getting lost in stupid stuff

[audball]

Wow! Sounds like things are really coming together TP!

 

[TooPatient]

I wish I could figure out how to take pictures! Everyone here takes such beautiful pictures of their jewelry. I'm not sure what my problem is (could be that my camera broke so I'm using a cell phone...), but every time I take a picture it turns out dull and lifeless

FI gave me my b-day present a couple of weeks early. It is that beautiful diamond and sapphire necklace I saw the other day!

We also looked at loose stones and picked the stone for my new e-ring! I am sooooo excited!
It is beautiful -- 1.01 vs1 with L color. I was comparing based on appearance and was shocked to look and see that it was an L. I'd been looking at it side by side with another that was H and really couldn't see a difference. It is beautifully cut (I forget what it was graded as) and looks stunning in the setting I chose.
They think they'll have it sized and set for us to pick up on Tuesday!

The winery is still being amazing. They're letting us use the cavern theater (the most stunning view on site!) for only $500 instead of the usual $1000. Just finishing up the contract details with them. They are even setting up wine tastings and food tastings for us even though that is usually only for groups of 70+.

I'm getting the final addresses ready tonight and should have the STDs ready to go out by tomorrow or Monday!
(I promise pictures as soon as I've got them!)

 

[audball]

Squee! Lots of exciting new on your side TP! I can't wait to see everything!

Exciting news in the audball family too! My fiance landed his first job! He graduated in December and it only took him 2 months to get something! We are so happy and feel so blessed right now. We can finally breathe and talk more seriously about wedding plans with two stable full-time incomes about to start coming in!!! Squee!! It was only the second job he's ever interviewed for and he's so excited. I'm a proud future Mrs.

We didn't get to do anything for Valentine's yesterday because he had to work last night. We're going to celebrate on Sunday with brunch and a fancy place downtown, we get to celebrate a late V-day and his new job!! And while we're there, we're checking out their private room as a possible reception site! SO EXCITED!

 

[TooPatient]

Squee! Lots of exciting new on your side TP! I can't wait to see everything!

Exciting news in the audball family too! My fiance landed his first job! He graduated in December and it only took him 2 months to get something! We are so happy and feel so blessed right now. We can finally breathe and talk more seriously about wedding plans with two stable full-time incomes about to start coming in!!! Squee!! It was only the second job he's ever interviewed for and he's so excited. I'm a proud future Mrs.

We didn't get to do anything for Valentine's yesterday because he had to work last night. We're going to celebrate on Sunday with brunch and a fancy place downtown, we get to celebrate a late V-day and his new job!! And while we're there, we're checking out their private room as a possible reception site! SO EXCITED!

Congratulations! That is wonderful news. Your FI must be thrilled!

Your late V-Day plans sound great!

 

[TooPatient]

STD's are out! Got them in the mail today.

I looked at Wedding Paper Divas but they wanted $120+ to do just 20 STDs! That didn't even include printing the envelopes. They'd also take until middle or end of next week even with "expedited" shipping...

I went to the print shop down the street from us and they did all of the STD's for us for only $13. Their envelope printer was down, so I had to go to another print shop for that but the envelopes only cost $10 ($5 at Michaels for a set of 50 cards + envelopes and another $5 to do the printing -- the rest of the set I can use for thank yous!)

I like how they turned out. I'm going to do the same thing for the actual invites too!


ETA: The picture doesn't do them justice. They are printed on a nice cream colored cardstock and are actually quite nice.

 

[star sparkle]

I love the progress you ladies have all made while I've been gone! Keep it up, you're doing great!

 

[TooPatient]

Okay....

I'm stuck.

The winery can't do a plated dinner on the piazza. That would be buffet. So we are going to do at least the dinner in the Estate Room. They are asking if I want to do the dinner and reception in the Estate Room or just the dinner and then move to the Piazza for the reception part...


What do you think?

The ceremony will be in the Cavern Theater (so outdoor).
Piazza is outdoor.
Estate Room is indoor but AMAZING views (possibly better than the Piazza).
Wine tasting prior to ceremony will be in Piazza.


