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!

The clock is ticking

As I think back on our engagement, I remember thinking - our wedding is six months from today! In July, Jenn sent me the fabulous "your wedding is 100 days away" card. Then it was three months, then two months, then one month. Now it's 19 days. How crazy is that? I wonder if I'll be counting up after the wedding? We've been married one week. Two weeks. 19 days. Two months. Three months. 100 days.

Something tells me I won't be doing this. But - the countdown has been so much fun! I feel pretty calm with only 19 days to go. Of course, this doesn't really surprise me. The problem, of course, is that my stress rears itself in other ways. Take, for example, the absolutely crazy

wedding nightmares I've been having! None of them make any sense, and most of them involve someone forgetting to take me to the actual wedding. This is probably pretty unlikely. Sunday morning, I awoke after a really, really nice long night of sleep and said to Matt, "I had a million wedding nightmares last night." And you know what he said? "Me too."

Now, that's how you know things are getting out of hand. But only 19 more days, and this will all be over! All the planning, the fun, the blood, sweat and tears. Plus, I get to wear my new ring! In case you don't remember how fabulous it is, it looks like this:

Sigh. Gorgeous. Anyway. Another exciting thing about being married (besides, of course, being married, which is pretty exciting in itself) is the fact that we are going to freaking COSTA RICA!!! Three weeks from today, we'll be there. It has been pretty hard to think about because thinking about the wedding takes so much time. But, feast your eyes on THIS:

In case you're wondering, these are photos of the suite we are staying at for our honeymoon. The hotel is called Gaia Hotel and Reserve, recommended by my good friends Cassie and Dave, who honeymooned there in June of 2007. It is in Manuel Antonio, on the Pacific coast of the country. On Monday, November 10th, we will fly from Detroit to Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica, where a nice hotel driver will take us (in his air conditioned van!) the three hours to the hotel. I've been told that the drive goes through lush rain forest and then hugs the Pacific coast for the last two hours. I'm pumped, even though I'm pretty sure we'll be completely exhausted by that point. Thanks to our slightly more forgiving return flight schedule, we'll get to take a tiny plane from Quepos to San Jose when we fly back to Michigan.

In other news, I went for my final fitting today and the dress looked amazing! I am so thrilled. I also got to pick up my Spanx, which was definitely an experience. I tried them on with my dress and everything looked great. Not really sure if they make that much difference, but my main concern was the fact that you could see the little dip of my belly button through my dress. No thank you. Add some Spanx Power Panties, and...voila! No more belly button!

So, that's that. Things are wrapping up. I guess after the wedding I'll have to change the name of this blog to something more appropriate, and - since I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stop blogging, you'll have to read about my mundane life. Start preparing yourself now...my life returns to the mundane in only a few weeks!

Wedding Rings!!!

Oops...how could I forget to post about our brand new purchases? Matt and I picked up our wedding bands today! It is TOO weird having these things in the house. We got home and immediately put them on, you know, just to try them out. It is really odd seeing a ring on Matt's finger! By now, I'm used to having a ring on my left ring finger, but at the same time...adding that band still feels a little weird. Thick, maybe?

Anyway, of course I had to take a photo of my fabulous band with my engagement ring. What do you think? Please ignore the fact that the picture is crummy and blurry, my ring finger looks weird, and oh yeah, we're not actually married yet.

So, what do you think? It looks so amazing and sparkly on my hand in person! I am dying to be able to wear it. According to my countdown, only 46 days until it will be permantly on my finger! Matt and I are taking the rings to Michigan this weekend and leaving them there until the wedding. Just one more thing we won't have to think about when we're packing for the wedding week. I'm starting to get pretty excited!

I'm alive!

Hello friends. I can't believe how long it's been since my last posting...too long. I'm so sorry. Life around here has been hectic, and for some reason only Matt's computer has internet (we're, ahem, stealing from our friendly neighbors).

Matt and I successfully made it to Bloomington last Tuesday night, and our new apartment is amazing! Last Wednesday, I had a great job interview, and I have a second interview for the same job tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Last Thursday, MOH Jenn and I drove to Michigan for my bridal shower weekend! It was fun, but also really busy and stressful. I really have tried to keep the wedding planning as non-stressful as possible, but when you are faced with what seems like a thousand wedding decisions two days after moving cross-country, things can get a little dicey. However, I had a great meeting with my florist and finally nailed down the flowers for my bouquet, my girls' bouquets, and the floral centerpieces for the reception. Phew! That's one big check off the list.

Saturday was my bridal shower! It was so fabulous. There really are no other words to describe it, besides WET! It poured rain for the entire day, which made for some unhappy drivers. Three cheers for my amazing bridesmaid Lisa, who drove 5 hours from Chicago that morning in a monsoon just to come to the shower. Due to the internet problems, I do not yet have photos I can post here of the shower, but I'll try to take care of this asap.

On Saturday night, Jenn, Lisa and I went out for dinner drinks, and they presented me with the packing list for my fun time trip (which is coming up in just a few weeks!). The highlights:
-beachware
-beach bag
-1 fabulously fun going out outfit
-sunglasses
-sunscreen
I think I'm going on a beach vaca!!! I'm sooo excited. I know that with these girls planning it, I will have a world of fun.

On Sunday, I braved more icky rain and drove back to Bloomington, and Matt and I have been unpacking boxes and trying to get things organized ever since!

One huge wedding highlight: we bought our wedding bands today! Talk about a huge check off the list. I originally planned on a band that matched my engagement ring, but the jeweler had a couple of diamond bands in the store for me to try today and I just fell in love with it. It's a 14k white gold band with ten diamonds that total just over a 1/2 carat. The diamonds match up really well with the diamonds on my engagement ring. He just has to size it up a 1/4 size, and we are getting the wedding date engraved on both of our bands (11-08-08). We should have both rings in 2-3 days! I'm so excited.

So, that's what I've been up to lately. I'm hoping we get real internet soon, so I can blog more regularly. I promise to upload some photos soon!