It's been just over 2 weeks since the wedding! I got some pictures from the photographer, so I thought I'd share
DH and I flew back to Ontario the Monday before the wedding. I was super nervous about bringing my dress on the plane. I wasn't able to hang my dress in a closet, but one of the flight attendants helped me stow it in an overhead bin, then stood guard so no one could open the bin. It was a pain carrying the dress through the airport, but it arrived safely. We got a free upgrade to premium economy on our flight, which was nice.
I stayed with my parents in the days leading up to the wedding. They drove me crazy trying to control everything, trying to guilt-trip me, and trying to get DH to support their opinions. This included "you were serious when you said you were walking down the aisle alone? I don't like that, as your father I should walk you down the aisle" and "you can't sleep in the same house the night before the wedding because you shouldn't see each other after midnight". DH and I ended up going to see a movie the night before the wedding and it ended after midnight. I guess I should have run out of the theatre at 11:59 *rolls eyes*
The weather for the day of the wedding was forecasted as cold but sunny. I had to make the call that it was too cold to have the ceremony outside. Luckily, the venue allowed us the use of some of the conference facilities to help with flow, pictures, and receiving line the day of the wedding. We only did the first look pictures outside.
DH has this horrible habit of not charging his phone whenever we are meeting for something important. He didn't really understand the first look. I showed him where we would be meeting and told him that he should be facing away from the parking lot so he wouldn't see me until the last second. He took this to mean that he should be hiding. BM, photographer and I get to the meeting spot and we don't see him anywhere. I wait a little, then call him and no answer. I start calling anyone he could be with thinking he might be late, no answer. I call him again, no answer. I start freaking out that he had second thoughts because he is not there and none of his family and friends will answer my calls. After 25 minutes he calls me because he's worried that I'm not there yet. I'm like, I'm there, where the hell are you because there is no one else around. He is hiding behind the fountain and had his phone on silent.
Our minister did an amazing job with the ceremony. There were a lot of personal details, which I really liked. My dress had pockets and I carried DH's ring in my pocket. When the minister asked for the rings for the blessing, she was shocked that I had DH's. After the ceremony, we did a receiving line while the hotel staff changed the room from ceremony set up to dinner set up. We didn't have anything hosted during this time (about 15 minutes) but a bunch of our guests ended up in the hotel bar buying drinks. Once the got into the reception they realized that it was a waste of their money because we had a full open bar.
The food was really good, the dj was amazing and I had a lot of fun dancing. It was great to see the friends and family. There were only 2 issues - my sister dropped her food on my dress, and my BM mentioned during her toast that DH and I met on eHarmony, which was a "secret".
DH and I took the train from Toronto to Vancouver as a mini-moon. He loves doing this, but it is really not my thing. I caught a cold on the train so we spent our first few days back home being married with me lying on the couch feeling horrible and him taking care of me.