Here's the venue link with pictures of it all: VENUE

 

[TooPatient]

The event planner says that the Estate Room can be set up so that it doesn't dwarf a smaller group. I've got an e-mail to her asking if we'd need extra decorations or how they go about setting it up. I love the room, I just don't want to feel like it is just huge and empty with a group of 25 or so in a room that can hold 200. She's assured me that it can be done. I'll talk with her a bit more and see what they do. This is the last detail before signing the contract. We need to decide between piazza with buffet or Estate Room with plated.

Almost there! She's got two events this weekend so will be pretty busy. We'll talk again on Tuesday to hopefully make a final decision.


Here are some pictures of the Estate Room. I'd asked for some pictures when it was darker outside since all I'd seen before was mid-day photos.

 

[TooPatient]

Squee! Lots of exciting new on your side TP! I can't wait to see everything!

Exciting news in the audball family too! My fiance landed his first job! He graduated in December and it only took him 2 months to get something! We are so happy and feel so blessed right now. We can finally breathe and talk more seriously about wedding plans with two stable full-time incomes about to start coming in!!! Squee!! It was only the second job he's ever interviewed for and he's so excited. I'm a proud future Mrs.

We didn't get to do anything for Valentine's yesterday because he had to work last night. We're going to celebrate on Sunday with brunch and a fancy place downtown, we get to celebrate a late V-day and his new job!! And while we're there, we're checking out their private room as a possible reception site! SO EXCITED!

How was your celebration? Is the private room still in the running for reception site?

 

[star sparkle]

Okay....

I'm stuck.

The winery can't do a plated dinner on the piazza. That would be buffet. So we are going to do at least the dinner in the Estate Room. They are asking if I want to do the dinner and reception in the Estate Room or just the dinner and then move to the Piazza for the reception part...


What do you think?

The ceremony will be in the Cavern Theater (so outdoor).
Piazza is outdoor.
Estate Room is indoor but AMAZING views (possibly better than the Piazza).
Wine tasting prior to ceremony will be in Piazza.


Here's the venue link with pictures of it all: VENUE

I think I would probably just have everything int he Estate Room. You'll already be having the guests move once (from the ceremony space to the Estate Room), is there really a need to have everyone move a second time?

We had a super small wedding (17 people total), and moving from our ceremony/cocktail hour area to the dining/reception area was more than enough movement.

 

[audball]

I think I would probably just have everything int he Estate Room. You'll already be having the guests move once (from the ceremony space to the Estate Room), is there really a need to have everyone move a second time?

We had a super small wedding (17 people total), and moving from our ceremony/cocktail hour area to the dining/reception area was more than enough movement.

I agree with star. I think the Estate room looks amazing! And it sounds like that'll be enough moving around. How do you feel about it?

 

[audball]

Squee! Lots of exciting new on your side TP! I can't wait to see everything!

Exciting news in the audball family too! My fiance landed his first job! He graduated in December and it only took him 2 months to get something! We are so happy and feel so blessed right now. We can finally breathe and talk more seriously about wedding plans with two stable full-time incomes about to start coming in!!! Squee!! It was only the second job he's ever interviewed for and he's so excited. I'm a proud future Mrs.

We didn't get to do anything for Valentine's yesterday because he had to work last night. We're going to celebrate on Sunday with brunch and a fancy place downtown, we get to celebrate a late V-day and his new job!! And while we're there, we're checking out their private room as a possible reception site! SO EXCITED!

How was your celebration? Is the private room still in the running for reception site?

Our celebration was wonderful! We had the best day together. We went up to the restaurant about an hour before our reservation time so we could walk around and check things out. We really like the area and the whole vibe. The room itself has great city views and is totally in budget (with the room being free and only having to meet food/beverage minimums).

