Marryin' in the Rain

As I mentioned yesterday, my best friend got married this past weekend! It really was such a lovely weekend. Both families were so excited, and of course the couple was a bit excited, too, as you can tell from the sweet photo below. 

The rehearsal dinner was such a good time and so sweet with bouquets of newly sharpened pencils and children's books for centerpieces. I remember three years ago when Ashley, Laura and I drove down to Charlotte, and they were putting up with my incessant wedding talk. Laura may or may not have slipped a line in that there could be a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils when she married Nick, her boyfriend of a month or two at the time. She had passed smitten and the car ride quickly turned into a giggling fest when we realized where her mind was already headed. 

Laura always had suitors wagging their tails as she passed. How could she not? She is beautiful, brilliant and the personification of good (yes, you are Laura! Everyone agrees with me so I am preeminently halting your denial of it). Nick was not an overt suitor, but I remember someone telling me how whenever she spoke in their classes together he would always have this happy look on his face with a slight smile just giving away his admiration. Finally come senior year, she was his. 

On Saturday, I kept seeing that content smile on both of their faces as I watched them during the wedding. They would sneak looks at each other that just shouted, "He's mine!" and, "She's mine!" and it warmed my heart. Love you two!

Key points from the weekend!

- Laura's little brother, Patrick, is such a born servant. He was always asking me if I needed him to play with Ryan, feed him, anything! 
- Oh, yes, and we cannot forget that Nick's family makes the beeeeeest homemade caramels. I ate so many, and then on the way back I was craving caramel so Chris sweetly got me some Werther's Originals and ... nowhere near as good. So Laura ... first task post-honeymoon is to learn how to make those. Kidding ... kind of. 
- It rained all day long. But, Laura is Laura, which means that she did not care one bit at all. We have had many fun days dancing, singing and now marrying in the rain!
- Their priest was so amazingly reverent and gave an excellent homily. 
- I got to see most of my McGlinn loves, which was too good to be true and way too short, as always. 
- Kat, the bride's sister, best friend and maid of honor, will school anyone in a dance off. 
- My prayers were answered when I went shopping the day we were leaving for NC for some dress clothes for my normally naked boy. I went to my favorite, found one suit in all of their selection that would fit Ryan that was just perfect for the wedding and then also just happened to find just one pair of dress shoes that fit him. God made it easy on me! Aaaand the suit was $8.50 and the mint condition suede shoes were $3.50. 
- More prayers were answered when Ryan slept through most of the wedding. I was definitely nervous that he would call out to me when he saw me standing. Luckily, there was only one faint, "Mama!" the whole time.  Whew. He followed his good behavior with a broken candle at the reception and dirtying his diaper and suit with nary a baby wipe in sight. Thankfully, people were focused on the happy couple. 

Have fun in Turkey, you turkeys! 

Giggling Cheeks and Doors

I don't think I'm going to drive for a long time. After our road trip last week, Chris and I were not exactly the nicest parents and buckled Ryan into another road trip this past weekend. My best friend got married! 

I'll write more about the wondrous occasion later when I have scrounged up enough photos from Facebook & friends. So ... Ashley ... send me yours. 

Isn't Laura radiant? I love her so.

If I'm not going to post about the wedding today, then what story will I be sharing from the weekend? Read on. 

Apparently I don't learn when I read stories from a very good mom. Maybe now you see where this is going. 

We arrived into Charlotte on Friday afternoon so I could partake in some bridesmaid pampering. Our hotel was kindly booked by my brother (thanks, Peter!), and we went there after my nails had been cured of their unsightliness. I had a short bit of time to iron our clothes for the rehearsal dinner so Chris and Ryan took a bath so Ryan wouldn't attempt to conquer Mount Ironing Board like he had already summited every piece of furniture in that room. Boy just isn't content on the floor. 

Fifteen minutes later pruney bath wrinkles had taken the place of the clothing wrinkles so out came the babe. For some reason, I decided to get dressed first even though I normally dress Ryan first and then throw my clothes on in ten seconds or less (training for a mama field day of some sort, I guess). Ryan ran around in all his glory as he is known to do.

I had just taken off my leggings when I heard the door slam shut. Chris was over on the other side of the room getting dressed, but Ryan was not. I should have more adequately assessed the situation and let the underwear-clad Chris run after our fugitive. Instead, I dashed out into the hallway in my maternity shirt and underwear du jour that rhymes with the first word of the phrase, "Wrong choice, Mama." Apologies for the mental image. 

Without thinking (obviously), I sprinted after that giggling boy with two pairs of jiggling cheeks bounding down the hallway. Fortunately, I can out stride him even though he evidently can outsmart me. I snagged his arm. Victory be mine!

Slam! 

Fork. With Ryan's pronunciation. 

