Okay- final post to describe the wedding:
So we head down to The Crystal Point. It was perfect. We went down to where the reception would be held, and I slipped into the "bridal room" that is off to the side. There, Amy and our maitre'd, Joann, bustled my dress. Roger and I then walked around the room and just took it all in.
The CP did the cutest thing. They had charger plates at our Sweetheart table that has our names painted on them in gold paint. Not just on there for the night, but on there printed forever for us to keep! We now have plates that say "Roger and Elizabeth Hislastname" "October 17, 2008". How cute!
We got there in time to enjoy our entire cocktail hour, so we slipped into the room and immediately parted ways to "divide and conquer" the room and greeting responsibilities. I immediately went to those friends of mine who I wanted to spend the most personal one-on-one time with (as much as one can during a wedding). Interestingly, this meant going to friends who are not my closest. My nearest and dearest were either in my bridal party, at the rehearsal dinner the night before, or I see them on a regular basis anyway. It seemed silly to sit and talk to those people who I see all the time, so I visited with those who I haven't seen in a year, or who came all the way from W.V. to join us for the wedding.
Next on the list were work/hospital related friends, former teachers/mentors and the like. After that, I caught up with Roger again and scarfed down a plate of yummies put together by one of his friends for me.
The yummies that I actually got to see/remember:
Corned beef carving station (very big hit)
Vegetable crepes
Veggie crudite passed in its own little shot glass of dip (a few veggie sticks held in a shot glass with a dollop of dip)
Cheese display
Pigs in a blanket
Coconut shrimp
Brie in phylo
some kind of meat on a stick (why is it that you can put a piece of meat on a stick and suddenly it's gourmet by calling it "satay"? I'm going to serve corn dogs at my next gathering and call it "pork product Satay")
I think there were some hot chafing dishes of calamari and eggplant rolletini
And then about 8 other passed foods
There was an ice sculpture that looked like a lighthouse.
We had a jazz guitarist there for cocktail hour entertainment.
It was the fastest hour of my life. I didn't even get to try all the yummy things or talk to everyone I wanted to talk to before someone was telling me that they were going to be calling the guests into the next room in 5 minutes!
Off we went with our guests to the next room. We didn't ask our bridal party or parents to come parading out to be announced. Our families know each other. Our friends know each other. People who don't know our friends really don't care who the maid of honor is and what her name is. Our bridal party got to just relax and be guests. They were no longer on display. They could loosen their britches and relax.
We were announced as "Roger and Elizabeth" since Im not changing my name. We walked out and our song "For Once In My Life" by Michael Buble began. We were taking dancing lessons, so we had a perfectly choreographed dance.
We really didn't want to be introduced to something loud and booming like "Eye of the Tiger". At that point, we were married for about 2 hours. What obstacles could we possibly have had to overcome to warrant a theme song of Eye of the Tiger? Or even better "Let's Get Ready to Rumbleeeeeee"- bad, bad omen.
Oh oh oh! I forgot! When we were in our little waiting room before we were announced, we decided to try a few dance steps for practice.
Slow...Slow....Quick Quick....shit! I'm stepping on my dress! We hadn't realized that even with my dress bustled, it still doesn't come completely off the ground and when I have to dance (backwards steps) I step on it. It wouldn't have been more than one or two moves before I'd be putting the back of the dress off of me!
Then I remembered the little loop thing that helps to carry it around. Perfect! I put that on my wrist and we were able to dance.
Everyone hooted and hollered at the end of our dance when Roger did a very dramatic dip and kiss.
Then Roger danced with his mom, followed by the BM and MOH speeches.
Then came the food. We told our (wonderful) DJ to please play music that people can dance to during dinner. It's boring to just sit and wait for food. She did, and it was great! Lots of people were up between courses!
First Course: Assorted sliced melon with berries
Salad: Mixed greens with balsamic vinegarette
Intermezzo: lemon sorbet (most refreshing after dancing)
Main Course: Choice of Chicken stuffed with prosciutto, mozzarella cheese and spinach or Chateaubriant. Both served with veggies and Dutchess potatoes. Second helpings were offered, and you could try whatever you didn't order the first time around.
Roger and I were adamant that we would eat. We made sure we sat down between dancing and visiting tables to get our food. Honestly, though, we just weren't hungry. Maybe it was the excitement. Maybe it was jitters. Even the open bar didn't strike our fancy and all we wanted was to drink wanted and seltzer to rehydrate from all the dancing and talking!
