The way I asked my girls to be bridesmaids may have been unceremonious, but there was love…and champagne.
By Courtney Danielson
Before I continue with all of the wedding planning adventures (this post involves picking my bridesmaids), Chuck asked me to clarify a few things from my introductory post:
- The reason he came to speak with my friend the first time we met was because he wanted to meet me…and I walked away.
- We met a couple of days later at another party, and when he didn’t remember my name, I got irritated and walked away…again.
- He and his best friend once ordered a pizza from Domino’s that had every single topping on it and cost $25. When I asked if I could have a bite he said no because he barely knew me and I was not worthy of a bite of such an expensive pizza (college kids are poor). I have no idea why he feels this is important information to include, but he asked me to, so I am. Because I am an awesome fiance. (I will say, though, that he still isn’t big on sharing his food with me.)
Okay — now that that’s over with, onward…
Following our midnight engagement on Christmas Eve, Chuck and I woke up later that morning at a more phone call-appropriate time to call his family to tell them the good news. We then spent the morning/afternoon informing the rest of my immediate family (grandparents, aunts, cousins) of the news and asking them to keep it off of social media for the time being. We didn’t want anyone in our family that we hadn’t had a chance to talk to, or who we wouldn’t be seeing over Christmas, to find out via Facebook before we had the chance to tell them ourselves.
Later that evening we embarked on our Christmas festivities tour. First stop: my mom’s cousin’s house. My mom’s family is gigantic and Portuguese (think “My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding”), and while we all love spending time together, there’s just too many of us to do holidays all at one place…at least in the winter when we’re confined to the indoors. Every summer is full of parties and cookouts with probably 100 people, minimum. But I digress. Since we do Christmas Eve dinner at my mom’s sister’s house, we always head to my mom’s cousin’s house at the beginning of the evening for cocktails.
Chuck and I walked into the house casually. I didn’t want to be that girl that runs in, flashing her ring in everyone’s face and making the entire thing about her, so I acted like nothing was different. Of course some people already knew and were quietly chatting with me about it and admiring the ring, but while everyone was mingling, no one really noticed. As I made my way through the house to give all of the aunts (my mom has a LOT of aunts) hugs and kisses, one of my cousins caught the flash from the ring and screamed. And…they were off. In about one second I had ten screaming Portuguese women around me, grabbing for my hand and asking how it happened, while Chuck was across the room getting lots of back slaps and handshakes.
When my sister, Jocelyn, arrived shortly after us, she had a bottle of champagne in tow — courtesy of the owner of the restaurant where she worked — so that we could celebrate properly. And celebrate we did!
From there, we went to my aunt’s house for dinner. Everyone there knew I was engaged, and as soon as we walked in the door, Chuck and I were pretty much pounced on. The youngest of us all — Cody, age eight — told Chuck very seriously that he was glad he finally proposed because he was going to have a talk with him if he waited any longer.
Once we said our hellos, it was time for me to undertake my very first bride-to-be activity (besides saying “yes,” of course): selecting the bridal party. In hindsight, I should have done this in a more special way — the way lots of brides are doing things these days. But I was already a few glasses of champagne in, so whatever.
Since I have two sisters (ages twenty-six and twenty), it felt wrong to select one of them as my maid of honor. So, being ever diplomatic, I told them they were both my MOH, and if they felt that one of them should have it over the other, they could fight it out betwixt themselves. From there I asked (and by “asked” I mean I blurted out while drunkenly hugging her) my cousin, Natasha, to be a bridesmaid and my cousin, Zoe (twelve), to be a junior bridesmaid. And Chuck asked Cody to be a junior groomsman, which thrilled Cody to pieces because the reason he’s actually been waiting so long for us to get married is because he really wants to wear a tuxedo.
The next morning, while getting ready for Christmas dinner, Chuck and I called his sister, Colleen, and brother-in-law, Neal, to ask if they would also be in our wedding party, and if their son (my soon-to-be-official nephew!!), Jaydn, would be our ring bearer. We then called Chuck’s cousin Michelle to ask if her daughter, Emerson (Emma, for short), would be our flower girl.
Over the next few days Chuck made the call to his cousin, Tony, and two friends, Richard aka “Utah” and Erik, to ask them to be groomsmen as well. Utah will actually be our best man. He and my sister, Jocelyn, are already not-so-secretly plotting against us to make our wedding “fun.” Which terrifies me.
So with our wedding party set, and the date set, the next step was to find the dress and the venue. And it didn’t take me NEARLY as long as I had anticipated.
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