So, good news! I start my new job on Tuesday! I couldn’t be
more excited to finally be contributing financially to my new family. I will be
working in the newborn screening division at the state health department. We
take blood samples from all babies born in Texas and screen their blood for 28
different disorders. Pretty cool. Saving babies. I dig it.
Anyway, I promised you all a wedding day post, so here it
is! *A little side note, I realized in my wedding weekend post that I said that
I was set to wake up at 6:30 am.. I was actually set to wake up at 5:30. Just
didn’t want any confusion as you read on.* This is a long post as well. Just to
warn you.
So, when we last left off, it was around 2:30 am and I had just
fallen asleep thanks to Tylenol PM. At 5:30 am, my alarm went off as scheduled.
I had actually planned to wake up and go get the world famous Round Rock donuts
for my bridesmaids however, the night before I reassessed a little and realized
that few people would actually eat them if I bought them. Also, when I woke up
at 5:30 I knew that 3 hours of sleep would not be enough for me to be
functional. After making this final decision, I reset my alarm for an hour
later. I did finally wake up at 6:30.
Just to recap, at this point I had Ana, Megan and Greg (her
husband), and my brother staying at our house. Dani and Aaron had decided to
get a hotel for Saturday night. I went into the kitchen as quietly as I could
to get breakfast since my brother was sleeping in the living room. Turns out
this was completely unnecessary because my brother sleeps like a rock. Anyway, I
realized that my stomach was way too excited for breakfast, so I just ate a
banana and had some water. I went into my room and got dressed. At this point I
heard the shower in the guest bathroom running which was a good sign. Someone other
than me was conscious.
For the next half hour or so I pretty much just sat in my
room. I started to put everything by the door that I would need. My dress and
shoes were already at the hotel, so I mostly just needed my veil and headband.
I also had remembered the night before while I was laying there not sleeping
that Jason did not have the marriage license with him. I left a bag full of
things for him (including the license, ring bearer pillow and a card) next to
my unconscious brother to give to Jason (since Jason and his brother were going
to swing by the house to get him later). Eventually I saw that Ana was up which
was good. We had a hair appointment at 8 am. At 7:30, my parents dropped Haley
off and we loaded up in my car to go to the hair appointment. I’m glad we had
plenty of time to get there because I had no idea where this place was. Turns
out it’s really hard to find a place to do your hair that early on a Sunday
morning, so I had to go somewhere I’d never been to and never heard anything
about. Anyway, even with three forms of GPS we still managed to get lost.
Eventually I turned around and got off of the toll road. I was driving pretty
much aimlessly on the feeder trying to find this place. I was freaking out
because I was afraid we’d be late. I thought about calling to ask for
directions but I had no idea where I was, so I wasn’t sure how much that would
help. Finally, I hear Ana ask “Is that it?” The sign was hidden well, but I
made the turn just in time. We pulled into the parking lot at 7:58 am. Pretty
good timing. The hair place was only supposed to have two ladies doing our
hair, which was another stress for me because I knew we’d be cutting it close
on time. Thankfully, when we arrived we discovered that they had another lady
who had been willing to come in, so we had one for each of us. I sat down in
the chair and showed the lady exactly what I wanted (thanks to Pinterest I had
a picture!) When the lady saw that I wanted a waterfall braid, she decided to
swap me with another one of the stylists who was apparently an expert at these.
I kept a close eye on the clock the whole time. Megan texted
me that she was on her way to the hotel which was a relief. She’d still been
sleeping when I had left. By 9:15, the three of us had our hair done and Ana
had even had her makeup done as well. We left. As we were walking to my car,
Haley (thankfully!) realized I had left my veil, so she ran back to get it
(see, that’s why she was my MOH!). Around 9:25, my brother texted me and asked
when Jason was coming to get him. I had a mini heart attack because Jason and
his brother were supposed to pick him up at 9. I called Jason and discovered
that they were just leaving his parents’. Apparently his brother had a rough
night, so it was a little hard for him to get moving. He assured me that they’d
be ready in time. I went ahead and told him that Zach had a bag of things for
him. *I later discovered that Jason did not read the card. For some reason he thought he wasn't supposed to, so he never read it until after the wedding. Sigh. Oh well.*
We pulled into the hotel parking lot shortly after 9:30 and
headed straight for the dressing room. Danielle and Megan were already there.
My mom came in with my dress and shoes. At this point my mind was racing about
300 miles per hour. Jennifer, one of our videographers, arrived shortly
afterward and we chatted for a bit (we went to high school together, so lots of
catching up!). I asked my mom where the flowers were because I wanted one of my
ladies to go deliver the boutonnieres to the boys. She informed me that they
had not arrived yet. Insert panic attack #2. The flowers should have been
delivered 30 minutes prior. I called in Kristen, the wedding coordinator, and
she set out to find the flowers while I called the florist. The florist assured
me that the flowers had been delivered. By this point it was 10 am and I still
needed my makeup done and to get dressed (I was supposed to be completely ready
by 10:45). My mom made me sit down and started working on my makeup.
Finally, the flowers were located (they’d been at the front
desk) and distributed. My makeup took about 30 minutes and by this point I was
in a state of panic because I thought I’d be late. I sent Danielle to go check
on the boys. They were all ready, of course. My mom left quickly to go get
dressed which made me nervous, I needed her there! At this point my dad had
come by to see me. Sweet sentiment, I know, but I wasn’t dressed yet! I quickly
crowded into the bathroom with my 4 bridesmaids and got into the dress. The
photographer had arrived and after I had squeezed into the dress she took some
photos. Here goes panic attack #3. I realized I had not brought socks (which
was important since I was wearing boots). Thankfully, Megan had her entire
suitcase and loaned me a pair of neon green-zebra striped socks. It was 10:50
and not everyone was dressed. My dad and step dad were waiting in the room now
with us. Finally Kristen came to get us to tell us it was time. Everyone had
finished getting ready just in the nick of time. I distributed bouquets and we
were on our way to the ballroom.