I scurried back to the door. Jolly Ryan's dimples were showing and so were mine, but on opposite cheeks. Since I hadn't tucked away a key card in my quick thinking, I banged on the door only to hear laughter on the other side! That husband of mine waited the appropriate amount of time for my curses from embarrassment to turn into good-natured giggles from the hilarity of the scene, and then intelligently opened the door just before those giggles morphed back into curses. 

It turns out that our hotel door locked until the handle was turned from the inside which means that the door is the perfect accomplice for a restless toddler just like Grace's hotel door. Hotel builders must either not be parents, or they sit behind the hotel security cameras every day waiting for a chuckle.  

So be warned, my friends. Doors can quickly turn on you, and your thinking might not be quick enough to save you from the cheeky situations that follow.  

(As you can expect, no photos were taken of the incident. You're welcome).

Almost

When Chris proposed to me, I knew exactly what I wanted my wedding dress to look like. Off the shoulder, all lace, mermaid, cloth-covered buttons on the back. And I searched and searched through designer after designer (which wasn't the most frustrating task...I mean, they are wedding dresses, after all), but only found one. Since it was $5000+ it was not an option. Luckily, I found my dress and fell in love with it. From the first time I saw it on my laptop screen in January, I knew I was going to wear it on my wedding day and six months later, I tried it on for the first time at the only store within six hours from home that stocked it. Yep, it was the one (other than my groom).

A couple weekends ago, my future sister-in-law was kind enough to invite my mom, sister and me to her wedding dress appointment. Oh goodness, it was fun. She found the perfect dress for her and being the recovering wedding aficionado that I am, I perused the designer website later while we drove my sister back to her dorm room.

Beautiful dress, beautiful dress, beautiful...

"Nooooooooooooooooooo!"

Allure 9000 from Allure Bridals

Allure 2610 from Allure Romance

Three years after I began looking for my important white dress, Allure had to go and create my perfect dress at a reasonable price. Just look at it. Off the shoulder, all lace, mermaid, cloth-covered buttons on the back. And they even have it in two different collections so I am guessing that one could cost even less money!

So perfect.

Since I have given this way more thought that is necessary, I know that even though this dress is perfect according to my checklist, I love my wedding dress more. How could I not? While I was wearing it, I received the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony from the love of my life. And that just makes it take the wedding cake.

Snowy Wedding in Duluth

This weekend we made an eleven hour drive each way to Duluth, Minnesota. Despite numerous warnings that Duluth is cold in April, I somehow managed to forget my coat at home and was greeted with a six and half inch snow fall on Saturday. The drive and the missing coat were beyond worth it because we got to see my dear friend marry the man she has been praying for for so long. I don't think I have ever seen a giddier bride.

The couple led a holy hour leading up to the wedding with the groom leading a rosary and bride singing one of her songs at each mystery. The whole hour was incredibly moving, and I couldn't keep back tears as I heard her sing a song that she wrote about her future spouse to her in-the-flesh groom just moments before they bestowed the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony on each other.  It was so beautiful and breathtaking to see a couple who had completely discerned their vocations about to fulfill them.

The cathedral was so packed with happiness and life. Babies babbled everywhere, smiles cracked and the newlyweds just radiated with joy.

Other fun tidbits from the day:

- Minutes before we had to leave for the wedding, Chris realized that his suit pants were not hung with his suit coat...and the only substitute he had were jeans. If you know Chris, you know this killed him. Killed him.
- The reception description said it would be a hoedown-snowdown. Little did they know that it would literally be a snowdown.
- I got to see my amazing friends! Aubry, Meagan, Marci and I have unofficially had a spring get together each year for the past three years, and I was quite happy to have such an amazing wedding as an excuse to continue the tradition. Plus, Aubry rocked it as Maid of Honor + token reception singer! Love you, girl.
- Ryan was obsessed with the bingo machine.
- He also gifted us with a two hour nap during the wedding Mass and then the Vigil Mass we stayed after for. Thank you, my father-in-law, for being his napping bed! His nap performance was much better than what happened at the last wedding.
- On Friday night, we ate at the Duluth Grill, which has been featured on one of my favorite shows, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Despite the whole wrangling a stir-crazy toddler released from his car seat shackles, the food was delicious!

We love you so much, Danielle and Mitch! Thank you for honoring us with a place celebrating your marriage with you. Happy honeymoon!

