It's hard to believe I'm writing about the aftermath of our wedding - it seems like it took so long to get here, but somehow it happened so fast. You put all that work into it, and in the end it passes you by before you can even blink. I guess that's why you want a million pictures of your special day - because without them, you'd miss out on all those great little details you looked forward to seeing!
There was so much chaos leading up to the wedding, I don't even know how to write about it. Plus, I really don't want to bore you with every little nitty picky detail. I just can tell you that those last few days, hours, minutes leading up to the wedding involved all of the below and then some:
-Mom getting her arm stuck in one of the tents - big ouch!
-Cassie moving trash around a bon-fire pile, so the guests wouldn't have to see cardboard boxes while sitting at the ceremony
-Miranda and Dobby making about 100 more cookies than we needed for favors
-Late night store runs for tiki torches, razors, false eyelashes, a Twilight trivia board game and tampons
-Dobby spraying bug-killer all over her shirt the morning of the wedding
-Justin forgetting to bring our rings to the ceremony
-Justin's Dad driving all the way back to Blackwater to get the rings, only to grab the wrong ones!
-Me putting my Dad's wedding band (we had to use something!) on Justins's wrong HAND and wrong FINGER
-My Dad taking my Mom's car keys thus stranding my Mom, Step-Dad and my child (accidentally)
-It raining during the middle of the reception, but luckily not until after the eating, the picture-taking, and the first dance had taken place (whew!)
-Sidney playing in dirt and then in the gutter in her adorable little dress - she managed to put dirt all in her hair of all places
-Three different people fell down the steps at my Mamaw's house, all within a 10 minute period
-Three different people losing their cell phones at the reception (luckily all were found before the night was over)
-Even though the food was amazing and everyone went on and on and on about it, somehow we still ended up eating at Pizza Plus before we finally got to go home!
Like I said, it was crazy. Insane. Wonderful. Hilarious. Joyful. Amazing. Chaotic. But perfect - it couldn't have suited us better if we would have meant for everything to go as haywire as it did.
Our wedding day was perfect - perfect for us, that is. Some people might've lost their cool and thought the day an entire mess, but to me and Justin it was amazing. Right from the start, we got a ton of compliments on our color scheme. I wanted to take full credit for being so creative, but it was just something I saw on The Knot. I wish I could say I thought of those colors right off the top of my head.
I am so glad that I switched from brown/orange to brown/green because I think it made all the difference. There was just enough orange spread around (pumpkins, cake, etc...) to bring everything together. But I really just fell in love with that brown/green as soon as the girls put on their dresses and stood side by side.
(From L-R) Miranda, Dobby & Cassie couldn't have looked more beautiful. The flowers that Jodi made for us were perfect - everything just looked beyond amazing. I thought I might get teary-eyed just seeing the girls all dolled up, but it didn't happen...I just couldn't stop smiling. And then when Sidney put on her little dress, I thought I'd lose it again. But it didn't happen then, either. She looked beyond adorable, even though she refused to put on her tights or her shoes. Sweet, cute, adorable and perfect - but it didn't make me cry.
The boys looked so good, too! When Justin and I first started talking about going with brown tuxes as opposed to black, he kept saying "I think we'll look like giant turds"...because boys are so silly. I don't think they looked at all like crap - I happen to think they looked great. And those brown tuxes meshed perfectly with our color scheme.
So finally the big moment came. It was time to get the party started, get the show on the road, get things going! We had solved our ring dilemma (which is kind of funny and ironic because my parents forgot their rings and got married with the little plastic ones you tie on the ring bearer's pillow) and we were ready to say our "I Do"s. This is where I started to get nervous...
And this is where I totally and completely lost it. As soon as I saw Justin, as soon as he smiled back at me, I was a goner. Everything revolved around this moment...these last few steps before forever.
I was shaking like a leaf. I swear I thought I was going to faint. And I was so nervous about breaking down and I was trying so hard not to cry, I snorted....twice. Great, big, giant, pig snorts. Like I said, it wasn't perfect, but it was perfect for us. How I ever made it down that aisle, I'll never know.
