We got married!!

Almost 9 months ago!! I have (clearly) been absent from the blogging world for awhile.  Not for lack of exciting things happening, but really just lack of interest in writing.  However, when even Will notices that I have neglected the blog for some time, it's probably time to get it back up and running.  We are heading to a friend's wedding this weekend- the first one we've been to since our own- which has me thinking about our own own big day.  It's OK to just now write about our wedding though, because even though Halloween is almost here, it feels like our wedding was just last month!

January 26, 2013 will go down as one of the best days of our lives, for sure. You would be hard pressed to find a single picture from that day where there wasn't a huge smile on my face. All the time, work, organizing, saving, and stressing that Will and I put into the planning was 150% worth it. (And hiring a day-of wedding coordinator.  That may have been one of our best moves in the planning process.) I love that lots of people picked up on the details that we I worried about having to make our day special, and we love that everyone seemed to have such a great time.  Quite a few guests have told us that it was one of the most fun weddings they have been to, which is exactly what we were going for!

While I know I won't remember every second of the weekend, I want to write a few things down here, in no particular order:

• Will made an amazing groom.  He was very much in his element entertaining people all weekend.  One of my good friends that has known Will and I since the very beginning of our relationship told me afterwards that she had never seen him so happy.  And I agree.  The smile on his face is just as big in all our pictures.  I love that.
• We were legitimately concerned that we weren't going to have a priest for the wedding because we weren't hearing back from our presiding priest. It was touch and go up until, literally, days before the wedding. We were shopping for a back up, but fortunately didn't have to use one!  Fr. Steiner pulled through, and was a great addition to our ceremony!
• I didn't cry walking down the aisle!  I was so, so nervous about losing it while my dad walked me down to Will, but the day of I was calm, happy, and ready to go!  Dad gave a wonderful speech at the rehearsal dinner, and I definitely cried quite a few tears.  After his speech, we hugged, and then I jokingly told everyone, "No more tears this weekend!" and it was true! On the wedding day, Dad and I had a joke that he just needed to get me down the aisle without letting me fall.  Mission accomplished.
• We chose not to see each other before we met at the alter, but did want to take a picture together before the ceremony.  Our photographer arranged for us to pose for a picture at a corner of the church. I admittedly got a bit emotional when I heard Will's voice but couldn't see him, but I held it together! I love that we chose not to see each other beforehand, even if it meant that the day would be more rushed after the ceremony trying to cram photos in! I absolutely love how these pictures turned out.  We only have a couple pictures from the wedding framed so far in the house, and this is one of them.
• I had a wardrobe malfunction that was pretty terrible, and could have ruined the day.  My dress ripped before the ceremony while we were taking pictures.  Probably not a good move on my part to opt for a strapless gown, given my "gifts".  And big chest + ripped dress = no support.  The dress kept falling lower and lower down my chest during the ceremony and subsequent picture-taking around town. I felt really self-conscious, even though everyone kept telling me not to worry about it.  Will took a picture on his phone while we were getting group shots, and I was so horrified by how bad the dress looked that I called off the next stop on the picture route so that we could remedy the situation.  Thank God for several things- we were close to the hospitality suite so we could drop off the wedding party, we were close to our loft so we could go there for a little emergency alteration appointment, Dollar General actually had heavy-duty sewing needles, and I have a couple experienced seamstresses in my family!  20 minutes of literally being sewn into my dress and I felt like a new person. I'm so glad I chose to take care of it- I wouldn't have been able to not worry about it the whole night. And thanks to our photographer Krista for her awesome photoshop skills- she was able to fix the problem in almost all the pictures! Whew! 
• The wardrobe malfunction did give us the opportunity to go to the hospitality suite and visit with folks before we headed to the ceremony.  That was another great addition to the wedding weekend.  I'm glad it worked out that our honeymoon suite could also serve as the getting ready spot for the girls and the gathering spot for in between the ceremony and reception.  The week before when we were purchasing supplies for the hospitality suite, we thought we over-stocked the bar and snacks.  Ha. We must have forgotten how much our friends like to drink!  
