Tuesday: the day before the wedding. And as such, the last full day to get stuff done. Thankfully, just about everything was sorted. There had been a mild panic the previous night as I’d had Kevin and Nico down for a different hotel and therefore had to change their taxi booking to the winery. It was easily sorted though, and also meant I was able to organise a car for Ben, Dion and Albert too. With the organising out of the way, it was time to get primped.
A Close Shave and a Mani-Pedi
I’d decided I wanted a proper shave for the wedding so went to a recommendation of Pete and Royden’s at 11am, while Glen was off having a massage. The whole shaving experience was really relaxing. There’s the hot towels and the steamer, the shaving gel and the creams, and then the very gentle shaving itself. Two things kept running through my head throughout.
One was the scene in Disney’s Peter Pan where Smee shaves the backside of the seagull that lands on Captain Hook’s towel-covered face. The other was Sweeney Todd. No wonder they go to such an effort to relax you because having a sharp cutthroat razor (honestly, could they come up with a scarier name?) that close to your jugular takes some getting used to.
The shave lasted about 40 minutes. It wasn’t as close as I would have liked but that’s because my skin’s irritated and would have flared up even worse than it already did. (I’ve just remembered what else I did on Monday. I went to the doctors to get some antibiotics for my skin, and then met Dad and Helen for a bit.)
Afterwards, I had lunch at the food court near the barber’s by myself, a rare moment of quietude in the previous few days. I then headed back up to our place to go to the manicurist’s nearby. I’d booked myself, Kevin and Nico in for a mani-pedi at 1pm. Glen joined us soon after we got there, and then Simon came by to say hi and to collect his Book of Mormon tickets.
It was my first manicure and pedicure, and I’m not quite sure what to make of the experience. It’s not exactly relaxing, especially with the speed with which they carry out the procedure. If we didn’t get the foot massages, then it would have been over pretty quickly and would have felt…a little odd.
I must say, though, that my feet felt very smooth at the end of it. I wish I’d given better directions on how I wanted my nails down. For most of my life, I’ve not had long enough nails to cut, but I’ve stopped biting them over the past couple of years and they get long. To have them trimmed right back until almost all the white was gone wasn’t very pleasant, and I’ve been a bit annoyed over the past few days that I’ve got no nails long enough to pick at things.
Still, it was an experience, at times fun, and to spend it with the boys was nice. We later found out that Glen’s mum and aunt went to the same place and had theirs painted. Theirs looked much better than ours, but at least our nails were clean and buffed for close-up hand photos at the wedding.
The Drive to Niagara Falls
Glen then went home while I collected the hire car. Dad and Helen were waiting at the condo when I got back. As Christine and Gaye only needed one guest suite in the condo building, Dad and Helen moved from their hotel to take up the other so they could be closer. They dumped their stuff, Glen and I collected the bags of things we needed for the wedding, and then we loaded the car and set off for Niagara Falls, just as the rain started.
Even though it was “early” when we left, about 3pm, the traffic was really bad until well past Hamilton. We later realised it was most liked because of the funeral for Corporal Nathan Cirillo (the solider who was shot at the National War Memorial) which was taking place in Hamilton that afternoon.
We arrived at Sterling Inn Spa and Suites in Niagara Falls sometime around 5pm or 5:30, checked into our very large rooms (honestly, our suite was bigger than our apartment), chilled for a little while and then went to the on-site restaurant for dinner, AG Inspired Cuisine. We had three courses, some wine, chatted with the family, and then toddled off to our rooms at about 9 or so. I went by Joanna’s room to say hi to her, Gabriella and Fiamma for a little while, before going to bed. Glen and I needed our sleep.
Wednesday was going to be a big day.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?