*fair warning...this is VERY LONG with tons of pictures!*
Now that I've completely lost all but 10 subscribers (though I'm not so
sure there were too many more to begin with...) I'll finally update
about the wedding. Now that it's past a bit and I can think about
it without thinking about how much I disliked it. Yup, the
honeymoon was a week of talking over the wedding and major therapy
session with husband and I. What would I do different if I were
to do it again?
Allow me to list them and add more later:
Have the small wedding that I originally wanted with just family and close friends.
Think about location more
than just "pretty." There are "pretty" places all over the
nation. I'd probably end up choosing somewhere in
Washington as it would have saved alot of people money (not
us...but other people).
Spent less. I'm
sure this is on just about anyone's list. But really, we went
about 30% under budget. But I could have easily spent less on a
dress, etc. And while I am glad I spent a bit on photographer I
would probably be willing to pay even more for that. But I'd
spend less in general. (in the end we got all the left over
money, not something i knew would happen)
Had everything together to get the marriage license
in time for the wedding. Waiting two weeks wasn't all that
bad. But it would have saved alot of phone calls and hurried
calls trying to get a license in the state we were married in.
(yes, i believe marriage in God is more important than legal
marriage). Infact, if anything I'd get the legal marriage over
with before the wedding. But the best would be at the wedding (or
at least on the same day).
Had my bridesmaids sleep
in a different room than me. Haha. I'm not sure how serious
about this I am. But they probably would have slept much better
and gotten up earlier the next day. As it was, I slept one hour
the night before and they didn't get great sleep either. Of
course that could be partly due to the late night bachelorette party
and the awesome lightning show.
Served JUST hor'dourves to the bulk of the guests followed by a formal reception/meal for the family and close friends. (originally i wanted just hor'dourves but MIL said "no" and that was that)
I surely would have at least had the reception catered. None of this, "order the food and also keep myself directly involved in it's preperation"!
Sent Save-the-dates.
Completed my list of desired photographs and given it to the
photographer and coordinator. Yeah, i started one and didn't
finish it. As a result I didn't get all the pictures I had
wanted. You WILL forget on the day of your wedding what you
want. ...and the photographer may not know.
Set aside a few hours for photography alone. Probably between wedding and formal reception.
The cake.
I HATED the way the cake turned out. So much that I've asked the
photographer to NOT put any pictures of it in the wedding album.
Had
more than two people proof read the program as that I would have a)
spelled everyone's names correctly b) used the correct (married) name
for everyone
As you see, my list of "what i would do different" is extensive.
But there are a few things that I WOULD NOT change. :)
Married my wonderful husband, Mark.
Included the people in the wedding who were included (except maybe they'd be in different orders, etc...)
Outdoor wedding. (despite 96 degrees and a bizzillion % humidity)
The dress, the attire in general.
The flowers. I loved the flowers. Yey for the florist who I never doubted.
And now for a few pictures and tales. woo hoo!
Getting ready wasn't quite as "romantic" or "dreamy" as I always
imagined it might be. I suppose I shouldn't have since I have
been in many a bride's rooms pre-wedding. It was okay, but I
missed ....something. Maybe I just prefer not to be the bride in
the situation. For I've always enjoyed the cheese and crackers
which are always present ... and for my wedding I was too nervous to
eat ANYTHING. I made sure to drink OJ to make sure i was hydrated
and sugared up. It kept me alright until the reception (where I
didn't really eat much either...i think mark and I ate before anything
else when we got to our hotel...hehe)
But here are some great pictures from that: (granted I'm stealing
these from the online proofs so excuse the copyright and also obey
it...no stealing these from here!)
Lisa did my makeup beautifully. Too bad it didn't last long, eh? But it looked good before we left the hotel.
This is actually one of my favorite pictures of me from the day. I look alot like my mom and dad in this picture.
My sister did my hair for me. I'm glad I have a talented
sister. It probably took longer than a professional hairdresser
would have...but it's nice to keep it in the family. And it
turned out great.
I had fun twirling my slip. It really was lots of fun!
My lovely sister-in-law (brother's wife) videoed the getting ready process. See, she is wearing one of the skirts I made.
Dress detail.
If you have an outdoor wedding...DON'T FORGET THE SUNSCREEN. (i
did on the front of me.. i had a tan line from the dress and necklace)
Putting on the garter. :)
one of my favorites of my beautiful bridesmaid, Andree.
They had fun with my slip and veil too while I was peeing one last time before getting dressed. hehehe.
Putting on a wedding dress is definately a group effort!
Yey, it made me look SKINNY. Very.
Moving on now.....
Because I wanted to do pictures pre-ceremony we had Mark turn around
while I arrived. He says that he saw the car and a white thing in
the front window. So he assumed that there was a sheet or
something covering me so that he wouldn't be able to see... The truth
is that the big white thing...well, it was me and my skirt!
My MIL carrying my train for me. I'm sure my MOH was doing something important like making sure My path was clear.
Lisa kept Mark occupied and turned around.
Our first kiss of the day. Awe.
Now for the "boring" portraits...
The flowers were beatiful and smelled good too!
Bridesmaids and me. (Lynn, Andree, ME, Lisa)
Marks' side of immediate family. (not that you care ... but from
left to right back to front: Darb, Andrew, Tracy, Johnathan, Bob, ME,
MARK, Bonnie, Kim, David, Shelley, William)
My side of the family. (L-R: Brenda, Jesse, Mom/Carrie, ME, MARK, Erin)
All the siblings.
Bridal Party. (I almost forgot this group for pictures!)
I wish I'd actually been that peaceful!
My extended family.
Handsome Husband. :) Sexy man.
Mark and is lovely sisters.
The Ceremony!
Mark escorting his mother.
Aww... :) I think it was an extremly emotional day for her.
Flower Ladies at work! (they were plucking petals)
Finally to Mark!
It WAS a pretty site.
Gotta love Pi!
And Nephews. hehehe I seriously don't remember him crying although it's on the video and in pictures.
We did our share of laughing. I think mine was mostly nervousness.
Because we didn't want the wind to blow them out, we had our mom's
light the unity candles right before we lit the main one together.
The kiss was fun. It was our one "suprise" which nobody but us knew
about. After a nice kiss we wiped our mouth's and "spit"
hehehe... I wish I could show you a video clip of that.
The new Mr. and Mrs.!
Awe... pretty.
We walked to the reception....and made everyone follow us.
Of course on the way we diverged and had everyone else continue while we had some great time getting fun bride-groom portraits.
We went down the slide... This is my favorite part.
and walked out on the pier....
The Reception!
Then we had our cake and ate it too.
The table decorations (one thing I loved the turnout of)
Sister and Brother in law took the photographer out. I actually
wanted her to get portraits of all the sibling couples...i forgot.
The whole reception. It worked out pretty well.
At least everyone liked the punch?
And the olives ;)
I love children. :) esspecially ones who are now my
nephews! Jonathan kept getting water out of the cooler for
people. He'd pass it out and as a result people drank it.
Yey for him!
Everyone enjoyed ringing the bells for us to kiss....even those who didn't know what it meant.
I just love this picture of Luke going down to the water.
Mark looked lovingly into my eyes enough that day to turn me on for a week! ;)
He says he had to make sure he was getting the right garter!
Later he told me that he kinda wished that he had used his teeth.
Pre-wedding that was the last thing he wanted to do. haha.
Oh, the garter toss ended up being for married men to "get lucky"
because the only single guys there were like under the age of 7.
Except one who showed up 10 minutes later.
The ladies were ready! And they jumped!
Andree caught it! She seriously is the next in line to get
married. She, Lisa and I are kinda groupies from like early
elementry school. Lisa and I both got married this year.
I took a break in the shade for a couple minutes.
Yum.
A sure way to get tons of wedding rice in your hair and all over your
body is to make sure you're nice a sweaty first with lots of hairspray
and places for the little pieces to stick.
Gotta love the car!
Bye everyone!
And so concludes this year's eddition of Aliya's Wedding Story!
Sorry this is so freakishly long. But I know I'll never get back
to it so figured I'd better just do it all at once. Hope you
enjoyed it.
