July 24, 2010

We're married! It's so exciting that the day had finally come and is now passed but not quite a distant memory...yet. I don't think it ever will be! Peter and I had such a wonderful time and I think the best moment for us was watching other people enjoy themselves! We saw, greeted and talked to so many people that we haven't seen in SO long and we're so happy they were able to come and share our very special day with us. Nothing is better than to be surrounded by family and friends, who support and love you. Now, how the wedding day went from my point of view.

Firstly, we'll start with the rehearsal. The rehearsal went great and we were all joking but following Travis' instructions well. Betty had missed her flight and while it made me worry, I didn't feel stressed because I trusted her and I knew she would do everything in her power (and then some) to make it. I did worry when the updates stopped coming to me because then I thought something was SERIOUSLY wrong, but Michelle and Betty handled it just fine. I did have a slight Bridezilla moment on the day of the rehearsal because people were running late...but that's because I like to be on time if not early. I felt that if the Rehearsal started late, it would just throw the whole weekend off. Thankfully, it didn't. Rehearsal was done and it was great. Frank was even there to photograph it and I really look forward to seeing his pictures.

After rehearsal, we all went to The Davenport Press to enjoy Rehearsal dinner hosted by Peter's parents, Lee & Jim. The food was wonderful, the company was great and I felt the room had such a great energy. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, the food and the festivities. My grooms cake cupcake tower also made it's debut and Peter was happy to see there were so many different flavors of cupcakes as well as a logo on most of the cupcakes which were related to one of Peter's hobbies: Cars/Rally. So there were rally pigs, Subaru WRC logos, Ralliart logos (because I'm his car-rival), and the STi logo (because I got him a STi engine as a wedding present for his RS-he will be doing a STi swap!). The night overall was great and we ended up not going to bed till after midnight because we were all enjoying talking, etc.

Deanna & Sam kept me company and slept with me in my room that night...it felt nice and like we were bonding all over again. Minus Sam's farting, we were all pretty happy and content with sleeping together. But, of course we stayed up a little later just joking around and talking. I'm sure we all forced ourselves to stop talking so we would GO TO SLEEP! I'm guessing it was around 1am by the time we got to sleep. I felt like I didn't sleep at all because I was feeling so anxious. It's hard to describe because I didn't feel nervous, I didn't feel overly excited...but just anxious that the day would go well. I was also anxious about Betty's arrival. I wasn't worried about when she would come in but I was worried she'd wear herself thin from worrying herself!

The next day, THE DAY, July 24th. All three of us woke up at 5:15am (again, Deanna and Sam didn't have to wake up that early but they kept me company) so that we could welcome the hair dressers and make up artist in! All three of them arrived around 5:30am, which was perfect timing. We set up the hair dressers downstairs in the office and the make up artist was upstairs in the dining room because the lighting there is phenomenal. I got prepped, Sam was first for hair and Deanna was first for make up. They both came out BEAUTIFUL! It was just a precious moment and I remember reminding myself all day to just take it as it comes and enjoy the day. I wasn't running around the whole morning, I felt collected, calm and honestly...very peachy. Betty came while my hair was being prepped and I swear, when I saw the smile on her face and that she came, I thought I would burst into tears. But, to stop myself, I sang "Come on Eileen" in my head. I often sing goofy songs in my head to prevent myself from crying.

After getting prepped, the whole day just fell into place. At least in my house, no one was running around, no one was tense (maybe except for dad, but that's just his personality) and I think, and feel that everyone was just enjoying the moment. Everything went exactly to schedule and everything turned out perfect. We had breakfast and lunch (leftovers from Fortune Wheel, YES!) and then the bridesmaids got changed. Then my mom and Betty helped me to get changed into my dress...that was quite the experience. They fluffed my dress and when I walked out, seeing the look on every one's face was just priceless. I wish everyone could have seen it from my point of view, but I'm sure they were thinking the same about me. We did some pictures: pictures with parents, grandparents, bridesmaids, families, etc. and then my parents went off to the church to make sure everything was set up. Peter's parents (who came to the house) went off shortly after them when we realized my parents forgot to take all of the boutonnieres with them! No big deal though-they made it with plenty of time. The bridesmaids and I took some more pictures, I was being a ham in the door frame and then we all piled into the stretched Escalade limo and OFF to the church we went! Let me tell you by the way...so many people were telling me the Escalade would be too big and "Why do you need something so big?" and I couldn't be happier that I went with this stretch! Between the dresses and the extra space for the flowers, this stretch was the PERFECT size.

