Normal 0 21 false false false FI X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Hi ladies! DH (yay!) and I have finally gotten a hold of everyday life again, so I'm ready to make my way back to knotting
To begin, here is my wedding recap: Both weddings turned out absolutely amazing! Everything was beautiful, exactly what I had hoped and dreamed of, and so much fun! The festivities began the night before with the wedding rehearsal and dinner at Bj's restaurant & brewery. After separating from then-FI, I went to stay at the Hampton Inn with my best friend/BM. We stayed up finishing the favors, place cards, and escort bouquets; and since I had been obsessed with these leaves on a bush outside in the parking lot we also went on a small excursion to *ahem* steal some, lol.. which ended in us running from security to our hotel room with a bucket full of greenery! I was so full of energy, and excited for the next day that we stayed up late and only got 3 hours of sleep before the hair stylists and makeup artist arrived. It took them 5 hours to complete 3 BM's and me, but they had estimated it correctly beforehand so we arrived at the venue just as scheduled. While I finished getting dressed and ready, my coordinator and girls set everything up. Before the ceremony I made my way down to the gazebo for a "first glance” with Marty (If any of you are debating this, I totally recommend it!) It was so intimate and romantic getting to share our last moment before marriage at the venue all dressed up; and it definitely didn’t take away from the emotions during the ceremony! The ceremony was very romantic and heartfelt and even included a surprise arranged for me by my family, our officiant, and DH! With me being Jewish, DH and I had considered having an officiant and a rabbi take part in the ceremony, but because it was being held on a Friday evening no rabbi would be able to make it since Shabbat services take place around the same time. Well, during the ceremony when we were to be pronounced as husband and wife, our officiant announced that he needed a short intermission! He then turned around, placed a Yakama on his head, and returned to us as a “rabbi” and had Marty perform the breaking of the glass! I was completely caught off guard and couldn’t believe that they had planned something like that! It meant the world to me that our officiant did that for us, and that DH took the time to make it happen. The rest of the evening went super well. The DJ was a hit, everyone LOVED the photo booth (I recommend this too!), the food and cake turned out delicious, and we got so many compliments on our décor and venue. The wedding ended around midnight and it took us an hour to load everything up. We then left to Big Bear for our mini-honeymoon where we stayed the whole weekend. The 2nd wedding was held a few weeks later and was also a big success. It was held in the countryside of Northern Finland at ILs' vacation home. We got unbelievably lucky with the weather, as 2 hours before the event it poured rain but thankfully cleared up and even got warm and sunny the rest of the day! During the reception we enjoyed live music, played traditional Finnish summer games, and at dusk we moved the party to a nearby folk dance festival! I still don’t know how my ILs talked us in to going but they did, and even got us to go in our wedding attire! The locals were very sweet, with many coming up to congratulate us throughout the night and one of the bands that performed a set held a special dance for the two of us, in which we waltzed to a traditional folk song. We ended the night with an after party/late night bbq down by the lake with our close friends. Yikes, this is definitely a novel; sorry!I hope everyone's been well; I'm working on catching up on all of the posts. Did I miss anything major??