• The weather was amazing! We took a risk having a January wedding, but fortunately the weather cooperated and we had blue skies during the day and a fantastic full moon that night.
• I loved the way the Fontanel looked as we first arrived for the reception.  It looked gorgeous when it was all lit up with our mason jars and candles.  
• I'm so happy that Will and I were able to have about 30 minutes to ourselves at the reception.  The night was so perfect that we were able to sit on a balcony and enjoy a private dinner with just the 2 of us.  It was one of the only times we were by ourselves the whole night, and I loved it.  
• I was half amused/half touched that our band played "January Wedding" for our first dance.  It wasn't our original choice for our first dance song (we had wanted "Still the One" by Orleans but were told it wouldn't be a good choice for them) but they did volunteer to learn "January Wedding" on a very short notice. They did the best they could, but I had to laugh when I saw the lead singer Percy reading the lyrics off a sheet of paper.  My dad and I danced to Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" and Will and his mom to "What a Wonderful World".  I had worried that I would fell self-conscious during the dances, but I didn't at all!
• Will and I opted to not go with a traditional wedding cake and instead offered a few dessert selections.  We did choose one cake option, though, so we could still cut a cake.  We didn't have a lot of people around when we did it, though- it was a nice private moment.  And we didn't smear cake all over each other's faces.
• Instead of traditional speeches, Will and I went up and thanked everyone for coming.  We were so happy to have so many family and friends with us, and wanted them to know how much we appreciated them!  And we wanted to introduce our surprise appearance- a special representative from Jack Daniels was on hand to do a whiskey tasting!
• The Jack Daniels tasting was such a success!  The rep went above and beyond what we had hoped for when we originally had the idea.  I'm glad we had an interactive activity that was very "Tennessee". People seemed to enjoy it, too!  I heard that the "tastings" turned into healthy pours by the end of the evening.
• The whole reception went by in a blink.  I felt like the party was just starting when we were called on stage for the final song.  And while I didn't feel like I had been drinking that much, there are pictures (and video) evidence to the contrary.  The last song of the night was "You Shook Me All Night Long" and while it looked staged, Will and I had no clue that the band was going to have us up to sing with them.  And I was apparently more than happy to oblige the crowd, even though I can not sing.  It was so much fun, though! My dad filmed it, and showed it to me the next morning.  I almost died of humiliation when I heard myself yell out, "Thank you Nashville!!!" when the song ended.  Thankfully the video hasn't surfaced online yet!
• The sparkler send off was just as pretty as I had imagined it to be. And riding away in Bing Crosby's Rolls Royce = perfect end to the night.  We were so sad to leave the reception, though!
• I'm glad we rallied and joined everyone at the honky tonks after the reception.  Will and I both changed out of our wedding clothes while most everyone else stayed dressed up! I was happy to be in a comfy hoodie and jeans again, even though my hair and make-up still looked great! We were stoked to see Will's favorite fiddle player, Olivia McPeek, playing at Legend's that night.  
• Will and I actually split up for part of the after party.  He wanted to keep partying with friends at Lonnie's while I went with my family to get late-night pizza.  We didn't rendezvous back at the honeymoon suite until after 5 AM!!

There are plenty more memories that I want to be sure to capture, but I'm glad I got these thoughts down for now!

Thanks to a few talented photographers for capturing some of my favorite wedding day pictures- Krista, our professional photographer, and Leslie and Jess, our amateur-professionals.

January 2, 2013

AKA...we are in the wedding month. 24 days until the wedding! Whoa. Things just got real. (As did my diet and exercise program...which have been severely lacking this holiday season.  I somehow replaced Insanity workouts, weights, and treadmills with butter, cream cheese, and couches.)

Leslie just posed this Question of the Week on her blog (Side note: I'm very happy to see the Question of the Week return!):

If you unexpectedly found out that you had tomorrow off of work to do whatever you wanted, how would you spend your day?
 