We decided to skip the traditional wedding cake. We had platters of italian pastries brought to the tables, and then an ice cream sundae bar was set up. Waiters came by with a cart to offer espresso and/or port.
The maitre'd made up a GIANT sundae for us. It had every topping available there, and came in a huge stemmed glass (think one of those funky margarita glasses). Instead of cutting a cake, they wheeled our sundae out onto the dance floor on a cart and we fed each other from there. I think the photographer got some good pictures of us feeding each other cherries.
The ice cream sundae bar was a big big big hit with our guests!
We hardly sat! We were up dancing all night. The music was fantastic. The DJ did a wonderful job of bridging the generation gap, and making the music enjoyable for all.
It was all over by 11:30. I was tired of being in my dress. My shoes weren't comfortable anymore. My earrings were heavy. I wanted to take a shower and feel like myself again.
We loaded up Roger's car with our gifts and all of the decor that didn't belong to the catering hall, or that wasn't disposable. The maitre'd packed us up two nice dinners to reheat when we got home. She also packed up about 5 boxes of dessert pastries.
We went home. Roger helped me get out of my dress and I ran to the shower.
I think everyone has an image of their wedding night. Romance, sex, candles.
Ours was a little different.
There was lots of exhaustion, but just from the events of the day. Relief to get all the sweat from dancing off of us. Hunger from not eating much earlier.
After getting into comfy pajamas, we heated up our dinners and then opened up our gifts/envelopes.
Then fell sound asleep.
The end!
Well, actually.....
The beginning!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
November 12, 2008 8:53pm
Kind of busy, so no time to continue the wedding recap, but a picture is worth a thousand words....
These aren't the pro pics. Those aren't back yet. These were taken by Roger's brother so there's a lot missing (like the ceremony).
Click here!
These aren't the pro pics. Those aren't back yet. These were taken by Roger's brother so there's a lot missing (like the ceremony).
Click here!
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
November 5, 2008 7:01pm
Since Roger is stuck in traffic, and dinner is waiting on the stove, I think I'll put in a few more details of the wedding.
Let's see...we left off at my snot drop and leaving the church.
Oh yes...
So, we're standing outside the church, intending to enjoy just a few moments together as "husband and wife". We opted not to do a receiving line, but as guests began to leave the church they all came to us and began forming a line.
At least I was able to spare my bridal party from having to meet and greet people they don't know/don't care about. Just Roger and I were subjected to multiple hugs and kisses outside of the church, in the shade, in 50 degree weather with wind.
Oh yes, the weather. Sunny, not a cloud in the sky, leaves changing color, mid 50's, slight breeze. If you were wearing a dashing tuxedo or a 30lb wedding gown, it was the perfect weather. If you were a photographer, it was "picture perfect" (or so SnapCutie said). If you were a bridesmaid wearing a sleeveless cocktail length black dress, you were freezing.
You'll see pictures soon enough, but my girls all wore black cocktail length dresses of their choosing. They looked beautiful, and were very good sports about standing out in the wind and cold for pictures.
After lots of pictures in front of the church, we headed over to the lake for some family and group photos. Bridal party, parents, and my sisters with their families all came. SnapCutie seemed to know how to organize all of it. What kind of pissed me off is that some people were taking pictures beside or behind the photographer as he was taking pictures. The problem here is that I'm afraid we will have many pictures with everyone looking in different directions. I mean really people! We're paying $3500 to the photographer to do his job. Do you seriously think you're going to improve on his pictures with your Kodak point and shoot? Is it really necessary to be RIGHT THERE all the time?! Do you think I want to have the posed pictures of my wedding have every person in the picture looking at a different camera because while they know they should be looking at the photographer, they also want to smile for the picture their dad, brother, son, cousin, etc etc is taking!!!!
Ok, rant over.
Pictures at the lake, followed by pictures at the (very windy) beach. We only took one group shot with the bridal party (no family for this one), and then SnapCutie took some personal shots of Roger and I (of course with another snap happy family member in toe being just a bit more intrusive than i really wanted).
While walking off the beach and back into the limo (SnapCutie got some candid shots of Roger putting my shoes back on for me after dusting the sand off my feet), I ran into a girl I went to school with from 1st grade-12th grade, but I haven't seen since the day we graduated high school. There she was, walking on the boardwalk with her husband!
Off we went to The Crystal Point!
And that's all the details I can type for now. I promise more, I promise!
Let's see...we left off at my snot drop and leaving the church.
