Always a bridesmaid and finally . . . . .

A BRIDE!!!!

That's right folks - this professional bridesmaid is finally going to don the white dress herself!!

Sorry for the delay in any new entries, but with Christmas, jet lag and the fact I had to tell my mum in person (and, ummm, most of my readers) I had to wait for this entry.

So here it goes, the story you've all been waiting to hear.  Okay fine, all two of you have been waiting to hear:

The Engineer and I arrived in London early in the morning on New Year's Eve.  I was ridiculously excited to be here because this is my favourite city (New York now ties it I must admit) but I was also super sick with a cold and lack of sleep.

I made us take a nap.

We finally roused ourselves late late afternoon and I was jumping off the walls to go on an adventure.  Many of my friends wondered if he was going to propose on New Years, but I didn't want to get my hopes up.  I did, however, pick my dress to wear for the night and think to myself, "would I want to get engaged in this"? (Yes, I am crazy like Kate Hudson in 'Bride Wars').  I really wasn't expecting anything because he didn't plan anything special.  We had a hotel but cancelled it and in that moment I truly thought it was a definite no-go.

Time for our adventure.

Sarah's side:  We take off for Picadilly Circus first.  Which is sadly undergoing construction so the statue/fountain is all boarded up.  Nevermind.  We'll go to Wagamama for noodles.  Which is yummy and we don't have to wait in line because we are eating like senior citizens at 5pm.

The Engineer's side:  Damn!  Picadilly looks like crap and it's so freaking busy.  Keep coat on my lap when eating, keep coat on lap when eating.  Do not let go of box, do not let go of box

Sarah's side:  Leave Wagamama and turn the corner headed to one of my favourite spots on earth, ever, Trafalgar Square.  Crap, it's freezing.  Oh wow, even the Engineer is cold.  He won't take his hand out of his pocket, I will hold on to his elbow.

The Engineer's side:  WHAT?  We're in Trafalgar Square already??  Okay, perfect place, perfect place, but where?  According to 'Places to Propose in London' this is number two.  F*&CK!  The fountains are BOARDED UP!  Because of New Year's.  I suppose they don't want drunk rowdies jumping in the frozen water.  Which Sarah would probably do because she keeps telling me about the time she danced in the fountain.  Crap it's freezing. And she wants to hold my hand.  GAH!  She's going for my hand in my pocket! Turn away! Turn away!  HA, crisis averted.

Sarah's side: Over the Golden Jubilee Bridge we go, taking a look at Big Ben and London Eye. It's so pretty!  I love London! But god damn I'm cold!  And I feel super sick.  My face hurts.  Take my picture! I look pretty!

The Engineer's side:  GAH!  This place is freaking crowded. There are tourists and drunk people everywhere.  She wants me to take her picture.  Must let go of box.  Is the Eye even moving?  It's the number one place to propose in London.  But that's cheesy.  She'll hate it.  But maybe tonight, yes, maybe that's the perfect place.

Sarah's side: Ooooh, the Eye is moving!  Maybe we could have a bubble to ourselves.  Oh, that would be so romantic.

Sarah and the Engineer:  We walk towards to London eye, but alas, it is closed to plebs like us.  We heard the girls in front of us say that it was open until nine!  DAMN!

Sarah's side: Westminster Bridge.  My other favourite spot in the world.  Tell the Engineer about the time my RADA friends and I wrote a letter about our summer and dropped it into a bottle beneath this bridge.

The Engineer's side:  Stop talking about RADA or Jenn Greene.

Sarah's side:  Big Ben is so lovely, the parliament building is so lovely.  I love this place.

The Engineer's side:  Oh god, this is perfect.  She loves it here.  Whoops, she just tripped and almost dropped her camera over the edge.  Ummmm, maybe not a good place for a pink sapphire?  Plus, it's crowded and people are drunk and yelling.  Did that guy just puke?  It's only 7:00!  Hmmm, what to do?  Tell her I love her.

