We're married!!

After over 500 days of counting down, our day had finally arrived!!  I slept relatively well the night before and I hoped D had gotten some sort of shut eye.  When I woke I had a few super sweet texts from family members that instantly made me smile and I started to get super excited and nervous for the big event. I wanted to soak in every moment.

 My mom and sisters showed up along with some yummy Panera breakfast.  I managed to eat half a bagel but my stomach was twisted up in nervous knots so that was it!  My beautiful bridesmaids came to the room shortly after and our hairdresser/make up artists showed up to get started.  We ran a bit behind schedule in the hair/makeup department but I was determined not to panic.  We got into the limo a teeeeny bit  20 minutes late and set off for the church!

My gorgeous flower girl #1- Already tired after a long morning of getting pretty!

We got to the church and I made everyone go in first to be EXTRA sure that my groom wasn't anywhere where he could see me! When the coast was clear I made my way to our bridal room and managed to sneak a quick bite of sandwich...hoping to avoid passing out on the alter :)

One of D's best men showed up to deliver my "letter" from my oh-so-soon-to-be-husband and waited patiently to make sure I opened the book correctly.  One side said "I LOVE YOU -The End" and the other was his actual 4 page love note...I totally botched the joke and opened up the real side first, but it was still cute.  He had been talking about this letter for awhile so I knew he put a lot of time and thought into what he wrote.

I did my best to not totally ruin my makeup, but I definitely teared up reading his sweet words.  In no time at all, the priest was telling it was 1:30 and time to go!  We made our way to the front of the church to get lined up and I waited impatiently with my dad.

Mayyybe I peeked a little bit.  My flower girls were SO CUTE and our ring bearer was pulling flower girl #2- baby A down the aisle in a wagon.  It was to die for.

My handsome groom's face was everything I thought it would be when he saw me walking down the aisle.  There were definitely some tears shed, but we were so happy to see each other, everything else seemed to melt away.

Our ceremony went on without a hitch.  We laughed and giggled throughout the whole thing- I was too giddy to hide it.  I almost fell into a vent at one point while signing the marriage license and the priest most definitely thought I was fainting {ha!} but other than that, I managed to not trip and fall on my giant dress. My Uncle Tim and D's cousin Toni each read a reading for us and did a wonderful job.  My best friend Carrie and cousin Jordan sang 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri acoustically and it was truly breathtaking.  I hadn't heard them perform the whole thing until that day, and as I expected, they blew my expectations out of the water.  We were so incredibly blessed to get to incorporate a few of our loved ones into special parts of our ceremony!

After the ceremony- it was time to get the party started.  We were done with all of the 'formal' parts of the day and ready to kick back and relax!

The limo was by far in the top 3 moments of the day.  All of our bridal party was with us and we listened to music, drank champagne and anything else we could find and made some YouTube videos {still haven't gotten up the courage to watch ours :)}

Wanna know the best part about those moments in last 3 pictures?  WE WERE OFFICIALLY HUSBAND AND WIFE!!  

That's all for now!  Park and Reception details coming soon  :)

-T-

Wedding Week Update!

In the past month, I’ve survived the week before the wedding, gotten married, gone on an amazing honeymoon, and landed right smack back in reality {surrounded by mounds of amazing gifts}.  To say it’s been a whirlwind would be the understatement of the century and this little corner of the universe had to take a back seat to more pressing matters.  D and I are so incredibly thankful to be married and we’re soaking up our first few weeks of wedded bliss.  Now for some recaps…we’ll start with the week before the wedding and work our way back to today!

{The Week Before The Wedding}

The week before the wedding was insanely stressful but I tried to focus on enjoying the moments that were quickly passing by.  My mom was in town for most of the week and she helped with some last minute crafts {welcome bags, favors, reception decorations}. I worked through Wednesday that week and was relatively useless to the workplace considering the running to-do list in my head BUT I made it through.  Thursday and Friday were much welcome days off.  My mom, oldest sister, and I got our nails done on Thursday and I ran tons of errands getting everyone’s last minute gifts together. Friday I spent packing for the hotel and trying to make sense of the chaos our apartment had become.  My brother-in-law and sister-in-law came and packed up all of the rehearsal decoration goodies from my apartment {including 27 handmade cupcake stands} and my parents loaded up their car with a million {read 250} chair covers.

I said goodbye to my apartment for the next 48 hours and gave Capone a big kiss and hug since I wouldn’t get to see him until after the honeymoon and headed off to the liquor store with my dad.  We had a little too much fun cramming every inch of my Ford Escape with liquor for the big day.  So many people stopped us to ask where the party was, and I was so excited I probably invited them to join us. I regret not taking a picture of what my car looked like that day- so funny!

When we showed up at the reception hall for decoration mania, there was an army of family and friends making our venue come alive.  A couple hundred chairs were lined up and chair covers were quickly being slipped on, tables were everywhere and had the most perfect purple tablecloths {this was the first time I got to see the actual color after being told countless times I “shouldn’t worry about it”}, I was being pulled in a thousand different directions for opinions and such but it was absolutely perfect. I almost cried at the sheer joy of having so many of the people I love working so hard together to make our day come together.  We pushed our time limit on decorating to get everything just so and rushed back to the hotel to get ready for rehearsal.  This is where I finally started to get nervous and had a monster case of butterflies in my tummy.  It was real.  The rehearsal itself was kind of a blur but I hoped I’d remember everything for the next day {which I did J}.  We left the church and went to D’s parents’ house for a BBQ themed rehearsal dinner complete with friends I hadn’t seen in years.  We laughed until we cried a few times and just enjoyed each other’s company.  I felt relaxed and so thankful to be in the presence of my favorite people. 

When dinner wrapped up I said my goodbyes and had a final “single” kiss with my soon to be husband.  I headed back to the hotel to spend time with family and he headed out for a drink with the boys, followed by a last minute frantic search for his passport {that he needed in order for him to come on our honeymoon…yes I’m pretty positive I would’ve gone without him if he hadn’t found it!}.

I went to bed that night all by myself and successfully got about 5-6 hours of sleep.  When I woke up the next day – it was game time and I was over the moon thrilled that the day was finally here {we counted down over 500 days from our engagement}.

Next up:  We’re Married!