Weddings, Honeymoons, and Married Life!

ok, i was hoping to make this short, but i believe it might be another mega-post... i promise to stop these! when you're gone for over a week though, i guess it makes sense to have a lengthier post.

the wedding, from the guests' perspective, went off without a hitch - which is awesome. i had a great wedding party that really made everything much more enjoyable than if i'd had to do it all alone (which i did for much of the planning stages). melissa put together practically all the programs, and she and jessi kept me sane before the rehearsal, kim took care of all the wedding-day details (which was such a weight off my shoulders!), and donna ran sound for the ceremony. my gratitude is infinite, and i'm sure thank-you cards can't even begin to express that.

the night before the wedding was a bit stressful with the rehearsal running a little longer than i'd intended, and though i planned to sort of be "in charge" of it, the pastor ran the show, so i wasn't completely clear on some of the things i'd hoped to rehearse. also, there were a few things we'd changed in the actual ceremony wording that the pastor didn't seem to get the memo on (well he sort of passive-agressively ignored the memo), so i was a little worried about things going as we'd hoped. leaving later than planned, the rehearsal dinner location stressed me out by calling like 5 times and trying to pull some more crap, but after i got upset and called andrew slightly distraught, he called them back and took care of things. by the time we arrived, everything went great, and people are still raving about how much they liked the dinner, atmosphere, and whole idea of tapas dining for a rehearsal dinner. i was really pleased.

as most people do, i had trouble sleeping the night before the wedding. i stayed up late finishing the last ring bearer pillow and doing my own nails (french manicure style). i went to bed hoping they wouldn't get all crapped up while i slept. sleeping did not immediately follow though, as i started freaking out about money and ended up having to get up and call the automated bank system to calm my nerves. in the end, we came out in the red for sure, but everyone (including my family and andrew) seems to think it was worth it. i agree, but it's hard to be completely without a savings when you've had one as long as you can remember.

the morning of the wedding was pretty disastrous, to be honest. we woke up and headed to breakfast, where i could hardly eat, then my mom and i tried to take care of the billing at chetola, but the NEW wedding coordinator (who took over a few weeks before the wedding and made me nervous the whole time) was nowhere to be found, which stressed me out. i was informed by the front desk that "she has a wedding today, so she's busy with that" at which point it was all i could do to jump and scream IT'S MY WEDDING YOU MORON - FIND HER!!! but apparently i was a very calm bride, and most people didn't even realize until i told them that it was my wedding day. on the way back up to the condo, i stopped into the reception tent, and when i got back to my mom's car, i completely lost it. all the things we'd gone over so carefully with the NEW coordinator were completely messed up. tables were where they weren't supposed to be, many little details we'd gone over were completely forgotten, and there were large black and red "no smoking" signs posted on each side on the inside of the tent. i couldn't believe it, and i really felt like all the work i'd done, and all the money i'd paid, was just going to be wasted on some botched-up event. after bawling in my mother's car, she promised to take care of everything, and we proceeded to the hair appointment. later, i realized that jennifer, the OLD coordinator, somehow took over the event. she was the one there who reset things before we got back, she was the one cutting the cake, and she was the one who ultimately took care of the billing. i don't know what happened to the other girl, and jennifer did look slightly annoyed at times, but i was fine with it because at least she was competent, which is more than i can say for the new girl.