So, we're ahead of schedule and off to the church we go! We get there and not a lot of people have arrived yet but then again...we're also nearly 30-40 minutes early! Frank and his assistant go to shoot some more pictures in the church while Betty stays with me in the church office to cool down before the ceremony. Everyone that came into the office asked if I was nervous and if I was ready. I think a few times I gave this "of course I am!" look because at that moment, I didn't feel nervous. I felt happy, I felt excited and I felt "I can't believe it. This is SO awesome." So, it was finally GO time. My mothers and my girls started to walk down the aisle, while a few late stragglers ran in before I walked down the aisle. Betty fluffed my dress one last time, I hooked arms with my dad and that's when I felt it. I felt my chest get tight, I felt my heart beating twice as fast and I felt overwhelmed with emotions (mostly happiness). Then I started smiling. I felt like I had this huge shit-eating grin plastered on my face. I looked at Dad, asked him, "Are you ready?" with a quivering and shaky voice, joked with him (I said, "Slow, quick, quick" reiterating the dance moves we learned the few weeks prior) and quickly turned away because I thought "If I look at him anymore, I'll be bawling before I even get in the church!" Then it was our turn to go. The church door opens and I remember thinking "Oh my God, the church is packed. This many people came to see us get married??" It was so overwhelming, I started singing "The Final Countdown" in my head to prevent myself from crying all the way from the back of the church. Jane, the church secretary, fluffed out my dress and then we started our walk. I took my first step, I looked to my left, then to my left and then my eyes focused on Peter. I could see HIS smile, from ear to ear! That's when I felt the tears well up. I started taking really deep breaths and I just forgot about everything else. I didn't see our friends and family that were in the pews to our sides. I didn't see my bridesmaids or the groomsmen, just Peter. MAN, that was a LONG walk! Longest walk in my entire life. I was four pews from the front and I just couldn't hold it any longer. I had this huge smile on my face, which turned into this awkward square-shaped mouth as I was holding back my tears. I was successful at not bawling...but by the time I reached Peter, tears were just pouring down my face. I wasn't crying, just tearing...heavily. If I was crying, you would've heard it from a mile away. They were like waterfalls and I couldn't turn them off.

I know I did hear some of my bridesmaids sniffling and I think I heard my mom cry a little. It was the most touching moment of my life and I'll never forget it. I loved every moment of it.

At the end of the aisle, I kissed Daddy and Peter escorted me up to the altar. I could tell that I made him cry too. Oops! :D (BWAHAH) When we made it up to the altar and were facing each other, we both let out a little giggle and I think that's when we collected ourselves. We were Smiley McSmile from then on. The ceremony was perfect. Travis was perfect, the readings our mothers and my brother did were touching and Travis' sermon was even more touching. The ceremony felt SO much shorter than it was, but maybe that's because we were so caught up in the moment. When we were pronounced, I SO wanted to just skip down the aisle but I resisted. The music was so beautiful to listen to while we walked down the aisle. When the tune transitioned from "Ode To Joy" to "All You Need is Love", I looked at Peter and we shared a moment of wedded bliss! I also heard the whole church let out a collective sigh in the word of "awww". I heard some people hum and sing along, even! I'm so glad that people enjoyed the song as much as me! We didn't do a receiving line and I'm sure some people were disappointed but if you think about how many people were in that church and then having to stand outside while we finish greeting everyone...all of our guests would have melted! So instead, we retreated to the air conditioned church office as the bridesmaids and groomsmen ushered the guests out of the church. We exited, made our appearance and hopped into the limo. I cannot express how much I LOVED hearing the cow bells!! That was just SO precious! The limo looped around to the back of the church so we could get back in to take pictures and it was locked by accident! So, some guests caught us trying to be ninjas (my get up was obviously not appropriate ninja attire) and we were sweating, but it was all good. We were so happy, we didn't really care!

We took pictures at the church and then we all headed off to the reception place to take more pictures in the sweltering heat. Poor guys, in full tuxedos! We all suffered from the heat in the garden trying to take pictures. I remember standing on the grass and I was DYING because my heels kept sinking into the grass so I had to keep all of my weight on the balls of my feet. But, it all worked out. I felt bad that everyone was having such a hard time with the heat. Of course, we picked one of the hottest days of the year but Peter and I were positive about it. We just kept saying, "you know what? This is better than rain. At least we can take advantage of the gardens and the weather and be outside! If it were raining, we would probably be upset we couldn't take pictures in the garden and we'd be miserable". So, we found the best of everything. Honestly, I don't think there was anything that could bring us down. We can't control the weather, so why let it ruin your day? Besides, the bridal party found their own ways to cool off...some of which includes dipping their feet into the pond!