The space is not adequate to hold a ceremony and reception so that has had us looking elsewhere for a ceremony space. It's surprisingly difficult to find "ceremony only" locations that aren't churches. We are both religious and aren't opposed to getting married in a church but there are two problems we've come across: 1) we're leaning towards a Sunday wedding which eliminates all churches since they hold services that day, and 2) since we aren't members at any of the churches in close proximity to the reception space, many won't allow it. The ones that do have really odd policies including one that doesn't allow ANY photography during the ceremony, even without flash, which we are NOT okay with.

There is a hotel that is adjacent to the restaurant right on the riverwalk and is a short walking distance. It's probably the hotel where we'd do a block for our out of town guests since it's so convenient. Their website indicates "ceremony packages" and "reception packages" with prices. So we checked that out and really loved the space. The prices for less 80 guests was a bit more than we were wanting to spend for ceremony only ($1,195 + 23% service fee + 7% tax = ~$1,600 total) but we were okay with that because of the convenience factor and what it includes (officiant, nice white folding chairs, set up, take down, an arch that they decorate, ceremony music...). I emailed the lady to confirm some things and she write me back and says that ceremony only, irregardless of day or size of the group, is $2,500 + 23% service fee + 7% tax = ~$3,300. WAY more than we were wanting to spend for that portion only. Sigh. I'm just frustrated by it because every other hotel we've looked at just says "wedding packages" and it's for ceremony + reception. Since they had them listed separately it seemed like you could do one or the other or both. Well, you can. But the prices listed are only good if you hold both there. They have a full price sheet POSTED. Why not just list Ceremony Only price and Reception Only prices on those sheets too!?

We're looking around. Trying to check out other places. I thought the harder part would be finding a reception space that we could afford, that was nice, that wouldn't feel too large for our ~40 person group, and that we could afford WITH alcohol. Nope, find that on our second try -- check, check, check, and check. But now the ceremony cost is going to kill us.

We're just trying to take a step back for a bit and let FI get settled into his new job, check out our new take home incomes with both of us working full time and reevaluate.

 

[TooPatient]

I think I would probably just have everything int he Estate Room. You'll already be having the guests move once (from the ceremony space to the Estate Room), is there really a need to have everyone move a second time?

We had a super small wedding (17 people total), and moving from our ceremony/cocktail hour area to the dining/reception area was more than enough movement.

I agree with star. I think the Estate room looks amazing! And it sounds like that'll be enough moving around. How do you feel about it?

I don't want to have to move people again. I think that would feel goofy.

The event coordinator got back to me this afternoon and it sounds like we could really make the Estate Room work with dinner & reception. My biggest concern was that the 200 person room would feel HUGE around us. A close 2nd was that I was concerned they'd have the lighting in such a way that they reflected off the windows and all we'd have is this huge room with large black squares where everyone knows there should be a great view.

I think we're just going to go with it. The room is beautiful and I don't feel like having to shuffle people (and deal with decorating!) three different spaces.

 

[TooPatient]

Squee! Lots of exciting new on your side TP! I can't wait to see everything!

Exciting news in the audball family too! My fiance landed his first job! He graduated in December and it only took him 2 months to get something! We are so happy and feel so blessed right now. We can finally breathe and talk more seriously about wedding plans with two stable full-time incomes about to start coming in!!! Squee!! It was only the second job he's ever interviewed for and he's so excited. I'm a proud future Mrs.

We didn't get to do anything for Valentine's yesterday because he had to work last night. We're going to celebrate on Sunday with brunch and a fancy place downtown, we get to celebrate a late V-day and his new job!! And while we're there, we're checking out their private room as a possible reception site! SO EXCITED!

How was your celebration? Is the private room still in the running for reception site?

Our celebration was wonderful! We had the best day together. We went up to the restaurant about an hour before our reservation time so we could walk around and check things out. We really like the area and the whole vibe. The room itself has great city views and is totally in budget (with the room being free and only having to meet food/beverage minimums).

