Alright y’all, are you ready for the next post about our wedding?

We enjoyed a wonderful buffet meal catered by the same restaurant that had catered my parents’ wedding. Well, the guests and my groom did anyway that is. I only had a tiny bit of pulled pork and potato salad. I completely missed the chicken, but I did get to sample one single delicious meatball (stolen straight off of a bridesmaid’s fork – lol). We didn’t do any toasts or speeches, although my MOH had written one which she shared with me later:

“My goodness. You got married today. Once upon a time. At dance weekend, my first dance weekend, there was this incredible moon at the dance Saturday night. There were a group of people discussing nerdy things I had no clue of, but I was really infatuated with this ring that seemed to encompass all 500 acres of Jackson’s Mill. C was the only one to see the beauty I saw in that ring. From then on, we were friends. The type of friends who discuss boys and heart break (which came for us multiple times in many different forms). Then when we were about to age out of dance weekend, there was this boy – who I was skeptical of, because, if you knew her choices… It was different. It was good. The whole weekend was spent picking apart this boy. Then she told me he was a knitter. I told her to marry him. Today she did. Here’s my speech/toast. I l.o.v.e love you, all the t.i.m.e time.”

It’s funny because I’ve wondered a few times if she remembered that moon, and moons were certainly a theme for the day.

Our wedding dance songs were an interesting mix. The Father-Daughter Dance was to Forever Country, a mix of Country Roads, On the Road Again (a nod to all of our WV road trips), and ending with I Will Always Love You. Yes, I bawled like a baby.

The Fellow and his mother danced to In My Life by the Beatles, and we finished the dances out with My Lady’s House by Iron and Wine. After that, we cut the cake and settled down to just relax for an hour or so.

We left the reception in the same Beetle I had arrived in to head to a campfire with our reenacting friends.

That night the head of our household walked with me to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and stopped me in the field. He turned me to where the moon was shining right above the trees and made me stop for a moment just to breathe and enjoy the view of our wedding moon.

After returning to the campfire, we continued celebrating our wedding with a special gift – a wedding-themed teacup from which to sip my moonshine as we sat around the fire. I truly couldn’t think of a more fitting way to finish a truly spectacular day than with the most wonderful of people at the start of being married to the most wonderful of men.

Alright kids, here we go with part two of our wedding!

As I mentioned earlier I was a little serious about my timeline so at exactly 12:29, my father started the drive from the picture area to the pavilion in my 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.

As soon as we got out of the car, I got a stone in my shoe, but I didn’t care. I could barely keep from tearing up as we headed to the arch.

There were so many people, and the pavilion looked beautiful. Someone made me take a second to look at it all put together, and I wish I would’ve stopped longer, but the processional music was already playing, and I was panicked that there would be a long awkward pause (there wasn’t), and we headed down the aisle.

For those wondering, the family and bridal party walked to Let Me Be Your Wings from Thumbelina, and my father and I walked to Soon from the same. Come on now, what would my wedding be without some animated classics? Our reception music was also instrumental arrangements of Disney songs.

The ceremony was short and sweet, and I was terrified I was going to put the ring on the wrong hand, stumble, or miss a cue. It was over so quickly; I can barely remember everything that was said.

We hadn’t intended on a receiving line but wound up having one anyway, which worked out well because I got to see everyone, especially as a few guests could only attend the ceremony and needed to leave immediately after.

I loved seeing everyone. I tried to make sure that I sat at each table during the reception and visited a bit, but I’m sure I missed people.

After we made it through the receiving line and while everyone was enjoying the tea and scones (which I sadly do not have a picture of), we took the family photos. By that time, I was SO tired that I opted out of staged photos with my groom. I was just DONE. I wanted to sit and drink something and enjoy the food and fellowship. Can you blame me?

Guys, guys, guys! I finally get to share our wedding with you!

Everyone kept telling me what a blur the day would be, but I so wasn’t ready for it to be true.

For our venue, we rented a local park’s back area which skirted a lake and included a pavilion and gazebo. We had reserved it for two days. On Friday, my father pulled into the park trailering my vintage VW Beetle. He quickly made friends with the park rangers who came to admire the bug, and they accommodated us by allowing us to stay late and do most of the draping of the pavilion that night and by permitting an early entrance on the day of the wedding. My parents were there by 6:30 AM to finish setting everything up.

Meanwhile, I woke up at 5:00 AM that morning as I usually do, only I couldn’t fall back asleep. Unfortunately, I woke up the two bridesmaids who were sharing my hotel room. We tried to fall back asleep but with little luck. Eventually, we called it a loss and got up for the day, making our way to the lobby for some pumpkin spice coffee.

I was very serious about my timeline, but everyone did their best to calm me down and keep me away from my phone or anything with a clock.

My photographer, maid of honor (MOH), and hairstylist kept me calm by keeping me plied with coffee and meditation music (and then the Harry Potter soundtrack, because, why not?) I am SO grateful to those three women for keeping me together.

My MOH is a makeup freak, and she did my makeup for me. I have never been more relieved to not have to put my own face on in my life. I just sat there, and we chatted and listened to music, and it was very relaxed.

We took some photos with the girls as I gave them their gifts. This is one of my favorites.

I wish I could’ve spent more time with the girls getting ready, but there really was no room in that itty bitty bathroom for them, and we didn’t have a lot of extra time to hang out. After the photos, it was time to struggle into the dress.

