Hi ladies!!! I'm back and officially Mrs. Strickland!!! Everything has been great and I can't believe I have a husband it doesn't feel real lol. The wedding day and honeymoon to New York was amazing. I am so grateful to God because he truly took care of us and our special day. Recap and pics below.
Thursday (Rehearsal)
So the day started off fine. FI and I both woke up got dressed and I drove him to his appt. at the barbershop. We get to the shop and its closed! So we call his stylist and she's like oh I thought I told you I'm not at that shop anymore I'm at a different location. What!?! Ok so no biggie we drive another 15-20 mins. to the shop and I race home to get dressed so I can make it to my appointments. So I pick up my MOH and we go to the nail shop. I get a pedicure and no-chip manicure and it came out great. Next we call FI to see if he made it back home yet so we can pick him up and head to the hair shop (his mom is my hair stylist) . So we pick him up and our overnight bag from the house . Meanwhile my MOH's sister has her dress so she drops it off just as we made it to the house. Check!
We get to the shop order some food and go pick up my weave lol. So at the beauty supply my MIL tells the girl that I'm her DIL and I'm getting married, etc. So after we leave my MIL gets a call from the owner of the beauty supply and he says to come back so I can get a fullrefund for my hair for a wedding gift! So we come back and he gives me a refund and exchanges the hair for much better quality. The hair is worth over $100! God's favor was in full effect because I was tight on cash anyway and God knew it. So we finish with my hair and head to the rehearsal. Everyone is there, my parents, DH mom, DH grandmother, MOH, and 2 groomsmen, etc. Two people were missing though, one of my bridesmaid who I knew wouldn't be there and his groomsmen who said he would be there and was on his way. Rehearsal went smoothly, but time flew by because we only had an hour. The other groomsmen never showed up. I was a little worried about that because how do we know he will show up for the wedding tomorrow. I wished we could have rehearsed more but there was nothing I could do.
So my MOH and I say goodbye to everyone and go check in to the hotel down the street. We get there and we call my other bridesmaid who was suppose to stay at the hotel with us. She texts me saying that she doesn't have anything together. Hair is not done, nails, eyebrows, nothing! I like why would you wait to the last minute and the day of my wedding to get all of this done? I'm the bride and my stuff has been done. So anyway I let it go and I told her to be there tomorrow at 11 am. MOH and I chill out, drank a bottle of wine and relaxed until we fell asleep.
FridayI slept pretty well. I was a little nervous but not too bad. My mom called me first thing that morning and we talked for a little while and she said she would be at the hotel by 12 (wedding at 6pm). MOH get up and go get breakfast and come back to the hotel. We took showers and chilled for another hour or so. At 11 my friend (BM) showed up. At 12 my MIL, and mom came and the show began. My MIL did a great job on my hair, I loved it. Next my photographer and make up artist came and everyone got to work. I realized we were running 30 mins. or more behind so I was getting a little antsy. At about 4:20 everyone was dressed and we headed downstairs where my father was waiting on us. My girls and I get in the car and head to the venue which is 10 mins. away. We get there and my photographer is not there yet. DH and I planned to do a first look. So we call the photographer and she took a different route which delayed her. So she finally gets there and we immediately start the first look because we are running behind schedule. First look goes great, his face was priceless. And he looked sooooo handsome! I was in awe and love lol. I was so happy! Next we started the group shots, solo shots, etc. on the grounds of the venue. Everything went great and I got all the shots I wanted. The girls and I head to the bridal suite to relax before the ceremony. A good 25 mins. went by and it was time. I was really nervous at this point. My stomache was in knots. I get to the door, my father is standing there and we began walking. I was shaking and smiling lol. But my honey was at the end of that aisle and I was happy.
The ceremony flew by!!!!! I mean it was like 5 minutes. Everybody else said it was about 30 minutes. And I still don't believe them because it went by so fast for me. Ceremony went great, the music was perfect, unity candle, vows, and kiss! We did a receiving line and started taking more pictures. After that all of the guests had been seated next door for the reception. The wedding party and us was introduced to "So In Love" and came in and immediately did the cake cutting. We sat down for dinner and it was delicious. Everybody always says they dont get a chance to eat but we did! After dinner we did the first dance and than mingled with our guests. We had a five hour open bar so people efinitely enjoyed that. Some people left early, some people stayed. The dance floor was packed but I definitely danced with my sister and girls so it was a good time. The DJ was great. All of my vendors were great. I loved my flowers. Everyone said everything was beautiful and that they really enjoyed themselves. We gave the venue a final count of 95 and had 94 people. Look at God, I was worried we would be over but God took care of it as always.
The honeymoon to New York was great. We saw so many attractions and went to the Jay-Z concert on Thursday. Definitely had a blast. I'm so in love with my DH and I'm happy that God has truly blessed us. I can't believe I'm married. Ladies please please please don't stress about your wedding. I did that to the extreme and now that everything is over, I did it for nothing because everything turned out just how I envisioned it. God had my back the whole time, he gets all the glory and praise! I'm glad to be back :-) Pics below