Wedding Recap

I will try to get everything in as I describe this past weekend and all the fun that went along with it! It's going to be a long one, so buckle up and hunker down! lol

So, I'll start with Friday evening after work. I get to mom's and start cleaning, did all the dishes and put away everything on the counters for mom. Vaccuumed the carpet. Mom told me to wait until Saturday morning to do the floor. (it was already done when I got there that morning yay) Mike got there with Ben and they put the canopy up. We thought we were missing a piece, and started freaking out a little. Minor setback but they finally got it figured out and put up. Then I strung the lights, and went home. Got a shower and then went out to dinner with Jess, my maid of honor. We went to Olive Garden and it was FANTASTIC. We were such pigs lol. We got two appetizers, stuffed mushrooms and spinach dip - both SO good, and then we both got an entree. I got the linguine alfredo, since we had salad and breadsticks as well, and ended up taking half of it home. I also ran into one of the guys I used to work with at Applebees, and said hello. It was good to see Frank, even though I didn't get to talk to him much. After that, Jess and I drove around "house shopping" (in the dark lol, NOT so easy) and then called it a night. Mike went out with John, and didn't come in until after I did. We went to sleep, our last night together for the weekend. =)

Saturday morning, I get up and get over to Mom's. Mike stays in bed (lazy bones lol) and sleeps some more. Mom is already making the pasta salad when I get there (I slept in too, so I guess I am guilty as well) and I jump in on icing the cupcakes and cake. It turned out great. I'm definately not TALENTED like the lovely Jacqui I look up to so much (love ya Jac! One of these days I'm going to get you to do a birthday cake for Mike) but it looked good nonetheless. The cupcakes were iced with aqua and the cakes are white with aqua trim. It looked great! Then after that was done, I went home to get Mike. We got the car cleaned out (thank god - even though it's already filthy again) and then took it to get it washed. Mike dropped me back off at Mom's and went to get the stereo equipment from his uncle. Mom and I went to Walmart to get some last minute things: strawberries, sodas, tablecloths, etc. Mike dropped off the stereo stuff while we were gone, so I didn't get to see him any more that night. Mom and I finished up what we needed to do to get ready, and Andrea (my sister) and I went to my house to meet up with the girls who were staying the night with me! Jaime arrived first, then Jess. We decided we were going to go watch the fireworks, so when Eric dropped Trish off we talked him into taking us down to the strip mall where we could see them. It wasn't a great show, I guess our town was really short on funds, because the finale....quite frankly, it sucked. I ran into Mike's aunt as they were leaving and said hi. We went back to the house and watched Bride Wars. I wasn't impressed. They showed all the funny parts in the preview, and I was bored. I love Anne Hathaway, and Kate Hudson, but that was not a good movie. I won't watch it a second time. Then, we put Wedding Crashers in, and Jess and I painted our nails....by now its 11:30. OOPS. Almost forgot to do it, and I would've been scrambling the next day, but we remembered. Andrea went to bed early, she wasn't feeling well, and we all crashed around 12:30. I was happy, I got exactly six hours of sleep, I was groggy in the morning but not bad.

We all got up around 6:30 and dropped cars off at the reception site and then all piled into Jaime's car to ride up to get my hair done. We got there about 8:00, and Bre arrived at 8:30. The photographer arrived at 9:00. Everything went so smoothly that morning. Bre finished my hair and it was fantastic! Lasted all day and looked great! =) Photographer....not so much. She didn't know what she was doing and kept asking me if I wanted pictures, and just stood there and talked instead of snapping the shutter. I really hope the quality of the pictures are awesome, cuz if not....oh I don't know but I won't be happy. So anyway, went down and got pizza about an hour before the ceremony cuz I was starving (no breakfast lol) and then did my makeup and got dressed. Got all ready to go. Mom zipped me up, and we went down to the living room to wait. All of a sudden it was time to go!

The ceremony decorations were BEAUTIFUL! Mike's Nan and Mom decorated everything, and it looked fantastic! I wouldn't have changed a thing, they worked so hard, and it showed! =) Finally it was time to go. Jess went down first, the song was too long. LOL So, Andrea cut it off and went to mine. I walked. It was strange, I was expecting to feel time slow down, but it went to fast and I didn't get a good look at Mike until Mom handed me over! It was so cute, she kissed me on the cheek and then she kissed Mike on the cheek too! AWW =) So, then I was expecting the pastor to tell everyone they could be seated, but....he didn't. LOL Everyone STOOD for the entire ceremony!! They never sat down, and of course I didn't notice until someone mentioned it later - LOL! It was actually suprisingly easy to say the vows for me =) I didn't stutter, and I was so excited I couldn't stop smiling! I was very nervous, but I didn't cry!! I made it all the way through the ceremony and only lost it when my sister hugged me after everything was over, because she was already crying! So no ugly cry face - I did good!!! =) And I only tripped a little on the rug at the bottom of the entrance stairs, so NO clumsyness either! YAY =) The best part was afterwards, I hugged Mike and kissed him and then ran around and hugged EVERYONE THERE =) (30 some people, not bad) Then we took some pictures and all the posed photos, and then everyone went off to the reception.

