One Year Later

A year ago today, I walked down the aisle to my love; my life; my husband. I don't even know what to write about it, honestly. I just smile. He makes my heart smile. Tonight, we celebrated with family. My parents and Tim's mom (Tim's dad is out of town) came over. We had dinner (even used our fine china), ate some cake (so so yummy), and watched our wedding video. It was the perfect evening. We took a long weekend a couple of weeks ago to Asheville, NC as a mini anniversary vacation. It was kind of cold and rainy all weekend, but it was exactly what we needed - restful! It was really nice to sleep in, walk around, and just spend lots of time together.

I do love that I've mostly kept up with the blog. It's really neat to be able to look back through the posts and see the big moments in our first year as a married couple. So here are a few pictures of our anniversary celebration!

at Lucy and Kurt's wedding

Anniversary friendship bracelets

cutting the cake!

Half the cake left... Pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted!

I had this pin on my wedding bouquet. It's currently pinned to the bouquet my Mom-in-love made me for my bridal portraits which I use as a centerpiece on our dining room table.

Family picture!

Reception

After taking some pictures with family and the bridal party, we entered the reception to celebrate the night away! Our first dance was to "The Way You Look Tonight." Tim and I had been taking dance lessons for months learning a foxtrot to this song. It's a good thing that we practiced so much, because we were definitely on autopilot on the dance floor! It was beautiful. And wonderful.

Afterwards, came the Father-Daughter dance to "What a Wonderful World" and the Mother-Son dance to "In My Life." We also had a couples dance to "God Only Knows." Everyone enjoyed dancing all night! We made sure there was a good mix of "American" music as well as Latin music. The most memorable dances/songs to me were "Thriller" - complete with a knife-fight scene with some of the groomsmen, "Cha cha slide," "We Are Family," and "Shout!" :)

My dad, Maid and Matron of Honor, and Tim's 3 Best Men made speeches. They were amazing. Crying was involved in at least 2/3 of them. Hearing the words of our best friends and family... It was a surreal and wonderful moment. I truly feel blessed to have them in our lives. And honored that they were a part of our wedding. Love you all!!!

We cut the cake, drank champagne, tossed the garter and bouquet, and danced some more! Tim and I also worked on some salsa dancing in our dance lessons, so you know my mom was going to get her dance with Tim! I loved seeing everyone and talking and hugging and laughing and everything! I loved that so many people were there to support us. As the night wound down, we started to say our goodbyes. Hugging and thanking our family and friends, I felt so thankful and grateful to each of them. Having everyone there really made the night that much more special. We danced the last dance to "I'll Be There For You" by The Rembrandts (yes, the "Friends" theme song!) and then Tim and I were on our way through a cloud of bubbles!

We spent our wedding night at the Partridge Inn, where the first order of business was eating the great food that we didn't get to eat at the reception and washed it down with more champagne as we talked about our magical day. We told each other what we did, pictures we took, people we spoke to, and everything that made our day the perfect wedding. It really was the perfect day. Even the little things that didn't go as planned just gave it that "us" touch with how we handled them. I loved every minute of it.

I got to watch our wedding video a couple of days ago. It was so great seeing it! As I watched it, I relived it. I even noticed mannerisms that I don't remember doing. It was so exciting seeing and hearing us say our vows to each other. It was a magical, happy, exciting, perfect, perfect, perfect day.

Ceremony

This part is a huge blur to me. I remember only a few things clearly: not paying attention to the music and trying to start walking down the aisle early, trying so hard not to cry during my vows that I was barely audible, Tim <3, and how unbelievably happy I felt.


When it was time to start lining up, all my bridesmaids grabbed their bouquets and started getting in order. It was so special to see and hear words of encouragement, support, excitement, and love from some of the people I love most. Gisela was the last one out of the the room, as she was the Maid of Honor. The second she stepped out of the room she started crying. I couldn't look at her! I hadn't cried yet, and I was determined to at least make it through the ceremony!! She calmed down and was on her way, then it was just me and my daddy. We talked about our dance, how we're glad it didn't rain, and why I'm supposed to stand to his left as we enter the ceremony but Tim's right as we leave the ceremony. (Thanks, Lorin, for the history behind that, btw! haha!) When the wedding coordinators opened the door for it to be my turn, I practically leaped out of the room.

As soon as I saw Tim, I didn't notice anything or anyone else. I was SO excited! All day everyone kept telling me that I was so calm and they expected me to be stressed out and kinda crazy. But I knew I wasn't going to be like that. I knew who I was walking down that aisle to and I was so excited to finally be there in that moment with him! The bridesmaids walked in to "The Prayer". I was so oblivious to the music I cued my dad to walk too early! Luckily the coordinators had a hold on me to stop me. Ha. Then, the Augusta Symphony Orchestra String Quartet started to play "Seasons of Love" and it was show time. The next 20 minutes.... I can't really recount them. I remember looking at Tim and he was smiling more than I've ever seen him. We said our vows, exchanged rings, lit our unity candle, and were pronounced husband and wife! I was so excited that I couldn't contain a little bounce and a giggle. Seriously the most perfect, magical, special moment in my life. And then we shared our first kiss as a married couple and the moment got even more perfect.

