Our Wedding: Getting Ready

Even though June 8th FLEW by, I still remember a lot about the day {and I'm
glad...I'd hate to not remember all of the fun details!}.  When people ask how our wedding day was, I try to stay from flat out saying, "It was perfect." even though it really was.  Regardless of anything that happened, the whole day was perfect.

Friday night when I got home from the rehearsal dinner, I had one last wedding detail to finish.  It wasn't a huge task, and really didn't even need to be there at all, but it made me feel better to have something I started, completed and there for the day.  Therefore, I got into bed pretty late....and probably didn't even fall asleep until 1:30 or so.

Based on the information we were first told from the hair salon, as far as how long they would need for each person, we knew we'd have to get there very early in order for everyone to have enough time and not be rushed, etc.  Mom, Abby and I were providing a breakfast for
everyone at the salon, so we were planning to get there early anyway, plus we would be there to go ahead and get started a little bit ahead of time.  So, when my 6:15 alarm went off on June 8th, I had no problem getting up and making sure the cars were packed with the last few things!

Yes, it was slightly raining when we left to head to the salon, and it continued to rain while we were there! But who was worried? Not me.

We got to the hair salon, and I was so excited when the bridesmaids started showing up, too, and then the flower girls & greeter...it was so much fun being there with everyone, and we had the whole salon to ourselves!  I have to give a HUGE thanks to my cousin, Brooke, for bringing me a much needed Dr. Pepper that morning, to get me through the day! haha, something so small really can make the day go better!!  Hanging out with all the girls was so much fun & things were going perfectly!

So, want to know how the day started getting even more perfect??  We were on SUCH a good schedule that we ended up leaving the hair salon TWO HOURS before our time we HAD to be out of there! I couldn't believe it! But it worked out so well!

When it was time to leave, the rain let up long enough for all of us to get in the cars!  Here's where the hectic-ness started: we all drove to the Science Museum so several people could leave their vehicles, and Abby and Mom drove people & stuff to The Berkeley.  I remember getting to the museum, I was riding shotgun with Abby, and we drove around the parking lot picking up Emily, Mallory and Brooke!  Gabby and Alison hadn't made it yet, so they'd be on Abby's second trip to The Berkeley! haha. When we all ended up at The Berkeley, we had plenty of time to eat lunch, and really just hang out and relax! It was great!  I still had to finish up Matt's gift {you'll find out about that soon enough}, but I didn't have to rush. 

I remember not being able to eat lunch.....not because I was nervous or anything.....I was just so excited that the big day was finally here, that I didn't want to waste time eating!!
Side note:  When I look back on our wedding day, I barely ate anything, without even realizing it.  So, I basically survived on that much needed Dr. Pepper from Brooke! It was needed more than I thought!  At breakfast, I ate two mini muffins; for lunch, I had only a couple bites of my sandwich; and then of course I didn't have enough time to eat much of anything for dinner at the reception!
Anyway, enough of that tangent.  
We were all in the Parlor at The Berkeley Hotel, which Matt's parents kindly reserved for us to get ready in.  There was a TV so we had Bride Wars playing....that is....after we ALL tried getting the TV to work, and a couple of the girls had to go to the front desk to get someone to come help us.  We weren't completely clueless...some of the cords had to be changed around or something!  At some point once he had all reached the parlor, the sun came out.  This was an especially good thing, since the Wednesday before,  Matt and I made the decision to not even rent a tent. I wasn't even worried about the rain, anyway.  We were going to have an outside wedding!  Plus, it helped to have our own meteorologist with us throughout the day, who constantly had the weather app on their phone open and kept refreshing it to give us updates.....THANKS, ALISON! :)

Since we were so ahead of schedule -this was a very good feeling to have during the day!- there was more time to hang around before everyone having to get dressed, put on make-up, touch up hair, etc.  It was just so fantastic!

