Originally Posted By Ursula Oooh, sounds lovely!!!! I did the same "don't see the husband until the wedding" thing. It was fun. When I walked to the ceremony site, there was a tall hedge between us (okay some of you know what I mean, this was at the Rose Garden at DLH) and DH knew I was coming and yelled something and I yelled back something but we didn't see each other til I walked down the aisle. We also didn't have a honeymoon, either. We've been on many, many vacations, since, so we call all of them our honeymoons. I just love your colors, too. I bet you are going to have one pretty wedding!!!
Originally Posted By Stacers76 Thank you thank you all!! And this is a family site so I shall not comment on any Shebanging....OYE! ) too late! D'oh!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 re: post #13, aw how sweet! I can just see everyone asking you exactly how you know Mr. and Mrs. amazedncal2 and why are they wearing Laughing Place buttons (it would be so you could spot us of course!) I'll be sending you Magical wishes from Disneyland for a perfect day
Originally Posted By Stacers76 Ahhhh less than 2 days left!!! ) I'm soooo excited! And honestly a little anxious for it all to be over! In a good way though....last night we had our rehearsal dinner and then the ceremony rehearsal. Luckily we have a great officiant that ran thru it, and we were done and everyone paid attention and did what they were supposed to. I forgot half of what I was supposed to take, but OH well, it was all very relaxed. OK for the detail-seekers.... Dinner was party trays, from our long-time family favorite, Mary's Pizza Shack....2 large different combo pizzas, rigatoni & meat raviolis, caeser and garden salads, garlic bread and breadsticks. It was great and mostly gone so everyone enjoyed it. Then it was bridal party gift time, and yes I almost cried..oye! The Flowergirls loved their flowergirl shirts and necklaces, and each one got a wedding themed Barbie..the Ringbearer got a ringbearer t-shirt and Cars toys ) The bridesmaids each got a red beaded bracelet with their initals on a silver medallion, a picture frame, a personalized bag for the wedding day, a engraved silver jewelry box, and smelly bath stuff. The groomsmen each got an engraved beer stein with pewter lid. (And people wonder why I'm broke lol) As of today everyone's tuxes are tried on all fit and are ready to go.... All the girls dresses are altered, shoes matched, jewelry set and are ready to go... All the parents are outfitted and not killing anyone yet and are ready to go... And I still don't have my dress or veil ) Scared ya huh!!! I'm picking it up from a non-dog hair filled house tomorrow when my mom and I check into our swanky suite where all the girls will be coming Saturday morning so we can relax and get ready together.... Then the great staff at the Hyatt is turning it into a bridal suite for us that night with chocolate covered strawberries and some other goodies for my husband (YIKES I'm gonna have a husband!!) and I when we get back on our wedding night....Mom is coming back to our house to dog-sit ) Then Sunday morning we're possibly having some of our out of town family stop by our house for a visit and to open presents with them and then I'm sleeping! I have 3 days off next week and it's sleep, eat, and sleep some more! ) I'll be back around next week to tell any great stories which with this group....I'm sure we're bound to have plenty!!! SO....everyone wish me luck in less than 48 hrs I'll be a Mrs!!!! That is stil SO weird! ) Thanks for all the wonderful thoughts and comments thus far, LP is full of wonderful people I'm glad to share my day with! OH..I have the world's BEST photographer too, so there will be a TON of pictures! He took almost 100 pics at the dinner and rehearsal last night, and they looked soooo good. So you guys will have LOTS to look at in a month of so from now!! Bye for a couple days!!!!
Originally Posted By LacyBelle Best wishes for a beautiful day on Saturday, Stacers! Can't wait to read the report and see the pictures.
Originally Posted By smedley Ooooh Stacers it sounds lovely, I am so excited for you, I will be thinking of you tomorrow Hope it goes beautifully (oh and I totally relate to the wishing it was over thing lol!)
Originally Posted By MissCandice OOOOOOOOOOOOh! Tomorrow is the big day. I can't wait to see pictures. Everything sounds like it will be a lovely wedding.
