the optimistic duke: 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!}.