I am too excited to sleep, so I thoguht I would get this out on paper since I have all of this nervous energy.
Thursday:
I left home to start my beauty regiment for hair, nails, and waxing appointments plus a couple minor errands for the day. I ruined my toenail polish trying to put my pants back on after the waxing, so that was a bummer. I thought about trying to re-polish myself since I had the polish with me. Then I remembered that I would probably ruin my nails trying to take the toe polish off. I decided to not worry about it and hope that my shoe embellishment would cover enough of my toe for it not to matter. I checked into the hotel around 7pm after all of my running around. The room was lovely at a bed and breakfast in town. Once I got settled it was very quiet, so I was happy to find a small TV inside of a cabinet. I went to sleep around 10:30 p.m. for the night.
Friday (Wedding Day)
I woke up the next morning around 5:30am. I watched a little more TV, checked the weather forecast to see exactly how hot it was going to be later in the day and started organizing my accessories for the day. I showered and got dressed so I could go to the bank and get back to the hotel before the makeup appointments began. Before leaving for my bank run, I had an amazing breakfast of a veggie frittata, yogurt parfait and home baked croissants. It was really yummy.
After leaving the bank, I decided to get my toe nails re-polished. On my way back to the hotel, I remembered that I forgot to deposit a check. I went to get my mom, grandma and maid of honor situated with the makeup artist before heading back out to deposit the check. One of my friends called to see if I needed anything and I told her I was headed to the bank. By the time I got down to my car, she called me and said she was turning into the driveway and coming to pick me up. As soon as I locked my car door, she drove up and told me to get in. Once I got in the car, she said brides are not supposed to drive around on their wedding day so she came to take me back to the bank. I thought it was really sweet of her and was glad we had a little time together before the day got really hectic.
Once I returned to the hotel, makeup was in full swing, my photographer had arrived and we all had the best time laughing, talking, and getting ready for the big day. My photog had the best iTunes library, so the day was really fun. At that point, I still felt really calm and relaxed. While I was getting my makeup done, one of my childhood BFF’s who assumed the role of DOC for me dropped off our personal flowers for the wedding. My florist is also a BFF from childhood and is extremely talented. When they showed me my bouquet, I almost lost it. It was so much more amazing than anything that I could have conceived in my own head. The color palate was perfect via the selection of the blooms and it was exotic and unique in design at the same time. I could not have been more pleased, especially since she designed it without any input from me.
Once we all had our makeup done (minus lips and body bronzer), we started to get dressed, well me last. In the meantime, they told me that my DH was downstairs with my dad and his best man (now my BIL) taking pictures until we are ready to come down for the first look and family photos. MUA did an outstanding job on our makeup. He said that he used the same body bronzer that he uses on the participants of Dancing with the Stars. I must say we looked pretty dern fabulous!
We finally go downstairs and I see my DH standing at the bottom of the stairway with his back to me. I got excited and a little emotional at the same time, but I was able to hold back the tears. My photographer got great shots of my coming down the stairs where I could see DH but he could not see me. When I got almost to the bottom, he told DH to turn around. It was so wonderful because our whole family was there to share that moment with us.
We shot our family pictures, wedding party pics and some couple shots before the ceremony. I was so happy about that because it bought us time to do more fun shots after the ceremony vs. the official stuff. Needless to say, we were cutting it close on getting into the limo so I didn’t want to take a chance on being late to the wedding, so I made the decision to forgo my pre-ceremony location shoot. I just wanted to ensure that we would be ready to start as close to on-time as possible.
The wedding venue was a short drive from the B&B so we arrived around 3:40 pm for the 4:00pm start. While we were all in the limo enjoying the AC because it was 750 degrees outside (down from 900 the day before), I could see people arriving and the final prep coming together. At first I was a little anxious because it was almost 4:00pm and “production” was still happening. My DH told me to stop worrying and just roll with the day. People would wait a little bit if they had to (says the man who you could almost set his watch to him being about 10 minutes late for everything….) I don’t know exactly how much time passed but they came to get my mom and grandma so they could be escorted to their seats. Shortly after, I saw my DH, his best man and our Congresswoman walk down the aisle. My MOH followed shortly behind them and then it was my turn. When my dad and I started to walk, I felt myself getting a little nervous, so I started chatting. Dad told me to not think about all that stuff and enjoy the moment. As soon as I stopped chatting I felt the tears getting ready to fall. My dad stopped and told me to wait until I was ready before we would continue. I waited for a few seconds until I could hold it together and then it was fine for the rest of the ceremony. My soloist was fabulous and it brought this huge smile to my face when I saw my DH and heard her singing “You Bring Me Joy.”
The ceremony was short and sweet, but Karen made it really meaningful for us. She shared her personal connection to our relationship, and that made the ceremony extra special for us. Once the ceremony was over, we waited in our holding area for the guests to leave so that we could take a few shots at the venue. We started the pictures and I think got through almost all of our must-have shots. During this time, I realized that my SoleMates were not designed for St. Augustine grass that is 60 years old. While they may help you keep from sinking into newer grass or sod, they did absolutely nothing for me during the ceremony.
We were notified that everyone was seated and ready for our grand entrance. The room looked amazing. I knew my flowers would be amazing because my florist is so talented, but it was breathtaking! There were tall vases filled with oranges and really vibrant blooms on top and crystals hanging from the flowers. There was soft orange uplighting and the room looked amazing. We did our first dance and my DH hammed it up for the audience. Next were the toasts from our MOH and BM. They were both very sweet and thoughtful in their remarks. We move on to dinner and I was excited. While I enjoyed my lovely breakfast, I could not contain the anticipation for my short ribs. We served the meal family style and people really enjoyed that since it was an intimate wedding. I hope everyone got enough to eat because I sure did. There was plenty of food so portions were not limited. Thinking about this now I feel bad that I didn’t offer to feed the site manager for the event. There was plenty of wine all night and our signature drink of pineapple juice and ginger ale was a huge hit with our guests. My DH doesn’t drink, so that is his beverage choice whenever we go out.
We cut the cake after dinner and then did the garter/bouquet toss, sorority/fraternity (cannot believe my Soros chocked on the Sweetheart Song when we sent them the words and the MP3 file so they could listen and know it. They sang the national hymn because they felt more comfortable with it) tributes and the father daughter dance before getting the party started. I was kinda indifferent about the money dance, but the DJ started playing Money Ain’t a Thing by Jay Z so it made it really fun!!!
We danced and had a great time for the rest of the night. I was worried that the reception might seem truncated since we had to turn the music off at 10pm, but it was just enough time. At 9:00pm, the DJ started his famous 20-minute workout, a mix of all bass music. People who were saying their goodbyes stopped dead in their tracks and went back to the dancefloor once they heard the opening of that Luke song (radio edit, but yes it went down like that!) That was the highlight of the night because EVERYONE was on the floor trying to hang for the 20 minute workout. We ended the night a little after 10pm. My friends stayed to help clean up and prepared for the pickup of the rental items the next day. One of my friends gave us a ride back to the hotel at the end of the night. Evidently her, my MOH and one of my other friends left to decorate our hotel room for our return. They had candles, rose petals, a bath with rose petals, and a little snack prepared for us when we walked in the room. It was gorgeous and super thoughtful.
For all that I had planned and envisioned in my head, our wedding day turned out so special and so much fun. One of DH older fraternity brothers told us that seeing us together should make people still believe in the concept of true love. I was so touched because him and his wife are a couple role model for us.
I don’t have my pro pics yet, but I am sure he will have them in a gallery soon. In the meantime, there is one picture that he posted to his FB page and this little montage that he put together. Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2258030442559
