First blog as "an old married lady!" <--- my aunts kept calling me this/asking if I felt like this last Sunday...the answer is NO! :)
Naturally and obviously, time got away from me during those last few weeks before the wedding. Especially the week before, blogging was out of the question! So now I get to recap and tell everyone my experiences of my final days as a single woman...
Let's begin our story in the area of Nov. 28th. We had just finished all of our Thanksgiving travels (very fun!), and were now getting down to the wire with all the things still left to do. Because we were making the playlist for the reception ourselves, Devin had asked a tech friend in TN to come up and "babysit" the console during the night and also help set up all the sound and lights beforehand. Unfortunately, with about ten days to go, we found out that he had a work conflict and couldn't make it. ....Oh. And so began Devin's mad search for a last-minute replacement.
On Dec. 1 I agreed (along with another main member) to shoot the first TWO event assignments for IPC (Indianapolis Photography Cooperative). They were back-to-back that day and both were very successful; everyone we talked to was extremely nice and really excited about the work we were doing! Both organizations have asked us to do more, and I got to hand out several business cards to other people who could use our services! Anyways, it was nice to get out and shoot for a few hours, and focus on something other than the wedding. But then for those last 9 or 10 days, we really worked hard to pull everything together. Devin worked until the Tuesday before, but every spare moment was spent mixing the music and arranging our light n' sound rental & transportation. With about 5 days to go, he found another tech guy to help us out, which was a big relief for him (I mostly stayed out of *his* wedding business with the attitude, "it will get figured out somehow. The wedding is still happening!")
At one week until the wedding, I personally had the worst day I'd had in a long time - not at all related to any wedding/relationship stuff, just lots of unpleasantness. Devin worked most of the day, and soon after he left that morning I witnessed a man beating up a woman right outside our apartment (yes, I called the cops). Then, since it wasn't very cold out and Chewy hadn't gotten much exercise lately, I took him down the road to one of our favorite spots - a nature park with trails through tall grass and a stand of trees. We were heading back to the car (which is parked off of a rather busy road), with him straining heavily at his leash, when the leash BROKE and he tore off, full-tilt, directly towards the road. All I could do was watch helplessly because he's way faster than me..and then he turned down a side trail. Gah! Thank the Lord! I knew I'd never catch him so I just walked in that direction, and found him cozying up to a pair of basset hounds (and their owners, who grabbed his harness) that he had to have smelled a hundred yards off where we had been walking. Nice one, Chewmeister. Let's head back to the car while my heart rate returns to normal. Oh, you're too wound up to sit nicely in the backseat? That's okay, those muddy paw prints add a rustic charm to the interior...
Several other frustrations later, my nerves were shot and I pretty much gave up on the day.
Unfortunately, on Tuesday morning I woke up with the first signs of a cold - sore throat and angry sinuses. I said NOO WAY and started taking the maximum dose of Airborne (3x a day) and stuck to it the rest of the week. I could tell my body was still fighting something, but my symptoms pretty much disappeared, so HERE IS MY OFFICIAL PLUG FOR AIRBORNE. DUDE IT WORKS.
Devin's first day off, Wednesday, consisted of LOTS of running around - picking up printed signs from FedEx, WalMart to buy food for everyone staying with us, TACA in Anderson to have our final meeting about setup...I know there was more that I'm not remembering, but the point is that this day marked the beginning of sleeplessness when I went to take a nap so I could chill, and just....couldn't. Laid in bed for 45 minutes. "Well, I feel better so I guess I'll get up and do one of the things that keeps running around my brain." Once I was able to cross several more things off the to-do list, I started to relax - in time for Devin's brother Tyler to arrive! Yay! Our first wedding guest :)
Thursday was another busy one. The boys left around 10:30 am to start collecting various lighting gear, and I headed to Kokomo around noon to begin my pampering - a bridal body polish from my sister's best friend Kristina, who works at Healing Hands Natural Therapy Spa. It was a blissful hour of full-body sugar scrub and hot towels, and I was thoroughly relaxed afterwards. aaaaahhhhh...
The evening was spent at my mom's house; she and my sister helped me put together programs and assemble the small pennant flags that we used for our sendoff. I/we accomplished everything that could be done. However, once I was in bed I was thinking of everything happening the NEXT day; long story short, I might have gotten 3 hours of sleep. Bah.
Friday morning: us girls (me, mom, sister) got up early(ish) to get pedicures together. I also stopped by the mall to get my engagement ring cleaned, pick up some more Airborne and also some bubble bath for our night in the Jacuzzi suite :) It was pretty surreal to be walking around the mall I used to hang out in as a 13-year-old, the day before my wedding. This is where time seemed to speed up considerably; suddenly I was with my sister, picking up my nephew from school, then we were on our way to TACA, then we arrived at TACA (which was already BEAUTIFUL), and then we rehearsed, and then rehearsal was done, and then we were bowling, and then I saw Devin for the last time before the ceremony, and then I was hanging at our apartment with the 5 other people staying there (yeah, it was crowded)...mercifully, I was able to sleep, but woke up about an hour early and just laid in bed in varying states of nervousness.