The space is not adequate to hold a ceremony and reception so that has had us looking elsewhere for a ceremony space. It's surprisingly difficult to find "ceremony only" locations that aren't churches. We are both religious and aren't opposed to getting married in a church but there are two problems we've come across: 1) we're leaning towards a Sunday wedding which eliminates all churches since they hold services that day, and 2) since we aren't members at any of the churches in close proximity to the reception space, many won't allow it. The ones that do have really odd policies including one that doesn't allow ANY photography during the ceremony, even without flash, which we are NOT okay with.

There is a hotel that is adjacent to the restaurant right on the riverwalk and is a short walking distance. It's probably the hotel where we'd do a block for our out of town guests since it's so convenient. Their website indicates "ceremony packages" and "reception packages" with prices. So we checked that out and really loved the space. The prices for less 80 guests was a bit more than we were wanting to spend for ceremony only ($1,195 + 23% service fee + 7% tax = ~$1,600 total) but we were okay with that because of the convenience factor and what it includes (officiant, nice white folding chairs, set up, take down, an arch that they decorate, ceremony music...). I emailed the lady to confirm some things and she write me back and says that ceremony only, irregardless of day or size of the group, is $2,500 + 23% service fee + 7% tax = ~$3,300. WAY more than we were wanting to spend for that portion only. Sigh. I'm just frustrated by it because every other hotel we've looked at just says "wedding packages" and it's for ceremony + reception. Since they had them listed separately it seemed like you could do one or the other or both. Well, you can. But the prices listed are only good if you hold both there. They have a full price sheet POSTED. Why not just list Ceremony Only price and Reception Only prices on those sheets too!?

We're looking around. Trying to check out other places. I thought the harder part would be finding a reception space that we could afford, that was nice, that wouldn't feel too large for our ~40 person group, and that we could afford WITH alcohol. Nope, find that on our second try -- check, check, check, and check. But now the ceremony cost is going to kill us.

We're just trying to take a step back for a bit and let FI get settled into his new job, check out our new take home incomes with both of us working full time and reevaluate.

Your celebration sounds wonderful! I'm glad you enjoyed the restaurant and that they are so reasonable with reception rates.

"Ceremony packages" can stink! So many places seem to charge $$$$ because they think people will just pay (and I guess some do!). Don't give up! There may be a lot of those out there, but you'll also find beautiful locations that are reasonable.

 

[audball]

Your celebration sounds wonderful! I'm glad you enjoyed the restaurant and that they are so reasonable with reception rates.

"Ceremony packages" can stink! So many places seem to charge $$$$ because they think people will just pay (and I guess some do!). Don't give up! There may be a lot of those out there, but you'll also find beautiful locations that are reasonable.

Yeah, they do. Clearly people do it or they'd be charging less. We're still looking. Star Sparkle found a place we didn't come across in our search that we're going to look into.

 

[TooPatient]

Signed contract with the winery yesterday and gave them a check for 50% of total contract. We met both of the chefs we'll be working with and have a good start on the menu for the reception dinner. We are leaving the wines to be used in the tasting up to them. Everything is so wonderful I have no worries leaving it in their hands.

Have to focus on the last of my midterm exams this week and prep for final exams since they are Mon & weds next week.

I'd like to get invites out by the end of next week. The printer is ready as soon as we get them designed and ready to go.

DJ, florist, and any live musicians I want figured out by the time my next quarter starts (1st or 2nd week of April I think).

FI is still working on music for the ceremony, dinner, and dancing.

We start dance classes on march 20.

A great charity is coming to town with gowns on march 29. Still not sure what to do with that. I had wanted to wait until losing weight, but the prices ae really good...

 

[audball]

Great progress TP!

How's everything going for the rest of you ladies? Progress?

 

[TooPatient]

I just got an e-mail from the event coordinator at the winery. 5:30-6:30 ceremony would be "twilight". I'm torn

Do I care?
Is "twilight" okay?
What would "twilight" do to the pictures?

Gah!
I've got to get this sorted out so I can send out the invites!!!


**
Yes... I know.... "Call your photographer!"
I'm going to call them on Monday. Which is fine because I need to make them my photographer officially anyway.

