Rehearsal Dinner and Shrimp

Yesterday I took a half-day off work to come home and get ready for a rehearsal dinner in Ipswich. I also went to get a manicure and pedicure--something I haven't done in over a year. It is such a frivolous luxury!!! But, I'll be in the wedding, so I felt perhaps it was justified. Added to that is the fact that the husband has been demanding that I do it for a few months now. The toes are a sort of red/fuschia and the fingers are french manicured. I am TOO cute now!

Then we got ready and went to the rehearsal. Anybody else ever try on dresses and say, "What the heck happened here?" My rear fits, my waist fits, but my chest no longer fits. I ended up wearing the same dress that I wore to my rehearsal dinner last year.

We arrived 40 minutes early because I got confused and assumed that the rehearsal began at 6--so we showed up at 5:50. Don't ALL rehearsals start at six? I know they don't, but MINE did, and therein laid my confusion. Luckily the rehearsal was at a restaurant and the surprised wait staff (previously lounging in chairs) jumped up and served us drinks. When we figured out what we had done we all had a good laugh about it.

After the rehearsal but before the dinner we were all having cocktails, cheese, and crackers. We got to talking about food allergies and I noted our honeymoon fiasco, then remembered that shrimp was on the menu *somewhere* that night. Against the husband's embarrassed protestations I caught the attention of a waiter and explained that no shrimp--none!--could touch the husband's plate and that none of the cookware could have had touched shrimp at all. Even though he had ordered the stuffed lobster, I thought there's always a chance something could go wrong. I said I had mentioned this on the reply card but for everyone's sake I wanted to let them know again and I hoped this wouldn't be a problem. The waiter, grateful to have heads-up on a potential crisis, thanked me and scooted off to the kitchen to tell the chef. Then we sat down to dinner. During the salad course, that same waiter came over to us and said, "I'm so glad you told me...because the stuffed lobster is stuffed with shrimp. We've saved one lobster that we can just boil and give to you, or would you rather have the beef or chicken?" The husband chose the boiled lobster, sans shrimp, and ate every last bite.

On the way home he admitted he was glad I had grabbed a waiter. I replied, "Yes, because then you would have had to send the lobster back and ask for something else and that's so embarrassing." He said, "No, honey, I would have eaten it without realizing it and would have stopped halfway through when I could no longer feel my tongue." Then off to the emergency care we would have gone.

Sometimes it's good to be over-cautious. And now I have a big morning of chores ahead of me before we leave here at two for one of the most beautiful weddings in history!!! I'll post pictures later.