Our wedding was October 25...it was the most perfect day ever. Our photographer probably won't have the photos to me until around Thanksgiving, but he's posted a lot of sneak peeks online.
Pros:
The day was perfect. It was rather rushed, but I guess that's to be expected. I had a great time with my girls, getting ready in the morning, and the whole wedding went smoothly. The weather was gorgeous--70 degrees and sunny, which is pretty rare for late Oct. in Ohio!
My sister was the most amazing MOH ever. She flew in from NYC Thursday morning (immediately after working an 8 hour shift at her bakery), and spent all day Thursday baking our wedding cakes. Then we went out for the bachelorette party that night, and she did the frosting for the cakes on Friday. She was up until about 1:00 a.m. on Saturday morning icing the cakes (of course a group of us stayed up with her), and then assembled the cake when she took it to the venue. The cake was absolutely perfect, and given all of her sleep deprivation, she maintained a great attitude and we had a blast together. (***If anyone lives in NYC and is looking for a baker, let me know and I can hook you up with my sis!!)
My 18-year-old brother walked me down the aisle and shared a dance with me, in place of my dad who passed away a few years ago. When my brother came up the steps to get me to walk down the aisle, he was already crying. When he hugged me to hand me off to H, he was practically bawling. Who knew I had such a softie brother?? Lol. It was nice to share that moment with him.
FI and I didn't get to dance much, because most of the guests were friends of his so he spent a lot of time catching up with people. And I spent most the later part of the night out on the dance floor grooving with everyone. But we did have a lot of great, intimate slow dances together. He sang our whole first dance song to me while we were dancing, and it made me start tearing up. Luckily I don't think anyone saw.
The ceremony was great (except for being distracted during it--see cons), and our unity tree ceremony was really cool. We got so many compliments on the venue and the food, and I got a lot of compliments on my dress. All of the older people loved the fact that I played jazzy music (Sinatra, Nat King Cole, etc.) during dinner. Everyone had a great time dancing and partying...it was just a wonderful evening. H and I were both very happy with how it turned out, and we didn't want to leave.
Cons:
FIL was kinnnnnd of a pain in the ass the whole week leading up to the wedding. H agreed, and we think maybe it has to do with him feeling guilty about his affair, but he was being like super self-righteous and stuff. He kept offering his help, then would overstep his boundaries or would get pissy if he wasn't thanked to his liking. He made my sister cry on Friday morning when he went to help her make the icing, because he was lecturing her about how irresponsible our generation is or something.
ANYWAY. During the ceremony, I had walked down the aisle and then I heard this whining behind me. I slightly turned around and FIL had brought our dogs, including our 8-month-old puppy. She kept whining during the ceremony. I was pretty annoyed with him because he didn't ask me about bringing the dogs (we thought about using them as our ring bearers but decided not to because we knew they would be too rambunctious). So I was distracted during the ceremony, wondering if other people were annoyed by them, and I didn't really hear anything our pastor said to us during his little sermon. Sigh. Everyone later said that they were fine and not a distraction, so maybe I was just being self conscious. But it was still annoying. But at least it allowed us to get a photo op with them after the ceremony.
We went out for my bachelorette party on Thursday night before the wedding...really no other choice since most of us were from out of town (including myself). Worst hangover I've ever had. Luckily we did a bridal party brunch on Friday and I was able to recover in time for the rehearsal. Lol. But--funny story--in my drunken state Thursday night, I got up to go to the bathroom in the hotel and walked right into the door frame. I had a bruise on my cheekbone all weekend but it never turned blue, luckily, so I didn't have to worry about it for photos!
Now, the photos!! I wish I could post more, but I will refrain. The first few are pretty obvious, the fourth one is our flower girl and ring bearer, who were adorable together all night. (They are second cousins and became BFFs and the flower girl started bawling when ring bearer had to go home.) Fifth is the cake my sister made!!--Complete with our dogs up there with us. Sixth is a selfie the girls and I took in the bridal suite when we were waiting for the ceremony to start. Haha. Next, my MIL and mom and I. Mom and I didn't have our shoes on, hence we look super short. Another first dance shot with H, then my dance with my brother. H was a member of OSU's marching band, so some of his band buddies brought a sousaphone and made him do some OSU songs, which all of the guests loved.
