehearsal, the storm had passed over. Some guests later told us that as they were driving past the church there was a big rainbow overhead. If rain is a positive omen for a wedding, then I'm hoping a rainbow is even better!
(Please note - all photos below are by the wonderful Marni Rothschild)
Our church, St. Johns Parish:
Though I'd been quite worried, the afternoon storm turned out to be a blessing. The rain cooled down the temperature and dramatically reduced the humidity - and mde some lovely skies over the marsh. Since we were coming from Munich and many of our friends and family were travelling to Charleston for the first time, we wanted a wedding weekend that reflected our lives and showed off the beauty of the low country. We couldn't have picked a better spot than the Sea Island Yacht Club on Wadmalaw Island. This is what I wanted everyone to see.
It has a huge, wide porch overlooking the river and the marsh and is a perfect setting for a low country boil (a tradition in the area). What is a low country boil? It's usually some variation of sausage, shrimp, corn on the cob, potatoes, and spices - thrown together in a pot and cooked outside. If you do it yourself, you'll probably gather around the pot and have some drinks and some laughs while you wait.
Again, the beautiful bridesmaids (with their lebkuchenherzen).
Mmmm....cornbread muffins...
To give everyone the real down home experience, my dad demonstrates shucking oysters at the oyster bar. Many of our Texas friends really enjoyed this part!
It was a perfect gathering of family
and friends
and good food and views.
At the end of the night, we did a fun little trivia quiz on Germany, with various German food products as prizes. Of course, you get a prize whether or not you're correct!
We fell in love with our baker Tammy's cakes at the cake tasting, so we had to get a couple of sheet cakes for the rehearsal, too. Here is chocolate cake with buttercream filling and a vanilla cake with raspberry filling. Best chocolate cake we've ever tried.
Enjoying the view of the river.
The first day of the wedding events went very well. We had so much fun at the rehearsal dinner catching up with everyone - it was our first chance to see most of the guests who were not in the wedding, and a relaxed low country boil turned out to be the perfect locale.
Also, we'd received the last minute favors from Amazon to substitute for the ones lost in the intercontinental mail. We were holding out hope that maybe another box would arrive in the morning. Being a wonderful small town, my mom asked the postwoman if she could call in the morning if the box arrived. But we were prepared and ready for the big day.
Until around midnight I went to get ready for bed. I knew my hair had some pretty major knots in it - humidity and wind are not kind to me. But all the hairspray and styling of the morning must have created some evil chain reaction to turn my hair into one giant strawberry blonde dreadlock. Yes, my hair looks great in the photos, but if you lift up one strand, the ENTIRE mess would come with it.
I thought that washing it and combing through some conditioner would do the trick. After 3 (small) bottles of conditioner and 90 minutes sitting in the bathtub (I was too tired to stand in the shower and too wet and cold to stand out of it), I finally got the knots out. There were some serious moments of doubt and thinking that we were going to have to cut it out...the morning of the wedding. Of all the things I thought would be major stresses in getting married, brushing my hair was not even on the list.
Luckily my hair survived, Herr J survived the trauma of a bride fearful of losing her hair the day of the wedding, and we made it to the final, big day. And I've promised to avoid hairspray, backcombing, and anything else that might traumatize us both in the future when it comes to women trying to look pretty.