Oh, if only this were a reality!  I started writing a long, winded answer, but then thought it might be better to write my long, winded answer on my own blog, and give the Reader's Digest version on hers. 

Short Answer: I would be productive and get lots of last minute wedding projects wrapped up.

Long Answer:  I could SO use an unexpected day off of work! Isn't it funny how the longer you have to plan something, the more you put off until the last minute?  We have been planning this day for 14 months.  It has felt like an eternity away, but now that we are literally only weeks away, I suddenly have a million things on my plate.  My vision for the details of the day is becoming more and more clear, which means more projects are being started (and hopefully finished!).  Perhaps I work best under pressure.  Or maybe I don't get great ideas until the final hour.  Any way you look at it,  the list of things that need to be finished, crafted, arranged, planned, organized, toned, tightened, prettied, etc...is growing as the days leading up to THE day are dwindling.

There are certain things that are out of my control so I have to be patient and trust that they will get done when they get done.  Like trusting that our priest has not, in fact, forgotten about us and is just too busy to meet with us for the time being.  I'm hoping this will change now that the holidays are over.  An MIA priest does not help my anxiety/high blood pressure.  So hopefully he gets in touch with us soon.  Not being able to meet with our priest means we can't finalize readings, ceremony order, etc...which means our wedding programs are on hold for now.  But hey, nothing a last minute trip to Kinko's can't fix, right? They're open for 24 hours for a reason!

And really, it doesn't matter that I may be up late working on projects, because I just don't sleep well anymore, anyway.  My mind races non-stop, all night. What I wouldn't give to have an off switch for my brain.  But then again, some of my best ideas come in the wee hours of the morning, when I should be sound asleep. So maybe that's something.  I feel like a zombie some days.  But even as tired as I am, I haven't had a restful night's sleep in so long. Thank goodness we're taking a honeymoon.  We're going to need some time to unwind and remember what it feels like to have time to relax!!

Then there are the details.  This is where Will and I drastically differ in opinions about being "ready" for our wedding.  He thinks that if we can check off the following items, then we're bound to have fun and we're all set:

• Ceremony venue (check)
• Transportation (check)
• Awesome reception venue (check)
• Open Bar (check)
• Music (check)
• Food (semi-check...still need to finalize the menu.  Again, anxiety/HBP for me.)

And while I agree with him, I have added a few (dozen) more detail-oriented things that I would like to see at the reception.  The difference between having our guests think, "That was a fun reception!" vs. "That was an AWESOME reception! All the details! So thoughtful and clever and cute. How did they find all the time to do all this?!" For the record, I blame Pinterest for this problem.  Suddenly Mason Jar centerpieces just aren't enough.  And the DIY crafts I see on there look so easy and simple to do.  Hahaha.  Foolish, foolish me. 

Perfect example:
Will is sick right now, so he has been cooped up in bed for the past 48 hours.  But with only 20-some days until the wedding, the show must go on, so I ditched him (I know, what a bad wife I'll be to leave my husband when he's dying in bed to go to Hobby Lobby) and enlisted the help of Cari and Curtis to work on a couple projects with me. We started what I thought would be a 2 hour project yesterday afternoon.  Several more hours later, I left Cari's house with zero projects in hand, and a couple homework assignments for them to continue working on in their wedding-confiscated garage.  What a nice sister-in-law I am.  I don't want to give away too much...but if any of these projects turn out and are used at the reception...they look FAR simpler than they actually are to craft! So be impressed!!

Having said (read: complained about) all that, I am getting so excited for the big day that I have difficulty focusing on anything else.  It is going to be such a fun day, and I am so looking forward to having all our family in friends here in Nashville to celebrate!  One of our favorite things to do the past several weeks has been to check the mail for RSVPs.  It's pretty amazing to us to see how many people are coming from literally all over the world to celebrate with us.  Makes you feel pretty special.  And although I am NOT looking forward to being the center of attention (I get sweaty just thinking about people watching me walk down the aisle), I am very much looking forward to becoming Mrs. Mason. 

Happy New Year!!