 

[distracts]

How's everything going for the rest of you ladies? Progress?

Yes, there has been progress. Of course, I've been so stressed out and grumpy lately today my fiance sat me down to tentatively ask if he had done anything wrong lately because he was getting angry vibes all the time. I felt so horrible! For the past, gee, month, I've just been so grumpy since all my free time is spent doing wedding stuff and I have barely any time for anything else.

We DID have this big snafu with our caterer. For some reason they had gotten the idea that we were trying to keep the all-in price (food, drinks, staff/fees, taxes, etc) to under $30pp. Which is half of what we budgeted for food alone, much less the other stuff. So basically they kept giving us these menus that were nothing like what we wanted, and then we'd reply and be all "NOOOOoooo" and they'd put us off for a week or two to come up with a new one, that would also be really wrong... and then finally today the wedding planner called them to ask them what the eff was up, and apparently that was what was up. I don't know why they didn't just tell us that to begin with, however I think the lady who was the event coordinator at the venue could have told them that (as they work closely with the caterer), because she has also had many very wrong ideas (and got replaced last week, and the new lady seems more competent). So hopefully now everything will be sorted.

Also... THREE WEEKS.

 

[audball]

Way to go ladies!

TP -- I agree, call the photographer. They will definitely be your best advice on lighting and any potential issues.

Distracts -- It's coming up!!

AFM: We saw another potential venue yesterday! It's a serious contender! We're pretty excited. Lots to talk about still, but we may have found our place!

 

[distracts]

ONE WEEK AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

 

[TooPatient]

Distracts -- How are you doing? Less than one week!!!!

 

[audball]

SO SOON!

 

[distracts]

I actually stopped freaking out at about two weeks out, and just told my mom I've done all the wedding planning I'm going to do and she and the wedding planner can handle anything that comes up from here. I still have a few things I have to do - picking up my dress and making programs/signage being top among them, but mostly I'm good. We're doing a polaroid photo (well, Fujifilm Instax, but whatever) guestbook and so we ordered the camera and film from Amazon and it's supposed to arrive, and I put together a guestbook out of scrapbooking crap today - and I SO did not know that when you buy a scrapbook you have to actually put the pages in it. I thought it came with pages and you glued stuff to them. BUT APPARENTLY NOT. Man that was an enlightening trip to the craft store.

And our honeymoon to Scotland is finally all confirmed officially and stuff, so I went and bought all the travel-size dealies that Target offers.

OH and this morning we got the marriage license!

 

[star sparkle]

Yay! Try to enjoy this last week and not be too stressed out! Sounds like you're doing well in that department already, though, so keep it up!

 

[audball]

Yay! Try to enjoy this last week and not be too stressed out! Sounds like you're doing well in that department already, though, so keep it up!

Agreed! Congrats on your upcoming nuptials! Enjoy every second, it'll be over so fast (or so I'm told)!

 

[distracts]

Well, guys, I have two full days ahead of me before the wedding, so I probably won't post again before it. Then I'll be in Scotland and will probably have to scrounge my internet from cafes or wherever. *kisses* I'll post on the flipside with all the details!

 

[audball]

Well, guys, I have two full days ahead of me before the wedding, so I probably won't post again before it. Then I'll be in Scotland and will probably have to scrounge my internet from cafes or wherever. *kisses* I'll post on the flipside with all the details!

Best of luck!! Early congrats to you!! I can't wait to see photos!

 

[TooPatient]

Well, guys, I have two full days ahead of me before the wedding, so I probably won't post again before it. Then I'll be in Scotland and will probably have to scrounge my internet from cafes or wherever. *kisses* I'll post on the flipside with all the details!

Congratulations! I hope your wedding day is full of nothing but happy memories.

Enjoy Scotland. Don't spend too much time on the scrounged up internet!