Oh yes...
So, we're standing outside the church, intending to enjoy just a few moments together as "husband and wife". We opted not to do a receiving line, but as guests began to leave the church they all came to us and began forming a line.
At least I was able to spare my bridal party from having to meet and greet people they don't know/don't care about. Just Roger and I were subjected to multiple hugs and kisses outside of the church, in the shade, in 50 degree weather with wind.
Oh yes, the weather. Sunny, not a cloud in the sky, leaves changing color, mid 50's, slight breeze. If you were wearing a dashing tuxedo or a 30lb wedding gown, it was the perfect weather. If you were a photographer, it was "picture perfect" (or so SnapCutie said). If you were a bridesmaid wearing a sleeveless cocktail length black dress, you were freezing.
You'll see pictures soon enough, but my girls all wore black cocktail length dresses of their choosing. They looked beautiful, and were very good sports about standing out in the wind and cold for pictures.
After lots of pictures in front of the church, we headed over to the lake for some family and group photos. Bridal party, parents, and my sisters with their families all came. SnapCutie seemed to know how to organize all of it. What kind of pissed me off is that some people were taking pictures beside or behind the photographer as he was taking pictures. The problem here is that I'm afraid we will have many pictures with everyone looking in different directions. I mean really people! We're paying $3500 to the photographer to do his job. Do you seriously think you're going to improve on his pictures with your Kodak point and shoot? Is it really necessary to be RIGHT THERE all the time?! Do you think I want to have the posed pictures of my wedding have every person in the picture looking at a different camera because while they know they should be looking at the photographer, they also want to smile for the picture their dad, brother, son, cousin, etc etc is taking!!!!
Ok, rant over.
Pictures at the lake, followed by pictures at the (very windy) beach. We only took one group shot with the bridal party (no family for this one), and then SnapCutie took some personal shots of Roger and I (of course with another snap happy family member in toe being just a bit more intrusive than i really wanted).
While walking off the beach and back into the limo (SnapCutie got some candid shots of Roger putting my shoes back on for me after dusting the sand off my feet), I ran into a girl I went to school with from 1st grade-12th grade, but I haven't seen since the day we graduated high school. There she was, walking on the boardwalk with her husband!
Off we went to The Crystal Point!
And that's all the details I can type for now. I promise more, I promise!
Monday, November 03, 2008
November 3, 2008 6:45pm
Oh I so wish I had pictures to share.
Unfortunately, the photographer won't have our pics for a few more weeks, and all of our snap happy friends and family members haven't uploaded any pictures to Snapfish or Picasa or anywhere else that I can download from.
I promise, as soon as I have some I will put them up.
The wedding was
Absolutely
Dream-like.
It couldn't have gone any more perfect.
My day began at 8:30am. I awoke to my alarm clock, let the dog out, made some coffee, and took a wonderfully long shower.
Then, I paid bills.
Yes, I paid bills on my wedding day. Not wedding-related bills like the catering hall or DJ, but the electric bill, gas bill, cable bill, etc. There was something very calming about doing something so ordinary as paying bills.
Amy, Ellen and Macon all arrived around 10am. Cathy(my sister) rolled in with my niece shortly after. We drank coffee, relaxed, waited for the photographer (we'll call him SnapCutie).
SnapCutie arrived, and we headed off to the salon for some pampering around 11:30. The salon was kind enough to have some bagels and mimosas for us. SnapCutie took many pictures of us getting primped, which I think will make for some great shots (especially of Tessa, my niece, getting her first "Spa hair" day).
After that, it was back home for some lunch (provided by Amy's mom) and time to get dressed. Socrates provided the entertainment by getting into SnapCutie's cameras and walking all over my dress! Luckily, he had a bath the day before so there weren't any paw prints, just panicked faces.
I got into my absolutely beautiful dress. Beautiful. Breathtaking. Stare-At-Me-Cause-I'm-The -Bride-In-A-Gorgeous-Dress kind of beautiful. Oh yes, there will be many pictures to come.
Once in the dress, we realized that we were already running behind schedule. The limo was due to arrive soon, and I had lipstick that made me look like a clown. Sister Blair, my Mary Kay toting bundle of sisterly love came over to fix her baby sister's messy face. All was well! Mom came over for some pictures, and then she went off to collect the old people who can't drive themselves.Those of you who often read my blog are well aware that I have a lot of elderly people in my family and those in the middle aged crowd spend much of their time accommodating the old, cranky people. I have made it clear that I will not be nearly so accommodating in my middle aged-ness.
