US meets UK: I get by with a little help from my friends…
It may take a village to raise a child, but I’m pretty sure it took a village to make our wedding happen. The assistance and donations of dear friends warms my heart to this day.
The Gift of Joy: Mrs. Tulip kindly sent me a package of hankies from her wedding, along with a very sweet card. I used these as she did, displaying them at the ceremony for people to take. There were so many I was able to select the blue/purple ones to fit the color scheme. I’ll include the final product in my details post.
The Gift of Beauty: Remember my hair-tastrophy? My generous friend Holly (and her husband Mike) picked up a gift card to a great salon as a wedding gift. Which took me from Superhero to Saucy 
The Gift of Sight: A lovely eye doctor friend sent me a package of contacts (for free!) right before the wedding. I had been unemployed since the December I moved to England, and hadn’t started a new job yet so I really couldn’t afford new contacts. I can easily recall the feeling of elation when I opened the envelope. Anyone in the hive that wears contacts, you know when you’ve worn a pair for twice as long as you’re supposed to – but then you put a fresh pair in! It’s like jumping into a pool, or skiing fresh powder, simply beyond refreshing.
The Gift of Calm: Oh gosh, who gave me this? My bridesmaids kept me calm fo sho, but my mother also surprised me with a pedicure the day before the wedding. It was so amazing to take the time out of the day, to stop running errands, to not be in my non air conditioned car in the heat of August and just relax.
The Gift of Shelter: An ultra-nice Weddingbee reader (BucknellBride) messaged me to offer her white golf umbrellas for the day. This solved the issue oh cover from the house to the tent where dinner was held. The umbrellas gave me great peace of mind, and she assured me that they were lucky. Every wedding she had lent them to was rain-free!
The Gift of Giggles: Avo-freaking-cado. Mrs. Avocado and I began our friendship over gchat while I was in England. She was at home working on her classes, and I was in England blogging. Since we were both home during the day we now had someone to chat to. So imagine my delight when she said she could attend our wedding! She arrived at my parent’s house the night before the wedding and we stayed up way too late giggling like children. There was even a point where my mother knocked on the door and told us it was time to go to bed. I almost checked the clock, but Avo stopped me. She didn’t want me to end up like Chandler, with a countdown till I had to wake up. So we decided we went to bed at 10pm, even though she arrived at my house at 9:30pm. I have to say, not knowing what time I went to bed was one of the best decisions I made.
Did your wedding take a village, or did you have it all under control?