 

[distracts]

MARRIED SUCCESSFULLY

And I am back for a quick update because I am actually not tired tonight. I thought I would be but I got 8 hours of sleep last night, which is the most in two or three weeks, so I'm feeling pretty good. And I only had one drink at the wedding, near the beginning, which was the critical error I made at the rehearsal dinner - last night my head hurt and my body hurt and I cried and cried before I went to sleep. I also want to write a lot down in case I forget anything later. SO

REHEARSAL DAY

Went to brunch (breakfast tacos!) with bridesmaids and then we all got mani/pedis. It was super fun. Then we went to the rehearsal, which went horribly because somehow two of my bridesmaids were half an hour late, one was an hour late, and all the men except my brother and friend were really drunk. My fiance (NOW HUSBAND) took everyone on a rollicking and totally unnecessary tour of backstage at the venue. His bff was super drunk and clinging to my maid of honor and being really awkwardly drunk in general. I think the photographer got a lot of REALLY GOOD drunkface shots. No one could stand in their appropriate places. The ringbearer cried. My dad couldn't figure out how to pass my hand from his arm to that of my fiance. My mom and the wedding planners had a zillion questions about little details, none of which I cared about (I know they just wanted to make it perfect, but you'd think after the twentieth "I don't care, whatever you think is best" answer, they'd have backed off). Before we even WENT to the rehearsal dinner I was ready to collapse in a little heap and cry.

The rehearsal dinner was fantastic. My family does toasts at the rehearsal dinner and not at the wedding, so that's what we did, and the toasts were AWESOME. My brother's was best. He really killed it. He spoke right after my college friends, and opened with "Hi, I've also been friends with [Distracts] since the beginning of college," and it just got better from there. (Okay and when I say "toasts," in our family/friend group, they hear "roasts." Well, in my family. Mr. Distracts's family gave like weird heartfelt meaningful stuff, idk what that was about.) After the rehearsal dinner, I went back to my house where my bridal party and some of my friends who live out of town came over to hang out. It was also super fun but by the end I was soooooo tired. And my friends who are from out of town live in Brooklyn and SF and LA (she's a script doctor) and are soooooo freakin hip and cool and called my neighborhood "suburban" and I realized just how different I am than I was in high school, when I would have known the obscure indie movies they were talking about. But we still all really got along and it was soooooo awesome to see them. My maid of honor spent the night (I had REALLY wanted someone to spend the night since Mr. Distracts AND all our pets were gone, but I didn't want to impose so I didn't ask anyone, but then she demanded a sleepover so I was like YESSSSS).

WEDDING DAY

I woke up SO HUNGOVER. Seriously. Two margaritas and a glass of champagne and apparently that was way too much for me. I took a billion Aleve. Maybe it was only two, but it felt like a lot. My dad called and told me that the reason he hadn't really liked a lot of my bridal portraits when he first saw them, he'd realized, was because instead of his little girl they showed a young woman he didn't really know. OBVIOUSLY THERE WAS CRYING. When I got done on the phone, my MOH was like, "wow, shit was intense in there." Another bridesmaid who lives like two minutes away came by to drive to the theater with us. We double-checked the house like three times before we drove away and I only forgot one thing - the gloves I intended to wear with my dress. Which I didn't even realize until I got home and showed Mr. Distracts my bridal portraits and saw the gloves in them and was like oh shoot. But I was only going to wear them for the ceremony anyway.

We got to the theater to get our hair and makeup done. We had our names and a little message on the marquee outside, and some posters of us (and Star Wars posters, haha) in the poster spots on the outside of the building. There was a painting in the green room that was "The Scream"-esque except it said "MADNESS!" across the top and "madness" was totally appropriate for a wedding, lol. There was also a painting of this guy on a guitar who had this really amazing expression on his face. We posed for a lot of amazing pictures with the freaky art they have all over. We listened to 90s music, which we agreed was safe because it's just old enough to where everyone our age has good memories about it. Hair and makeup ran late and the wedding planners were freaking out about portrait times. I didn't really care, whatever, if our portraits are late, we just take fewer pictures. I think they were envisioning taking like every combination of picture, which wasn't really what we wanted to do. I had my new sapphire earrings in, except the piercing on my left ear is all of six days old, so I had to take a long time to put them in after my shower and I couldn't take them out or put them in at the venue due to the newness and my awkwardness, so we fashioned ear-covers out of parts of plastic bags to protect them from the massive amounts of hairspray. The photographer took like a zillion pictures of it, haha.