Two Years

Happy second birthday of our family, my dear husband! Thank you for choosing me, and thank you for lassoing the moon.
Yours always,
Katrina Rose

Photos by Yue Wu and Danielle Rose

Basilica Monday

Photo by Yue Wu

Photo by Danielle Rose

Photo by Yue Wu

Photo by Danielle Rose

This morning I spent an hour and fourteen minutes with a busy signal as our morning pump-up music. I did everything with one hand, not because Ryan wanted to be glued to my hip, but because I had a phone glued to my hand. And it paid off:

Today is the first Monday of March...which means that it is Basilica Monday, the Black Friday of Notre Dame weddings. The day when couples hoping to marry at some point in the following calendar year in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus gather all of their nearest and dearest (and not-so-nearest and not-so-dearest because, come on, it's a numbers game) to ambush the poor Basilica secretary from 8am on. That is the situation. There isn't a four year long waiting list or any truth to the "Book your wedding when you are a freshman so you have a date ready!" myth; on the contrary, there is just one woman answering the phone and hundreds, maybe thousands of people battling it out with their dial speeds to be that lucky caller who gets in right as a luckier caller hangs up. Here is the run down. 

1. The Basilica has openings for four weddings on Saturday and two weddings on Friday (except during Lent) for every weekend besides football weekends, holiday weekends, and weekends with major university events such as graduation or ordination, give or take a few.
2. The time slots are 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm for Saturday weddings and 1pm and 3pm for Friday weddings.
3. They open up the calendar for the following year on the first Monday of March. So today, March 4, 2013, the Basilica starts booking weddings from January 2014 on (although this year the 2014 football schedule isn't set in stone so they aren't booking fall weddings yet! I feel bad for the brides who are waiting anxiously).
4. The most competitive months are obviously the summer months (wedding season!) and September and October. Why? Because this is what campus looks like in the fall. Throw in the fact that those two months already have half of the weekends reserved for football and you have some pretty nervous brides-to-be calling in. It really is crazy how quickly all the summer dates go. I got in at 9:14am today for Meagan and Tommy, and all of the 1pm and 3pm time slots in June and July were already gone. Wow.
5. You must be either a current student, alumnus/a, member of Sacred Heart Parish, or a current full-time member of the faculty or staff who has been employed at ND for at least five years.
6. To call in, you do not have to the bride or groom. If you are the caller with the magic dialing finger, then you just need the names of the bride and groom, their affiliation to the university, religion of both the bride and the groom and at least one must be Catholic, address where the confirmation packet should be mailed, phone number of either the bride or the groom, a long list of dates and times that they are interested in. Options dwindle quickly so the list better be long!
7. You don't technically need to be engaged to get a date! I thought this proposal story was really cute when I was researching for our wedding three years ago. 
8. You don't actually have to call in on Basilica Monday to get a date...it is just first come, first serve. I know four couples who called in after they were engaged, didn't want to wait until the next year to be married, found openings in less popular months of that year and had got married at the perfect time for them.

Calling in this morning for Meagan and her fiance, Tommy, made me remember how nervous I was back in March of 2010. I was freshly engaged, studying abroad in France, had rounded up probably 40+ family members, friends, dorm friends, the rugby team to call, call and call and since I was in Europe, I only had my unlimited calls to the US via Skype to let me participate in the running of the calls. Despite our large group, each hour kept passing without any luck until my friend Sara, a Basilica bride who had gone through the chaos the year prior sent me a glorious email that she had reserved our very top choice date! That email is on my short list of best emails received ever.

Are there any tricks? Be a Basilica bride who didn't get in for herself, I guess. But other than that, not really. Or at least I don't know any that still work. The year Sara got in, her friend called the operator, gave the Basilica extension and the operator put her through and she got in! However, the next year (the year we were calling), my friends tried that numerous times and no bueno. They tried calling from the dorm phones in the hallways...same busy signal as a cell phone. Sara actually wasn't even calling the whole morning for us...she had a break in the middle of classes at work, called and got in right away! Thank goodness for Sara and her impeccably serendipitous timing. Hi Sara! As for my luck this morning? We have Ryan to thank for that! I was alternating between calling, getting a busy signal, hanging up, calling, nursing him, him twisting around to watch his favorite YouTube dog video, busy signal, coming back to nurse, hanging up, calling and then IN! Maybe try that next year? Ha.

So say a rosary, start a novena and pray that God's will is carried out.

Is it worth it? For Chris and me, yes, yes and yes. The first time I went to Mass with him and our two best friends before we were even dating was at the Basilica. It was where Chris first picked a tulip for me (shhh! not sure if that is allowed...). The Basilica was where we went to Mass throughout the week and on Sundays. It was where I would poke Chris while standing in line for Confession whenever we saw this young couple with a sweet baby boy and whisper, "Let's be them!" and hope in my heart that that wish would come true. It was where we would pray and pray and pray some more. I couldn't have imagined being joined to my husband in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony anywhere else.

Not to mention it is pretty breathtaking. But, I'm just a tad bit biased.

Can't wait for your wedding, Meagan and Tommy!!

What was it like for your wedding church or venue? Four year wait, Basilica Monday or six-month call ahead?