We finished up pictures with the bridal party and they retired to the bridal suite. Peter and I stayed out a little longer to take some more pictures and when we finally came back up the bridal suite, it was like heaven greeting us. Everyone cheered for us even though we looked so exhausted and I was called out for a few pictures in the other room (which turned out to be magnificent). After that, we told the bridal party to join cocktail hour and to mingle, eat something and greet some guests. Peter and I stayed in the bridal suite to cool down and the bridal attendant brought us SO much food! We had EVERYTHING from cocktail hour and it was might delicious! We enjoyed everything so much. For the last half hour, we went down and took some more pictures by the fountain and gave our guests a teaser appearance. We did some more pictures and then we were ready for the reception!

So, back to the bridal suite to gather everyone. We made a toast and then we went downstairs to do our entrances! Every couple came up with their own unique way of doing their entrance, which was so awesome. I wish I was a guest so I can see what they did!! Peter and I were so glad we picked people who knew how to have fun! Then came our entrance. I don't know about Peter but I had NO idea what to expect. We entered and we were greeted by SO many people!! The room glowed and it was filled with so many people there to celebrate with us! We instantly recognized almost everyone...it definitely was a lot to take in.

We went straight into our first dance as husband and wife which was to Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon". Halfway through the song, a part of my bustle came undone! (Did I mention that it took nearly 15 minutes to get the bustle up? My dress was a hassle-sorry girls!) So, as I'm walking backwards, I'm trying to kick my dress behind me so I don't step on it. Peter realized it and started taking smaller steps which was great and a bit easier for me. I did step on it quite a few times and I have no idea how we managed but we did. When people joined us on the floor, we reverted back to the whole "rock back and forth" dance but I think that was for the sake of our safety because stepping on a dress in 4 1/2inch heels is a bit slippery and slightly dangerous. We met so many people on the dance floor and I was so excited to see everyone. I remember leading Peter over to couples so that we could say hi! I was surprised to see so many people dancing-it made me so happy.

Then it went into toasts. The toasts were so touching and they both made me tear up and it reminded me why they're our best friends. We toasted and drank our "champagne". They actually gave us ginger ale because Peter doesn't drink and I didn't want them to mix up my champagne with his ginger ale (I would feel bad if he drank alcohol unexpectedly) so this was the safer option. After the toasts, our guests started enjoying their appetizer. I looked for the bridal attendant but couldn't find her anywhere so I went over towards Betty. I wanted to change into my Chinese dress ASAP! Betty and I started to go up but the bridal attendant stopped us and told us we needed her to do anything in the bridal suite because it's locked to which we both thought "but we couldn't find you!" It took a bit of time but we eventually got into the bridal suite and I changed some of my jewelry and into my Chinese dress! (There was a change of shoes too). We invited Peter in and he had this huge smile on his face. I could tell he LOVED it and that made me so happy. He had been waiting anxiously to see me in this dress (since we got engaged) and all of that waiting paid off!

After we shared a moment, we rejoined the party and everyone was already up and dancing! It was SO exciting to see SO many people on the dance floor!! I instantly joined in and tried to get Peter to join in too but I could tell he needed something to drink. So, we sat down and I got a lot of people coming up to me to compliment me and my dress. Took a lot of pictures too! It was a great way to greet some of our guests and I was happy to talk to any of them. During our conversations though, I realized that a huge circle had formed around the dance floor and people were taking turns showing off their dance moves. At that point, I excused myself and waited for a dead period where no one wanted to go in and embarrass themselves. Well, LAURA TO THE RESCUE. I will gladly and happily embarrass myself with cheesy dance moves!! So, I worked my way through the crowd by throwing up my arms and side stepping into the middle of the dance floor and got jiggy with it. It was so much fun and hearing the crowd cheering just egged me on some more. Besides, I thought this was a good way to debut the Chinese dress change! Of course, as we do at all weddings, it turned into a dance off between my brother and I. I'm seriously going to have to brush up on my dance skills because he was pulling some good moves!! We hit up the sprinkler, the fishing pole, shopping cart, and I think I did running man at one point. I should have totally broken out the robot!!! Then there was some dirty dancing with Barbara's best friend, Kerry! That was hilariously fun! It was so awesome gettin' down with someone who knows how to move their hips!! Awesome times! After that, the circle dissipated and we all went back to dancing.

