I am sure everyone involved has their own timelime about the following events but here’s mine…
6:40am – everything is ready to go, Lauren’s dress is in the car so I sit down to finish my cup of coffee
6:52am – I pull out of the garage and turn on the GPS
7:04am – the GPS finally realizes it’s not in San Francisco and gives me the proper directions
7:05am – my sister calls and asks me where I am and then politely pretends not to freak out when I tell her I just left
7:36am – arrive at Lauren’s place downtown in record time (I am still bragging about this)
7:50am – dress is upstairs and hanging and we race over to the hair salon
8:02am – Lauren jumps out of the car to make her hair appt and Michele and I park the car and walk completely around the block the wrong way because neither of us lives in Chicago
8:40am – Fran starts on my hair
9:50am – hair is done and it’s makeup time! Lauren is completely finished and trying to keep tabs on everyone
10:30am – Lauren, Lindsey, Michele and I leave to go back to Lauren’s place
11:15-11:45am – Stacey, Beverly and Cherrie arrive and get dressed
12:35pm – we notice that the limo isn’t downstairs when Veronica arrives (long story)
12:40pm – mild panic sets in when there is still no limo
12:50pm – we grab all our stuff and cart it downstairs to wait for the arriving limo
12:55pm – the limo shows up and it is the wrong type but it’s too late to do anything about it at this point / the (clearly substitute) limo driver is completely unsympathetic to the fact that she’s almost 30 minutes late
1:00pm – the wedding is supposed to start
1:03pm – folks are beginning to wonder what happened to all of us
1:05pm – the limo driver pulls up on the wrong side of the street, so she has to circle the block
1:08pm – we all pile out of the limo and and into the church while trying to catch our breath
1:19pm – I walk down the aisle
1:20pm – my lovely and surprisingly composed sister, Lauren, walks down the aisle
1:40pm – the rings are exchanged
2:03pm – I “floof” my sister’s dress for the eighth time
2:08pm – the kiss!
2:09pm – the recessional
2:16-2:22pm – Lynn and I bustle Lauren’s dress (it’s not as easy as it seemed but it didn’t take very long)
2:36pm – we get back in the limo, this time with eight more people (the guys), and cruise around taking photos at various scenic locations in Chicago.
Everything else went more or less according to plan, we arrived a little late to the reception at Medinah but I think everyone felt a lot better once the actual ceremony was underway!