Squirrly and Ladylum

inkygirl

Have a beautiful wedding!  Hope that the weather is perfect and there are no problems!  Enjoy your HMs and can't wait to see pics!

FKS

Ditto!! We will be thinking of you!! Hope you both have amazing days

squirrly

Thanks all!  I'm going to C&P the recap I posted on Etiquette a few minutes ago - be warned, it's LOOOONG.    I'll do vendor reviews after I get back, but overall, everything was AWESOME, so I have no complaints offhand.

We're taking a short break at the apartment in Paris before heading out for dinner and night-time entertainment.  So, this won't be an entire post-and-run, but I'll run in a bit.  

It was a really awesome day.  Most everything went according to plan or was easily adjusted.  The biggest issue was the weather - it was COLD and windy.  And by cold, I mean 59 degrees, and by windy, I mean gusts up to 40 mph, so that was interesting. My veil tried to attack the guests during the ceremony a couple of times.  We did the ceremony as planned, but had the cocktail hour inside the restaurant.  I wasn't really too cold during the ceremony, but I saw some frozen guests, so we tried to hustle along a bit.  The reception was in the tent, as planned, but they kept the bar inside the restaurant.  They also set it up so that they could use the proshop as the staging area for the food for the reception, which worked really well.

Our ceremony was a HUGE hit, from what I can tell.  We wrote it ourselves.  We pieced together bits from other ceremonies, some cool stuff our friend/officiant found, and some readings - one we used verbatim, and one we tweaked to suit us.  I will add the full text to my bio once I get back - I don't have a copy of it with me.  

Other than it being cold and windy, I couldn't tell you anything that went wrong. Our shuttle bus drove into the wrong spot and became part of the ceremony backdrop, but oh well. The photog was annoyed because it killed his wide angle shot hopes, but I honestly didn't care. And, I was nervous for 2.2 seconds waiting to exit the proshop with dad to walk down the aisle, but that's the only nerves I had all weekend. 

The reception went really well.  We each managed to visit with every guest during happy hour, so we got to sit down and eat our dinner in relative peace.  We made the rounds through the tables a couple more times after that, throughout the night.  The food was awesome - we got lots of unsolicited compliments on it.  The cake was really good, but I didn't eat enough of it, so I'm happy mom's got the top layer at home for us.  We'll likely work on that once we get back from the honeymoon.  If I can, I'll order another one for our 1st anniversary.  

The canolis for the groom's cake were awesome too, and really popular.  Although, we had too many.  And the late-night snack was super popular, though again - perhaps too much food.  They could really have made less of everything except dinner & been ok, but I'd rather have too much than too little.

We actually took a total of 2 dance lessons and learned a few basic things, so our first dance was pretty nice!  I almost tripped over the inside of my dress a couple of times, but I stayed upright.  

Oh - my shoes!  I had them dyed to match the BMs dresses, and they were a huge hit.  People loved them.  And now, I'll get to rewear them.  Only to things that don't require a lot of walking or standing around, though.  I switched to platform flops after awhile because they made my feet a bit ouchy.  

Overall, aside from the weather, I wouldn't have changed a thing.  And - darn near all the guests said it was the best wedding they'd ever attended. Helll yeah!  I had everything WAY over organized, but it made it run so smoothly that day, especially since I didn't have a coordinator.  

The guy who owns the venue did frighten me at one point - told me, halfway through the reception, that they'd never moved so much liquor. Ever. In a single day, anyway - including their New Year's Eve parties. Remember, we had a consumption bar. But, because we got such an awesome price - it was still within our budget. WAHOO! He's getting me a copy of the bar tab because I want to save it. I don't remember how many shots of Sambuca were on there, but it was $375. 

Also - despite traipsing through a field with knee high grass, an old log cabin, and a rock garden - my dress is still really clean. Amazingly so. 

All in all: I throw a kick ass party, H(!) has a spectacular time being the center of attention, I want more wedding cake, and I can't wait for the rest of the pro pics - so far I've just gotten these 3 teasers.

inkygirl

So cool!  We're semi-writing our own ceremony, so I look forward to reading yours.  I've got a few pieces in there, but we have a ways to go. 

Your teaser pics are great!  Enjoy your HM!

ladylum

WOW! The day was hectic and things got out of hand but I am now married and I loved our day! Just to give you a lowdown of what happened. Hubby (giving like a fool everytime I say hubby, husband, etc.) went to Lexington to pick up the camaro. We reserved a red V8 SS Camaro but the people who had it before us decided to keep it another day and the rental place gave it to them without letting them know we reserved it! Hubby was heated to say the least but it worked out well because we got a silver one. It caused us to be late to put the finishing touches on the reception. We had to go get our balloons filled and stupid me forgot we needed forks, plates, cake server and foil stars for the reception tables. We stopped by the store and they broke one balloon and burst another! We were heated but it was ok. Then we asked the coordinator there to set up the tables with the stuff we had and she did a great job! I had to hustle to get to the hairdresser and she was running late. We were supposed to start taking pics at 4, didn't do it until 5 and I had to hustle to get my dress on and make up done. The good thing is the ceremony started ON TIME! I wowed the audience with my dress and hubby was near tears when I was walking towards him. We did the ceremony which was short (not happy with officiant who arrived 5 mins before the ceremony, didn't get with us about the program because we wanted to say our own vows) and then hustled for more pics. We did arrive at the reception and one of the people taking my pics was someone I had no clue who they were! I asked her, "Who are you?" and she stated she came with my cousin and her boyfriend. Basically my cousin invited her along without my knowledge and she wasn't the only one!!! It's OK because some people who were supposed to come did not so there was plenty of food. The kids loved the dancing. We got some dancing in. Basically though after the cake, people started leaving, which was OK because it was about 9:30 by that time. Also it's Mother's Day weekend. But you would think that people would have come up to me and said goodbye. Some did, most didn't (cousin was one of them who ate and left, didn't get to say two words to her). The weather was chilly and windy but nice for pictures. Everyone huddled behind my dress! We did our entrance and first dance immediately afterward then ate. The food was awesome!!!!! So were the cakes. Then not too long around 10 the rest of teh people left. The remaining guests, some friends, mostly family, saw our last dance to Lady in Red. There were a few tears from both me and hubby as well as among the remaining people. So despite some things, my day was awesome! The video and pro pics will come out soon but until then you can go to FB.

shellebelle228

YAY!!!!  CONGRATS, ladies!!!!!

FKS

Congrats to both of you!!  You both looked so beautiful!!!