As we started walking up the aisle together, I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. By the time the bridal party met us back inside, I was full-on crying! We all hugged and cried and laughed and took cell phone pictures and I cried more. I kept saying to Tim, "We just did that. We're married!!" Happy. More than happy. Exuberantly jubilant. Best day ever. Ever. Ever ever.

Afterwards: Time to party!!

May 21, 2011 - Our Wedding Day

On our wedding day, I woke up at 7 AM. I was wired, excited, and ready to get married! I took a long bubble bath, and headed downstairs for breakfast.

A staple of my parents' house is that every Sunday morning my dad makes scrambled eggs and toast. That morning, when I went downstairs, my dad was making scrambled eggs! We had breakfast just like we would any other day. Small talk about the weather, funny anecdotes about our family, and "remember that time" stories. And then, it was off to start getting ready! Gisela and Gemita, my cousin and one of my bridesmaids, had already been running errands for me getting together the last few things for the bridesmaids luncheon.


We all met at Jealous Hair Salon where Heather worked her magic! It was very impressive how in 4 hours she could do about 10 different hairstyles and everyone looked fabulous! They were nice enough to let us bring food and mimosas to lunch while we got ready. I was most excited about the charm cake! My mom made her signature vodka-Kahlua cake, sprinkled with powdered sugar on top, and I placed different charms pinned to lavender and green ribbons for each girl to choose. Wish I had taken a picture of it... it looked really cute with all the ribbons!

After we all got our hair done and were all made up and had lunched, we headed back to my house to get dressed and take pictures. Getting me all ready was definitely a team effort! Gisela and Lorin got me into my dress, my mom put my barrette in my hair, and Jessica put my garters on me! My something old was a piece of my grandmother's dress from her 50th wedding anniversary, my something new was my dress <3, my something borrowed was my jewelry from my mom, and my something blue was a barrette that Gisela clipped to my garter. We took pictures inside the house and in our back yard, I drank my wedding day Coke, and then we were ready to start heading down to Sacred Heart! All the bridesmaids hopped into one limo to ride down, then my parents and I took another limo together.

In the mean time, the men-folk met at Sacred Heart to get ready. They took pictures together before the women-folk arrived. When we arrived at Sacred Heart, the bridesmaids and I took more pictures before going into hiding. Tim and I decided to exchange letters with each other before the wedding. This was something that is particularly special to us because for the first 6 years we were together I wrote Tim a letter on each anniversary. It was super special to read Tim's letter before the wedding. And it made even more eager to walk down the aisle! The waiting was killing me. I was literally fighting the urge to jump up and run out there. Knowing my future husband was standing on the other side of that door, all dressed up in his tux and green Converse low-tops, made me just want to be out there with him!!

And then it was FINALLY time.

Are we there yet???

The last couple of weeks before the wedding were definitely a whirlwind. I forced myself to get up early and study at least a couple of hours every day. Then it was wedding crunch time the rest of the day! So many last minute details: monogram stickers, welcome bags for out of town guests (including cookies made from scratch), getting the right color ribbons for different things, ironing tablecloths, preparing gifts for our attendants and our parents, etc. The list seemed endless at times. I got so overwhelmed that I literally wrote out a prioritized, detailed list of everything that needed to get done and then I scheduled and delegated tasks. I got teased quite a bit for my lists toward the end there. I make lists when I'm stressed. They help me to see and organize more clearly what I need to do. (Yes, I am clearly a Monica.)

My family came into town in waves the week of the wedding. It was so wonderful having everyone together again. I'm very glad many of them were able to come early so that we could spend time together before the wedding. Some of my family who came I hadn't seen in at least 7 years! It was wonderful to have them around to make last minute shopping runs with me.

The most stressed out I got was the Tuesday before the wedding. My friend, Ashley, can attest to this as she was the recipient of a rambling phone call canceling our study date that night. Everything seemed like it was piling up and people kept changing the plans without telling me until it was too late to adequately modify my schedule; and we know how that makes me! I talked to some family and friends and let them know how it affects me when they do things like that. I think a part of it was that although I was delegating some tasks, I kept the bigger projects for myself. It's that whole "take control of a situation" thing I've done all my life. And that certainly wasn't going to stop for my wedding! Once I was able to communicate with others and I asked for some more help, everything got a little easier. It's amazing what a few extra sets of hands can accomplish! Before I knew it, Friday had come. Officially wedding weekend. Officially time to kick back, have fun, and enjoy all the most important weekend of my life had to offer!

~*Dr.Mrs. Q*~