The Ranch last minute. Oh boy was it a mess.
Once we got down to Fallbrook and looked around the ranch I was pretty much convinced that things would not be ready. The tent was wrong, we had no gazebo to marry under, there wasn't enough light, there weren't enough flowers, there was no place for guests to park, no staff and no shuttles. Workers were everywhere, trees were being trimmed, electrical was being run and people were making frantic trips to various stores. It was pretty much a disaster and while I knew we'd be getting married no matter what, I was fairly sure that everything would not be done in time.
Trying to decide on the Gazebo. I knew exactly how I wanted it but everyone had a different opinion contrary to mine. It was a stressful moment but one my MOH had lived through so she had my back :) For visual reference, our best man is fake officiating and chanting "Jew stuff, jew stuff, jew stuff. You're married!"
As Friday wore on, people began showing up. My cousin Lewis came with his girlfriend. My brother with his daughters. All my bridesmaids and groomsmen. E's mother, father and step mother. Suddenly, there were hands everywhere willing to help. Things seemed a little bit better as family, friends and friends who should really be called family were cheerfully put to work hanging decorations, making flowers, setting tables. There isn't a single part of this wedding that hasn't been touched by hands that love us.
Hmmm is this bouquet weird enough for me?
My poor florist, E's step dad's wife started our flowers in classic white and I felt terrible breaking her heart by explaining that I wanted my flowers Weird.
E with his dad and step mom pondering tent walls. They ended up switching them last minute.
Cindy, E's mom's best friend setting tables. I'm convinced no one would have had silverware if it weren't for her and my nieces.
By that evening things were infinitely better but still not complete. I was convinced there wasn't enough time before the wedding for everything to get done and we went to the rehearsal dinner exhausted and disheartened that everyone was working so hard and the wedding still wasn't ready. I think dinner was good but I was only half awake so I know I didn't get to fully enjoy it and I don't think we have any photographic evidence that it took place.
After dinner all the bridesmaids and I headed for the Pala Mesa resort where we were supposed to check into a nice fancy room that was waiting for us. By an unfortunate twist of fate, some of our dear friends had a heart attack in the family and had to miss the wedding. This left a resort room open for Friday night so the girls and I decided to take it. To make things easy, E's mom checked in for us earlier in the afternoon and the room was supposed to be waiting for us. Instead, there was a problem with our check in and they wouldn't let us in. It was 11:30 at this point, two of my girls were sleeping on the lobby couch and I was arguing with the night manager to let us into our already paid for room. I finally gave in and called E's mom. Her exact words as she put on clothes and got into her car to drive across the resort to the lobby building were "tell them psycho woman is coming".
(Source)
Half an hour later we were standing in front of our room repeatedly jamming our key into the automatic door lock. Apparently the Pala Mesa has their keys formatted to work "backwards" and we were much too tired to figure this out until we accidentally put it in "wrong". If you ignore the excessive price tag and insanely noisy partying neighbors, the rest of the night went okay though sadly I can't say I'd recommend the resort to anyone else. The walls were just too thin and the price tag too high to give it anything higher than two stars but my girls were wonderful and we had a good night regardless.
Unless otherwise stated, all photos in this post are by my awesome brother Lucaphoto
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