This is me being real smooth and putting the ring on Justin's wrong hand...it wasn't until after the ceremony he told me that I'd put it on the wrong finger, too! And he didn't exactly use the word "put" - he said something along the lines of totally "bypassing the knuckle and nearly breaking my hand shoving" the ring on there. Oops!
This was the best part of the entire ceremony in my opinion. After all that nervous walking and nervous talking, you finally get to do something that requires no brains at all. Kissing is second nature to us - we've shared thousands upon thousands of kisses. Every kind of kiss imaginable - we've done it. You have to remember, we got married on our 6th year anniversary. So it goes without saying, we're some damn good kissers.
Sweet, happy, wonderful, newlywed bliss.
I still can't believe that so many people came out to show us love and support - I don't know how else to say that. I know we are so blessed to have great family and friends. I just never imagined the crowd would be so big!
Our wonderful bridal party from L-R: Miranda, Cassie, Dobby, Me, Justin, Chris, T.J. and Stump
When Justin and I were looking through these yesterday, he could not stop laughing at this un-posed but still very balanced picture of him and his boys (hands, pockets, hands, pockets)....
I was so very lucky to be flanked by such gorgeous girls - I'm even luckier that I can call them my best friends.
Back at the reception site (which was my Mamaw's big back yard) the food was already getting gone in a hurry! My amazing mother-in-law and sister-in-law cooked for two days and although I know it was a lot of work, I have to say I'm so glad they did! The food was awesome! BBQ, corn on the cob, slaw, baked beans, meatballs, fruit, chips and dip, cheesecake bites and apple cider! It was a feast fit for southern royalty!
SidMo, however, couldn't be bothered with food. There was dirt - lots and lots of dirt to play in. That fancy little dress her Gran bought her? Let's just say we should've stuck with a brown dress to begin with!
Not that any of us even cared if she got dirty - she was too cute to boss around! So she got her way all day long - which happens every day anyways, so it was just another normal day for her!
We didn't get to do our first dance the way we wanted - but no worries. We'll just save it up for some other time and bust it out when no one is expecting it! We did dance to
our song, "Shining Star" by the Manhattans. Justin kept stepping on the front of my dress, so I nipped that one in the bud real lady-like.
I'm not sure if Sidney saw us dancing or not, but she never did come join us. It wasn't until we were walking back to the tent that she came running up to us. And we got my favorite shot of the entire day...
From there it was time for cake! And toasting! We had amazing cakes - so pretty and fun and so delicious! I got my bleeding armadillo cake I wanted (just like the one in Steel Magnolias) and I served a small piece of the ass-end to my dear old Dad (just like in the movie). Sidney loved the cakes - she dug her fingers into them before we ever got the first piece cut. And when it was time to toast (we used Sprite, cause we're classy like that - plus we forgot to get any champagne and I'm not even 21 yet so it really didn't matter)!
And after the rain had passed us by - there was water trickling down the gutter for Sidney to play in. Dirt and water added together equals mud equals big fun for Sidney (and Logan, too)! Like I said, that poor poor pitiful pretty little dress...
After much mingling and dancing and cake cutting and Sprite-toasting, we finally got to open presents. Yay for presents!!! We got some great stuff - some awesome cookware that I can't wait to try out...that is if I can ever get my
husband to fix our oven.
And during our present-opening, Tab took a newly-changed SidMo onto the back porch to shake her booty and sing a little karaoke. I didn't hear it all, but I heard her say "love you, Mom-Mom" so that was good enough for me!
All in all, our day was great. We had fun. We had food. We had friends. We had family. We made memories. We ate cake. We danced. We watched kids play. We laughed. We cried. We kept saying "I love you, wife" and "I love you, husband" over and over again. We felt like kids again. We felt suddenly like adults. We partied. We played. We were blessed and lucky and so thankful to have shared our day with those we love the most.
I can't count how many times I said "why, thank you" or "gee, thanks" or "aww, thanks so much" (because I'm a true Southerner and we never just say 'thank you' - there has to be something said beforehand). The feeling of the day was just warmth and love and I couldn't have asked for a happier atmosphere to get married in. It's still so hard to believe - I'm married.
I'M MARRIED!!!!
When does this feeling go away? I hope not for a very, very, very, very, very, very long time.
Thank you again to all those who made our day possible and helped to make it so special.
