Wedding Recap

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we did it! We finally got married. I thought that it was time for a brief wedding recap - not sure why, since the two people who read this blog were a part of my wedding party and probably remember what happened. But, it's mostly for my own edification, I suppose, and an excuse to post some super cute photos.

The wedding went swimmingly, with nothing (that I know of) going wrong - with the exception of my dress kind of "bursting" when I got the reception and bent down for my first hug. The hook and the top button broke, but luckily for me, it stayed zipped and upright anyway. Extra thanks for MOH Jennifer, who happened to bring her little nail scissors (?) and cut off the offending pieces of dangling fasteners.

The wedding day began with a fabulously fun trip to the salon, where myself and my lovely ladies primped. Remember my gorgeous half-up, half-down wedding hairdo? Well, I scratched it. The weather forecast was rain, rain, rain for the wedding day, and my hair gets kind of crazy if there is any sort of weather going on. I went to my awesome hair lady at Flip in Ferndale, Irene, and we tried a new up-do that was still very loose, natural and romantic, and I absolutely LOVED it. Here is my finished product on the morning of the wedding. What do you think?

Afterwards, we headed to the Royal Park and primped some more...got dressed, stared in the mirror, nervously applied and re-applied lipgloss...wait, that might have been just me. I was feeling a bit nervous at around that time! We decided to settle down and celebrate with a bottle of champagne, clearly a fabulous idea.  I wanted to show the photo below plus a great shot of the whole group, but for some reason, blogger won't upload the champagne toast photo.  Please use your imagination.

Then, it was go time. When all of my amazing bridesmaids left the hotel room to go downstairs, it was just my dad and I. And my wedding planner's assistant, whom I had never met before. This was about the time I realized that I was getting married, and started freaking out a little bit. In a good way, of course. But the tears kept creeping up and I was trying desperately to make sure they didn't ruin my pesky false eyelashes (don't ask). Before the girls left, Lisa got a photo of me touching up my lipgloss that I absolutely LOVE...but for some reason, blogger won't let me post that one, either.  

Dad and I eventually got the signal that it was time to head downstairs to walk down the aisle. As we were about to round the corner, the wedding planner made us stop and hide where we were. Dad kept peeking around the corner, and I suddenly realized that we were stopped a few feet away from 4 tables of ladies with hats having tea at the hotel. They were all staring at me, mid-sip. One of them asked me if I had just gotten married, or if I was on my way to GET married. I replied that I was about to get married. I later wondered if they thought my dad was my new husband...?

Anyway, we finally got the green light and walked down the hall and, eventually, down the aisle. The Conservatory where Matt and I got married was down this little corridor, and I was fighting some pretty serious tears as we headed down the way. At one point I looked up and realized that my future brother-in-law, Kelley, was directly in front of me, video-taping the whole thing! He was totally into it. It was pretty funny, and I'm looking forward to watching that video!

Matt and I had the most fabulous wedding ceremony; we were married by my former professor, Dr. John Rubadeau. He did a really incredible, amazing ceremony that made me laugh so hard that I cried again! It was hysterical, and totally impossible to recap here. You just had to be there.

And then, ta da! We were married!

What followed is a bit of a haze - I remember thinking at the time that I had to savor every moment, you know - remember everything. I'm really struggling now. On Monday, when Matt and I were on our way to Costa Rica for the honeymoon, we looked at each other and said....did that even happen??? It seems so distant, even now, and I realize that it was only three and a half weeks ago! But anyway, judging from the photos, I had a fantastic time. Here are a few of the amazing pro portraits. I'm absolutely in love with all of the photos, thanks to Patrick Abel at Special Moments Photography. Please contact me if you're interested in hiring him - I cannot say enough amazing things about him!

So, that's about it! Matt and I retired to our room at the Royal Park for the first serious night of sleep I have had in probably the eight months since we got engaged. It felt fabulous! We woke up the next morning, stared at our wedding rings, and realized - HEY! We're married!