It is best to schedule your wedding on a weekend when a tornado is not also scheduled.

I took my time on Friday morning, had some breakfast, caught the metro to Reagan National, took a nap on the plane, read some Lolita, landed early, no problems. Jess' fiance was going to pick me up, but he was a few minutes late. When he arrived, he said, "Yeah, we've had some...weather...here..."

No kidding. There were uprooted trees, flooded streets, whole stretches of road with no stoplights. Apparently on Thursday night while I had been singing along to Emmylou Harris while I packed my carry-on, Chicago was experiencing a major tornado. Flights were cancelled, some delayed, people were on standby, waiting in Atlanta, New York, Mexico. The logistics of picking everyone up at the airport while managing to tie together the last-minute preparations (Wait, which side do the bride's guests sit on again? Did you pay for the cake? Did you pick up the veil? Do we need to get cash for the band?) and operating in a neighborhood without electricity...it was interesting. The rehearsal, with the three pastors and the herd of small children, in a dark church, wasn't as ... illuminating as rehearsals usually are.

Saturday morning, at the mall after a leisurely breakfast, we got nails and hair done, quickly and beautfully. We were still in the shower when we were supposed to be leaving the hotel. We weren't sure how to put her veil into her hairdo, fitted around the tiara. The pianist had an hour to practice. She started walking down the aisle an hour after scheduled, but no one really cared, because here she was, beautiful, walking down the aisle with her tall father, surrounded by little Mexican girls and white tigerlilies, and her fiance was waiting at the end for her, that petrified groom look melting into a look of love and joy. The lights came back on in the middle of the ceremony.

And the reception was a fiesta, with a mariachi band! And food! And family! And delicious cake!

It just goes to show that neither rain, nor tornados, nor delayed flights, nor humidity, nor not knowing how to put on a veil, nor not having enough cash for the mariachi band, nor not paying for the cake on time, will keep two lovers apart.