Wedding Day!

On the wedding day, I woke up around 5:30. I didn't have to be up until 7 so I tried going back to sleep. After a few minutes I realized I was completely kidding myself. I was pretty nervous so I decided to get up and go for a run. I felt a TON better after the run. I got back home and took a shower and made sure everything was packed and ready to go. My mom, sister and cousin arrived at my house around 8:30 and we headed off to your hair and makeup appointments.

I got started with my hair first. I am not sure if it was because I was just sitting and let my mind wander but I started to get sick again. I got my hair washed and blow dried and my stylist started pinning it up. As she was doing that, she was talking to me and everyone was helping me get my mind off of the wedding and relax. I started to feel much better. After that, I wasn't nervous or sick the rest of the day and I was so greatful for that! Me and my mom had our hair done and then everyone got their makeup done. We were running a little behind so we headed straight to the church. We were supposed to start the pictures at noon and we arrived around 12:05 and still had to get ready.

The girls helped me get my shoes, garter, jewelry and dress on. Unfortunately, because we were late, we didn't get any pictures of us getting ready. As soon as we were ready, we headed into the church to start our pictures. JJ and I decided to see each other before the ceremony and I am really glad we did. We were both so much more relaxed and had so much fun!

We spent about an hour and a half getting most of the pictures done. Our photographer was so amazing and he made the entire process a blast! After we finished the pictures, we had about 20 minutes to head back to the dressing rooms while all the guests arrived. I managed to have a little snack and sit down for a few minutes. Then the wedding coordinator came in and said, "Last call for the bathroom!" My sister helped me go to the bathroom and it was a pretty funny experience. The lace from my dress kept getting stuck on the beading on her dress. We kept cracking up and it was such a fun sister bonding moment. Who would have thought we would have a bonding moment in a bathroom stall?

After we were all fixed up and ready again, it was time to head into the church for the ceremony. I will save the ceremony for the next post.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from before the ceremony (click to enlarge). I am not including any pictures of anyone besides me and JJ. I am sure some people wouldn't care but I don't feel right about it.

Flower's girl's basket

Me and my dad walking into the church

LOVE this picture!

So handsome!

Still Waiting...

Sorry for the delay in wedding posts! I am still waiting on my pictures and I want to include them. I should be hearing from the photographer soon!

I am lazy and don't feel like actually writing out a real post so I will just give a bulleted list of recent events.

• Yesterday, I went to the post office and social security office. Surprisingly, the post office took way longer than the social security office. I have finally, officially changed my last name.
• This weekend I am getting my wisdom teeth out. I am terrified.
• Even though I am terrified to get my wisdom teeth out, I am really looking forward to having JJ take care of me all weekend.
• Last night, I made Chicken Parmigiana and it was awesome. It took about an hour and a half to cook but it turned out great and JJ loved it. I am not that great at cooking so I was really proud of myself!
• Our Halloween was pretty low key. We saw Paranormal Activity (great movie, very scary!) and went out for lunch. At night, we hung out and watched tv while passing out candy. We gave out our leftover candy from our favors and almost got rid of all of it!
• I am still sad the wedding is over.
• I can't wait to start scrapbooking all of our pictures!
• I am really looking forward to the holidays. I can't believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner!
• Work is boring. I have asked for more work to do numerous times but I never seem to have enough work! My days draaaag by so slowly and it sucks. I spend most of my day reading the million blogs I am following.
• JJ and I have been discussing when we should start a family (ahhh!). We had initially wanted to start pretty soon after the wedding but we have changed our minds. We are going to wait a while for a few reasons. One is we want to have our freedom for a little longer. We love our lazy weekends and I am not ready to give that up. The second reason is we want to have our finances in order. I want to stay home for a while so we have to make sure we are ok to live off of one income. The last reason is I want to get my migraines under control. I have about 10-12 migraines a month and my migraine medicine cannot be taken if I am pregnant.

Well I guess that's it for now. Sorry for the lazy post. Wedding posts will be coming very soon.

Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

I want to tell you guys all the details of the wedding and honeymoon. I want to share them all because everything was so amazing and special. I also thought it would be nice to look back at these entries when the details become fuzzy. I will break everything up so that (hopefully) you guys won't get too bored. I will also put up some pictures which will be the first ones of myself that I have ever posted! JJ also gave me permission to show pictures with him in them too.

The days leading up to the rehearsal were a little hectic. JJ's brother flew in on Wednesday so he could help us out. He was actually a huge help and I am so fretful for that. I only worked half a day Wednesday and spent the rest of that day running wedding errands. There were a ton of little things to do!

On Thursday, the rest of our families arrived. I had a spray tan appointment that went really well. Once our families arrived, they came over and our parents met for the first time. I was really excited for everyone to meet and overall, it was pretty great! JJ's family is a little more reserved which I knew my mom would have a hard time getting used to since she is the complete opposite of reserved. After everyone met we went out to dinner and had a blast!