"Sarah"

Sarah's side:  Oh GOD!  He said my name seriously!  Oh god, he is going to propose!  EEEEEE!

"Oh my god! Are you going to propose??"

"Uh, no.  I just wanted to tell you I love you."

"Oh"  kiss him "it's cold, let's keep going"

Sarah's side:  Westminster Abbey.  I love the way it looks and how it's been here for hundreds of years.  And the full moon is out!  Wow, over Big Ben and the Abbey it looks like a fairytale.

The Engineer's side:  Wow, it looks like a fairytale.  Okay, here.  I will ask her here.  Oh wait, is that the police?  There are like thirty of them just standing there!

Sarah's side:  I have to pee.  Bad.  It's also really cold.  Let's go.

The Engineer's side:  Hmmm, maybe that park there?  Point to it.

Sarah's side:  Oh, that park. If we go I will just end up telling him about the time I was here with my RADA friends. Plus I really have to pee.

The Engineer:  She has to pee.

Another few hours pass.  I do, in fact, find a place to pee.  But it's in a coffee shop which is warm.  We both try hard not to fall asleep.  So cozy, so warm, snooze.  I make us go outside again to wake us up.  This does not work.  So we head to Covent Garden and the Maple Leaf Pub.  I realize this is bad.  It's a Canadian pub in London and it's our first night.  But it's really big and there is still room inside it.  We hang out here for a couple of hours and drink cider.

The Engineer:  Do not take off coat.  Do not take off coat.  It's hot in here!  Do NOT take off coat.

Sarah:  Why doesn't he take off his coat?

"Is my ring on your persons?" I joke and squeeze him

The Engineer:  GAH!

Sarah: He's so cute.

Sarah:  It's 11:30, let's go watch the fireworks

The Engineer:  Holy mother of god, why are there so many drunk people yelling so loudly??  But she loves fireworks . . .

Sarah:  F*#@k it.  It's cold. I'm cold. I'm sick.  And I am tired.  I should watch the fireworks because I am in London but I just want to sleep.  Let's go home.

The Engineer:  Home?  Oh god, I have to ask her!  But where?  I can't wait until tomorrow!

We are on Oxford Street at New Year's, and then jump in a cab.  The cabbie talks the WHOLE way home.

The Engineer: Shut up cabbie!  I have to think! Where?  Where?

Sarah: As we step out of the cab it starts to snow.  Oh wow!  It's so pretty!

The Engineer:  Snow!  She loves snow!  Is that a yard?  I'll point to it?

Sarah:  It's just a yard.  I have to pee. Get inside!

The Engineer:  Crap.

Sarah:  My head hurts, I am so tired.  And as I am taking off my socks . . . . .

The Engineer:  Well, I guess this is as good a time as any.  And there are no people around.  Perfect.

The Engineer got all serious again and said, "I don't want to ever start a year without you"

Sarah: "Yeah, me neither"

And then the box appeared!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!  I started to freak out!

What is that? I said.

What do you think it is?

OH MY GOD!  OH MY GOD!!!  And I ran away to the back of the bed.  Then I jumped my way back.

"Are you joking?  Is this a joke?  Are you kidding me??"

"Sarah, I want to spend the rest of my life with you"

And then he got down on one knee. At this point I am wiggling and bouncing up and down.

"Will you marry me?"  Except I didn't hear him say it because I was screaming when he opened the box and revealed my amazing PINK engagement ring (An actual, original Larry Ho).  I grabbed his face and said 'YES' and then jumped on him.

Then I jumped on the bed like a kid, did a few somersaults and rolled around.  Looked at my finger and then jumped some more.  Then I jumped back on him.

"Wait, you have to say it again!  I didn't hear you!"

"It's not my fault you weren't paying attention."

"I was! I was just too excited!"

"Sarah, will you marry me?"

YES YES YES!!!!!

