That time I got married Part II

Honestly, I was so suprised that I wasn't able to sleep the night before my wedding. I wasn't nervous about marrying Preston and I was sooooo tired, but I think I just had TOO much in my head.

Amanda, my cousin and MOH showed up early to rouse me :) She brought me an adorable little case that she made full of wedding day needs!! (Side note:Amanda has an online shop where she makes handbags...and they are AH-MAZING. http://milkandhoneyhandbags.com/)

Manda drove out with me to the farm. We were met there by my Dad and his girlfriend Yvonne, my Aunts and Uncles, my cousin Jack, my bridesmaids, Trisha's parents, Preston's parents, and his friend Rich. Everyone helped in getting the decor set up. We had a lot of ground to cover, but with so many people helping...it was finished pretty quickly. Henry and Donna (Trisha's parents) assembled a beautiful archway that Henry made.  

Here we go :D

My bridesmaids so sweetly brought me this 

All set up inside!!

Building centerpieces :D

The girls and I went upstairs into the beautiful bridal suite and just kind of hung around together. I had given everyone DV Biologics (my company's) shirts: "It's not you. It's meiosis" #Nerdforlife ;) The make up artist ended up being nearly 2 hours late (omg) and arrived with a terrible attitude, but we didn't let her get us down!! 

My reaction to the negative comments by the make up lady :P

My dad and Yvonne brought us Roy Rogers (my fave!!) for lunch. We feasted and sipped champagne.

Since the make up lady was so late, we were really rushed to take pictures before the ceremony. We didn't get as many as I would have liked, but before I knew it...we were ready to go.

All day it had been drizzling and threatening to really rain, but as if by some miracle...it held off enough that we WERE married OUTSIDE. Yay!!

It's all a blur to me as I walked down the aisle towards Preston.  I chose two really beautiful songs...the bridal party walked into an instrumental of "Shenandoah" and I walked in to The Princess Bride's "Storybook Love". I thought for SURE I'd be a balling mess, but somehow...I was resigned and held it together :) I kept my eye on the prize and went down the aisle. 

(I STILL don't have our wedding pictures...and honestly they aren't very good....long story, but thankfully...Preston's mother's friend took some great shots)

Preston's neighbor and great family friend Dale married us in a ceremony he wrote based in poetry :) It was beautiful. At the end...he said that in our modern times, let it be the bride to kiss the groom :) I loved it!!

My Aunt Toni taped our vows!! What a treat :)

After the ceremony, we had an impromptu and unplanned receiving line. I hadn't really given it much thought, but I'm very glad it turned out that way because it gave us a chance to say a personal hello to all our guests...and I got like 100 hugs ;)

We took a bunch of group pictures...though, again, not as many as I had hoped (more on that later) and then went into the reception.

Preston had made an extensive playlist for the wedding. Music is one of his favorite things and he loves 'setting the vibe'. He did an awesome job!! The music list was made of timeless classics appealed to people of all ages.

My dad gave such a touching and great speech :D

Manda also gave an incredible speech 

I was really pleased with the food...except, apparently, the hamburgers were raw (eek). The cake was amazing. We had a photobooth, which was loads of fun. I'd highly recommend that to anyone. 

SMORES :D

I think probably everyone thinks that their own wedding is great and I am not different. It was a beautiful setting, we were surrounded by SO much love, the music was phenomenal, the food was good, and we had a great time. Best of all...the rain held off. It may be cheesy, but I like to think this may have been my deceased Grandpa's gift to me. :) 

We left amongst a shower of sparklers and departed in a private town car. As we piled in...all was quiet around the front of the farm house and Preston said, "I don't have my wallet or anything". The driver told us we could run back in to grab stuff if we wanted...so we sprinted across the yard and into the empty house doing a dash and grab for all our stuff as our guests finished up the party outside in the tent. It was a funny moment and we were so full of happiness and adrenaline. I'll never forget it. As we tumbled back into the town car and turned out onto the road...rain drops splashed down on the windshield. Incredible :) 

UPDATE:

This is a link to all our wedding pics for anyone that would be interested...the password is honeymoon.  

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 :) 

Cluttered

Barren 

Our apartment is a complete mess right now. I feel like it's some outward manifestation of my mind :P 

Between trying to get things at work to a place where I feel better about leaving (ridic, right?) and saying farewells to friends and trying to research and book an around the world trip and packing up all our belongings and deciding what to take in only a carry-on for 5+ months, I feel a bit muddled. 

The hardest of these is...what the heck to pack for this trip!!  A great resource that I've found is herpackinglist.com.  This site offers lots of advice on packing, reviews of travel supplies, and even example packing lists. It's definitely food for thought.  

We have less than two weeks to go. It sure is bittersweet!! I've really loved living here in Long Beach and I've made some really great friends and had some exceptionally good times. I've grown a lot as a person, found my independence, gained a tremendous amount of confidence and met the love of my life.  My coworker said to me the other day "Kelly, don't worry about anything on your trip...you won California...it's just on to the next thing". When I asked her what she meant...she said, "California. You came. You conquered." Haha. You know what Marcy? I think I have to agree ;) 

I mean, nothing says "I conquered" like having clothes on your dining table ;)