The Wedding Story, part one of God knows how many incoherent and poorly edited tales.

After months of decisions by the Bride and Groom and the writing of many checks and sweating details big and small, I am delighted to report that the wedding was pure Magic - absolutely beautiful venue, truly stunning bride, very handsome smiling groom, delicious food, free-flowing booze (a contributing factor to Cousin C and her sons dancing to "We Are Family," which, happily, was captured by the wedding photographer). It was just a joy from start to finish. My personal innermost feeling? Pure pleasure and contentment, seeing the happiness on the faces of the Bride and Groom throughout the evening - they both were glowing and relaxed and laughing and enjoying it all together, exactly as it should be.

Seriously. It was Fabulous. Okay, not flawless - the breeze in the garden was rather chilly for Florida in early November, and the breeze didn't cooperate and die down as they are supposed to do after sunset. The Bride got a flat tire that morning, we forgot the toasting flutes and guest book so I had do a high speed chase style drive ( an hour round trip) back to my house to fetch them and skidded into the venue forty-five minutes before we walked down the aisle still in my ratty jeans and sweater, flinging toasting flutes and book at my son with instructions to find the wedding coordinator for the venue and hand them off, as I raced to dress and slap on a little fresh makeup and brush my hair and borrow hair spray, but it was all good. Thanks to the cool day, I wasn't a sweaty, frizzy wreck - all my nervous wreckage was safely hidden. Hence my "Let other people take pictures, I'm drinking champagne and relaxing," mode later.

The skies were clear, the air was crisp and fresh, the twinkle lights twinkled, the venue and catering staff were as nice as nice can be. Everyone I spoke to had a wonderful time.

Many, many pictures were taken by guests, in addition to the work of the talented wedding photographer (I already know she was wonderful because I saw the little moments she was unobtrusively capturing) but none were taken by me. I left my camera in my room and was in party mode and circulating with champagne in hand most of the evening. So you'll have to wait for the photos and then you'll be begging me to stop, because damn, the digital camera and high quality cameras in cell phones have turned everybody into a wedding photographer - it's wonderful.

It was a bit surreal to walk my daughter down the aisle and see fully half the guests pointing cameras at us, as I was trying to subtly clutch my skirt to my right leg, because hello, MOB outdoors, wind, airy fabric like a sail, Very High You Tube Danger! but also fun. Somehow it broke the tension for me - it felt less solemn and intense, and more like a party. When the celebrant pulled me aside beforehand to go over what I had to do as I "gave my daughter away," I felt my eyes getting wet and gave myself a fierce reminder of how awful I'd look in photos later, all red and puffy with raccoon eyes and I can't ruin her wedding photos. But when the time came I did not cry at all, or even have the urge to cry. I felt warm and good and happy. The ceremony was wonderfully warm and sweet. I loved watching the faces of the Bride and Groom - they absolutely glowed - and I had no urge to get weepy. It was just lovely. Sweet, warm, lovely goodness.

Oh, first story I will share. I know my daughter is quality raw material, but my lovely future daughter-in-law is one hell of an artist. She's a freshly licensed professional stylist (the value of the college degree she holds being what it is in this semi-literate world). She brought her professional tools with her on what turned out to be a working vacation, and created the perfect hair and followed it with perfect makeup. She worked some sort of magic and took Bride's slightly longer than collar-length very modern layered hair and made an elegant, classic, gently waved, very natural looking updo that looked effortless and stayed in place all night.

(The truly amazing part - she said she never did an updo for a wedding before, they are not her thing and she generally tells people she can't do them, and had only offered to do Bride's makeup. It lost something in the translation when my son conveyed the offer, and became "hair and makeup" and she was on the hook, and she rose to the occasion like a superstar.)

So she confessed later that she was very nervous about it, but clearly she underestimates her own talent. If this was her first, nervous attempt under the pressure of "Oh yeah, it's just my new sister-in-law's wedding!" I can't wait to see what she can do in ten years! She really needs to use some of those wedding photos to start a portfolio of her work. I mean, I know it helped that she was starting with wonderful raw material, but the effect she created was flawless, cover of a bridal magazine amazing, and exactly as beautiful as my daughter deserved to be.

The Bride was thrilled because she looked incredible and knew it. The total look was exactly right, and the comments I heard all evening made me glow with pride and happiness, for the Bride, and for the lovely, talented young woman who is already my daughter-in-law in everything but the formalities (which are scheduled for next October, because she's always dreamed of a fall wedding in the mountains.)

So, it was just fantastic - I'm sure that when the pictures start rolling in I'll remember details through the fog of happy exhaustion and the stress leaving me like a deflating balloon followed by champagne and not enough food, and have more to say. I do remember my son's toast made me so proud - it was warm and full of affection, welcoming Groom as his brother, and just so perfect - but I can't exactly remember what he said. Trust me, it was great.

Cousin S and his partner J and Boy and FDiL gathered later for what I called the "after party," in my room at the Wellborn Suites (we took a few rooms in the adjacent buildings, which was the BEST decision I made throughout the entire planning process) and Cousin S shared screamingly funny family stories with FDiL, who laughed and shook her head in just the right balance. She says we are as crazy as her family, so that's just about perfect. Though I don't think her relatives are quite as crazy - none of them take the urn containing their beloved uncle's ashes out drinking with them on St. Paddy's Day. (Yeah, they really do that.) I started feeling sorry for the guests in the room above, because we were hooting and howling quite a bit at times.

The next day we (minus Bride and Groom) went to Islands of Adventure, and a good time was had by all again - not a perfect time, due to technical difficulties with the big splashy Harry Potter ride. Boy and FDiL and I managed to hit it at the right time to experience it - it is worth the hype - but the visiting cousins, who didn't go at the same time we did, didn't get to see it at all, as it was plagued by malfunctions yesterday. They rode all the roller coasters and had fun, but that was a huge disappointment.

Granddaughter was amazing throughout - we ran her 8 month old behind all over town on Friday and Saturday, she stayed smiling and beautiful through the wedding and through a theme park day. Grandma melted down more than she did. Murphy adores her, and it will be a riot to live nearby and watch them interact. (Sophie loves her too, but Murphy goes totally crazy for babies, and definitely understands that this one is "his.") Granddaughter was at first disturbed by doggy attention, but within 24 hours was reaching out to him for kisses. She does not care for dog breath blasted in her face, but she's adjusting.

Today the party was over and I packed up most of my kitchen. Tomorrow will be another packing marathon. But it's good, I'm ready, it's coming together.