When they brought me out for first look pictures, I had FORGOTTEN we were doing a first look, and just thought I was going out for pictures all the bridal party, so it was kind of surprising when the mister was the only person out there other than the photographer and he totally started crying when he saw me. When I got close enough for him to say something, what he ended up saying was "You're SO sparkly!" Haha. Then the rest of the bridal party came out and we got pictures. We didn't manage to separate the groomswoman and bridesmen into bridespeople/groomspeople pictures but whatever. Mr. Distracts was really concerned about that when we got home but eh, as I said, there are only so many pictures we can fit on our walls.

While hiding in a curtained-off room while the guests arrived, a flower girl lost a tooth for the first time. I thought that was an auspicious omen about, like, new beginnings and growing up and stuff. She was sitting next to me showing me that it was loose but hadn't come out, when BAM there it was in her hand. Photographer was also really excited about that happening, haha. There are some closeup mouth-blood-on-darling-child photos. My friend from LA, who I've known since third grade, came in but my bridesmaids refused to let her see me so she stuck her nose in the corner and we talked for a bit then did a backwards hug. It was SO hilarious.

The ceremony was lovely. Our philosophy was "ceremony = short and sweet, reception = long and drunk." I walked down the aisle to Brian Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets." Between that song, which always makes me teary for some reason anyway, and my dad, and all the FEEEELINGS I started tearing up. My dad executed the handoff perfectly though. All the bridal party were in their proper places. The flowergirls and ringbearer had made it down the aisle and to their parents successfully (though there was a bit of drama beforehand when one of the flowergirls wanted to hold her brother's (the ringbearer's) hand and the other two wouldn't let her).

We had a judge I know doing the vows. During the vows, there was a part about trust, and for some reason I thought there were more words to it before I had to repeat it, so I waited... and waited... and then the audience cracked up and I was like, shoot, awkward! Then it was successfully repeated back but we could.not.stop.laughing. We had to take a break while I laughed it out. Then during HIS vows, he tried to put the ring on the wrong hand and I was all, "hey, man, other hand!" and everyone cracked up about that too. (He was thrown because he didn't realize I'd be wearing my engagement ring on my right hand, so he was trying to put it on with the engagement ring. I mean, I only told him about that a zillion times, but he forgot.) Our ring-holders didn't forget their cues to give us the rings (a trouble we'd had at the rehearsal), I didn't forget to hand my bouquet to the MOH or pick it up from her, and aside from me accidentally creating jokes, it was perfect. And apparently the accidental funnies were perfect too because we are both funny people, and a lot of people asked if they were planned.

Then their were family pictures. Ugh annoying, don't even want to talk about it, I would have rather been in at cocktail hour and just had no family pictures except with my grandmother. But whatever, my mom wanted them.

I thought I was going to go into the reception and hang out before the first dance but no one let me. I wanted to talk to people and also multiple songs I really wanted to dance to played then. (BY THE WAY, a danger about selecting your own song list - EVERY song is "like omg my totally most favorite song ever OMG!") Our first dance had never been practiced, my HUSBAND (!!!!!!!!) had only heard a clip of the song one time before, and even though he had asked for a waltz, I found out RIGHT BEFORE WE WERE ABOUT TO GO OUT that he DID NOT KNOW HOW TO WALTZ. I was totally freaking out, but between me and the wedding planner we taught him what to do, and he's a fast learner and knows all sorts of other dancing styles so we were good, though I had to occasionally count for him as we danced. Somehow it all went off without a hitch - we only got off beat a few times, he was able to spin me several times and do fancy things, and the dip at the end was perfectly timed, even though he'd never heard the end of the song before and I couldn't remember it. Several people asked where we took dance lessons because they have weddings coming up. We were all, "it's all natural, baby." haha.

