Umbrella Hunting, Tears of Joy and Jade's Big Day

Ohhh my word.. I can't even describe how happy and excited I am for my friend and college roomie, Jade. She's finally married.

Jade and I stood next to Mulder on her wedding day, Jade and Mulder stood next to me on my wedding day and finally it was Jade's turn to be the bride. I have to admit, with the whole "trying to move" thing, made it really hard for me to be a part of any of the excitement build up, or even bridal showers (which was the case with Mulder's too..). But -- we live here now. We LIVE here. And now I can be a part of things and not miss out anymore! 

Mulder's Wedding - 8/10/07

My Wedding - 10/25/08

With our huge move to MN and our budget, Jade and I agreed that it would be sweet for me to be a part of the wedding, but as her personal attendant. What an honor to be able to spend the entire day by her side, doing my best to make her Day the most special and memorable day ever. I have never been a personal attendant before, but I knew what the role included. I also have a whole new appreciation for my friends, Michelle and Ali, who were my personal attendants. They dealt with so many unorganized tasks I left on them -- my centerpieces, setup, everything!!! I feel like I'm a pretty organized person, but wow, I really should buy them a couple more thank you gifts! HA! 

It was really great to be included in Jade's rehearsal and groom's dinner. All of the day-before-excitement while  practicing the walk down the aisle, plus an amazing dinner. The evening was fantastic. I hadn't seen Jade or Muld since last fall and I also hadn't seen some old friends, Ashley (another college roomie) and Sarah in years. It was so fun to catch up and finally see Mulder's baby bump! Gahhh! As if the night couldn't get any better, Ash scored free tickets to Britney Spears and asked me if I wanted to go! Britney. Free. Great seats, worth 150$. How fun!

Ashley, Jade, Me & Mulder

Cliche "hand heart" on the baby bump.. Couldn't stop laughing!

Two of my dearest friends in the world --

The next day belonged to Jade and Nate. Jade texted me around 7am, sharing her fear about the rain and asking me to find 12, black, matching umbrellas for the wedding party and photos. Of course, I could do that! Anything for the bride! Besides, umbrellas couldn't be more that $3 or $4 a piece, right? Uhhhhh...

Can I just say, my husband is a saint. Since I had to be there so early and the wedding was such a long drive away, we decided to drive together and he would just stay occupied until the ceremony, while I was off with the girls. We decided to leave an hour earlier than planned, so we could track down the umbrellas. 

My first thought was Target. Good, ol' Tar-jey always seems to come through. I called to see if they could pull a bunch for me and I quickly learned that umbrellas were nowhere near $3.00 a piece, but more like $15-25.00 a piece. I thought I might throw up. Of course it's typical that during this time in our lives, with the move and all the chaos going on, our budget was pretty tight for an extra 200$, even though I knew Jade would pay me back. There was no way I was going to text/call Jade to tell her that it might be tricky for me, still unsure if she realizes how much they cost herself. Instead of freaking out, I decided to call Mulder for some ideas. She suggested the 'dollar store', and I felt like she hit the jackpot. 

I rushed off the phone to begin calling every Dollar Tree in the area, in search of 12, black umbrellas. In the meantime, Target had 12 set aside for me that matched, but they were $20.00 each. I found another Dollar Tree with "plenty more than 12", so we headed there first. Although I asked if they had them in black, the cashier kid failed to understand that tiny detail. I went in with loads of joy and relief, to find out that they had plenty alright -- Plenty in janky colors with polkas and stripes. Wahhhh!! Why?! We headed back to the other Dollar Tree where I found 2. I took them, unsure if we would continue stopping at Dollar Trees on our way, or if we would just take the chance that we could find some pretty similar somewhere else. No luck. By that time, it had been wet/rainy/humid, already annihilating my hair and makeup. Great. We checked one more Dollar Tree before giving up and just going to Target. No umbrellas had been set aside for me in customer service like they said (typical.) so I rushed to find them myself. The little liars said they were $20 a piece but they had some decent black ones for $11! I dug my little heart out to find 10 more that matched (since I already had 2 from the Dollar Tree) and there were exactly 10. Pure luck?? Not sure how that happened, because I'm far from lucky!

By the time I bought them all, we were running over an hour behind. We were in a huge rush to get to the salon.. I didn't want to miss out, plus some of the girls needed a ride back to the church. Justin waited patiently and chauffeured us around where we needed to go. 

Starting early at the salon and rushing around in the on-and-off rain, totally reminded me of my wedding day. What a complete rush of disappointment to know that the forecast for your wedding day is RAIN. I felt for her. I was able to catch a few photos of everyone getting their hair done before we ran back to the church. 

Getting beautified!

Mrs. Hubert! Well, almost.. <3

I definitely got a workout that day as a personal attendant, there's so much to do and keep smooth. I gotta say, I did a pretty good job holding my emotions together (weddings make me cry like a baby!), until 15 minutes before the ceremony, I checked on Jade's dad and he was getting choked up himself. Ohhh, I was a gonner.

Getting ready!

The ceremony was beautiful. Yes, I cried like a little baby.

Lighting the Unity Candle

Hugging the parents, even MORE emotional!

I just love this picture..

Minus Jade's sister, Mandy

It continued to rain on and off, but the photos turned out SO cute! We went to the Arboretum.. I wanna go back, it was so pretty!

Jade, being Jade

Sarah, Ash & Mulder

Jade and I had some good laughs, because I kept telling her, "I feel like a wet dog!". Finally the reception came, the food was fantastic and I was able to catch up with the guys. The rest of the night was full of dancing and laughing.. especially me laughing at Mulder's funny facial expressions and dance moves.. Oh my word, it's so good to be back. 

Me and my hunky husband

Dancing the night away..

Oh yeah, we're the ones!

xo