Originally Posted By Stacers76 So it went really well....only 1 hitch and it didn't bother me at the time..does now but oh well! Things were great, I'll do a happy lil report in the next day or so...just checkin in real quick! )
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Well there's ALWAYS suposed to be at least one hitch at a wedding ;-). Congratulations!
Originally Posted By smedley Yup you did well if it was only one Glad it went well, looking forward to your report.
Originally Posted By LVBelle Aww, somehow I missed this thread before! Sounds like you had a beautiful day! I can't wait to see pictures!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Happy to hear that your day was great with only one hitch! I agree that only one hitch is pretty spectaculor!
Originally Posted By SuzieQ I totally agree one hitch is amazingly problem-free! Can't wait to read the report Congratulations!!!
Originally Posted By chickendumpling WOOHOO!!!! Congratulations Stacers!!! I can't wait to hear all about the big day. I hope that one little hitch is forgotten about soon enough. We're here for you to vent to though if you want! The important thing is that you are now the happy bride of the man you love. *sigh* I love love.
Originally Posted By Stacers76 OK here goes....as some of you know, I just got married this past Saturday June 9th...and it was a blast! Friday night my mom and I checked into a suite at the Hyatt in Santa Rosa, nice room, not as big as I thought, but it would suffice ) Then we went and picked up my dress from a dear family friend that did all my alterations, did my hair Saturday, made a GORGEOUS decoration for the arbor we were married under, made my veil, AND took some awesome pics for us! We took her out to dinner at the slowest Baker's Square in the world, where it took 2 hrs to get thru dinner, got a lemon wedge lobbed at our table by a toddler, and mom had a coconut creamsicle instead of cream pie...frozen pie...not very creamy!! But we were laughing all the way.... I didn't sleep alot Friday night...I had very faint butterflies, but nothing major. Saturday morning we had to pick up our rental car (all us dog owners have doggie hairy cars so no dress in a dirty car) and ended up with a VW Passat...it was new and barely big enough, but with Enterprise's computers down that morning, I was taking what I could get. Then we went and picked up 160 lbs of ice for the drinks at the reception and not only could I not figure out how to turn off a VW with it's key/stick thing, but I couldn't open the trunk with it either! Still laughing, no stress though.... So we get the ice to the Hall were the ceremony and reception are at around 10am...which is fine, we're supposed to meet our friend to put up the arbor decoration and the caterer is supposed to be there already....nope place is locked up like Fort Knox. 1015...still no sign of anyone EXCEPT my aunt and uncle that were just making sure they knew where the place was before that afternoon.....and no on is answering their phones anywhere! 1030..the caterer shows up and lets us in, she was out foraging for good mushrooms for our appetizers...ok, whatever, but still no friend and decorations and we're worried because she's just not the type to be late, and no phone call....She finally calls my mom to let her know she's on her way, she arrives a little after 11am, because she had been there 2 hrs earlier and realized she'd forgotten our gift and could not bear for us not to get it there, so she drove all the way home and back. The crazy lady!!! ) SO, I have to leave because the guys are bringing out the beverages and he can't see me...so I take off and run thru McDonald's for a boring plain hamburger to hold me over and not make me sick. All is well....still laughing...especially since this VW I'm not used to and driving like a dork ) So I get back to the room, mom and friend show up shortly there after and then my bridesmaid and her daughter/one of my flowergirls arrive, and we start hair. Hair went as planned, no problems, poofed up on top a little, pulled back on the sides, curls down the back....I just have alot of hair so it takes like 45 minutes. The photographer had actually shown up too and was clicking pics all over the place... *Sidenote* to get to our suite on the 2nd floor, you had to use your room key in the elevator...so every time anyone showed up...which included, my dad, my brother, the photographer, 4 different bridesmaids, the florist, my MIL and then dad again (all separately) someone had to go get them in the lobby and bring them up in the elevator, so for awhile my one day only "Wedding March" ringer on my cellphone was NON STOP ) I was laughing, everyone else was getting annoyed ) So dad gets dressed in his tux that he fought to not have to wear, yeah right, and looked good, I'd never seen him in a tux before.... so that was a near-tear moment, but makeup was being done by my bridesmaid and couldn't mess it up... At this point it's about 90 min before the ceremony and the girls were all ready, so everyone took off to the Hall to finish some last minute set up, so the photographer took a few group pics and they were off, leaving me, mom and our dear friend and the photographer. Mom and our friend get ready and since mom isn't staying at the hotel that night, they need to get a bunch of stuff down to the cars, so they all grab a couple bags and leave me to get the uncomfortable stuff on.... This is where I had