Wedding Recaps- Rehearsal

Our nephew, junior usher, escorting my mom down the aisle

After our picnic, Tom and I gathered everyone together and headed into the fort so that we could practice the ceremony. Tom and I wrote our ceremony ourselves, and we did hire anyone to be in charge of the ceremony, so we ran the rehearsal ourselves. It went smoothly, I mean, how hard is it to walk down the aisle?

We practiced the procession, ran through the ceremony, and the recession. Short, sweet, and to the point. I opted not to practice my vows, just the thought was making me tear up. I'm such a girl...

Following rehearsal, we let lose and hit the beach. Normally, September is a bit chilly to be jumping into the ocean in Maine, but the weather was warm and kids are numb.

Laura and I explored the tide pools. Sadly, the only things we could find were seaweed and drift wood.

All in all, rehearsal was exactly what Tom and I were looking for. We wanted a relaxing day with our friends and family. With the exception of some horseflies that insisted on making a meal out of us, we could not have asked for a more perfect day.

After the beach, everyone went their separate ways for the evening. Tom and I, along with my mother, step-father, and our wedding party went to a German restaurant for beer and schnitzel. Then, Tom and I bid each other fair well, until tomorrow, under the arch, at 4 o'clock.

Wedding Recaps- Rehearsal Picnic

The food table was a popular hang out

In place of more traditional rehearsal dinner, Tom and I opted to have a much more budget friendly rehearsal picnic. It was an absolute snap to plan, we called our favorite Italian sandwich shop and ordered two trays of Italians, finger sandwiches, whoopie pies, and garden salad. Tom picked up some soda on the way there. I provided paper plates, cups, napkins, and plastic forks, and we met everyone at the fort for an afternoon of enjoying the view, good food, and each other's company.

Our parents loved their gifts

The food was perfect, and we ordered just enough. When people that are not from Maine think of "Maine food" they think of seafood and blueberries. It was nice to give everyone some real local fare. Our family and wedding party appreciated it too.

Once everyone was done eating, we handed out gifts. I gave Tom his jersey and he gave me a set of pearls, which you will see in the wedding pictures. We gave our ring bearer and pageboys Transformer walkie talkies, which were a huge hit. The boys immediately ran into the fort and began playing with them. We gave our parents engraved silver picture frames that said "Your daughter always" or "Your son always" the frames have a place for our baby pictures and our wedding picture. Our bridesmaid's received personalized totes and photo cubes with a personalized quote on the top. Our groomsmen received "magic d20's of destiny" which is a magic 8 ball in the form of a 20 sided dice. Everyone really seemed to enjoy their gifts.

After eating, we relaxed some more, before heading into the fort to rehearse the ceremony.

Wedding Recaps- My Gift to my Groom

Tom is a Chicago Bears fan. Big time.

So when the time came to pick a wedding gift that would be appropriate for my soon-to-be husband, I knew immediately what to get him. A custom jersey. The number "13" is his high school football number, it's also our lucky number. On the back, it is personalized with his last name.

It was absolutely adorable when he opened it. I folded the jersey really small in a gift bag, so he had no idea. First, he got all giddy when he realized it was a Bears jersey. Then, I asked him to read the back. At that point, he whipped off his shirt, put the jersey on, and ran over to his mother to show her. It was like a little kid at Christmas. The smile in the picture did not come off his face for a week.

Wedding Recaps- Spa Day

Sherry at the manicure table

So, we moved on Sunday, September 4. Then we entertained guests, and unpacked, and finalized wedding stuff for the next couple of days. Then Thursday rolled around...

The day before, I was at the bridal salon with my officiant/matron of honor doing a last minute fitting of her dress. She insisted on taking me out to lunch the next day, along with my sister. I'm never one to turn down a free lunch, so I obliged. Thus began the day of ambushing. I must begin by saying, Tom and I have, hands down, the best friends/ wedding party a couple could ever ask for. My day consisted of lunch, spa day, and a bachelorette party. Tom's day consisted of being kidnapped by his groomsmen for a brewery tour, followed by a bachelor party at my mother's house. 

Laura, during her pedicure

Lunch with the ladies went great, we went to a local pizza place. My sister and I shared a vegetarian pizza with blueberry beer. Then it was off to the spa. I'll be honest, I had a really stressful morning. Tom and I were arguing about something silly, a symptom that has completely disappeared since the wedding. Once I lay down on the massage table, everything that was stressing me out was gone. Shortly after my massage, I had a facial. I fell asleep while the mask was setting, it was just so relaxing. 

I met up with my sister, Laura, and Sherry again in the manicure/pedicure room. They both copied me, with Victorian lilac toes and a shimmery pink French manicure. 

My manicure

It was while I was sitting in the manicure room, waiting for Sherry and Laura to finish up, that everything suddenly hit, but in a good way. The wedding was only days away, and our closest friends and family were in town specifically to be there, with us, on our day. We finished up at the spa, then headed to my mother's before heading out to my bachelorette party. We also picked up Maggie, another bridesmaid, who literally drove through floods caused by tropical storm Lee to be there. 