When our wonderful photographers, Steven & Lily arrived, I became even more excited, because that meant we were just a few hours away from wedding time!  We scheduled time to do a lot of the pictures beforehand, which was great.  For the hour and a half to two hours before the wedding, we had pictures taken of Matt with all of his groomsmen, and me with all of the bridesmaids and flower girls. {Those were the pictures I posted on Tuesday.} I highly recommend at least doing some of your pictures ahead of time for two reasons: 1) That means you'll have less pictures to do in the short time between the ceremony & reception, and 2) It was fun!!  It gave all of us time to have our pictures taken before the wedding got started, and it gave all of our bridal party time to get to know our photographers! :)

The one big thing I remember from June 8th is how I felt.  I wasn't nervous at all---not even about the rain! I wasn't stressed---if some decorations didn't make it out, that's fine; if something wasn't exactly how I planned it, so what. I was just happy to be getting married! :)      I know...that sounded pretty cheesy..

And, want to know a secret? I actually saw Matt before the wedding....and not on purpose.  I literally just happened to be walking around the table to my chair in the parlor, I looked down out the window, and there was Matt driving back to the hotel from the Science Museum.  I kind of stopped and asked myself, "Um, did that just happen?" haha. But it did!

So, now that I've talked A LOT about getting ready during the day, here are some pictures of us getting ready!!!

 Before coming upstairs, Mom and Abby went to Starbucks across the street and got me this! 

It says "the Bride" and on the side where it was the Starbucks logo, they drew the lady as a bride, with a gown and veil!

And, that's Matt's shirt I'm wearing.

And those green spots on my right sleeve....they're from this ridiculous plant in the Parlor!!

The leaves were wet, and we discovered the hard way that if you touch it, you turn green.

Luckily, those green spots came out..And luckily, green was one of our wedding colors... haha!

This is Matt reading part of the gift I gave him, {we still haven't been able to go get the rest of it}, but I think I made a few people laugh when they found out I gave him a book....haha.

But really, it was a journal I had been writing in since June 8, 2012. {Yes, and since I started writing it, I've seen the idea on Pinterest...}.  I wrote in it, keeping track of all of the wedding progress we made, when we first looked at our house, talked to our vendors, got our jobs, etc., and on every entry, I left the countdown of how many days were left until we would get married!

Okay, let me explain why I was doing lunges after putting my dress on!

As I mentioned yesterday, it rained during our rehearsal.  Well, rain + wet shoes = blisters!
I think I had five blisters that Mom had to put bandaids on before I put my shoes on! Ouch!

While I put my dress on, Mom and Abby, and of course Lily, where the only ones in the room.

Then, all the rest of the girls came in backwards so no one saw me yet....

Thennnn, they all turned around at once and I LOVE these next two!!

Reading my card from Matt..

Opening my gift.. 

Matt gave me a Pandora bracelet {which I had really been wanting!!} and two charms.

Unfortunately, I didn't end up wearing it for our wedding, because I told him a size too small :(

Not completely my fault...I usually have to get the smallest size to fit my tiny wrists!

I had been wanting to do this for a long time--I wanted to have pictures with Matt before the ceremony, but I still didn't want us to see each other.

So, we took pictures on either side of the door!

And, of course, had to incorporate a Longwood Scarf again!!

Okay, this is a really funny story!!

There was someone out on their balcony in the room next to us, and of course, Alison and Abby were the ones to notice.

So, Alison, being the crazy one she is, decided to bang on the window and then hide from them.

WELL, we found out later it was some of Matt's relatives in the room next door!!! hahaha

If I had gotten up to see the people, I could've told them not to mess with them, however, then we wouldn't have such a good story to tell!! ;)

Even though I couldn't be a part of this picture, it's still one of my favorites!!

The guys were outside taking pictures in front of The Tobacco Company and the girls all spotted them out the window.  

I don't know why I love this picture so much...just one of those memories I'll always like to have!

I made little goodie baskets for the three younger girls, filled with things to keep them occupied if they got bored while we all got ready.  Here they are playing Go Fish..

Before we headed out to take pictures, I did a First Look with my dad. 

He was looking down at first, and then this is when he first looked up!

Another funny story!

When we walked out of The Berkeley, this limo was in front of the hotel.  Ashleigh, one of the flower girls, said, "I want to ride in the limo!" and I said, "Sorry, Ashleigh...we're not cool enough to have a limo."

What I didn't know is when I said that, Mom and Abby busted out laughing, because THEY knew that the limo was going to be our ride to the ceremony! SO. AWESOME. What a great surprise!!!

Time to go get married!! 

Those pictures will come next week!!