Almost everyone ate almost immediately, even though the buffet was going to be open for three hours. (I didn't eat until ten minutes before they took it away.) The bridal party was really confused about the head table because I forgot to tell them about it. Husband and I wandered around talking to people for a bit before the parent dances. He tried to dip his mom, forgetting that she has had back surgery multiple times and her back doesn't really bend. My dad was trying to like hug-dance which was awkward and I kept stepping on his feet. He was super emotional.

About half an hour later was cake-cutting time. omg it was a hot mess. We couldn't figure out what we were supposed to do. Every wedding I've ever been to, the bride and groom just walk up and cut the cake with no fuss. We spent like five minutes negotiating about it and consulting the wedding planner on what we were supposed to do. Then we decided we HAD to cut the groom's cake together too - it was a prime rib shaped cake, I'll totally post a pic - and I ran across the stage with the knife, which was super-safe. We had to negotiate about that one too though overall it went more smoothly. It was SUPER tasty - red velvet with cayenne pepper. Yum yum yum!

Then there was dancing, SO MUCH DANCING, and The Husband did a slow-mo dance to Daft Punk's "One More Time," and everyone broke it down for "Baby Got Back" and there was SO MUCH DAVID BOWIE OMG YES. A friend of mine who has a band and is friends with our dj was telling me that when our dj was talking to him about how I was walking down the aisle to Brian Eno, he was all, "Man, kids these days think they're so effing hip," which is an even more hilarious comment if you know the dj and the friend. And how much they love Brian Eno. It took us half of the song to figure out the moves to the electric slide, which was super awkward. Apparently the cupid shuffle got really intense, but I was in the bar when it was going on and totally missed it. A friend of mine has a husband with really sweet dance moves (she has sweet dance moves too) and he shook his booty a lot and it was awesomely funny. MY husband just kept trying to do stripteases, which was hilarious.

Right before the bouquet toss, my friend from this post demanded that I throw the bouquet to her. I was like "SURE!" so when I got onto the stage I checked where she was, ignored all the other people, faced away, and chucked it straight into her hands somehow magically! I was pretty excited about that. My MOH wanted me to toss it to one of my other bridesmaids but it had already been claimed! I am SO excited for their wedding - I got the save the date like two days ago. They also did my polaroid photo guestbook and I looked at it during the reception and it looked awesome. I've actually never been to a wedding where the groom got the garter with his teeth. I didn't think that was a thing that actually happened. Well. I learned my lesson, hah! My husband (!SO WEIRD TO ADJUST FROM FIANCE) stripped off his jacket and swung it around a few times (prompting cries of "GARTER toss, man, not JACKET toss") before tossing it on a chair, then dove right up there with his head! Then slingshotted it off to my bridesman, who has, in his words "never been to a white-person wedding before." (His mother was invited and came - she makes the BEST baklava and always sends some with him when we hang out and even though I've only met her a handful of times she's like my favorite due to the baklava and grape leave wraps and amazing Egyptian food all the time omg. Well she came out to dance on "Rock the casbah" which I thought was a hilarious choice.)

There was a lot of dancing but the husband disappeared to the bar where I guess he talked to his friends. Most of my friends kept dancing so I kept running back and forth. We took a picture with everyone I went to HS with who was there. That was fun.

The last dance was "Skyfall," which is an appropriately dramatic last dance song, and the husband basically just wanted to make out through it. So whatever, we swayed while making out. We did a rose petal exit tossy thingy, and SO many rose petals went down my dress. We got in the car and the photographer jumped in with us to take pictures of the crowd from our view. Then we drove away and I was so sad it was over - I could have kept going all night! I didn't want to leave my friends, especially the ones I rarely get to see, and I didn't want to stop dancing! Or eating! We DEMOLISHED those cakes, let me tell you.

The first thing I did when we got home was make my husband take pictures of my jewelry while it was all on with my dress/hair/makeup so I'll be able to post them here. lol.