That time I got married Part I

I'm about three months behind in my wedding recaps, but life is busy!! It's funny, because in life...I make it a habit to procrastinate (almost) nothing...but in the blog world? ha!!

Right...well, I got married!! It's crazy to me, because it was never in my life plan to do so. But, sometimes, you meet someone...and they shake up your life plan a bit ;)

Erica snapped this the night we met :)

I did all the wedding planning myself. My experience with that is a topic for another post...but boy, it is a lot of work!! Someone told me early on to enjoy it and to have fun...and I am grateful for that advice, because it does put it all into perspective.

I was fortunate enough to be able to take off the entire week before my wedding. I departed LA exactly one week before and headed home to Maryland. When we landed...I checked the weather forecast:

Hey o!! Saturday looks perfect!!

I was so excited for the warm and perfect weather with 0% chance of rain!! I texted all my bridesmaids!!  

I had a great week at home working on all my wedding tasks. My mom was awesome with helping me run all my errands and do all the crafts I needed to get done. My local bridesmaids came over for a craft night and helped me with errands too. I don't often get to go home for any extended amount of time, so it was really fabulous to get to spend so much time there and catch up with everyone. It was a busy week...up at 7am and in bed at 1am...but it was oh so much fun :) 

Craft Night

Welcome bags for hotel guests

Final Dress fittings

Working on Maddie's amazing sign

Unfortunately, about two days after arriving home, the leftover remnants of a tropical storm moved up from North Carolina and sat stationary over Maryland for days and days. This storm system just DUMPED rain and my perfect weather forecast went to this:

Noooo!! Rain!! Rain all around!! Our venue was an outdoor venue and while it could have been done to accommodate the rain...it was just better to be OUTDOORS!! I prayed to everyone I could think of. I did anti-rain dances. I tried to focus on the important part of my day...it wasn't the weather!! It was marrying Preston!! But, gosh darnit...marrying him sure would be nice if we could do it outside ;)

As the week drew to a close, my California bridesmaids arrived :) I picked up Gianna in DC and we had a great dinner with my Aunt and Uncle. It was nice to have some downtime with them before the madness set in. I got to bump into my beloved and his family as they arrived around when Gianna did. Meredith and Erica came later.

Due to the pouring rain...we didn't get to do much sightseeing, but we did walk the mall a bit. Another speed bump for the wedding week was that the government was shut down. Many of my guests had planned to tour DC over the weekend of the wedding, but no such luck :-/

The day before the wedding was a busy one!! I was just completely exhausted. The girls came over early in the morning to my Mom's for breakfast and to make our own bouquets. This saved me a ton of money and luckily Preston's Aunt Andi was the daughter of a florist!!

Smocks on!!

Preston's mother and sister in law threw me a wonderful bridal luncheon, which was the perfect way to have a moment of calm with my friends. It was at my favorite restaurant and we actually ran into some other of my wedding guests :) The rain continued to POUR down. 

Yummy cupcakes

After lunch, about half of us went for pedicures and manicures. It was a nice break, but it took a looonnng time!! We rushed around afterwards to get ready for the rehearsal dinner and I even ended up being a tad late...to my OWN rehearsal!! I spent a few minutes in the car alone listening to the steady fall of the rain and trying to gather my thoughts. 

We had our rehearsal dinner at a well known Frederick restaurant. Preston's parents rented a great big room. We had a small practice about where to stand, etc and then ate some delicious food. Preston's dad opened up the floor for anyone who wanted to say a few words. I was beyond touched by the things that people said...on both sides. My family isn't one for public speaking (unlike Preston's crowd!!). Both my Aunt Sherry and my Aunt Anna spoke and it was so meaningful to me. Gianna, Meredith and Erica said wonderful things. I feel teary eyed even now thinking about the kind things that they said. It was a wonderful evening and quite an experience to be surrounded by SO much love and support. 

My awesome Aunt Sherry organizing it all

After the rehearsal, we had a sort of meet and greet at a bar downtown.  By this point...my photographer had canceled, the make up lady had the completely wrong time and I was dead on my feet. Nikki drove me home and put me to bed, but I was in for a sleepless night :)