Haifa's wedding

As you know from this last post, my friend Haifa - my oldest friend - got married this past weekend. The entire weekend was so fun and wonderful ... I couldn't wait to get home and blog about it, and yet whenever I tried, I found myself frozen, not knowing where to start, not knowing how to adequately describe the wonderfulness of it all. When I was teaching English at UTC and a student had trouble getting started, my advice was always "just write." So that's what I'm going to do here. It may not be pretty or witty, but I'm going to just write it out, starting at the beginning.

The wedding was in beautiful Asheville, NC. In beautiful, cold, Asheville, NC, at the stunning Grand Bohemian Hotel. We drove up to Asheville on Thursday morning, just as it started to snow here in Chattanooga. I was nervous, but we didn't have any trouble at all. That night, an informal meet-and-greet was planned at Haifa's mom's house; Doug's family is from the New York/Connecticut area, and this was a fun way for everyone to get to meet. From there, we left for the bachelorette party, but first we locked ourselves in a bedroom and surprised Haifa with a bachelorette shower - gifts for, ahem, the bedroom. These were funny ... I'll leave it at that.

I wasn't sure how successful a bachelorette party would be when planned by the not-party-animal-out-of-town matron of honor. But we ended up having a blast!! (Hey, take a group of great friends, throw in a special occasion we've waited years and years for and a little alcohol - voila, instant fun!) We headed first to Sante wine bar, where we toasted Haifa with champagne and then sampled some of their extensive wines, enjoyed with two different cheese trays. Then to Club Hairspray, where we took over the dance floor. We toasted Haifa, we toasted marriage, we toasted Beyonce and all the single ladies, we toasted each other - we had so much fun! I'd bought Haifa a tiara, pageant-style sash, and feather boa to wear throughout the night, and by the time we left the club, it looked like we'd plucked a pink chicken - there were feathers everywhere! The worst part of the night - or, should I say, the next day - was getting home at 3 a.m. I never stay out/up that late anymore, so it was hard getting up the next morning.

On Friday, Bobby, Maggie, and I hung around Asheville, doing a little bit of shopping. I was hoping to find a Jane Austen action figure at Malaprops bookstore (there's a story behind the Jane action figure - remind me to tell it sometime), but alas, they were sold out. After a morning of shopping, I decided I was tired and wanted to try to rest a little bit before the rehearsal started at 3. We stopped for a quick lunch and ran into the groom, along with three friends, who were all heading into the same restaurant. So it was fun to hang out with them for a little bit. One of the friends was Rupa, a close friend of Haifa's from college and the person officiating the ceremony. But more on that later. Do you ever have a person who you've heard about for years and years but never met? That's how Rupa and I have been - each close to Haifa, always hearing about the other, but never getting a chance to meet. Finally we met! And she was SO cool! Loved her!

I'll skip the rehearsal and subsequent dinner except to say that I could not make it through either without crying. I had no idea how I'd get through the ceremony itself if I couldn't even read the notes without getting all teary and decided then and there that one of my MOH duties would be to ensure everyone had adequate kleenex during the wedding. The dinner was at Deerpark Restaurant, a former barn that's original to the Biltmore Estate, and it was beautiful and delicious. There was a separate kids' table, and I wasn't sure how Maggie would do since most of the other girls (all within the same age range) knew each other. I stationed my parents at the table just next to the kids' table, since Bobby and I had to sit at the table with Haifa and Doug, but she did great! Haifa and Doug thought of everything - there was a separate kids' meal - giant bowls of fruit, mac-and-cheese, and chicken tenders for the meat-eaters. Plastic cups with lids, coloring pages and crayons ... the kids had a blast! After the dinner, they took over an empty section of the room near their table and had fun dancing, playing games, and turning cartwheels. Maggie had so much fun!

OK, this is getting super long ... and will most definitely grow longer as I write about the big day itself, so maybe I should close for tonight. I'll try to write again tomorrow about the wedding and reception.