53Blonde Getting Married: Otterly In Love: We Rehearse

When we left off, there were road closures. LOTS of road closures, to the point where I was concerned that we wouldn't make it to the venue. One of the two paths that Daddy Otter and FIL Otter had found was closed, but the other was thankfully open. MOH Cubs and I tried every other option first (ahem, because the local police hadn't updated their website in six hours...), so we ended up driving around for a good hour trying to get to the venue.

Finally, with much apprehension, we arrived at the venue. Hooray! We started setting up and slowly but surely, our family and wedding party started to arrive. I was most proud to see Best Man Batman and GM Billygoat arrive FIRST! For arriving early, they were rewarded with alcoholic beverages. (Please note: I am not above bribes.)

(My mini! I raised this baby girl until just a couple of years ago, and now she isn't a baby anymore!)

(How Daddy Otter posed when my Mini got the camera. Oh, Daddy O.)

Unfortunately when rush hour traffic hit, the travel situation became a bit more complicated. With so many people flooding the "back roads" to get home from work, BM Jen and BM Blondesquared got stuck in some heavy traffic. I heard there were tears in the car because they were running so late :'(. Thankfully, they arrived safely and we were ready to get started!

You'll notice that most of us are wearing jackets and boots. Due to the rain, it was muddy. Due to the fact that it was Indiana, it was also cold enough to be SNOWING AND SLEETING. I said throughout planning that rain was fine! We can handle rain. Snow? Not so much. So first, we practiced our plan B - indoor ceremony.

(Mr. O posing for photos, of course.)

(Woah! My hair looks long!)

(We have such a serious wedding party... see above for BM Batman and below for BM Jen. Yep, super serious all the way around.)

(My mini and her sis K, with their cute little signs!)

Much to everyones dispair, I still wanted to rehearse outside. I swore that we would do it as quickly as possible, but because there were stairs, I wanted to make sure everyone knew where to go when it was showtime. We ran to the house, gathered for warmth, and practiced again.

(The boys make their grand entrance.)

(Daddy O and I looking very rocker chic with all that leather.)

(Posed by Aunt K... probably real life also. ;))

After the miserable few minutes of cold, we all gathered to figure out the travel plans to dinner. Usually, this would mean driving about two minutes away from the venue. But with road closures, it was looking like we would have to drive all the way back out and around, making a two minute journey closer to 30 minutes. Thankfully, Daddy O was just as stubborn as I had been earlier that day and chose to try the front way first... And it worked! A couple minutes later, we were all warm inside ready for dinner and gift giving.