And that is the story of how the Engineer took me on a romantic, wonderful walk of my favourite city on New Year's, to all the amazing places and proposed to me when I was taking my socks off.  Hopefully the rest of our lives will always knock my socks off.

ps. I thought I was going to cry, but I didn't.  I did somersaults.  It wasn't until the morning, in the light of day, that I looked at him and said, "I knew the moment I fell in love with you that I wanted to marry you.  What took you so long?"  Then I cried (happy tears! not tears of why did it take you so long?!)

Bollywood Bridesmaid Part Four

So we've got the outfits (gorgeous by the way), we've got the treats stuffed, we've started the parties.  What's left?  Oh right.  Time to get married.

The night before the wedding, there was yet another gathering at the BB's house for her family.  I tell you, the poor mother who has to have her house clean and food ready at all times, it must be stressful.  All this ceremony and celebrating stems back to when the bride would be traditionally leaving the village never to see her family again.  Horribly sad. Luckily the BB was just moving ten minutes away.  But tradition is tradition.

So the night before the wedding rolls around.  And I am scrambling to find yet another Indian ensemble.  Luckily Indian dress is a tunic - so one size fits all.  A good thing because the BB is a size two.  Tonight there is more food, more dancing and a ceremony that involves using coloured shaved coconut placed in a specific design under a canopy of fabric.  Beneath this, the bride sits as those around her sing and members of her family feed her sweets.

The other white bridesmaid and myself asked why this was done.  'Tradition' became the stock response at this point. Seems to be that although steeped in ceremony, no one has a clue why they do anything.  Fair enough.  Why do we have confetti?  I actually know but that's for another entry.

So anyways, here we are.  Singing and eating sweets.  The sweets were really good. I kept eating mine before it was time to give them to BB.  Someone finally explained the sweets to me: you feed her sweets to that she enters the home of her husband sweet. I shoved a big old chunk in her mouth because she has a tendency to talk back.

Then it's her turn (or her mother's, I forget) to tie bracelets with tiny bells on everyone. This is the bond of the bride's side I think.  You aren't supposed to cut it off, it is supposed to eventually fall off.  That sucker stayed on longer than my henna.

There was dancing and the family gave her money.  Lots of money.  Like lots and lots of money.  I guess that's how you can afford to feed hundreds of people everyday.  Back in our Arabian tent with the hanging saris, her uncles sang as they put bracelets on her.  I don't know why this is done.  But it was fairly emotional, her mum was crying, her uncles were crying.  And it's her job to sit there and look somber.  Sort of weird if you knew her.  On top of all of this, there was family drama that I sort of got caught up in.  But that's a private story - so I will leave it up to you to imagine craziness going along with all this ceremony.

Remember what I said about pretending to be a culture you're not?  AKA henna lady?  I still stand by it but once again must reiterate that a culture does love it when you ask lots of questions and try to fit in.  The uncles loved me.  My attempt at Bollywood lessons, my enthusiasm for saris and galabjamuns, and my new trick:  imitating Indian speech by wiggling my head and saying the Punjab words I was fed.  I'm not above being a party trick.  Everyone loved this new (and slightly offensive I think?) talent. For the record, I didn't come up with it myself.  One of the bridesmaids taught it to me and then all the cousins joined in.  Whenever BB was stressed, I got to do it in order to make her laugh.  My one duty as bridesmaid:  keep the BB smiling and deal with all the craziness happening around her.  I definitely got myself in the middle of family drama and quelled situations wherever I could.

At this point, I am so stuffed with samosas (fried by one of the aunts in the cold Winnipeg garage), butter chicken (catered) and galabgamuns that I fear I will turn into fried Indian dough myself. Once again, thankful for the tunic.  It was all washed down with homemade chai tea that was DELICIOUS.  I went to bed that night with dreams of Bollywood stardom and little Indian elves dancing dances of happy chai times.  No, I was not drunk.  And what time did we get up?

Five AM.  That will be part five