9/2/2007 Raif & Jessica: Our Love is Here to Stay

[MsJessica07]

PLEASE don't post until I'm done! I'll remove this when I finish! If you want to comment before then, find my life journal!


The week of the wedding was amazingly stressful, but it all felt totally surreal. My mom and I made the decision to fire our wedding coordinator on the Monday of that week, and we still haven't heard anything from her.

Tuesday morning, I said goodbye to my fiance and he hopped onto a train down to Champaign to try to get things taken care of. I still had to work Tuesday and Wednesday, so we were splitting the responsibilities.

During those evenings, I made progress on various projects, and during the day, Raif finished a lot of projects as well, including the Chuppah poles, which are pretty important!

I got to Champaign late on Wednesday evening, since I had to come home, eat dinner and take a half hour nap before I could get out of there. Thursday morning, I had to go on a little excursion to a lake for the ritual bath. Usually, I would've gone to a proper ritual bath, but things hadn't worked out that way. In the end, it worked out well though. I shopped for the OOT baskets and put them together in the afternoon. Raif came back from the hairdresser then, where he'd gotten most of his hair cut off. He'd decided to do this on Wednesday when he'd realized that he didn't like the way his long hair looked with his tuxedo.

However, it became pretty clear at about 9:00PM that he hated his new haircut as well. The lady hadn't known how to cut his hair and had left him with hair falling in his eyes. He tried to tell me that it would be okay for the wedding, but not only did the style look sort of funny, but it also fell in his eyes in a really annoying way.

Thursday evening, the first of Raif's mom's sisters started arriving and I started meeting family, which was very overwhelming. Wow.

The next morning, Raif went to another hair dresser, and really liked it! So that was one crisis solved! Friday also was the day of the rehearsal and when the real wedding action started!

[MsJessica07]

Raif's parents were crazy by Friday morning. They had decided to not get much help with the meals for Shabbat, which just seemed totally weird to me (and still does) but it meant that they were in cooking panic by Friday morning. Not only were many of Raif's mom's siblings now in town, but the rehearsal would eat a significant chunk of time as well.

At about 11:30, I got a call from Melissa (Mel on here, one of my bridesmaids) who was on her way from Denver. She'd arrived in Chicago fine, but now the flight from Chicago to Champaign was going to be delayed. Which, since Eve was in class, meant that there were no bridesmaids at the rehearsal lunch or even really at the rehearsal at all.

However, my cousins arrived right around 12:15 which was great, since they had my flowergirl and tallit bearer. They arrived, smiling, and we had a lovely meal:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Rehearsal/IMG_0684.jpg

After lunch my mom went over the script for the wedding day, although by then, Raif's mom had left and Raif's dad was so tired he was hardly paying attention. This really annoyed my mom, and was not the first time she expressed this to me over the weekend. We went after lunch to the Alumni Center to check things out.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Rehearsal/IMG_0685.jpg
The video screen in the door of the alumni center.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Rehearsal/IMG_0688.jpg
Practicing walking down the aisle. The camera is in place of her bouquet and the folder for the tallit. Note that my ribbon bouquet was there, but we forgot to use it.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Rehearsal/IMG_5002.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Rehearsal/IMG_5003.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Rehearsal/IMG_5005.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Rehearsal/IMG_0693.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Rehearsal/IMG_0690.jpg
Me giving Hayden and Sutton their gifts. They LOVED them. Especially since my mom had supplemented them with a trip to the dollar store.

[MsJessica07]

After the rehearsal, Eve joined us after her class (she's in grad school), and we all went to check into the hotel. As we're checking in, Melissa and my friends Shoshanah and Yael arrive. That was amazing, and suddenly made me feel like this was even more special of an occassion. Not only were there family, but now friends there!

So, once we got everyone into rooms, it was time for manicures, and I had no idea of a place to go, but luckily Melissa knew of a place off-campus to go, and all five of us piled into my car. I hadn't really meant for it to be a total excursion, but it was SO much fun. Neither Eve nor Shoshanah had had a manicure before, so they enjoyed them! Everyone enjoyed themselves, even if I was getting phone calls from Raif and my mom every two minutes (which is complicated when your hands are either soaking in a tub or with wet nail polish, but Mel helped out...there's a pic of that somewhere, but I don't know where).

After that, we all raced back to the hotel to get ready for Shabbat. Of course, we arrived right as services ended, but we hung around for a while gathering people to come to the special meal for people who'd come into town for the wedding, as well as to see some of our friends who were still in school and maybe not coming to the wedding.