By some miracle of wedding day fairy magic, everything that morning ran on time. I walked into my hair appointment at noon - Angelica, a friend from high school, works at Bab & Co Hairdesigners in Carmel, and she did an awesome job on my hair and managed to finish about 5 minutes early. It was great to hear "We're all ready!" when I called my sister to tell her I was on my way back.
HOWEVER.
We ended up behind schedule because of a last-minute Wendy's run, where, naturally, the order got screwed up and the whole process was slow to begin with. Oh, well.
When I got to TACA, it was 2:30 - only about 15 minutes late. I already had my dress there, and in my dress bag had I also stored my shoes, jewelry, and warm comfy wrap to lessen the chances of forgetting anything important. All the bridesmaids still had to get their dresses on, but they had all at least prepared by wearing all the necessary *undergarments.* The additional complication came when my sister's zipper broke, and my aunt had to emergency-sew her into her dress, with her wrap attached (good thing she was matron of honor...it was okay for her to be different...) I didn't get to see this process because my mom and my bridesmaid Kate were lacing me into MY dress, but I did get to hear the delightful exclamations of "Shit!" coming from their general direction...at one point Uncle Tim, our officiant, popped his head through the door to ask if we were ready, and the resounding unanimous response he got was "NO!"
So, dear guests, I really have no idea just HOW late we were in starting the ceremony, but now you know why it happened...
And then it was a crazy wonderful blur of gettin' hitched and taking pictures and a brief but AWESOME limo ride with our wedding party, and the toasts were AMAZING and the food was AMAZING and then baby Andrew knocked over my Irish coffee and then we danced to a song that I didn't know would be our first dance until we were in the limo and then I danced with New Dad and then my mom and then everybody partied and there were family and friends and hugs and kisses and love and more pictures and champagne and other drinks and pretty lights!
Yay!
And then the night ended and our 45 minute drive to the hotel took about 3 seconds and then we arrived
and stuff :)
and then I woke up married to my one true love.
So begins our new life together. S'wonderful.
...I noted earlier tonight that our marriage has already lasted longer than Kim Kardashian's. Score!
Coming up next: the delightful tidbits we received from our guestbook pages :)
Naturally and obviously, time got away from me during those last few weeks before the wedding. Especially the week before, blogging was out of the question! So now I get to recap and tell everyone my experiences of my final days as a single woman...
Let's begin our story in the area of Nov. 28th. We had just finished all of our Thanksgiving travels (very fun!), and were now getting down to the wire with all the things still left to do. Because we were making the playlist for the reception ourselves, Devin had asked a tech friend in TN to come up and "babysit" the console during the night and also help set up all the sound and lights beforehand. Unfortunately, with about ten days to go, we found out that he had a work conflict and couldn't make it. ....Oh. And so began Devin's mad search for a last-minute replacement.
On Dec. 1 I agreed (along with another main member) to shoot the first TWO event assignments for IPC (Indianapolis Photography Cooperative). They were back-to-back that day and both were very successful; everyone we talked to was extremely nice and really excited about the work we were doing! Both organizations have asked us to do more, and I got to hand out several business cards to other people who could use our services! Anyways, it was nice to get out and shoot for a few hours, and focus on something other than the wedding. But then for those last 9 or 10 days, we really worked hard to pull everything together. Devin worked until the Tuesday before, but every spare moment was spent mixing the music and arranging our light n' sound rental & transportation. With about 5 days to go, he found another tech guy to help us out, which was a big relief for him (I mostly stayed out of *his* wedding business with the attitude, "it will get figured out somehow. The wedding is still happening!")
At one week until the wedding, I personally had the worst day I'd had in a long time - not at all related to any wedding/relationship stuff, just lots of unpleasantness. Devin worked most of the day, and soon after he left that morning I witnessed a man beating up a woman right outside our apartment (yes, I called the cops). Then, since it wasn't very cold out and Chewy hadn't gotten much exercise lately, I took him down the road to one of our favorite spots - a nature park with trails through tall grass and a stand of trees. We were heading back to the car (which is parked off of a rather busy road), with him straining heavily at his leash, when the leash BROKE and he tore off, full-tilt, directly towards the road. All I could do was watch helplessly because he's way faster than me..and then he turned down a side trail. Gah! Thank the Lord! I knew I'd never catch him so I just walked in that direction, and found him cozying up to a pair of basset hounds (and their owners, who grabbed his harness) that he had to have smelled a hundred yards off where we had been walking. Nice one, Chewmeister. Let's head back to the car while my heart rate returns to normal. Oh, you're too wound up to sit nicely in the backseat? That's okay, those muddy paw prints add a rustic charm to the interior...
