transportation

Having finished my rapid change, we headed back out to the porch and a few things registered:

The golf cart wasn’t where we’d left it
It was at the far end of the lane like the driver had taken it down to turn around, but it wasn’t moving
“I don’t think the wheels are supposed to point like that”
Up pulls the shuttle bus

Unfortunately, Kara didn’t get a picture of the broken down cart but it looks like a slightly less extreme version of this:

Image courtesy of Flickr user Jan Tik

Turns out, the front axle snapped when he was turning the cart around–it wasn’t until the end of the reception that we saw the flatbed carting it away (they had to get a crane out to get it up onto the flatbed). Some of guests later reported that they saw the driver sprinting up the hill and wondered what it was all about.

Was this a pivotal moment in our day? No. But as unexpected things go, it’s pretty memorable and definitely makes for a good story among the guests. You can’t even blame anyone, really, all you can do is mark the moment and move on.

Image via Pink Shutterbug Photography

Which is exactly what we did!

Meanwhile, back at the Owl’s Nest, our guests were finding their seats with the aid of a quickly put together seating chart. Since my original plan to make champagne jelly as favors didn’t pan out, the cork-patterned fabric I’d planned to use on the tops of the jar instead went to wrap the backer board of a large frame. Another benefit of the short guest list is that we really didn’t need a complicated seating system: everyone could easily scan the six tables for their name and know exactly where they needed to be.

I will say I was a bit selfish when creating the seating chart. With no real head table or rules to follow, I figured Roadie would want to sit next to his mother since it’d been longer since he’d seen her (FiL Road Trip came down to visit us the previous November) and I figured what’s good for the goose is good for the gander so I sat Dr. Aunt (the only out-of-town relative on my side) next to me, and we worked the family and friend-units out from there. This worked out quite well and I don’t think anyone batted an eyelash at Mama Leadfoot being at to the corner of the cross table instead of right next to me. (Especially since she got to sit between her two sons and she and I see each other five days a week at work!)

As the last guests found their seats, the shuttle dropped us off right at the base of the stairs where we waited for our entrance cue.

The Road Trip Wedding Recaps:

Thinking that our “chariot” (aka a Bentley golf cart they include in their wedding packages) would soon arrive, we went back inside to freshen up and chill out for a moment before it was time to greet our guests.

Kara decided to take some pictures of our ears while we waited. | All photos by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Kara, never one to waste precious natural light, decided to take some pictures of our ears while we waited. | All photos by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Roadie decided to have a little fun with the Scrabble tiles–Friend-ficiant L had been half-threatening to open with the Princess Bride speech that this was just too good to pass up.

And Kara decided to grab my monkey from the dressing room for a little clowning around.

Sitting in the big poofy dress made me feel like a kid playing dress-up for some reason.

Eventually we went out to the resort-side porch thinking the car would be along any moment. Only it wasn’t. Cocktail Hour had begun, we could see our guests arriving at the top of the hill, hear the music playing, but our transportation was no where to be seen.

So close, and yet so far away…

I take that back–we could actually see the canopy just beyond the fountain.

It felt like being locked out of our own party and I was starting to get a bit miffed that we weren’t up there to greet our guests–that had been the plan, after all. My phone was in my clutch that I’d sent ahead with Mama Leadfoot. Roadie tried to text his sister but she was being a polite guest and had already put her phone on silent. We found the DoC’s number but, of course, she wasn’t answering either.

So there we stood, waiting, watching our own party from the bottom of the hill, and I said ‘We’ll give them 5 more minutes.’

About 30 seconds later I changed my mind (I’m not known for being incredibly patient): ‘Screw it, we’re walking, now!’

We’ll call this the walk before the walk!

Unbeknownst to us, at the time, Mama and Dr. Aunt were both on the DoC’s tail about ‘Shouldn’t they be here by now?’ and ‘Isn’t that the cart that’s supposed to be picking them up?’ Supposedly the driver was there one moment and then he just disappeared, no where to be tracked down.

Of course, right about then Mama caught sight of us approaching ‘Too late now!’

DoC: We were just getting ready to come get you!
Miss RT: We decided not to miss any more of the party waiting!

But hey, we were here, now, time to mingle!

The Road Trip Wedding Recaps:

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