The Ceremony:

I blogged and blogged about our letter in a wine box ceremony that we were doing. So here it is:

The box: (from Home Goods)

The inside of the box with the glasses (Crate & Barrel, engraved at Things Remembered), the wine and our love letters:

The box with the ribbons for our Celtic tying the knot ceremony:

When I first starting to take the walk down the aisle I was nervous. I was nervous because I don't walk well in heels and my shoes were high! I was nervous because 140 people were staring at me and I was nervous because about half-way through my walk... there were 3 measly steps I had to take. Steps UP that is...


And I tried to take those steps. But... I got stuck.


As in, I LITERALLY couldn't move. My dress wouldn't allow my legs to bend. :) So my daddy had to lift my dress for me. And when I got to the top I sighed a huge sigh of relief -- comic relief that is... and it came at a perfect time because my Groom... well, he was losing it. :) But after my little "incident" he smiled.


While we were standing up there, it was weird to me that I hadn't gotten a chance to greet our guests yet! I had been hidden, remember? So, I found myself making eye contact with guests and smiling and mouthing "hi!" but then I thought... hmm, this is a little serious "LET'S FOCUS". haha. Our officiant was amazing and the reading we chose was perfect -- and something I'll definitely share, but in another post.

We said our vows (and neither of us stuttered)... and exchanged rings:


And after that (literally it was like 20 minutes, maybe shorter...) and a couple "I do's" it was done:


And we kissed:


I took my flowers back... aren't they pretty?


And this time, my HUSBAND had to help me on those steps:


And then came the formal pictures during cocktail hour.

I won't be blogging the formal pictures because those are shots I'd rather wait for our professional pictures to share. So tomorrow will be the start of the reception and the beginning of all my DIY projects. Are you pumped? :)

The Aisle Music.

I thought long and hard about song choices for every part of the ceremony: while guests were finding their seats, the procession songs, and our exit song for after "I do".

I chose songs that had meaning, "lovey" lyrics, or classic tunes. And I was so excited about them.

And you know what? I didn't even get to hear them. :)

Not because they weren't played... or because there was some mistake. No! Of course not. Things went extremely smoothly and if they didn't I haven't found out yet.

No, because it never even occurred to me that while all my hard-thought out songs were played I would be locked inside the bridal suite... hidden away.

I never thought that I wouldn't be able to see Sean walk his mom down the aisle, or our grandmothers walked down... or our bridal party. It never even crossed my mind that I wouldn't be able to watch. How dumb!

But songs were still played... and these were our picks:

Prelude Songs while were guests finding their seats:

Better together - Jack Johnson
Wonderful tonight - Eric Clapton
More than anyone - Gavin Degraw
Here comes the sun - The Beatles
Hey, soul sister - Train

Procession - Sean, parents, grandmothers:



Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers

Procession - wedding party:



Earth Angel - The Temptations

Bridal Entrance:



Bella's Lullaby from Twilight

Recessional (or the first song heard as a married couple!)



Higher and higher - Jackie Wilson

:)

Waiting around...

After I got all dressed and ready, there was still a good amount of time until the ceremony start time. Originally, Sean and I were planning on doing a first look. But the day before the wedding we decided that we wouldn't do that. Honestly, I thought I would really want those pictures but the feeling of waiting to see him was much better. :)

And because we had "scheduled" our first look in the early afternoon we had some free time. So I took pictures:

my bridesmaids (all my cousins) and my grandma.

me and my mom.

me and my dad.

After about an hour of waiting around, taking pictures, and pacing -- I realized... I had to pee. So, I literally jumped out of my dress:


And then, jumped back in :)

Tomorrow: the ceremony!

My look.

I don't have any pictures of the shuttle ride. But it was quick! When we got to the venue I caught some glimpses of the entrance way, the ballroom, etc. and it looked amazing! But it wasn't finished, yet. So, we all filed into the bridal suite. It was decided that the girls should get dressed first that way in the pictures of me getting ready... they'd be all done up! I think that was a great decision.

So... this is what I did while they changed:


And, admired my flowers:


And before I knew it... it was time: TO PUT ON MY DRESS. :) :)

I feel like I could write a novel about my dress. Literally. But I won't... of course!

Let me just say that when I first put this dress on (at David's Bridal) I knew it was the one. Actually, even before that, when I was browsing the David's Bridal website the week after being engaged... I knew it was the one. There was never a question in my mind. Ever.

But, just to be safe, when we went to the store to try on dresses, I tried on 3 others first -- and "saved the best for last". But when I put it on... there was no doubt in my mind that it would be the dress that I would wear while walking down the aisle. I bought it Jan. 1, 2010 and every time I tried it on after that I felt the exact same way. It was perfect.



Ooooh. I just love it. I wish I could put it on right now...

Anyways --

So, I got dressed and that's kind of when it hit me. I wasn't feeling "nervous" but I was feeling something that I can't even put into words. I don't know that I'll ever feel it again -- in my entire life. I was anxious, excited, and mostly wanting it to start but not wanting it to end. Maybe you have different emotions to describe the feeling?

Here are some shots from getting ready:

I don't know why I look so serious?

My mom's wedding necklace & my "something borrowed".

This bracelet was a wedding gift from Sean :) and my "something new".

