A Wedding Whirlwind

Now that I'm back in the blogging world, let's rewind and recap the big event on June 11. You'll remember our long to-do list (that did all get done!), the vendors we worked with, the wedding nightmares, our DIY projects, banners, centerpieces, and favors, as well as the invitations, and the rings. Well, I'm happy to report that it all went according to plan. Literally. It all went perfectly. I'm not sure what percentage of that was my stellar planning skills, and how much was
just pure luck, but the day could not have been any better.

The weekend actually began on Thursday night, when out-of-town guests started to arrive. I remember being somewhat surprised when we walked into B's
parents' house for dinner that evening and a large group of his California relatives were there. Wow! I thought. This is it! This is actually happening! Somehow, seeing these relatives made me realize the reality of
the situation. And it only got better. I can honestly say that was the best part of the weekend--getting to see friends and family that we visit with so infrequently all there together to celebrate our big day.

I'm fairly certain that we had one of the biggest rehearsals ever to happen at GCPC. Since so much of our family was in town, they pretty much all showed up at the church, whether or not they actually had a role in the wedding.

The dinner was wonderful. Since we had originally wanted to have Spin! Pizza for our rehearsal dinner (long story...), the chef at the Doubletree agreed to go off their regular catering menu and whip up some flatbread pizzas for our party. Complemented with toasted rav, chicken fingers, fruit, and cookies, our "finger food" rehearsal dinner turned out fabulously.

Brandon's mom did these centerpieces--don't they look great? And now we have a plethora of bud vases left over. Good thing they're en vogue.

We used some time at the dinner to thank our wedding party and our parents. These gorgeous flower arrangements were done by our florist in these gorgeous vases from Macy's.

Our flower girls (all four of them!) got T-shirts from PersonalizationMall.com that say "I'm in Charge of the Petals", and our ring bearer's says "I'm in Charge of the Rings". The shirts are personalized with their names and the date. We even customized the hair color of the little character on the shirt. They turned out super-cute.

I gifted my bridesmaids with monogrammed tote bags from L.L. Bean (no longer available, but similar to these), as well as bedazzled "bridesmaid" t-shirts. And Brandon gave his groomsmen each a nice bottle of sustenance for the weekend.


That night, a bunch of our friends and cousins hung out at The Other Place. We love this group picture of so many of our favorite people at one of our favorite bars.

As I already mentioned, everything came together for a perfect wedding day. I feel so blessed that I remembered my earrings, got my hair done on time, and actually showed up to the wedding--all nightmares I was scared would come true.

Mom was the best at lacing up my dress. I'd say "Pull tighter!" and she'd yank and pull until I could hardly breathe. (My MOH did have to loosen it after dinner.)

These next few pictures are from our Private Reveal.

And these next couple show proof--we did it! We're married!

Our one bad wedding decision? Birdseed. After being pelted with those hard little orbs, I had birdseed wedged in every crease and crevice of my dress, glued in the hairspray in my up-do, and even down my dress, staining the skin of my stomach. Oh, and I forgot to mention that somebody didn't even open the bag first. Yeah, really...

In the end, our centerpieces turned out great, the Dairy Queen ice cream cake was a huge hit, my DIY banners and place cards were bright and colorful.




So, there it is folks. Our wedding in a whirlwind of a blog post. Don't worry--it was that much of a whirlwind for me, too. Last night, we finished our last batch of thank-you notes (I know, we took a little too long. Sorry, Miss Manners.), and I completed making our 75-page wedding album on Shutterfly. Those were the last of our wedding-related tasks to be completed, so I guess it's officially over.

The good news is that now I'll be one of those women who, looking back over the years, will be able to say, "Our wedding was perfect. It was the happiest day of my life." And I'll really mean it.

P.S. We purchased the rights to all of our photographs from RVR Photography, but I'd still like to offer them kudos and a huge THANK YOU for the beautiful images. Not all of these in this post are theirs, but some are.

Time Management

Remember this post where I bragged about how fab our DIY centerpieces were going to be for the reception, and how much money we were going to save by ordering the flowers from Sam's, using vases we already owned, and...?

Yeah, scratch that.

I am an expert at getting everything that needs to be done completed. I really am. I never missed an assignment in school, I get my workouts in every day, I work multiple jobs. This is a really fantastic quality of mine... usually.

It becomes problematic when I take on too many responsibilities. Because I'm so fabulous at managing my time, I have a hard time saying "no" to things (specifically when it's a job or money-making possibility), and I have a hard time delegating tasks. If I can find any possible way to fit something into my schedule, I'll do it. Often this means giving up time with my fiancé, with my family, or with my friends.

I know exactly where this problem stems from. My mom is the exact same way. She is so incredibly involved with everything in her life--I honestly don't know how she does it. She heads about four groups at church, is involved in about four more, works part-time for a PR firm, writes mystery novels, and still finds time to make hospital visits, cookies, meals, and even baby blankets for anyone who needs one.

A couple of weeks ago, when we were going over scheduling and details of the wedding day, Mom and I both stopped suddenly and looked at each other. We were both thinking the same thing. We're doing it again. 

We both realized that slicing oranges, defrosting flowers, arranging bouquets, tying ribbons, making paper cones and more is not what we want to remember about the weekend. We'd rather concentrate on the 250+ friends and family that will be gathered together for the first time in years. We want to visit, and talk, and laugh. We want to have our nails done, our hair, and our make-up, while drinking mimosas and chatting with the other ladies getting ready the morning of the wedding. Suddenly, the price our florist had quoted for the 25 centerpieces and the aisle decorations was not looking so shabby... and our home-made centerpiece idea was.

The nix-ed idea

So, sorry Martha. It's not that your sliced citrus in vases was not a lovely summery idea--it was--our time is more precious. We'll be going with The Flower Girl.