when i got to the hair appointment, my mom had been running late, so the guy doing my hair ran late. he didn't seem to have any recollection of how i wanted my hair (even after we showed him the pictures), and he did it differently than before. it turned out ok, but it was less secure than it had been, and i was constantly worried about it falling out. it wasn't exactly how i think i always envisioned my hair looking, but the feedback was unanimously positive. feeling late, frustrated, and rushed, we stopped in to pick up my dress, where donna (my savior from "did someone say party?") decided she would deliver and tie me into the dress. we rushed over to the church, and i felt discombobulated while i did my own make-up, waited on the dress, realized the straps were too long, realized my undergarment hosiery was too big (and had to go commando), and tried not to cry. my bouquet was about a third of the size i thought it would be, but luckily while i did my make-up, the florist added more calla lilies to the bouquet, and it looked better by the time we were ready for it. i got my make-up done, got my jewelry on, and took pictures with the photographer while donna simultaneously sewed me into the dress. talk about above and beyond the call of duty, and last-minute adjustments!
aside from almost missing our entrance (no one was really there to tell us girls when to go in) and the photographer trying to take one last picture (that sent the groomsmen up the stairs to grab us and me running down them as the flash went off), from there on out, it was good. the wedding went well, with the only hilarity being the loss of one ring bearer, andrew and my exclamation of "rings!" in a mocking fashion (one of the parts we tried, without success, to omit from the ceremony wording), and kaitlynn hitting her head from doing summersaults during the wedding. it went pretty well. pictures were HOT, but fast enough, and the reception went extremely well. people were happily chatting, eating, and drinking when we made our grand entrance. i loved seeing my family and friends enjoying themselves and having such a great time smiling and dancing. i was finally able to let loose and enjoy the day, and i'm grateful for it and all the people who took the time to share it with us.

after some fun mid-reception couples shots and the end of the dance-party portion of the reception, we had our last dance (and andrew did quite well on the dancing front, i might add), and the party ended. we went up to our room and enjoyed the flower petals on the bed, changed clothes, and then went out for a late-night stroll around chetola. we walked back to the now broken-down tent and had a last dance together on the vacant dance floor. it was quite magical. after going back to the room and enjoying the jacuzzi tub and getting the crud out of my hair, we watched some law and order (seriously, how us is that?) and went to bed. our married life began!

the next day we had breakfast with friends, got the tuxes taken care of, set off on our honeymoon (with a pit-stop at our house to clean the car and re-pack the car), and in a few hours we were at the inn at the biltmore in asheville. andrew surprised me with tuxedo strawberries and champagne in the room, and we had a fantastic view! we were waited on hand and foot, got massages, toured the house, ate like kings, drank a plethora of wine, and in a few days our stay was up. andrew had gotten a cold, and it was yucky and rainy, so rather than camping, we spent two nights in a fancy-pants bed and breakfast called 1900 inn on montford in the montford historic district of asheville.
the two person jacuzzi tub, fantastic shower (complete with steam room!), and complete privacy was exactly what we wanted. by the end of our stay though, we were done with asheville (we actually found it pretty boring), and we missed the dogs. we headed back to boone on friday instead of monday, picked the dogs up, and headed to the triangle to spend labor day with our families. the dogs, being fed inordinate amounts of food at the boarding facility, were on a strict diet and exercise regimine, but are beginning to get back to normal size, and though we never got to camp or climb (things i am seriously dying to do now), our honeymoon was exactly what we wanted it to be. relaxing, fun, restful, together-time.

oh yeah! and on sunday night, we (andrew) dyed my hair!!! ya know, something new and different :-P
before:

after:

back in the real world, we went to work today. it was hard to get back in the groove. my job has completely reorganized (and since it's a small company, they can just up and do that), and more and more andrew and i feel like we're just biding our time until we can move somewhere with more feasible, better jobs. we're trying to make as many strides towards that as possible, but we're learning the art of patience. after work, we were going to go climb, but we were in desperate need of groceries, and by the time shopping was done, both of us were into cooking and eating rather than climbing. man, have i done a lot of eating recently! i made salmon marinated in white-wine, red pepper, and onion, as well as some porcini mushroom risotto (which was mediocre to be generous), and asparagus, baby-bellas, and onions in olive oil, salt and pepper. we ate it with the pinot grigio from the biltmore (they don't do reds well, but whites they aren't bad at). overall, it was a passable dinner. i hoped for better, but andrew seemed to enjoy it. we popped in some (also mediocre) chocolate chip muffins for dessert, and i promptly fell asleep on the futon. i guess i was wiped out! but seriously, who wouldn't be after all that.

i definitely feel blessed to have had such a great wedding/reception/honeymoon, friends and family, and i am beyond blessed to have married such a wonderful man. perfect man for me.