We walked over and had a really nice meal, and then we all hung out at Raif's parents house for a while, until I had to go practice my Torah reading (I was reading at the Saturday morning service) and then we wandered back to the hotel. I arrived at services Saturday morning just about on time, confident I could do a good job. I got there, however, and realized that I didn't think my parents knew I was reading or that it was particularly special since I was reading the day before my wedding. Which is was, but I had forgotten to mention it to them. Whoops. Halfway trhough the service, I get a bump on my shoulder, and there are my friends Mike and Josh! Apparently, they'd gotten into town late, late last night and hadn't wanted to interupt our sleep, but they were happy to be there!

Lunch was again really good, but the best was hanging out with everyone. Mike and Josh had been telling me for weeks that they wanted to take me out the night before the wedding, and it became apparent that they really wanted to do so. So, it would be the seven of us that evening: Mel, Eve, Josh, Mike, Yael and Shoshanah, plus me.

My mom held another information session about the wedding so people would have a good idea of what they were supposed to be doing, and then we went our separate ways. I said goodbye to Raif right after lunch, knowing that I wouldn't see him again until the wedding. It was a surreal feeling! Mike and Josh disappeared at some point, but for some reason, I didn't get back to the hotel until like 4:30. I have no recollection of what we did that afternoon (Mel? Do you remember?) I napped until 5:45, since we were heading to the restaurant for dinner at 6:15.

At 6:15ish, Mel and I hopped in the car, and Eve and Yael and Shoshanah went and had dinner with Raif and his side. We went to Biaggis for the meal, and it was wonderful!! Two kinds of appetizers, a salad, two kinds of entree and two kinds of dessert, all served family style, since we'd gotten a set menu. And my two little cousins got to pick anythign they wanted off the kids menu, and got ice cream for dessert. It was SUPER cute.

I don't have any pictures of Saturday during the day because it was Shabbat, but I have pictures of Saturday night! Pictures of dinner and the adventures following in the next post (but it may be a while, cause I did this while on a break at work and now time to go back to work!)

[MsJessica07]

Dinner was AMAZING. We had two appetizers, salad, two entrees, and two desserts, all served family style. Which was amazing. So good. So good.

Here's the whole group:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Parents%20anniversary/IMG_5018.jpg

Me:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Parents%20anniversary/IMG_5014.jpg

Melissa and I drew on the paper tablecloth...luckily they had extra crayons so we didn't have to steal them from my four year old cousins...
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Parents%20anniversary/IMG_5006.jpg

The waiter serving my parents their cake with a little candle:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Parents%20anniversary/IMG_5012.jpg

My parents say cheese:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Parents%20anniversary/IMG_5007.jpg

[MsJessica07]

Once we got back from the delicious dinner, we joined up with Eve again, and Mike and Josh went up to their room to "prepare". They'd told me they had some things planned for me, but they really went all out.

When we got to their room, they had created a small little bar, and were serving Cosmos.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/n8801682_36909223_6754.jpg
Mike, Josh and I

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/n8801682_36909224_6980.jpg
Me, Mel, Yael, and Eve

Then came the costume...
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/DSCN1475.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/DSCN1480.jpg

Then came the bar...
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/IMG_0058.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/IMG_0067.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/IMG_0070.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/IMG_0072.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/IMG_0076.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/IMG_0099.jpg

And then, like good Alumni, we climbed the Alma Mater...
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Bachelorette%20party/IMG_0107.jpg

As we wandered down the street between the bar and the hotel, Josh and Mike yelled to the passersby "She's getting married in the morning!!!" and it was really funny. We got home at a little after midnight and it was a really great evening, even if I was tired because of it.

[MsJessica07]

After a very sleepless night (well, I slept like a brick, but not for nearly enough time), Mel, Eve and I got up at the crack of dawn to eat breakfast and get to the hair dresser. I had a small bowl of cereal and about as much bagel as I could choke down, and then we drove to the hair dresser.

She started a little late and she took way too much time with my hair, but it worked out fine in the end.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Curls-in-My-Hair.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Putting-Pieces-UP.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Watch-Out-for-Hairspray.jpg
Trying not to choke on the hairspray...

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Final-Touches.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Putting-on-the-Tiara.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Putting-on-the-Veil.jpg

Melissa was next. Holy teasing, Batman!