On Friday (rehearsal day) the girls went to the Westin Spa to get our nails done. My mom, sister, sister-in-law and mother-in-law all went and got manicures and pedicures. It was so nice to spend time relaxing and visiting with family. Since both JJ and my parents live really far away, I really treasured every moment I spent with them. After we got our nails done we had to get ready for the rehearsal. Here is the dress I wore:

I wore it with black tights, black boots and really cute long necklace.
I was almost late making it to the church! The rehearsal went really well and we were done after about an hour. Since we were having a full Catholic mass I was really impressed with how fast the rehearsal went. At one point, the tornado sirens went off and our wedding planner (that we hired through the church) was literally RUNNING down the aisle. She was a little over dramatic. The planner was pretty strict and my dad and cousin kept laughing and making faces at me when she was basically lecturing everyone about what to do (and not do) the following day. I tried to stay really serious and focused but it was near impossible!

The place we were having our rehearsal dinner was about 2 minutes away so it was really convenient. Especially since it was storming pretty badly. Ok guys, the rehearsal dinner was absolutely magical. I'm not exaggerating. I am still hearing from my family how wonderful that dinner was. The venue was perfect for us. It was small and intimate and the decorations were gorgeous! (I think JJ's mom took some pictures so I will try to get them from her so I can post them.) The tables were covered with gold tablecloths and there were burgundy napkins. There were little candles all over the tables and the rest of the room. I never told the caterer how to decorate and she completely nailed it. It was perfect. Now on to the food. OMG the food!!! We had salad to start. The main course was chicken picatta on top of linguine that was mixed with spinach. I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it was. For dessert we had chocolate bread pudding. The service was great. Everyone was laughing and having a blast. While we ate, JJ's sister showed the slideshow she created for us with a ton of pictures from our childhood. I didn't want the night to end!


After the rehearsal dinner, my mom came over to help me pack for the wedding day. I was really nervous so I appreciated her help. Once I was packed, I went to bed so I could be extra rested for the next day!


Up next, the wedding day...

Best Day Ever

I am MARRIED!!!!! Today went amazing and I am the happiest woman in the world! I can't wait to tell you all the details. Now we are off to the beach! See you guys in a week!

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I am getting married. I cannot believe it. We had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner tonight and it just felt so surreal. All these people are here for us!

The rehearsal dinner was amazing. It was better than anything I could have imagined. The people that catered it made it so special and I am so appreciative.

Well, I am off to go pack my bag for tomorrow. I will go through all the details after we get back from St. Martin. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!

Almost There!

Next week at this time I will be getting ready for the rehearsal. Is that not crazy!!??

We are almost done with all the last minute planning. I still need to finish the favors (I only have about 30 more to do), print the programs, book our nail appointment the day before the wedding, find some earrings to wear, find a necklace to wear with my rehearsal outfit and buy the candles for the centerpieces. That's it! After this weekend I will pretty much be done and I can just enjoy visiting with family.

It is amazing how many emotions are running through me. One minute I am tearful because I am so happy, the next minute I am stressed about little details, the next I am incredibly nervous and then the next I am overwhelmed with excitement. It still feels so surreal. I have had 9 months to plan for this and it always felt so far away. I had started to think it would never get here and now it is right around the corner.

The weather today is absolutely gorgeous and I hope it will be this nice for the wedding. The leaves are just barely changing and I'm really hoping there will be even more colors in a week. I can't wait to show you guys our pictures!

Airbrush Tan

I am so glad that I made it through this week! I had something to do (meetings with vendors, dry runs, etc) every day after work, I worked overtime and felt like crap Thursday and Friday. But I made it through! I met with the florist and that went really well. They are so well organized and they make it so easy. I also got a airbrush tan at the Westin Spa and I LOVE it. I really didn't want to tan in a tanning booth because I just can't get over the idea that I could get cancer. And laying outside isn't much healthier. So the airbrush tanning was definitely something I wanted to try.

I got there for my appointment at 7:00 (ok well it was actually 7:10). The Westin Spa is in this new outdoor shopping mall with some pretty upscale shops. I don't know what I was thinking (maybe I was just exhausted from a busy week) but I just threw on some cheerleading shorts and a t-shirt and headed to my appointment. It wasn't until I pulled up to the mall and saw how there was absolutely no parking that I realized my mistake. What the heck was I thinking? I went to a really upscale shopping mall on a Friday night in cheerleading shorts?? Yeah, I had a few people staring at me. Of course, there were about a million high schoolers all dressed up that shot me some dirtly looks. I just started cracking up. Which only made more people stare.

I got there and changed into this amazingly soft robe. I chatted with one of the ladies that worked there. She had just gotten engaged and wanted to know all the details about my wedding. She was so excited and it was so adorable. Another lady came and brought me into a little room and asked me if I wanted a disposable bikini. I said sure. I looked absolutely ridiculous in this little tiny paper bikini. So I stood there almost completely naked so this woman could start spraying me with the tanning spray. It took about 20 minutes or so and it wasn't bad at all. I put my robe back on and headed into the locker room. I just sat and had some cucumber water (which I HIGHLY recommend) and watched HGTV. I was so relaxed.

I love the tan guys! It looks so incredibly natural and I am always so much more confident when I have a nice tan. Tanning tends to hide the cellulite a little. :)

Anyway, I have exactly two weeks left until the wedding! I have two more meetings next week and then we have to finish the favors and programs and that's about it! I am almost there. Whooo hooooo!