Bagpipes, the bouquet and the beach

K and I woke up early Saturday morning -- St. Patrick's Day -- to get ready for my cousin's wedding, which was the whole reason we were in Hawaii. I was to go to my cousin's room in our hotel at 9:30 so we girls could get ready together, and the groom was to come to our room so the guys could get ready together. Well, as things often do, everything was running behind.

The wedding was supposed to start at 11. I got to Alicia's room at about 9:45 (late thanks to room service, but I'd given my cousin a head's up on that). I was already showered, so I still had plenty of time to throw my hair back, put on some makeup and slip into a dress. When I got to her room, I was surprised to see Alicia wearing very little makeup and still straightening her hair. She immediately instructed her fiance, maid of honor and me to head down to the lobby to meet her parents and help unload things for the ceremony. K met us in the elevator, since Alicia had called him too.

We all unloaded and helped for a while. At 10:15, I was still in my "Sooners" shorts and a tank top, with no makeup on, since I'd been helping unload.

Soon after that, I got back to the room, and things were still pretty frantic. Alicia's phone was ringing constantly. Her maid of honor and I were in the room with her, but everyone else was setting up. One person would call looking for everyone else, or my aunt and uncle would call needing more help unloading. My cousin was still straightening her own hair. The photographer was late.

This was supposed to be a casual wedding. Alicia had only been engaged for about three months, bringing her total time of knowing her groom to about five months. Obviously, there wasn't a whole lot of planning time involved. At the same time, her dad is the preacher. The wedding party was there, so what more could fall apart, really?

Well, evidently there was a St. Patrick's Day parade in Waikiki, complete with a bagpipe performance -- at our hotel. Alicia hates bagpipes.

She was also having trouble fixing her hair and getting it to look how she wanted it to.

My aunt (the bride's mother) had lost some safety pins in the unloading frenzy. Evidently the pins were needed for something on the dress, so she wound up sewing it right then and there.

The late photographer, the scrambling parents, the guys coming up to ask us (from the hallway) which one was to wear which shirt ... there was a lot more stress that morning than I expected for such a small gathering.

Everything worked out well, though, and it turned out beautifully. The bagpipers even left for their parade -- right at 11! They did happen to walk by as we were about to begin the ceremony. And you know the maid of honor and I had to get a picture with them in their little kilts!

The ceremony was short and simple, as Alicia and her now-husband wanted it. Their kiss was the shortest wedding kiss ever. We joked about it, calling it the "Baptist wedding kiss" (I can totally say that because I'm Baptist).

After the ceremony was over, it was picture time. We were less than 100 yards from the beach, so we walked over to take some pictures there.

I swear, every single person on the beach was staring at us. It was kind of funny. I was glad if everyone was going to be looking at us that I wasn't in a bikini or something. We did get some great pictures, though.

All in all, it was a nice wedding -- short and simple, but really pretty. We had a nice picnic afterward, and my aunt came up to K and me and said to K, "You know, we've got a minister right here. You both are all dressed up. It only takes a few minutes to get a marriage license."

K shook his head, laughing, and said, "I think there'd be one man who'd be pretty upset with me about that."

"My dad? Nah, he gave you permission a long time ago," I said to K.

My aunt said to him, "Hey, he'd probably thank you for it. You'd save him a ton of money."

(Side note: When I told my dad about this later, he said he's going to have to have a talk with K next time he sees him because he wouldn't have been upset. And my aunt was right -- he'd have thanked K for saving him money.)

I told most everyone at the picnic -- including the videographer -- that I was going to catch the bouquet. I don't think it was a big secret to anyone. It definitely was no surprise to my family. The videographer even interviewed me about it.

When it came time to gather for the bouquet toss, though, I was on the outside of the group. Alicia turned and looked at me twice as she prepared to throw it. When she released the bouquet, it went right into the middle of the group, several people away from me. I went for it, but it was kind of a lost cause. This 6-foot-plus girl who was built like a linebacker wound up catching it. Jerk.

I've caught the bouquet before, though -- in September 2005 (just a couple weeks before I told K I knew I wanted to marry him). K caught the garter at his cousin's wedding in May 2006. What's great is that he had held up his hands in front of his face so he wouldn't catch it. And the garter landed on his little finger.

I told the videographer I was disappointed, but the past seems to show that the magic of the garter and bouquet tosses are lost on us. Maybe it's better luck that I didn't catch it.

We'll just have to see how all that goes. Since it was a St. Patrick's Day wedding, it's only fitting to quote an Irish proverb: "The most beautiful music of all is the music of what happens." (Unless it's bagpipes?)