Our wedding day FAR exceeded our expectations...here's the recap!
Thursay 10.11.12, was our rehearsal followed by a dinner at a restaurant nearby. It was so great to see family and friends who had come in from out of town. I cried when I picked my Maid Of Honor up from the airport. She had brain surgery 2 months ago to clip an aneurysm, and you would never know it! She looks fantastic! It was also the first time that I heard our ceremon music live and not via Skype. Our string quartet sounded SO GOOD in our venue!
Thursday night - I had a dream that the entire wedding went terribly wrong! Everyone left early, including our DJ! The dream seemed so real that when I woke up, I was conviced that the wedding was over and that it really was terrible! FI conviced me that it was just a dream and that the day would be great! (FI and I spent the night together in the bridal suite)
Friday 10.1.2.12 - WEDDING DAY!!! When I woke up, I could hear that it was sprinkling outside. Within 20 minutes, the rain stopped and that was the last we saw of it for the rest of the day. I kicked FI out of the bridal suite when hair and makeup arrived (although he tried to sneak back in a few times!).
Hair and makeup finished early, but the stylist who worked on me stayed until I was in my dress for final touch-ups. We had a few minutes to relax (and drink some mimosa's!) before the photographer and videographer arrived. We hung out some more while they took some getting ready shots, and then it was time for moms and maids to get dressed. Before I knew it, it was time for me to get dressed and then everything kicked into high gear! There were a few problems lacing up the inner corset of my dress, and it took longer than expected, but thanks to some help from my DOC and the hair/makeup stylist they were able to lock me into the dress : )
We headed outside for some bridesmaid and bride pics. It was SO cold!
Then it was time to board the shuttle for the short ride to our venue and FI and I's first look. I'm so glad we did the first look! It was so nice to have a private moment between FI and I! I can't wait to see the pics of the looks on our faces!
We did some quick family shots and then it was time for pictures of just me and FI. It was FREEZING, but I know the pictures will be beautiful!
When we finished, the waitress assigned to us for the night came running up to me with a table cloth that she had thrown in the oven and threw it around my shoulders. It felt so good! Back inside, she had a chair with a space heater in front of it set up for me! She gave me a glass of wine and a plate full of appetizers to munch on before the ceremony : )
FI and the boys went to line up and then it was time for the rest of us to line up for the processional. The ceremony set up was beautiful and was just as I visioned it to be! My mom told me a lame joke to make me laugh and then we headed down the aisle. The whole walk down the aisle I looked at nothing but FI. Even though we did a first look, it absolutely did not take anything away from the walk down the aisle. In fact, I think it made it even more special because I wasn't so nervous.
Our ceremony was beautiful and there were a few bloopers to make us smile : )
The reception was out of this world. Again, the set up of the room was even better than I imagined it to be. The food was fantastic! By FAR the best food I've ever had at a wedding! The cake was delicious, Italian pastries were plentiful, and the late night snack of mini burgers, fries, onion rings, milkshakes, etc was a BIG HIT!
The DJ was fantastic and respected our must play and do not play lists. Even when people requested things on the do not play list, he respected our wishes and did NOT play those requests.
The photo booth was also a big hit! We got the photo booth images back yesterday, and there were over 460 photo booth images! They are SO funny!
Our DOC, her staff, and the venue staff were like fairy godmothers and seemed to be a step ahead of us all night, anticipating our every need. When FI (or should I say DH!) and I returned to the bridal suite at the end of the night, there were rose petals sprinkled on the bed, 2 pieces of wedding cake, and a bottle of champagne. There were take out containers of the dinner entrees in the mini fridge as well as the top tier of our cake. The DOCs brought all of the gifts and misc. stuff from the venue and had it all organized in our room.
So many of our guests told DH and I (and our parents) that this was the best wedding they have ever been to. By far the best compliment I received was how elegant everything was. That was my goal from the beginning and I'm so happy that we achieved it : )
Thanks for reading (if you made it this far, I

you!). I'll post pictures when I get the professional ones back (should be soon!)
DH and I can now start our happily ever after

Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml