It has only just occurred to me that I never really did set up the day. As in, I never talked about the rehearsal dinner the night before or the morning of the wedding or how the weather was, etc... I kinda' want to do that, so, even though I've already gone through two recaps, I wanna' take a break now to talk about the hours leading up to our big day. Shouldn't take too long.
I spent the whole week before the wedding at my parents' house to get last minute stuff done without worrying about work and the constraints of our house. I also feel calmer at my parents' house because my mom is really good at calming me down and de-stressing me. This is NOT to say that Kyle is bad at it or makes it worse... he's just not as good as my mom... sorry, Sweetie. We got so much done the night before, it's sick... stuff that I swore just wasn't going to get done but my mom insisted would turn out just fine... And then it got done. Wow! So we spent the day before Thanksgiving bringing as many items as we could to Riverdale so that our coordinator could start setting stuff up. I also dropped my dog off at the local kennel for the first time ever... It was traumatic for both of us.
Thanksgiving was wet and kinda' chilly but still, GORGEOUS, by Pennsylvania standards, for late November. I put on a new sweater and we headed to the hotel for Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, his mom, and our whole bridal party. My new sweater started molting all over everything. I mean EVERYTHING and I was like "Really?!?!" and got a little inordinately stressed out about it, so I had to go find our hotel room for the night (that I was sharing with Keri and Jordan) and change. Rehearsal dinner/Thanksgiving dinner hosted by the Courtyard Marriott was totally awesome considering we didn't have to do anything! I wasn't overly hungry, although I tried to eat a lot so that I wouldn't get those funny empty belly stress cramps. I remember masking my nervousness with humor, but I also remember being very happy to see Kyle, who was in Philly for the whole week I was at my parents' and who I was seeing for the first time all week, after changing my molting sweater, and I remember being very very happy that everyone I loved was in a big room together having the weirdest Thanksgiving ever. Oh, there was also a "rehearsal" which consisted of my G just saying what we were going to do... and then we were done... Rehearsal Win!
We all watched the Ravens game that night in the lounge at the hotel and some people drank too much, thankfully no one involved in the wedding. I spent my time mingling because a lot of family members came to the hotel the night before the wedding to avoid Black Friday traffic. Kyle and I stayed up latest and just talked for awhile (necessary! spend time with your honey!!) before finally going to our separate hotel rooms for the night! I slept like a log by the way, got six hours of sleep. It sufficed.
Friday dawned bright and crisp promising a 60+ degree dry day. Let me honestly say that I had maintained NO hopes about the weather being gorgeous on our wedding day because I didn't want to get my hopes up and be horribly disappointed/have no back-up plans. But I thought this must be too good to be true. I had to take my jacket off walking to the salon to get the girls' hair did! It will always remain in my eyes the most gorgeous late November day in the history of Southern Pennsylvania.
I didn't get any pictures of the girls getting their hair done because all I could think of was "HURRY UP!!!!!" So... we'll just leave that at that. Once we got to Riverdale, we had to set up the ceremony site because I had only just finished making the alter the night before Thanksgiving. I had to bring the pieces to the venue on Friday and all hands turned up to help us put it together:
I know, I'm not talking about the alter. Obviously you'll see it in the ceremony and in the details posts. Patience!
I love this picture, love that Ben got both of us working on this labor of love.
I spent a lot of time making sure everything was just so. Thanks to all the guys for sticking around to help out getting that up. I had to jet to start getting ready, Kyle and Co. had more time to help set up last minute things and chill before getting ready... And then they STILL had more time after getting ready to get some formal portraits! Whatever, I'll try not to be too bitter, because God knows there are plenty of pictures of me to come. For now, spotlight on my honey!
I told you he was slick!
I'm so glad we have these pictures of him now. He looks so handsome! Now, sexy time!
^ Casual sexy............................. nonchalant sexy ^ .................... and just-plain SEXY sexy:
He is KILLIN' it! Wearin' that ensemble like he's doin' it a FAVOR!
Anyway, meanwhile, my ensemble is coming together and Ben takes me aside for a few shots before the ceremony starts:
Finally, work that window like it owes you money!!
We'll get into how disappointed I am with my makeup at a later date X)
So, did I have grandiose plans for pictures before the ceremony? You betcha' but then, and even now, I knew I had something even better to look forward to.
Next, we procession!!
Miss a recap so far? Catch up!
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