Belinc/Burdick Wedding

Lecia and I have just this year really gotten to know each other. Our husbands have a heavy bromance happening and just so happen to be business partners, so we see quite a bit of eachother. We like to have 'work meetings' at my house which is basically Lecia and I chatting while I cook and then we nod our heads in agreeance whilst the boys talk about whatever it is that they do.
So, when she asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding my first though was "Hell yeah! I LOVE weddings and I love Matt and Lecia."
My next thought was "Oh man, I hope she's sure. I hope the other bridesmaids dont think Im not doing anything, oh no, Im already slacking on my job and she has just asked me to be in it today!"
My next, next thought was "Im glad Ive been running because I havent prepared to be in this thing at all."
So, with all these thoughts instantly in my head I headed over to her house and tried on the dress, which did not fit.
At all.
It was actually pretty comical.
And then we had a really long chat and I made sure she was sure with her choice.
I just wanted everything to be perfect for her day and not anymore stressful than it should be.
A few days later I went to go and get the dress resized to fit my much larger frame.
The dress place was in Everett and my gym was in Everett so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and run 8 miles beforehand and then rush out and not take a shower.
I would have maybe gone the extra mile to shower if Id have known how personal the seamstress was going to get.
I arrived at my appointment and Summer ran up and down the mirrored stage pretending she was a model and we oohed and aahed at all the sparkly dresses.
Then it was my turn.
An adorable and noticeably harried Russian woman put me in a room and told me to get the dress on as far as I could.
I could not zip it at all so it took me roughly 30 seconds so slide into it.
She came back and noted that I needed an incredible amount of fabric to pull it together.
Here I was feeling good about myself.

After she and another seamstress bolted me in as far as they could go, and when I could breathe just slightly she asked me to pull my boobs up as much as I could.
I did this obediently and apparently that wasnt good enough.
"Ok, Im just going to get a little personal here if you dont mind."
and with that she reached into my sweaty armpit and propped up my boobs, one at a time, so that my nipples were just barely out of sight on the top of the dress.
"Ahh, much better. A little less fabric if we move those out of the way."
Alright then.
It was 2 weeks before the wedding and they got the dress done in 4 days. It was pretty amazing with all the alterations they had to make.
I vowed to eat less and run as much as I could though because even with all the changes made to the dress the ribbing that they put inside was so tight that I literally could only take short small gulps of breath at a time.
but damn my boobs looked good!
The wedding was over on Whidbey Island which is gorgeous in the fall. I found the cheapest place I could on Air BnB and it was a relatively short distance from everything which was super convenient and really the Ham Shack, yes thats right, worked out great for our stay.
It was a little tiny garage converted into an apartment and it had bunk beds, which was super romantic.
We dropped our bags off and ventured into the heart of Whidbey to find the wedding venue.
Our service was shit and Im horrendous with directions of any kind.
I have to put my Left hand in an L shape to make sure its my left so I was immediately unhelpful and our calls kept getting dropped and the internet on our phones didn't work so it was really just Charlie and his intuition and the little map we had from the invite.
Eventually, after many turn arounds and curse words we made it.
The venue was breathtaking.
Sweeping views of the vast green orchards, fruit trees everywhere, even llamas doing llama stuff!
We did the walk through a few times and I casually met some of the other bridesmaids (one of whom Ive known for years, so that was helpful) and friends and family.
During one of the walk throughs the pastor just passively threw out there "Everyone make sure to have a little bend in their knees so you dont pass out during the ceremony."
What the fuck? How long was the ceremony? Why am I going to pass out?
Id better write that down so I dont forget, oh wait its burned into my memory bank forever now.
Im totally going to pass out tomorrow. I need a drink. or my pharmaceuticals. I need both.
This all flashed through my mind pretty swiftly and my palms started to get sweaty and my heart started to race, I feel like I played it off though because no one said anything about me sweating and the smile that started to feel like a grimace. Or they were just being polite. Either way, whatever.
After my minor panic attack in front of bunch of people I didnt know, I had worked up quite an appetite.
We arrived early at the rehearsal dinner so they werent really ready for us to eat, but they had booze!
I happily gulped down several drinks and at one point Im pretty sure I was double fisting. My Grandma Barnfather called and I walked into the hallway and had a blurry chat with her and then it was time to eat and soak up all this liquor!
I sloppily chowed down on spaghetti and talked with Lecia's mom and the lovely bride and Darcy, Heather and Annie, the other bridesmaids. Who were all gorgeous and blonde.
I was going to look super mexican next to all these ladies.
Anywho, we agreed to meet up after I slept off this day drinking and we rolled back on over to the Ham Shack.
I groggily awoke and realized that it was close to 7 and also realized that there wasnt any water to drink. I smacked my mouth together to score the limited amount of liquid I had in there, I was dry as a dessert. Why does drinking so much dehydrate you? Perhaps I shouldnt have had so much to drink at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
Charlie used my pass out time to write his speech for the wedding and when I had finally gotten my shit together he read it to me, it was lovely.
We ventured out into the hopping metropolis that is downtown Langley and discovered a little pizza place overlooking the water. We drank a few beers and had some delicious pizza and had enough service to contact the bridal party.
We went over to Darcy and Heathers huge, amazing mansion rental on the beach and Darcy did our brows. Then we all chatted and Charlie went outside with Matt for a bit, I didnt really think anything of it.
I finally went outside and asked if he was ready to go.
He came skipping up from the beach with Matt in tow.
"Woah, whats the smell?"
"Oh, uh..."
"Did you smoke?"
"Uh, can you smell it?"
"Yeah, it smells like a pot farm has settled on you. Are you ok to drive?"
"Yeah, totally."
We get in the truck and Charlie is staring at me.
We pull away from the sidewalk alarmingly slow and continue up the drive way at 3 miles per hour, all while Charlie is glancing at me sideways every other second.
It takes us approximately 12 hours to crawl up the driveway, with Charlie gripping the steering wheel like a 90 year old woman.
"Um, do you think I could drive?"
"Oh thank God! Yes, can you please?" He lets outs a huge sigh of relief and starts giggling.
Here we go.
I climb into the driver seat of the truck, which I never drive, and because its pitch black outside I cant find the door handle.
I aggressively run my hand back and forth across the door for a minute or two before finally finding it and shut the door.
I look over at Charlie and he is laughing so hard that he's crying.
"What? I couldnt find the handle!"
"Oh man! Remember when I used to do this all the time? I love you so much. You're the best. I just love you!"
I drive us back to the Ham Shack with Charlie intermittently getting choked up about how much he loves me and busting up into hysterics about the door handle episode.
I wonder to myself what is happening here.
Charlie came home and fell right to sleep while I thought about passing out at the ceremony the next day.
The next morning was beautiful, a perfect day for a wedding.
We went to a bakery where I said Fuck it and bought 2 pastries and ran to the grocery store where I stocked up on ALL the water.
Charlie dropped me off with the girls and he was gone for the day.
I walked into a sea of ladies bouncing about.
We had 2 makeup ladies and 2 hair ladies and I had not a clue how I wanted to look for the day.
I should have used the ole pinterest app to figure that one out.
Lecia gave us some super cute necklaces and a fun silky robe and I snacked on my pastries thinking casually about the dress I would have to cram my body into.
When it was my turn for hair we talked about braids, all girls were doing braids and I thought it would be really cute, everyone elses hair looked good so I told her to go ahead and do a mohawk braid thingy like she suggested.
What I pictured in my mind was not what I got.
Instead of a nice, funky style I ended up with a loose horsetail braid.
I smiled and thanked her.
Still not sure why I did that.
The make up was way better and I totally got fake eyelashes and I want them now forever.
Lecia had never seen me in makeup so I told the lady to vamp me up, and she did.
Luckily, Heather is a hair stylist and after the wedding stylist left she was in the bathroom fixing her hair. And Darcys. and Annies. And eventually mine.
She took out the tail and did a cute little braid running down the side.
I felt much better about life.
Lecia drove Annie and I over to the venue where we could start getting our dresses on.
I hung back and tried to entertain Kinsley, Matt and Lecias daughter, while the girls tittered over Lecia and helped her with her dress.
I went ahead and took a half a xanax and we all toasted Lecia, a tradition I force upon every wedding Im a part of.