Several other frustrations later, my nerves were shot and I pretty much gave up on the day.
Unfortunately, on Tuesday morning I woke up with the first signs of a cold - sore throat and angry sinuses. I said NOO WAY and started taking the maximum dose of Airborne (3x a day) and stuck to it the rest of the week. I could tell my body was still fighting something, but my symptoms pretty much disappeared, so HERE IS MY OFFICIAL PLUG FOR AIRBORNE. DUDE IT WORKS.
Devin's first day off, Wednesday, consisted of LOTS of running around - picking up printed signs from FedEx, WalMart to buy food for everyone staying with us, TACA in Anderson to have our final meeting about setup...I know there was more that I'm not remembering, but the point is that this day marked the beginning of sleeplessness when I went to take a nap so I could chill, and just....couldn't. Laid in bed for 45 minutes. "Well, I feel better so I guess I'll get up and do one of the things that keeps running around my brain." Once I was able to cross several more things off the to-do list, I started to relax - in time for Devin's brother Tyler to arrive! Yay! Our first wedding guest :)
Thursday was another busy one. The boys left around 10:30 am to start collecting various lighting gear, and I headed to Kokomo around noon to begin my pampering - a bridal body polish from my sister's best friend Kristina, who works at Healing Hands Natural Therapy Spa. It was a blissful hour of full-body sugar scrub and hot towels, and I was thoroughly relaxed afterwards. aaaaahhhhh...
The evening was spent at my mom's house; she and my sister helped me put together programs and assemble the small pennant flags that we used for our sendoff. I/we accomplished everything that could be done. However, once I was in bed I was thinking of everything happening the NEXT day; long story short, I might have gotten 3 hours of sleep. Bah.
Friday morning: us girls (me, mom, sister) got up early(ish) to get pedicures together. I also stopped by the mall to get my engagement ring cleaned, pick up some more Airborne and also some bubble bath for our night in the Jacuzzi suite :) It was pretty surreal to be walking around the mall I used to hang out in as a 13-year-old, the day before my wedding. This is where time seemed to speed up considerably; suddenly I was with my sister, picking up my nephew from school, then we were on our way to TACA, then we arrived at TACA (which was already BEAUTIFUL), and then we rehearsed, and then rehearsal was done, and then we were bowling, and then I saw Devin for the last time before the ceremony, and then I was hanging at our apartment with the 5 other people staying there (yeah, it was crowded)...mercifully, I was able to sleep, but woke up about an hour early and just laid in bed in varying states of nervousness.
By some miracle of wedding day fairy magic, everything that morning ran on time. I walked into my hair appointment at noon - Angelica, a friend from high school, works at Bab & Co Hairdesigners in Carmel, and she did an awesome job on my hair and managed to finish about 5 minutes early. It was great to hear "We're all ready!" when I called my sister to tell her I was on my way back.
HOWEVER.
We ended up behind schedule because of a last-minute Wendy's run, where, naturally, the order got screwed up and the whole process was slow to begin with. Oh, well.
When I got to TACA, it was 2:30 - only about 15 minutes late. I already had my dress there, and in my dress bag had I also stored my shoes, jewelry, and warm comfy wrap to lessen the chances of forgetting anything important. All the bridesmaids still had to get their dresses on, but they had all at least prepared by wearing all the necessary *undergarments.* The additional complication came when my sister's zipper broke, and my aunt had to emergency-sew her into her dress, with her wrap attached (good thing she was matron of honor...it was okay for her to be different...) I didn't get to see this process because my mom and my bridesmaid Kate were lacing me into MY dress, but I did get to hear the delightful exclamations of "Shit!" coming from their general direction...at one point Uncle Tim, our officiant, popped his head through the door to ask if we were ready, and the resounding unanimous response he got was "NO!"
So, dear guests, I really have no idea just HOW late we were in starting the ceremony, but now you know why it happened...
And then it was a crazy wonderful blur of gettin' hitched and taking pictures and a brief but AWESOME limo ride with our wedding party, and the toasts were AMAZING and the food was AMAZING and then baby Andrew knocked over my Irish coffee and then we danced to a song that I didn't know would be our first dance until we were in the limo and then I danced with New Dad and then my mom and then everybody partied and there were family and friends and hugs and kisses and love and more pictures and champagne and other drinks and pretty lights!
Yay!
And then the night ended and our 45 minute drive to the hotel took about 3 seconds and then we arrived
and stuff :)
and then I woke up married to my one true love.
So begins our new life together. S'wonderful.
...I noted earlier tonight that our marriage has already lasted longer than Kim Kardashian's. Score!
Coming up next: the delightful tidbits we received from our guestbook pages :)
It is totally fashionable to start your wedding ceremony a few minutes late. So... no worries. :o)
ReplyDelete(Also, Andrew apologizes about that Irish coffee... but knocking it over was so much fun!)