Practice Makes Perfect

Once all of the last-minute crafting was taken care of, it was time for the Wedding Rehearsal where we practiced walking . . .

and standing . . .

Pretty important stuff, right? Luckily for my sister, Uncle Tree had the whole walking thing down on his first try, and he really showed the rest of us how it was done. Phew, huh?

But let’s back up a few hours to when we were getting ready for the rehearsal . . . see, my sister’s future M-I-L had rented the most amazing ~~house~~ estate in the hills of Santa Barbara, and we got ready for both the rehearsal and the wedding there (plus, it was the ideal spot for the rehearsal dinner that she hosted for all the wedding guests). Here’s the view from the 6 foot high window above the master bathtub:

For those of you that have seen either the Bachelor or Bachelorette (yes, we watch that ~~trash~~ show in our house), the estate was similar to something you’d see on the show (especially if you could see the size of the bathtub–I think one of the prerequisites for that show is your willingness to make out in some sort of tub). So of course, we had to have our own Bachelor/ette moment on the master bedroom balcony (did you think I was going to say bathtub? Get your mind out of the gutter!). No–the moment we were going for was all about feelings–you know the type: really important feelings about love, laughter, joy, blah, blah, blah; the kind of feelings that you can only have while looking longingly in the distance:

Sidenote: I wonder if Mr. Bunches was thinking about the one that got away . . .

Yep, that’s Vacation Bunches with the next Bachelorette, Ashley H., in Vegas! I know, I know–he literally has sunshine coming out of his butt everywhere he goes. Joke’s on her though–he hadn’t showered in days when she leaned in for that pic!

Alright, back to the walking and standing practice. True to form, my mom was a tearful mess–it was a good thing she had my sister to hold onto, because otherwise, I’m not sure she would’ve been so successful with the whole walking thing:

Of course, she wasn’t the only one getting teary . . . I’m pretty sure that Josh’s mom was just as caught up in the moment:

In the end, everyone did great; I think my favorite part was their walk out of the rehearsal . . . gotta love the beauty queen wave and rockstar bouquet raise:

Once we finished up at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, off we went back to the ~~set of the next Bachelorette~~ estate for the Rehearsal Dinner. It was a low-key barbeque and everyone was invited. There was pool time . . .

. . . Toast time . . .

. . . and of course, the best time of all: CAKE TIME!

The best part about that cake was how excited the groom’s nephew was to get his hands on that big yellow bird on top . . . I don’t think anything jazzes up a five year old quite like animals made entirely of frosting:

My sister also took this opportunity to give everyone a little welcome gift (since everyone was staying at hotels all over the city, it would have been nearly impossible to have these bags waiting for people when they checked in).

Besides the typical water and granola bars, my sister thoughtfully included a pre-stamped Santa Barbara postcard for everyone (like me, she likes to mail herself a postcard when she travels–that way, you always have a little keepsake that’s conveniently dated for when you took the trip). The welcome bag also included some Easter treats (since she was getting married on Good Friday). So fun, right?