Report from the Field: Powder Puff Gets Hitched

(Source)

*All pictures mine, unless noted otherwise.

Yes, this is report from the field... specifically, Operation Mrs. Powder Puff a date that shall live in infamy.

Mrs. Powder Puff, Mrs. Quiche and I all became Bees right around the same time, back in late 2008. Sharing our freshman fears, we quickly became fast friends. We may or may not have consumed multiple alcoholic beverages in concert, ahem.

In any case, at our last dinner, Miss Powder Puff asked Quiche and I if we'd like to come to her wedding. This is how the convo went:

Miss PP: "So guys, do you think you might be interested in coming to my wedd..."
Quiche and Me: (interrupting) "YES"
Miss PP: "Oh good - I mean I know it is a bit of a drive from Chicago, and you might need to spend the night..."
Quiche and Me: "WE'RE COMING!"
Miss PP: "Well, that's settled!"

Needless to say, we were very excited to go! Mrs. Quiche even told Mr. Quiche that he would have to sit this party out, as this was a bona fide girly trip. That Mr. Quiche - he is so nice!

Now, I must preface this by saying that in normal life, under normal conditions, both Mrs. Quiche and I are pretty organized individuals. We pay our bills on time, we arrive to appointments early, we always buy the bride and groom a wedding gift.

Um yeah. Not so much on the PP Wedding Day!

We left Chicago very lackidasically Saturday morning for our 3.5 hour drive to Michigan. There was a beautiful drive and a lil Burger King in our future (no gagging, Healthy Police!)

See... look how relaxed!

To be honest, I am a bit surprised we made it to Michigan at all. We both forgot a few *fairly* important things... like toothbrushes, so we had to make a stop. We kept forgetting to check our directions until about 30 seconds before each turnoff. There were few street signs anyhow... we just kinda had to feel our way to our hotel.

So anyway, we finally arrive at our destination and thought we'd take a nap before the festivities began. We had a lot of dancing on our schedule and wanted to be rested and ready to go!

We walk into our hotel room. I am throwing all my bags on my bed. Mrs. Quiche glances at the room clock and yells, "TIME CHANGE!!!!"

Craziness and flying shampoo bottles ensued.

Yes, we were the dunces who forgot that Michigan is an hour ahead of Chicago. Consequently, we had 30 minutes to go from grungy to fab and get our booties to the wedding! In the craziness, the situation was nevertheless hilarious. Damn you, Time Change!

We made it to the ceremony with 15 minutes to spare, and we took about 5 minutes to calm our nerves down. Now we could celebrate!

The day was GORGEOUS, seriously, it couldn't have been a more beautiful day. The sun was shining, the breeze was cool, the flowers were blooming - perfect! We were so excited when the ceremony got underway and thoroughly embarassed ourselves with all manner of cameras to document the moment.

Swoon!

After the smoochin', we had a few drinks. We were in the mood for beer, and the day called for lil Oberon. We made buds with our dinner companions at Table 9:
Table 9 was full of dancers. At any given moment... "This is a Table 9 song - go dance!" It was really impossible to sit down for more than 30 seconds... the peer pressure was tremendous! Yum to the food, yum to the people, yum to the dancing.

Now, earlier in the vening, we were able to snag a proper Bee photo...

See the difference between the photo above and the photo below - several hours of dancing and drinks lata:
West Side!

Quiche and I didn't leave until the lights came up, and you better believe we slept in the next morning - Powder Puff knows how to throw a par-tay! We took our tired selves back to Chicago, and somehow made it to our appropriate destinations, again "feeling" our way home!

I need to buy a GPS.

Are you an otherwise organized person who is a mess when it comes to destination weddings?

Starting Over Is Really Not That Bad Ackshually

Hi, Hive - I've missed you ladies! (and gents! - Gents? Do boys read this blog?) :)

Long time no blog - mainly because I was busy crying in my oatmeal. (Kidding - mostly!)

I just got back from my Honeymoon turned Sistamoon, and I promise to share all of the deets with you soon: including cruise and travel tips, as well as a DIY travel journal to end all travel journals (The journal is either incredibly amazing, or incredibly obsessive-compulsive, depending on how you look at it.) Before we get to that though, I was moved to write this blog because I am still active on the WeddingBee message boards, and on a fairly regularish basis, I see a post by a bride who had to call off her wedding, due to a variety of horrible circumstances.

WeddingBee is about the experience of moving towards the altar, and for some brides, that journey gets cut short, which is what happened to me. I have gained what feels like a master's degree in love recently, and I feel like this merits a post to support those brides whose world seems to have fallen in, as well as to help those of you support a bud of yours who may be starting over in the Marriage Love department.

To those of you who are calling off your wedding - IT SUCKS A WHOLE LOT, doesn't it? Especially when the sudden relationship bomb is infidelity. I want to give you a little hope...

Your best days are ahead of you. Really.

Even though I am in no way glad Mr. ex-Snapdragon cheated on me, I am SO thankful I found out before we got married. As anyone who has been through a divorce will tell you - getting divorced is way more horrible than breaking up, even when you are calling off a wedding. I was able to walk away immediately, with no lawyers. When you're married, you don't get to do that.

The worst months are definitely the ones that immediately follow your breakup, but now that I am four months out... I don't really cry about it anymore. I actually feel good most of the time instead of totally broken. I have fun and laugh now (which was unthinkable several months ago!)

Another tough thing about calling off a wedding is that at least a hundred people are now all up in your business; you don't really get to be private about it. You know what that means... lots of advice (!) which is the last thing we need. Thankfully, even though many people loved to word vomit their horrible cheating stories on me, my close friends and family were smart enough to just say "Snappy, how are you doing?" and then take me out for multiple margaritas and tell me lots of jokes.

The most loving thing any buddy or family member can do is to just show you that they love you. Nobody that has called off their wedding wants advice, none of us want to hear your sad cheating story - we just want to know that you love us and support our decision that we have made for ourselves. I think the worst thing someone said to me was "I always thought he was a cheater - I'm not surprised." :O

So again, I want to reiterate that calling off your wedding is an excruciating event... but it really does get better. I will say this again: Your best days are ahead of you.

In news of the miraculous, I am going on my first post-Mr.-ex-Snap date this week, and I am kind of totally excited about it!

Breaking up doesn't have to break you. Keep your chin up.