:) I was ready... but still had an HOUR before the ceremony. Find out what's next tomorrow!

The morning of...

I told you all about our rehearsal dinner, our date at the nail salon and our hotel set-up... and now here's--

the morning of...

...the wedding I woke up really early. Way too early, actually. I had nothing to do but just lay there and be excited. So, that's exactly what I did... while watching Fresh Prince. :)

I wasn't nervous. I don't think I got nervous until later...

I just wanted "things" to start... like hair & make-up & mostly just putting on my dress... just getting married!

The girls left the hotel room to get their hair done so it was just me. It was really relaxing and I watched tv and moved around the hotel furniture until the girls doing our make-up arrived.

Here are some pictures of the BM hair:



Once the girls got back... things moved quickly. Maybe, too quickly?


Soon, the room was filled with music, chatting and laughter. And my hair started!



After my hair was all ready to go I ate lunch. I was starving!


And then, it was time to get my makeup done. :)



After all my hair and makeup was done... we took pictures!

And suddenly, it was time to get on the shuttle!...

The hotel room.

We had our rehearsal & dinner on Thursday and the girls got their nails done on Friday afternoon... and quickly after, we went to the hotel to check-in.

And that's where we had a little incident. At the time... a few tears were shed (out of frustration!) but looking back it really wasn't a big deal. See -- we had booked the girls a suite for Friday night AND the boys a suite for Friday night. Turns out -- the hotel doesn't actually have "suites" as much as they have "business suites" (even though they claimed they did), but there's a difference.

Especially when you're looking for space for 8 people to sleep and get ready the next day! So it was a little issue to change rooms. We ended up getting the girls adjoining rooms and the boys adjoining rooms and it worked out very well.

My bridesmaids were pretty sneaky and ended up having the room decorated after the fiasco. It was perfect.




After hanging out and relaxing for a while, I took a shower crawled into bed and guess what was on the movie channel?... Eclipse. It was true perfection.

At the nail salon!

I was glad that we scheduled our rehearsal & dinner 2 days before our wedding so that Friday was a free day to do anything we wanted!

I spent my day opening presents in the morning. :)



And I spent the afternoon at the nail salon with my mom, all my BMs and my aunts. :) They closed down the nail salon so it was just us and we had a wonderful time.

champagne glass name tags!

We even played wedding movies on their tv. :)

All the BMs got their nails painted with Essie's Sexy Divide:

And I got a french :) with rhinestones on my ring fingers!


After our nails, we headed to the hotel... more on that later!

Our rehearsal dinner and wedding party gifts!

I must preface this post with a side note: Apparently, I've developed an ulcer in my left eye. And so I'm looking at my computer one-eyed. Crazy? I know. Because of this, I had to miss school today... even though I only have 3 days left. It's more of an inconvenience than anything else. I can't drive, be outside, see the sun, wear contacts, etc., etc., etc. But anyways...

Our rehearsal & rehearsal dinner was last Thursday.

Chelsey, Me, Brett

My matron & maid of honor!

Here's the whole wedding party... yah, it's pretty hard to get a shot of 16 people where everyone is looking (at the same camera) & smiling...

Dinner was really fun! It was also the place where we gave everyone their gifts!

For the bridesmaids... I may have gone a little overboard. Some things are just so cute! And I had to get them. Here goes...

These bags were really cute. I think they're from Target? They were purchased months ago and were the perfect size for all the girls to carry around the morning of!

My mom made these gift tags. They were so pretty and embossed with glitter so that instantly makes everything more wedding-ish.

I'm so forgetful and forgot to take pictures of the jewelry before it was wrapped [I'll point it out once pictures are posted]. But each of the girls got the same pearl necklace, and I tried to get all different pearl earrings but Kohls didn't have that many pairs. So, a few girls got the same ones. But let me tell you - jewelry from Kohls is totally the way to go. It's inexpensive to begin with and almost ALWAYS on sale.

I knew I wanted those pictures of the bridesmaid dresses hanging with my dress. So, I bought enough pink hangers to do so! And I thought I'd add it to the gift bag because it was bright pink?

My aunt offered to make these shoe bags for each of the girls. And they were PERFECT. I filled the shoe bags with metallic-sliver flip flips from Old Navy and I think the girls enjoyed changing their shoes after the ceremony. :)

I'm really lucky because another one of my aunts works at a salon and gets samples of so much stuff ALL THE TIME. And I don't know any girl who doesn't enjoy getting all the cute little stocking stuffer/sample things. So...

I found this back massager at Bath & Body Works and it was pink and cute so they all got one. :)

If you live by a Christmas Tree Shoppe... that's where all this stuff is from. I got the foot spa stuff in case their bridesmaid shoes killed their feet. The shoes were pretty high...

Lastly, Sean's band is sponsored by Monogram Apparel and they have cute neon sunglasses that I thought would be perfect to take fun wedding party pictures in. So, everyone got a pair!

I have to admit, the groomsmen didn't really make out as well. But it's because of what they got and boys aren't really easy to shop for?

Of course, they got pink and black gift packaging. Not that they necessarily noticed... :)

And gift tags...

And they each got the shoes Sean wanted them to wear during the wedding and pink socks. Do you remember We love colors?

And they each got sunglasses, too!

:)