The rest of the night consisted of photos (lots of them), dancing, eating and greeting people. I remember dancing with the flower girl (she was so beautiful) and Frank was taking photos. I can't wait till I see the photos of us dancing!! I remember her saying "I'm a little cold" so I said "then let's dance and warm you up!" We were smiling and laughing and having a great time and dancing without interruption (but a lot of people were taking photos) and she has such a sweet smile too. At the end of the song, she promptly said "Now I'm hot!!" It was an adorable moment. I'm so happy she was the flower girl and it's kind of funny to me too. My mother had my cousin Cissy as her flower girl for her wedding. When Cissy got married, my sister and I were her flower girls. Now that I got married, I asked Cissy's daughter to be my flower girl! I love how much it's gone back and forth. Family is so important.

So the night continues with more dancing, greeting, photos and drinking (mind you I did not have one alcoholic drink except for the one sip of champagne with my bridal party). Then we get up to the garter toss and the bouquet toss. I had this thought of what I was going to do but I didn't do it. Instead of me sitting in the chair as Peter takes the garter off, I was planning to be raunchy, sitting him down in the chair and putting my left leg up for him to take the garter off. But, seeing children (although there weren't a lot) prompted me to just do it the traditional way. So we throw the bouquet and we throw the garter. There's actually a funny picture on facebook of the garter toss-it's very entertaining!

After the tosses, we did the cake cutting which was DELICIOUS! Peter and I licked the knife...again. There are pictures to prove it! Instead of smushing cake into each other's faces, we opted to try to get as much on the fork as possible to give the other person a hard time eating it. Well...that didn't work out so well since they gave us a tiny fork and we have huge mouths. Neither of us had trouble so it was a little anti-climatic but it was delicious!! We were eating wedding cake for like 2 weeks after the wedding, it's so delicious. After our cake cutting, we decided to go ahead with our Viennese Hour.

Oh, ho ho...When I convinced mom & dad that I would LOVE a Viennese Hour, I literally thought they would set up some tables in the corners of the rooms and people can go and get a few desserts in between dancing, etc. Instead, it became this HUGE production. It was an awesome production but it was MAGNIFICENT! The lights dimmed and there were some colored lights on so the waiters could see their way around. Then all of a sudden...these tables started rolling in. Every table had a PLETHORA of desserts on them and there were, let's say...a good 10 tables? And I don't mean some card table...I mean these were 5-6ft. long tables! Filled with desserts! YUM!!! So they're rolling in all of these tables, lining them up and putting them together. When it's all done, there were nearly 9 different cakes, italian cookies and pastries, cannolis (YES), ice cream sundae bar, international coffee & liquor bar (apparently there were shots in hazelnut chocolate cups), a chocolate fondue station, crepe station, mousses, jello....oh goodness, if you can think it, it was THERE! One of the best parts of the night was just seeing how insanely packed it was! And I heard so many people complimenting the table, it just made me so happy that we went ahead with it. I think everyone had such a blast at the wedding and enjoyed every aspect of it that if we just had a tray of cookies on the tables with wedding cake, everyone would've been happy and satisfied. But, this production of Viennese Hour just added this extra "BAM" (like Emeril Lagasse "BAM"). Yes, it might have been a little too over the top, but I loved it. I absolutely loved it.

After the hour and people wanted to get back up to dance (because the band played throughout the whole night-never stopped once), we asked the tables be taken away. They were cleared and the dance floor was hoppin' again!! People just really enjoyed dancing at our wedding, it was just awesome.

The entire day was beautiful and it was magnificent. I couldn't and wouldn't ask for a more perfect day. Seeing our friends and family enjoying themselves was just the icing on the cake (or the cherry on top). We were so happy to see everyone enjoying themselves as much as we were! I know there are so many people out there that say "It's all about the bride. As long as the bride is happy, then that's all that matters." and I don't believe that. What would make me happy is to see my guests happy and to see them enjoying the day too! It's a happy day and we feel blessed that so many people can share it with us and we want them to share in our joy as well!!

So, I love my family. I love my friends. And even though about 99% of our friends are mutual, I love Peter's friends too. I love Peter's family. I love Peter. Otto & Momoko has a lot of my lovin' too!

I'm blessed to have wonderful people in my life. So, thank you everyone for your support, love and wishes. We definitely cherish them and hold them dear to our hearts. :)

For now, we're settling into in together, writing thank you cards and setting up the house to reflect us! There will definitely be more posts to come! <3 Peace out, cub scout!

P.S. Our pseudo honeymoon to Ocean City, NJ was EXCELLENT! How many people do you know enjoy spending their honeymoon with their in-laws? In any case, I had an excellent time. It was actually relaxing and so much fun to hang out with Peter's family. Our real honeymoon is set for May 2011 and we'll be off to JAPAN!! Flights are booked. Booyakasha.