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Teasing-Mels-Hair.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Back-of-Mels-Hair.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Mels-HAIR.jpg

You'll note that Mel worked hard to get her hair to come down from the poof, but even after the wedding taking all the pins out after the wedding, it still stood up on it's own. :lol:

Eve's hair was next. She'd mentioned to me months before that she'd wanted something sparkly for her hair, and given that this was a little bit of an exercise in giving Eve a little bit more self confidence, I bought her two sparkly clips from Meijer and they really looked nice. Not that I think you can see them in pictures :lol:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Wedding%20Hair/Eves-Hair.jpg

[MsJessica07]

While the girls were getting pretty, the boys were getting dressed. Well, sort of. First, Raif had to do a little mending: http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/Raif-Sewing-Close-Up.jpg
Apparently a button had come off :lol:

Raif's brother Asa reading the newspaper:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/Asa-In-the-Morning.jpg

Ron (the best man) getting dressed:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/Ron-Adjusting-His-Tie.jpg

Raif and Ron dressed:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/Raif-and-Ron.jpg

[MsJessica07]

At about 9:15, almost a half an hour after we were supposed to arrive, we got to the hotel and let the photographer in. He took a few shots before we started getting dressed.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Dressing/melhado_0003.jpghttp://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Dressing/melhado_0006.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Dressing/melhado_0011.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Dressing/melhado_0016.jpg

At a certain point it was time for Eve and Melissa to help me into my dress. Luckily, Melissa knew how to get me into the hoop skirt and the dress at the same time so that we wouldn't have to pull the dress over my head.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Dressing/melhado_0030.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Dressing/melhado_0035.jpg

I love the look on my face here:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Dressing/melhado_0056.jpg

Lacing me up:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Dressing/melhado_0062.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Dressing/melhado_0074.jpg

[MsJessica07]

I have a lot more pictures fixed/finished so I will try to post more tonight!

[MsJessica07]

While the three of us finished getting dressed and we walked over to the venue, Raif and his family were taking pictures.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0080copy.jpg
Raif, Asa and parents

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0087copy.png
Raif's mom's siblings...at least, the ones that were there!

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0100copy.png
Raif's side of the family

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0113copy.png
Raif and his best man

[MsJessica07]

After Raif and family was securely inside the building, it was my side of the family's time to get 'taken' as my dad says.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0178copy.png
Me and my parents

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0185copy.png
Daddy's girl, anyone?

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0186copy.png
Us and my mom's sister's family

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0208copy.png
Us and the whole family

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0239copy.png
The bridal party :)

[MsJessica07]

After we all took pictures, we moved inside for the "Kabbalat Panim", literally the welcoming of the faces. It's a welcoming ceremony for the guests, and a time when the guests try to take the bride and grooms mind off of their stress. So, singing songs and the like is much appreciated. The guests can also drink alcohol if they choose, although the bride and groom can't drink alcohol.

Raif and most of the boys (although it wasn't gender segregated) were in the lounge area with the drinks.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0269copy.png
The dads
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0281copy.png
Close Up
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0301copy.png
Dancing with Friends
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0331copy.png

[MsJessica07]

While he's in the lounge, I was in the next room, which was called "The Great Room". I was sitting on a couch that had been decorate for me, with Eve next to me as my attendant, and everyone basically lined up to say hi to me. I think this experience was why I didn't want to go and do the rounds at the reception :faint: So many people to talk to! There were also a few who asked for a blessing, since a bride on her wedding day is considered closer to the heavens.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0261copy.png
Greeting one of the guests
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0309copy.png
BettyRose giving me advice that I cannot for the life of me remember!

In a very traditional ceremony, my role in this part would be limited to just greeting everyone. However, since we are modern people, I also gave a (somewhat disjointed) rendition of a short sermon, but because it's not supposed to be a high pressure situation, the audience (led by my mother) are supposed to heckle and sing songs. Raif's audience was much nicer to him (as is entirely evident on the wedding video).

My sermonette ended like this:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/Boys/melhado_0335copy.png
(look closely...they're throwing cups at me!)

[Rebecca]

"There were also a few who asked for a blessing, since a bride on her wedding day is considered closer to the heavens." What a sweet thought!! I love the traditions of your wedding and the last picture of you on the couch with your dress all fluffed behind you is just beautiful...what memories!

[MsJessica07]

After the first small reception, we went out to the patio to sign what is basically a religious pre nuptial agreement.
Here's me coming out.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0341copy.png

Yael holding the divider between Raif and I.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0345copy.png
Signing the agreement
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0380copy.png
Reading the agreement
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0388copy.png
My mom and Raif's mom (look at them holding hands!)
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/HoldingHands.png
The boys: Raif's brother, his Dad and Raif
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/RaifAsaandEvan.png
Raif and I seeing each other for the first time:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0463copy.png
My dad blessing me:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0493copy.png
Raif's dad blessing me:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0504copy.png

[MsJessica07]

Going inside...everyone is singing at this point:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0529copy.png
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0555copy.png
Up the stairs to go inside (same building, different entrance)
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j228/MsJessica07/tenaim/melhado_0575copy.png