Mike and I took the time in between to go check into the hotel. (I traded in my shoes for flip flops right after the ceremony because my toes were numb. HAHA you should have seen me I NEVER wear flip flops because I can't walk in them. I trip over the front part.) IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. I was so excited I didn't want to leave. It had an IN ROOM jacuzzi. Not in the bathroom. IN the room! It was great. So we dropped our stuff off and headed to the reception.

The reception was fun! Short, but fun. We got there and said our hellos, and Mike hung out with his friends while I circulated around to everyone and talked and mingled. My stepdad and Mike's dad did the grilling (they get along GREAT! its scary...lol) and got everything started. It was so warm inside the house that the poor cake was leaning and was melting, so we went ahead and cut the cake right away. HE DIDN'T ICE ME! I was so scared but he played nice because he knew it would stain my dress. It was very nice, I said thank you to everyone for coming and to enjoy the party! Short simple, sweet and to the point. (Mom's philosophy for everything...lol) So, anyone who wanted cupcakes first grabbed one, and the rest went back outside. Food was ready soon after, hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta salad, macaroni salad, and macaroni and cheese. GOOD FOOD. Yum. We were really happy with how the day went. Everyone who was invited and said they wre coming came by except for two people, and we had a fantastic time. Everyone was pretty much gone by 5:00 (it started at 3:00) but that was ok, because our wedding party and a few of our close friends stayed until almost 10:00 and the people who left early missed out on the fireworks and the smores!! =)) Yumm. I wasn't really in the mood to dance and party anyway, I just wanted to hang out with everyone in a laid back feel good environment until it was time to go to the hotel, which is what we did! I mean, we didn't even do our first dance! Mike decided it wasn't necessary, and I didn't care either way, so now that is the song that our photography video will be played to. And our only damper on the evening was when the lady down the street came up to get us to stop shooting off our fireworks ( and we got the GOOD STUFF from PA ) because it was "spooking" her horses. Ok. Fine. Whatever. Party Pooper. And she even said to me in this condescending manner "Congratulations by the way, but...." Was NOT happy, but who cares right?

Everything literally went perfectly. It was smooth, there were no catastrophes, the weather was PERFECT (I couldn't have asked for a better day!...and I was worried...ha!) I wore my dress all day and wasn't hot or uncomfortable at all (it was 75ish the WHOLE day) and the ONLY thing I think I would have done differently was hire a different photographer. She was nice and great and all that, but she did NOT know what she was doing, and kept asking me "Are there any more pictures you want?" I SHOWED YOU THE ONES I WANTED - DO YOUR FREAKIN JOB. You could tell she was just a picture taker, not a creative PHOTOGRAPHER. Ugh. All I can say is that the quality of the photos better be fantastic because if not I am going to be highly pissed. There are no do-overs. I mean I saw her sitting at the table with her camera NOT SHOOTING and ON TOP of that she lit out early. PLUS she hasn't even LOOKED at the pictures yet, which means I probably won't see another photo until next week or maybe the week after. Meanwhile, I have NO PICTURES to show anyone!! Sheesh. We shall see.

So then, on to the honeymoon. The hotel room was great, the jacuzzi was great. On Monday, we got up and took me to the Social Security Office to get my new card. I should have it in about two weeks. Then I can get my driver's license. So, after that we headed down to Luray Caverns. It was so much fun, Mike must have taken at LEAST 600 pictures down there and of the antique cars. It was great. The beauty just doesn't come through the photos though, you really have to experience the cavern firsthand. The organ was AWESOME as always, and we had alot of fun.

Tuesday we got up and made our way up to the Cacoctin Zoo. FUN. Lots of cute animals. Baby wolves and monkeys, sun bears, and allegators. We had a good time. We tried to stop at this waterfall we had seen on the way in, but you had to pay to get in (didn't know that) so we didn't go. I mean really...are you serious? Whatever. LOL So, we went shopping and got us the can crusher that we wanted from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and then went over to Best Buy and bought me the Sims 3 =))) So excited to play it, only to get home and find out my video card isn't compatible!!! GRR. So I have to wait to play it.

Well, that's our wedding in a nutshell, (a rather LARGE nutshell LOL) I'm so glad it went well, and everything went smoothly and that everyone loved it and had a good time!

I'm MRS. FARRIS! yayyy =)