This literally felt like the longest walk of my entire life.
My bridesmaids were holding up my train and sweet little Karys, our flower
girl, was holding my hand. Once we got to the backdoor of the ballroom, I had
to wait on the other side of the wall with the dads. Turns out the doors we all
entered through were broken in some way and couldn’t be closed. I was so nervous
and excited. My mind and heart were racing. I’d been planning this wedding for
7 months. I couldn’t wait to marry Jason.
Kristen waved us over. We started walking. Me in the middle
of my 2 dads. We got to the door and I looked up from my shoes and saw Jason. I
apologize to everyone who was there that day, but I didn’t see any of you while
I was walking up the aisle. I didn’t even see the wedding party. I only saw
Jason. I didn’t care that my train was dragging or that my poor dads had to
watch where they were walking to not step on my dress. I wanted to run up the
aisle to that stage. Finally I made it there. I hugged my dads and Jason took
my hand to help me up the stairs. I was ready. *As an aside, I actually stepped
on my dress and this point and tripped. Did you notice? Jason steadied me and
mouthed “are you okay?”* Of course I was.
Aaron, our officiant, started talking. I have known Aaron
since I was in middle school and he’s engaged to Danielle, so it was pretty
special to me to have him be the one to marry us. He and I had previously
written the script for what he was going to say, so I pretty much knew how this
would go. However, Aaron decided to throw in some personal touches. This was
cry #2 (remember the first had come the night before while I was speaking to
everyone at our rehearsal dinner). I
managed to calm down while he went through the rest of the script. Then I cried
again (#3) while we were repeating our vows and exchanging rings. I was trying
really hard to project my voice. Finally, the kiss! We’d kissed a million times
before, but this one felt special somehow.
When I turned around after the kiss, I finally saw everyone.
I was so overjoyed that so many people had come to help us celebrate. My sister
handed me my bouquet, and we walked back out the door as husband and wife. I was
SO happy.
We waited outside the back door for what seemed like
forever. In reality I think it was about 10-15 minutes. We hugged and chatted
with everyone in the wedding party, as well as our parents and grandparents. Then
we were finally ushered back in for pictures. We took a million. You know how
this goes. I really wish I had had an opportunity to go to the cocktail hour
for even a little bit, but with the set up and pictures we were already running
behind schedule.
I ran to the bathroom for a quick break (try peeing in a
wedding dress, I dare you!) and to bussle my dress. Afterward I had a quick
chat with the DJ on how I wanted everyone introduced and order for all of the
announcements. We went back out the back door and waited with the wedding party
for what also seemed like forever. We were finally allowed to walk back around
to the side doors and everyone walked in. I was excited when Jason and I
finally walked through the door. Everyone looked so happy which made me happy.
Our first dance was a little awkward, I won’t
lie. Neither of us can dance to save our lives. We were mostly talking the
whole time trying to make each other laugh. At one point I think I said “when
will this song end?!?” I hope the videographers didn’t pick that one up! Once
our dance ended I still had two more to go. Don’t get me wrong, I love my dads,
but I was getting dizzy. It was nice to chat with each of them though. Finally my
dances were over and Jason came back on the floor to dance with his mom. It took
me a solid 2 minutes to sit down because my dress was so insanely huge. When I sat
down, I saw that both Jason and his mom were crying which made me cry yet again
(#4!).
Finally it was food time! I was really excited about our
food. Because my dress was so tight though, I didn’t actually get to eat as
much as I had wanted. I had to stop because I literally felt like I had no more
room. Jason’s brother gave a toast and then my sister gave a very special and
heartfelt toast. I was so proud that I didn’t cry while she was talking! Then my
mom came up. Oh my gosh. I’m pretty sure if you’re reading this you were there
and you know what I’m talking about. If you weren’t, I’m sorry but if I go back
too much into her toast I’ll cry again. It was beautiful and special and
powerful. I was crying so hard (#5) that my entire body felt like it was
convulsing. So many people have told me that they were crying too. Glad I wasn’t
alone!
After the toasts, the music started and we started making
our rounds to greet everyone. We made it through one table before the
photographers and videographers called us out into the lobby for more photos. If you’re
wondering why we disappeared for 20 good minutes during the reception, this was
why. As we were coming back in, my grandparents were leaving so we shared a
good-bye with them. Finally we went back inside and started greeting people
again. We did some dancing in between greetings. After we had gone to all of
the tables, we took advantage of the photobooth for a bit before more dancing
ensued.
At 3:30 it was time to cut the cake. Jason and I had both
agreed that we would just feed each other bites. However, after the first bite,
his uncles and cousins were all shouting “shove it in his face!” so I obliged. He
was sweet enough to return the favor. We sat down and ate our amazing cake. We did
more dancing, threw the bouquet and the garter and did the money dance. It was
at this point that I realized that the party was almost over and got a little
sad. By 4:30 the staff were basically instructing us that it was time to get
everyone out. We left in a sea of bubbles.
We went back to our changing rooms so that Jason could drop
off his tux and I could get my things. We then retired to the suite we had
reserved for us for a few hours. Later, we went back to our house to drop off
my car and dress. Magical little elves had also dropped off our wedding gifts,
so we went ahead and opened those. Afterward we walked over to Jason’s parents for leftover BBQ and to watch the Olympics.
Eventually his uncles took us back to the Marriott for the night.
Coming up next.. the honeymoon! Stay tuned.
