Well we're back from our honeymoon and getting settled married life. I know, it has taken me quite awhile to get a post up here!
So my wedding weekend began on Thursday when my mom and 5 of my (then future) SILs came to town to help with the last minute details. H and I live a few hours from both of our families, so we had done a lot of the planning alone. Once they got here I put them to work, but we all had so much fun (and a few glasses of wine).
Before I knew it, it was Friday morning and we had a full day planned. I needed to pack 4 bags (night before the wedding, wedding night, HM carryon and HM checked bag). Since our reception was at a golf course, we planned a golf outing for the morning with the parents and siblings that had made it to town. I clearly underestimated how much time I would need to get everything ready and missed the first tee time. It was fun to show up and greet everyone coming off the golf course though. Then we had lunch together in the club and split up. Most of the guys headed out for another round of golf and the ladies headed to the reception area to start decorating. The transformation of the area was amazing. Eventually, the decorating was done, my bags were packed in record time and we held a nice simple rehearsal and dinner. I instructed my BMs to kick me out by 9:30 so I could get some rest. Then of course they crashed my room and we stayed up until midnight.
The day of the wedding...
(Since this could get extremely long, I'll break it into bullet points)
TOP FIVE STRESSES:
/>MUA being late and putting me nearly an hour behind
/>WP not getting to the church on time (had to sacrifice a few pics, but w/e)
/>Daughter of an univited guest stealing 70% of the feather from reception centerpieces I had planned on reselling.
/>Forgetting to have a plan in place for bringing gifts from church to reception
/>Having so many people RSVP yes but not show up that I had one guy sitting alone at one table, and one couple sitting along at another.
TOP FIVE AWESOME UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS:
/>Seeing H for the first time during our first look (only time I cried)
/>The great relaxing time I had a breakfast and salon with mom
/>The limo ride with the wedding party
/>The pastor messing up our names (it was cute)
/>Feeling amazing and beautiful and loved and happy
LESSONS LEARNED:
/>Have a plan for everything. We didn't line anyone up to bring gifts from church to reception, which caused two GM to miss a good portion of the reception
/>Plan for things to run behind. It WILL take longer than you expected
/>Pay attention to the 10% rule of thumb regarding RSVPs. We never imagined any of ours would be no-shows, but had 13 of them in the end.
/>Find a few times to steal away alone with your H that day. One of my favorites was during the dance and we stole away to a bench on the golf course and just enjoyed a quiet moment.
/>Decide what you want people to remember and make it awesome. For us it was the party and the food and those were the things people are STILL raving about.
And sticking to the rule of five - here are my top five favorite shots that have been put up so far. She only has 37 posted and I'm dying here!
(Something old, new, borrowed & blue)
And maybe this bonus one because it's nothing to do with H & me, but an adorable moment when the RB stole a bouquet and went to give the flowers to his mommy:
