Wedding Day Prep

The months leading up to the wedding I knew I wanted to try to work in a yoga class the morning of my wedding.  When it came down to the night before, most of my friends/bridesmaids who were in town decided to pass on the 6:30 wake up call.  I was honestly ready to scrap the idea, realizing that it was just one more thing to do on a giant to do list for the morning.  Thankfully Abby told me I should just decide in the morning and if it was something I really wanted to do, we would work it into the schedule.  How is it that best friends always know exactly what to say?

I woke up around 6:15 that morning unable to believe that it was finally October 18th, the countdown was finally over!  Abby and I threw on some yoga clothes and headed out the door and I'm so glad we did.  The yoga class was very low key and it was pretty awesome to watch the sunrise out of the second floor window knowing what the rest of day would hold.  I'm not always great about staying present, even in my yoga classes but I somehow managed to put all the plans for the day out of my mind and really focus on how awesome it was to finally be enjoying my wedding day.  Yoga and a quick stop at Starbucks; I highly recommend all wedding days start out this way.

It wasn't long after we got back to the hotel that all the wedding day hustle and bustle began.  My sister and 3rd bridesmaid, Kristi, arrived around 9:00.  She was followed by my fantastic hair stylist who made the trip out from Baltimore to do everyone's hair for the big day.  The girl doing our make up arrived at 10:00, followed by the photographer at 11:00 and most of the day was spent getting ready. drinking champagne and hanging out with some of my favorite girls in the world.  It really was such an awesome morning in that hotel room.

(All pictures below except the last one are courtesy of Erin Dickson Photography)

We headed to ThorpeWood around 2:00 which is when things really started to feel real.  The girls all got dressed in a nice dressing room in the basement while the guys I'm told, hung out upstairs in the loft until it was time for pictures.  Mike and I both decided that we didn't want to see each other before the wedding.  It was a decision I struggled with because I wanted to have as much time as possible to enjoy with our guest.  But Mike was pretty adamant that we do things the traditional route, and in the end I'm really glad we did.

We spent about an hour taking pictures with our families and bridal parties.  I'm told the picture taking with the men was not quite as smooth since they had to deal with an 8 year old temper tantrum.  Garrett had a hair cut before the wedding and I told him he could keep it long and messy (his terms for his hair "style") for the wedding.  He took that to mean that he didn't need to brush it and when the photographer tried, he apparently lost it.  He insisted that I said it could be messy and was devastated that no one believed him.  They got it brushed somehow but it will definitely be one of those stories that comes back to haunt Garrett when he's older.....

He looks super happy right?

Rehearsal Day

Our rehearsal day was a beautiful busy day.  Mike and I packed up the wedding stuff into friends and families cars and squeezed what we could into Mike's little two door.  I must have checked my packing list 2 dozen times that day before I was comfortable hitting the road.  Our wedding was about an hour out of town for us and most of our guests.  We headed out around noon with two important stops along the way.

Mike and I were both very close with our grandparents growing up.  Unfortunately both of these great men passed away before Mike and I ever meet.  There have been countless time along our relationship when I've thought to myself how much Mike would have liked my grandfather.  Honestly, the more we talk to each other about them, the more I'm convinced that our grandfathers were very similar men.  It was really important to us that we incorporate a visit to the cemetery into our wedding weekend so we stopped by on our way out of town.

We checked in at the hotel, got everyone organized and headed over to the Thorpewood to set up all of the DIY decorations we had put together for the wedding.  At some point leading up the wedding I decided I had to have tissue paper pom-poms at the ceremony site to add some color to the somewhat dark "pine cathedral" as it is called.  I made them all ahead of time but they needed to be opened and strung at Thorpewood.  I had no idea how much time it was going to take to open them all.  We literally set everything else up within 10 minutes and had 10 different people opening tissue pom-poms for another 50 minutes.  In the end it came together beautifully but I honestly think that was the most stressful part for me.

For Mike, I'm certain that the flat tire he got when arriving at Thorpewood.  Mike's car has huge tires and a spare doesn't fit in his trunk.  So while I was dealing with everything else, Mike was on the phone with insurance companies and a local dealership trying to get his car towed and fixed.  Did I mention that Thorpewood is an amazing venue in the middle of nowhere?  No cell service made Mike's ordeal that much more fun!

