I jumped out of bed excited that I might spend the morning with my groom.
“Does that mean we can see each other this morning?” I sounded much too hopeful.
“I will try to sneak into our room, but Nick is supposed to be my guard. He promised the chief to keep me away from you.”
Quickly, a suitable bribe for Nick popped into my head.
“Nick, if you give me thirty minutes with your brother, I promise you a meal at Masa when we get back from our honeymoon. What do you think?”
Nick wouldn’t budge.
“Sis, if I let Jake see you, the chief promised to torture me on my wedding day. He threatened many times.”
“Nick, we won’t tell him. I promise!”
“They’ll read it on Jake’s face. He’ll have a stupid grin instead of this scowl he’s had since Friday night.”
We both pleaded and bribed, but to no avail. Jake took me off speaker phone and promised to try to come see me when he got home.
Aunt Barbara sent Laney to tell me to shower, but to stay in my robe. The esthetician would be arriving within half an hour and I would be the first one to receive treatment. After all the treatments yesterday it seemed unnecessary, but obviously Aunt Barbara thought otherwise. They converted Nick’s room into the facial / makeup area, and Jane’s room became the hair salon. We were all on a tight schedule, and we were warned not to miss our appointments. Jane was in charge of getting all of us to the right place at the right time.
I continued to watch the workers outside, while waiting for Jake and the esthetician to arrive. I saw that the rental company placed two rectangular rows of chairs on both sides of the grassy aisle. Over the chairs they draped white tulle, loosely pinned together with yellow and off-white roses in the back. They then set up thin trellises all along the outside of the ceremony area. Initially it looked like the trellises made a bracket on either side of the chairs without enclosing the walkway, or where we would stand.
The florists feverishly worked to cover all the trellises with mossy vines and every flower that bloomed in July. I recognized various lilies, jasmine, daisies, dahlias and freesias. There were many beautiful flowers that I didn’t recognize, but enjoyed my leisurely gazing. By the end of their labor, they had created a huge flower tent loosely covering our ceremony. I had never seen such a sight. Then, I saw the florist cover the aisle with hundreds, maybe thousands of white rose petals. What the florist created looked prettier than any picture in a wedding magazine. Once again, I felt a surge of emotions—happy, blessed, and thankful to name a few.
While continuing to look out the window, I heard much commotion right outside my door and knew that Jake was trying to come see me. Laney frantically called for her mom and both Aunt Barbara and Gram came to stop him from walking into our room. Lane slightly opened the door and squeezed in to grab Jake’s tux and quickly shut the door before we could see each other.
Jake was begging both ladies to allow him to see his bride, but neither budged. Jake hollered through the door. “Emi, I’m off to the barber. I’ll see you tonight, Sweetheart. I love you.”
“I love you too. I feel like a prisoner in my own house,” I yelled back.
The esthetician began work on my face while I followed Jane’s every instruction. Facial first, then a light breakfast, then sit and watch a movie, while all the cousins and aunts got both their hair and makeup done. My makeup session would be the last one.
Two more tents went up during the tedious hours of waiting. The first tent resembled a night club. The rental company set up a sleek lounge for what I assumed would be the cocktail and drink hour. Maybe we would dance in there as well, since a wooden dance floor was placed before the tent went up. Stark white lounge chairs and sofas with tons of white pillows were carried in one by one. Some sofas looked like shortened sectionals, and some were large round ottomans. Old chandeliers dimly lit the tent. The only dark furniture pieces in the tent were bar tables and an eight-foot table where probably a DJ would be spinning his tunes.