We have had a bit of a situation with the dress. When I went to the salon to pick it up and try it on, the sales lady didn’t button me completely into the dress, and two weeks before the wedding she told me it would need let out. I called the seamstress who they said would handle my alterations, but she was booked. I ended up driving to my home town to a lovely lady who altered my sister-in-law’s dress. She took the time to fully button me in and told me she’d never seen a wedding gown that didn’t need alterations before, but mine fit like a glove.

Needless to say after that, I was nervous about the dress and praying to God it still fit. It did. My father and mother came in for a first look at me in the dress; then while Mama showered and got ready, my father drove me to the park for photos.

One sweet moment that popped out was in the hallway of the hotel as I was leaving. I realized I wasn’t wearing the Fellow’s (the Husband? Hmm . . . I’m going to need to think about that one . . .) grandmother’s pearls. “C” the MOH’s fellow ran to fetch them for me, and actually put them on as I couldn’t manage it amidst all the dress tulle piled around me as I entered the truck. “C” was actually phenomenal ALL day. He went to the park to set up in the morning, helped with photos, fetched and carried things for me all day, made me a plate of food and ensured I ate, found my flip-flop for me at the end of the day, and even took off my wedding shoes (which I couldn’t reach in all the dress), and put my flip-flops on for me.

We made it to the park where the fellows were finishing up their photos, and the girls helped me carry my dress across the road from the parking lot for our “first look” photos.

Here is where I made a mistake. It was SO hot (86 degrees at 12:00) that I was sweating and starting to burn. I didn’t get full wedding party photos with both the girls and guys. I got them separately, but not together. I figured I’d get them after the ceremony, but that didn’t end up happening as the family photos took longer than I anticipated. Soon it was time to make our way to the ceremony sight. More to follow soon.

Hey, everyone! Sorry for the radio silence. I never realized how stressful/time-consuming wedding planning would be. I know a lot of that is on me as I wanted to do most of the things myself, and it’s pretty craft heavy.

The Big Day though is almost upon us;  we’re just 6 days out!  Almost all of my projects are completed, and I want to be able to just relax the rest of the week. We’ll see how that goes.

I never got around to sharing with you about my awesome Bridal Shower/ Bachelorette Party!

I’m not much of a party girl, so I wanted to keep things low-key. We are also on the latter end of things, and some girls had a distance to drive, so I suggested we just roll the bridal shower over into the bachelorette party.

The theme of the shower was Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and they did such an awesome job! A very sweet lady at work saved me some of her hydrangeas to add to their blue decorations, and it looked phenomenal!

We had tea and snacks and played some bridal shower games. My favorite was making a wedding dress out of toilet paper. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard!

Once the bridal shower wound down, the girls treated me to Hibachi (and made me wear the tiara!). After some yummy food and a side trip of Halloween shopping, we came back to the house for Tiffany Blue punch, the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and girl talk into the wee hours of the morning. I had such a blast!

I can’t wait to get everyone together on Friday for the rehearsal dinner; then it’s on to the Big Day!

The wedding is just 40 days away now. That means I’m working double time to cross off all of the little projects on my list. Wedding shoes (which it looks like I may have to scrap because they hurt my feet) are finished, all of the plates, utensils and decorations are for the most part here and in storage, so there are just a few more projects like table numbers and music to go before the Big Day.

The Fellow’s grandmother had suggested a meet and greet with both of our families, so we hosted a BBQ yesterday. I got all of the wedding stuff moved out of the living room and into the craft room, and then the Fellow helped me get everything all clean and shiny for the visit. (I hate to mop.)

We  have a large back porch that was once screened in (and will be again just as soon as we can get to it). I asked my father to bring two picnic tables for us to use, and they both fit onto the porch (right inside our ring-of-bug-protection Tiki torches) perfectly! One of the tables he brought he especially made for us, so now we have our own table to host our outdoor events!

It was a great day. We had my parents, grandmother, and aunt and uncle and his mother, grandparents, sisters, oldest sister’s fiancé, and niece and nephew. A full house (or porch) for sure!
His grandmother brought us a beautiful flower arrangement from her garden that I’m enjoying as I sit here with my morning coffee.

I’m glad we got together, and I can’t wait for October!

I thought I’d just take a little time today to catch everyone up with where I am in the insane task of wedding planning.

Let me tell you – the wedding industry is a hot mess. Everything in white is 3xs more expensive and twice as silly. Our grandparents had it right – simple vows in the church, cake and punch in the church’s reception hall in the basement and done.

It’s 101 days until our wedding day or so the countdown on my phone tells me. In case you’re wondering, I’m not a countdown type of person. It’s panic inducing. However, I really need to keep an eye on time, so I can get everything done and ordered on schedule.

If you really want to be overwhelmed, they make these obnoxiously lovey-dovey countdown apps that break down the time until your “I do’s” not just my month, week, day, hour, minute, and second . . . but . . . by . . . heartbeat . . . because that’s not just creepy.

Little by little I’m getting things done.

I’m so grateful for all of the people in my life who are helping me. A solid bunch of them are people who I’ve met through my fiance´and who are a part of the SCA. I don’t know what I’d do without them!

I’m glad I decided to revamp the theme when we switched to a park venue. I work better with a theme, and our “Enchanted Woods Wedding” is slowly taking shape.

There are wishing wells, moss (lots of moss), and fairies everywhere. I can’t wait to share the pictures with you!