In the end, everyone got there, everything was set up and car's were towed away.  We ran through our wedding ceremony relatively quickly and then headed to a local restaurant for our rehearsal dinner.  We had an amazing private room and the food was out of this world.  Obviously the wedding day with all of our friends and family was amazing but the rehearsal dinner holds a special place in my heart too.  I was so nice to get our best friends and immediate family together and truly be able to thank them for everything they had done for our wedding, and more importantly for everything they had done for us throughout our lives.  Mike and I gave a few words of thanks that night and while I don't remember everything we said, I do remember the most important part.  Without the people in that room, Mike and I would not have become the people we are today and in all likelihood would not have been standing together getting ready to walk down the isle together. 

We finished up dinner and went to our respective hotel rooms.  Well, I locked myself out of my room but Abby, Brittany and Kathleen had no problem kicking off my last night as a single women in the hallway of the hotel.  The four of us stayed up for a while, drinking wine and just talking.  Everything about the day was memorable and special for me.  The only thing I regret is not taking some pictures that day.

Thankful Thursday

Being present is something I've always struggled with. This is an exercise for me in taking the time to notice the things throughout the week that I am thankful for. Not the big things like my family but the little things it's easy to miss in the hustle and bustle that is life. 

This is our second winter with chickens.  Last year we really didn't see a decrease in eggs during the winter months.  Last year I thought chickens laying less eggs during the winter was a myth.  This year.... this year we are living it.  That big blue egg in the picture?  We haven't seen one of them since before the wedding.

We added 3 chicks in the spring but lost one to a fox.  Starting at the end of September, all 6 of the "old" ladies began molting to various degrees.  By the time we got back from our honeymoon at the end of October we were only getting 3 eggs a day (compared to 7-8 all summer).  For the past 2 months we have only gotten 1-2 eggs a day and those eggs have clearly been from the chickens we added this past spring.  Today I am thankful for that beautiful blue egg that I found in the coop this morning.   We've been rationing the eggs lately and I'm hoping this is the beginning of the end.  Hopefully the other chickens will jump on board and start earning their keep!

Happily Ever After

I can't really start a wedding post without thanking all of our friends and family for being part of our special day.  It easily goes down as top 2 best days of my life and it wouldn't have been nearly as special without everyone there to share the love with us. There are so many people that contributed so much to our amazing day and I will forever be indebted to them.  

To my dad for helping us make our dream wedding a reality. 

To the rest of my family and Mike's family for supporting us with all of the craziness that is wedding planning and listening to non-stop wedding talk.  

To my badass wanna be bridesmaids who put so much blood, sweat and tears into the amazing DIY details of our wedding that really put our personal touch on every part of the day.  

To our actual bridal party for standing up next to us as we promised to love each other for eternity.  

To my amazing maid of honor who managed to throw one of the most fabulous bridal showers I have ever seen. Thank you for dealing with my constant wedding texts for 6 months and spending your 2nd anniversary away from your husband to be part of our special day.  

And last but not least, thank you to my amazing husband who I know was so tired of talking about invitations, cake toppers and centerpieces. Thank you for helping put your touches on our amazing day while letting me take the lead on so many things (I know how hard that can be for you).  

Special shout out to our photographer Erin Dickson and her assistant Amy.  We are thrilled with the images we've seen so far and can't wait to start ordering prints once they are all finished.  Also a special thanks to Meg and Zach Hamilton.  We have not seen the wedding video yet but know it will be amazing.  We actually chose our wedding venue, Thorpewood, after seeing pictures from Meg and Zach's wedding.  And to anyone planning a wedding in the Frederick, MD area- I really can't say enough amazing things about the staff at Thorpewood and Canapes.  They went above and beyond the call of duty and the day would not have been nearly as amazing without all that they did.

When you're planning a wedding, everyone tells you to take the time to enjoy the day because it will be over in the blink of an eye.  Mike and I talked a lot about that leading up to the wedding and wanted to be really conscious about taking time to ourselves to really enjoy the details we had spent so much time and effort planning.  The night after the wedding we laid in a hotel room getting ready to catch an early flight to St Lucia and we talked about how wrong everyone had been.  We talked about how we didn't feel like the day flew by at all and that we really felt like we had time to really enjoy ourselves all day.  

Well, it's been two and a half months since the wedding day and while I still feel like Mike and I fully enjoyed the amazing day, it's sad to realize that everyone was probably right.  When I think back to our wedding day, the details are fading slightly and it's hard to believe it's all really over.  I am so glad we decided to splurge on the video and I'm sure watching it will bring back a lot of the memories to the surface.  Thankfully, I also have this handy little blog here to write down all the little things I don't ever want to forget about that day. It's all too much for one post so I will apologize in advance because this blog is about to be taken over my wedding posts!