Sadly, I don't have pictures for the rest of the day's events. To be honest, even if I did, I'm not sure if it would be appropriate to post them. We will just say that my girls dressed me up, I had a bachelorette crown, phallic necklace, sash, and a HUGE pin, just in case the rest of my get up didn't give things away. We had buffalo wings for dinner, followed by some bar hopping. I was mildly intoxicated, and made some one-liners in my drunken stupor that will likely live on in infamy. 

As for the guys? They grilled lamb and chicken, had some curry, drank lots of beer, and had a fire. Again, lots of quotes that will go down in infamy. The girls crashed the guys around midnight, and lots of silliness ensued. It was a late night, but well worth it, and the perfect kick off for our wedding weekend!

Our New Digs, The Start of our Wedding Week

The view from our living room window

Many couples like to have a "last date night" about a week before the wedding, as a sort of calm before the storm. Tom and I did the exact opposite. We decided to start off the week before our wedding with the stress and manual labor of moving. If that wasn't enough, Tom's mother, girlfriend, and nephews arrived that same evening. With more guests scheduled to arrive days later.

Fortunately, Tom and I unpacked the kitchen during the week before the big move, so while moving day was stressful, it did not take long for us to get settled. In the long run, I'm happy we made the move so close to the wedding. It was a natural transition, and I really enjoyed the symbolism of waking up at my mother's house on the morning of the wedding and going to my own place after the honeymoon.

The following pictures are "before" pictures, as in, while the apartment was still empty, before moving day. My goal is to post "after" pictures, one room at a time, as we get everything settled and purchase furniture.

The living room

The bathroom. Yes, that's a clawfoot

The hallway leading to our kitchen

Our bedroom

There is also a second bedroom, which pretty much looks the same as our bedroom, just with two windows. We will hopefully be turning that into a nursery before our first anniversary. There is also a dining room, which is odd shaped so I really couldn't get a good picture. It has the same hardwood floors as the living room. There is also a kitchen, which was a complete disaster area at the time because we were in the process of moving everything.

I'm Back!

And married!

Everything went perfect. The ceremony was perfect, the reception was perfect, the weather was perfect, our wedding party was beyond words amazing. All of our vendors went above and beyond. I simply do not have words.

I just wanted to check in that we survived the wedding and the honeymoon and now Tom and I are reluctantly going back to the "real world." Wedding recaps and vendor reviews to follow.

Today is the Day!

I apologize for not posting, the last week has been hectic at best. We moved into our new place on Sunday, finalized with the DJ and photographer on Tuesday, as well as my final dress fitting, last day of work on Wednesday, spa day and bachelor/bachelorette on Thursday, and rehearsal on Friday. I will post recaps for Thursday and Friday after our honeymoon. Everything has been absolutely wonderful so far. This morning I leave for the spa at 10 and I meet Tom under the wedding arch at 4 o'clock this afternoon. After 19 months of planning, here goes nothing!

DIY Escort Cards, the Bane of my Existance

I knew my DIY projects were going way to smoothly. I was bound to mess something up. Fortunately, I think I was able to cover my mistake.

The escort cards were supposed to be tented, which means that they were supposed to fold in half and be able to stand up. Unfortunately, I put them through my printer upside down, twice. Which effectively destroyed the back of my tent cards. Third times a charm, I guess. Then, after cutting out all of my escort cards, I realized that I forgot to make them for an entire table. Escort cards are clearly the death of me.

Significantly more time than I was planning on spending later, I had all my escort cards printed and cut. I opted to cut off the back flaps off, because there was really no way to salvage them. This effectively converted my tented escort cards into escort tags. From this point, my project went as planned. I used my hole punch to make holes in the upper left corner of each escort tag. Then I attached each tag to a starfish with some curling ribbon. Overall, I think they came out okay, despite my previous difficulties, and my guests will each have an artificial starfish to take home.

One Week

Until Tom and I are married!

My soon-to-be mother-in-law, soon-to-be nephews, and family friends are on their way up from Kansas City. Our stuff is in boxes, awaiting our big move tomorrow. Spa day has been finalized for Thursday, as have final dress fittings. I finally made our seating chart, and should have the escort cards done either today or tomorrow. There is definitely a wedding in the midst.

Hello September!

I can now say "I'm getting married this month!" or, as Tom said this morning, "more like next week!" We are definitely excited. Right now we are in the process of moving. Every bit of free time is spent packing up our stuff at my mother's house. Our official move-in date is Sunday. I am also managing to finalize things along the way. Yesterday, I was able to finalize with the florist. As a result of a couple of last minute changes to our wedding party, I ended up with a bit of a credit with our florist. The end result? More roses in my bouquet, and the girls will now have green roses mixed in with their green hydrangea to maintain the monochromatic look.

What my bouquet will look like Source

The bridesmaid's bouquets, minus the ivy, and with roses instead of everything else Source

I have a whiteboard at my desk at work where I keep track of the number of days until the wedding. Yesterday, people started stopping by my desk to say congratulations. It's funny, even though I look at the countdown hundreds of times a day, it has not sunk in yet that the wedding is so close. I feel like it is way too early, and then I realize that I am in my last couple days of work before vacation starts. Tom's family is due to arrive from Kansas City this weekend. Everything is very surreal at the moment.