my first moment.... It was quiet, I was alone in the room with my dress and it hit me and I ALMOST cried....had to sit for a few minutes and hang on.....I was getting married!!!! So they come back up, get me in my dress and the veil on and the photographer wants to take a few pics of me looking in the big mirror in the room. This is moment #2....staring at myself, as a bride....when did that happen?! It took 30 yrs for this day to happen and it was staring right back at me! Finally he was done and we were ready to head to the hall. The photographer took off to get some pics of the guys at the hall and we headed to the car to get me there! *another sidenot* Here's some Sonoma County trivia for ya....The Peanuts creator Charles Shulz lived here in Santa Rosa and this year there are dozens of 5 foot Snoopys all over town that local artists decorated. The Snoopy in front of the hotel was in sunglasses, tophat and tails! He dressed up for me! So we took a couple pics with Snoopy and got me in the car without incident...I called the photographer and my brother when we were a couple miles away to make sure there were no boys where we'd be pulling up.... And I was about to hyperventilate, throw up and pass out all at once....
Originally Posted By Stacers76 I'm trying to break it down into before, during and after here.... So we pulled up in front, I got out and touched up the makeup and waited....I still don't know exactly what was going on, but we ended up waiting about 10 minutes and FINALLY the guys walked in....then the girls and my kids and my dad and I walked around the corner towards the door....and everyone was looking at me!!! EEEK!! ) I'm not a big fan of being the center of attention, but I really did just focus on my husband and it was ok. He, on the other hand, looked like he was going to pass out....it was hot and we were all sweating...at one point he was slightly shaking his head back n forth to get the sweat out of his eye and I'm thinking he's shaking his head no...and he wouldn't look at me! But the priest did his speil and read some passages and then we did our vows....I have NO idea how I got them out, but I did. I wasn't crying or laughing, but all of a sudden I was done! We exchanged rings, and while a couple more passages were read...I was surveying his side of the crowd....didn't recognize alot of people, but that was ok...and there in the front row was his mom.....in a pink dress that I can only drescribe as her being wrapped up like a mummy with an itty bitty jacket. Ya know those crazy over the top, can't seem to focus or remember what they just said moms....that's her. Medicated and all, and her domineering, women's lib, slightly jaded toward men mother was next to her, in 3 shades of green. Now don't get me wrong, those things are fine, but time and place people! At any rate, the ceremony went well, it was warm, but not horrible, and went faster than I thought it would...20-25 minutes total. So we kissed (4 seconds was required by the priest) we made it and then some and got a couple whoops from the crowd! ) Then we were back off down the aisle, married! Our bridal party came behind us and we all had a drink and the plan now was to go back out to a little cove area to do pictures. Ok...here's the ONLY hitch....and she was in 3 shades of green.... I have the world's best photographer, he is affordable and goes WAY WAY WAY above and beyond any other photographer I talked to for my own wedding or have seen at others. The plan was that I had a list, of posed photos we wanted, me n him, us n this set of parents, etc etc....my Maid of Honor was the photog's assistant of sorts, to get thru the list, get us lined up and ready to go...should have taken 45 min - 1 hr. Almost 4 hrs later, we still didn't get all the pics we had listed BECAUSE the psycho gramma was psycho. We were going to do pics with his side of the family first...no biggie, his mom had given me about 8 poses she wanted with his bro, his gf and their daughter etc...NO problem. Well for WHATEVER reason, she forcibly TOOK the list from my Maid of Honor and crossed out half of those poses while we were getting going. Well, when it comes time to finish the pictures, 3 shades of green Gramma is yelling, yes YELLING that so n so wasn't in a picture. They're supposed to be in this pictures. She proceeds to go YELL at the photographer, YELL at my Maid of Honor, YELL at her daughter...and all the while, the person she was yelling about wasn't avail, she was feeding the baby! SO .... 35 minutes later we got thru I think 4 poses, because she had to YELL and get out of place for EVERY picture that we weren't doing right. OMG. Instead of getting everything done, the photog was disturbed, my Maid of Honor was upset/ready to slap her...and I was hot. Still sorta laughing though...sorta. * I will say it didn't bother me as much then as it does now and people were constantly coming and going around us, but sheesh Green Gramma!* Ok, so we decide to go in for dinner since we're 25 minutes late already, so we are introduced in to the reception, and then head thru the buffet line...great food, I ate 3 bites. Too many people coming and going and oye...thank goodness for that McD's burger earlier! We got to the toasts which were just to be by my Maid of Honor and the Best Man, her's was short n sweet. His was happily buzzed and actually very sentimental and sweet. Moment #3 I think I'm up to....just a few lil tears ) On to the reception!!
