Veneering question.

[Badgerboy]

Well I am perplexed. I am veneering a 34 inch diameter circle with 8 pie wedges of paper backed oak veneer.  I spent several hours tediously fitting each piece to have perfect seams and a tight fit all around.  The dry fit looked great. 
 

I seam taped 4 slices to cover half the circle and applied my contact cement to both surfaces and let it dry.  I applied the 4 pieces as a unit starting at one side and working around the half circle. The application went great, no bubbles, seams tight.  The only problem is that I ended up almost a 1/4 inch diameter line I had drawn on the substrate on the far side. I knew I might get a minimal amount of “stretch” when the veneer got damp but a 1/4 inch surprised me.  It has dried now for 12 hours, no bubbles, great adhesion but now my second half is obviously to big. 
 

What went wrong?  Will more time cause shrinkage?  How the heck do I fit the second half to account for this expansion after applying the contact cement?  I aam befuddled.  Any veneer gurus out there?  Any wisdom would be appreciated.