Our Wedding: The Unexpected Arrival at Our Reception

I can honestly tell you that I imagined arriving to our wedding reception a hundred times over.
 

I was so excited to walk into our venue and to be announced officially as husband and wife and to have our first dance together. I couldn't wait to see and finally celebrate with everyone!
 

And on the day of, I could hardly wait to get to our reception. I was a ball of nervous energy just trying to wait patiently as our shuttle drove us from our portrait session at the South Carolina State House over to the Hall at Senate's End.

 {Photo by Jessica Roberts Photography}
 

When we showed up, we noticed that something was off. There were a few people standing along the edge of the street as if directing traffic. Our shuttle driver spoke with one who told us to hurry up and get out of the way, there was a fire truck and ambulance directly behind us. We were confused - what were they doing here? There was another venue on the same road who also had an event going on - were they going there?

 

I remember feeling my stomach drop when the fire truck pulled in right behind us.

 

Our wedding planner and her assistant jumped off our shuttle to find out what was going on. Then we heard the sentence that I will never forget:

 

"Someone is having a cardiac arrest"

 

Cue the tears. Cue the panic. Cue my husband of 90 minutes trying to get me to stay calm. Cue the names running through my mind of who it could possibly be.

 

I have to tell you - that's the worst feeling in the entire world. You hear that someone inside of your wedding reception is having a cardiac arrest. You know immediately that it's someone you know and that you love because hello, it's YOUR reception.

 

Then someone came back and said "It's an elderly woman."

First two people that came to mind? My 91 year old grandmother and Patrick's 93 year old grandmother.

 

The poor girl who told me that got my bad bride moment. I whipped around and told her to get me a name and to get me a name RIGHT NOW or let me off the freakin' shuttle so I could go find out myself.

 

They came back with a name and let me know that it was my great-aunt. They also let us know that she was sitting up, talking, and seemed to be doing ok... that it might not be a cardiac arrest.  Patrick and I rushed off the shuttle and over to the Manor House where our wedding party and parents were waiting.

I did get the chance {with a bottle of prosecco in hand} to go chat with my great-aunt as they put her on the stretcher to head to the hospital. She reassured me that she was fine and to enjoy the night.

What a way to start the reception, right?

The good news is that my great-aunt ended up being ok and it was not a cardiac arrest, she had just gotten a little overheated/dehydrated. Whew!

My bridesmaids bustled up my dress, we walked over to our reception hall, & we got the party started!

 {Photo by Jessica Roberts Photography}