Originally Posted By Stacers76 So we're done eating...reception time.... My reception in a nutshell was more like um..hmmm not. It was NOT a problem for anyone, but basically it didn't happen like a typical reception. We did have our first dance to Rascal Flatts "My Wish" and that was really fun. Then my dad and I danced to "I Loved her First" which was sweet too...Nick was supposed to dance with his mom, but he wasn't happy with her because of the previous photo incident and she's now wandering ALL over the tables area with a young lady that does Civil War re-enacting with them...with this frilly bright purple doll that was also a parasol (yeah what the huh!) that was a birthday present for the young lady. She then came up and wanted us to have everyone sing happy birthday to the young lady because her birthday was the week earlier....yeah hi welcome to MY WEDDING LADY. lol So anyway, they didn't dance, we did a first "everybody" dance to Celebration by Kool n the Gang, but alot of people were outside, visiting etc, so..I danced a bit, the kids had a blast, which was awesome. And we then proceeded to try and corral now tipsy bridal party, family and friends to finish our pictures. The kids just wanted to dance and play, so that took a bit..and then we were late to cute the cake! So another break in our marathon photo session to do the cake stuff.... My cake was cute...it was sort of...hmm..there were pearls of red frosting that were supposed to go around the base of the cake in 4 rows, bigger to smallest...well the first and last dots didn't exactly line up...lol but OH well. So we cut the cake, feed each other a bite, and my hand suddenly jerks upward with cake toward his nose...but I'm 5'6, he's 6'6ish...so I miss and lose the battle with a LARGE amount of red lopsided frosting dots up my nose mostly...which when you wipe your face with red frosting, you look like Bozo the Clown. But it was sooooo fun!!!! After that we resumed the photo marathon as a couple missing family members from earlier had reappeared....the kids were still dancing, family and friends were mingling and visiting. People were coming up introducing themselves to us from each other's sides of life, people had to go....it was all really casual and alot of fun, despite the photo issues. So, about 830p, we called it a night...the DJ wrapped up so she didn't go into OT, alot of people were leaving, some of the guests that hadn't seen each other in a long time were heading out to party more, and we fell into the Passat and headed back to the suite. I climbed out of the dress, and into the shower to get the layers of product and bobbypins out of my hair... We ordered burgers and fries from room service. The Hyatt had actually left us 2 chocolate covered strawberries decorated like little tuxedos, and those were awesome too. We then fell into bed and passed out! Overall it really was the best day of my life! The photography hitch, like I said, really didn't phase me at the time, because there was so much going on all around me. I feel bad now for my photographer and Maid of Honor, but it got done and we're all still alive and the Green Gramma is going back to AZ!! ) I wouldn't change a thing, except maybe that we could have had everyone able to stay longer, but we just appreciate that they made it for our day. I don't feel like I missed anything, I got everything I wanted and had a wonderful day!! Sorry for the length, this is sort of my journal of the day for myself also that I'll be putting in my Wedding Scrapbook. ) I do appreciate if you've read this far, and love all the good thoughts and wishes! I love you guys!!
Originally Posted By smedley Awwwwh it sounds awesome At least you got all your photos (I had a photo nightmare at mine lol!) Am looking forward to seeing the piccies