The maid of honor, Annie, took me outside to read me her speech. I felt pretty honored to be the one hearing both speeches early "because Im a writer". I put my two cents in but really a speech like this one always comes from the heart and there isnt much to critique because everyones experiences with eachother are unique, who am I to judge?
I waited to put on my dress because I needed assistance. I had the girls lace me in and tie me up. I felt like Rose on the Titanic in the scene where her mom is lacing her up super tight and she is grimacing with every pull.
Thats exactly what it was like. This dress would need to be cut off of  me.
We finally made it to wedding time and the xanax I had taken made sure to head off all those pesky thoughts of passing out and ruining the day entirely.
We lined up in our respective places and did the slow walk down.
Whenever I do this I never know where to look.
Do I look into the crowd? Should I wave? Do I look forward and stare at the spot where Im supposed to go? Do I smile?
I settled for some smiles and staring ahead.
We made our way over to our little spots and I settled in for the long haul, knees bent and everything.
Lecia glided down the aisle and the girl was gorgeous. The dress was amazing, the jewelry was amazing. The whole look was marvelous and put most brides to shame.
The ceremony was lovely and I tried to focus on Charlie on the other side, so I wouldnt pass out of course and I also wanted to catch him crying, which I was almost positive he would do.
And just like that the ceremony was over! I really hyped the thing up in my mind, I dont know what I was freaking out about. No one passed out, we all cried and it was beautifully perfect.

We took photos after the ceremony and I begged Charlie to help me loosen up my dress.
There was also a half gallon of vodka in the freezer so we secret squirelled some of that as well.
There were yard games set up everywhere and the dinner was delightful.
I got wasted on vodka and cried during the speeches and also developed a major crush on one of the grooms men. Who doesnt even have a beard!?
The heart wants what it wants, I suppose.
 After many hours of fun we hopped in the truck and drove back to our humble little Ham Shack.
I took the dress off and had bruises on my ribs, but it was totally worth it.
The weekend was amazing and Charlie and I felt so loved that these two wanted us to be a part of their day. I love weddings, especially one where the bride and groom are already living and parenting together. You're already living this way but making things "official" just reaffirms how much you already love eachother. Despite the hum drum of every day life, you're choosing to make it more complete, more special, for all of you.
So, cheers to Matt and Lecia, may your life be filled with big moments like your wedding but made up of all the small moments that got you there in the first place.

Cheers.