The limo arrived and we all piled in (after getting some practical advice from the driver about how to maneuver in my dress). We were almost at the church when we realized that we forgot the flower girl basket! Turn around. Run back inside to get it. Head back to the church.
Since we arrived just in time...and yes, I mean exactly on time...there was no time for enjoying the moment and having butterflies.
I *literally* (yes, Peg, I used it) walked in the front doors of the church and lined up to head down the aisle.
The ceremony seemed to fly by in a blur. I remember standing. I remember sitting. I remember Clayton, my nephew-in-ring bearer coming up to have the rings blessed. I also remember my nose running. I wasn't crying. Not even one tear, actually. My nose just kept running! I needed a tissue!
Roger and I were holding hands as we were about to exchange rings. I looked down at our hands. I wanted to savor that moment.
And then...
splash
Mucus
Right out of my nose
plopped right into our hands.
Just one single drop of my snotty nose fell on our newly blessed rings.
I looked up at Roger with panic, who immediately got the giggles.
Not just regular "hee hee" giggles. No, he got "My face is going to turn red as I try to hold in the extreme laughter" giggles.
With a friggin video camera running!
Luckily, it looks like I had one single tear fall down.
The pictures might be very dramatic.
A single tear falls into their open hands.
It's actually snot from my nose. One, single drop of watery snot.
Then came vows, prayers, kiss, another kiss, clapping and leaving the church to go take pictures.
And you'll just have to wait for the rest of the story for another night!
Really, do you even need any more after the snot drop?
Unfortunately, the photographer won't have our pics for a few more weeks, and all of our snap happy friends and family members haven't uploaded any pictures to Snapfish or Picasa or anywhere else that I can download from.
I promise, as soon as I have some I will put them up.
The wedding was
Absolutely
Dream-like.
It couldn't have gone any more perfect.
My day began at 8:30am. I awoke to my alarm clock, let the dog out, made some coffee, and took a wonderfully long shower.
Then, I paid bills.
Yes, I paid bills on my wedding day. Not wedding-related bills like the catering hall or DJ, but the electric bill, gas bill, cable bill, etc. There was something very calming about doing something so ordinary as paying bills.
Amy, Ellen and Macon all arrived around 10am. Cathy(my sister) rolled in with my niece shortly after. We drank coffee, relaxed, waited for the photographer (we'll call him SnapCutie).
SnapCutie arrived, and we headed off to the salon for some pampering around 11:30. The salon was kind enough to have some bagels and mimosas for us. SnapCutie took many pictures of us getting primped, which I think will make for some great shots (especially of Tessa, my niece, getting her first "Spa hair" day).
After that, it was back home for some lunch (provided by Amy's mom) and time to get dressed. Socrates provided the entertainment by getting into SnapCutie's cameras and walking all over my dress! Luckily, he had a bath the day before so there weren't any paw prints, just panicked faces.
I got into my absolutely beautiful dress. Beautiful. Breathtaking. Stare-At-Me-Cause-I'm-The -Bride-In-A-Gorgeous-Dress kind of beautiful. Oh yes, there will be many pictures to come.
Once in the dress, we realized that we were already running behind schedule. The limo was due to arrive soon, and I had lipstick that made me look like a clown. Sister Blair, my Mary Kay toting bundle of sisterly love came over to fix her baby sister's messy face. All was well! Mom came over for some pictures, and then she went off to collect the old people who can't drive themselves.Those of you who often read my blog are well aware that I have a lot of elderly people in my family and those in the middle aged crowd spend much of their time accommodating the old, cranky people. I have made it clear that I will not be nearly so accommodating in my middle aged-ness.
The limo arrived and we all piled in (after getting some practical advice from the driver about how to maneuver in my dress). We were almost at the church when we realized that we forgot the flower girl basket! Turn around. Run back inside to get it. Head back to the church.
Since we arrived just in time...and yes, I mean exactly on time...there was no time for enjoying the moment and having butterflies.
I *literally* (yes, Peg, I used it) walked in the front doors of the church and lined up to head down the aisle.
The ceremony seemed to fly by in a blur. I remember standing. I remember sitting. I remember Clayton, my nephew-in-ring bearer coming up to have the rings blessed. I also remember my nose running. I wasn't crying. Not even one tear, actually. My nose just kept running! I needed a tissue!
Roger and I were holding hands as we were about to exchange rings. I looked down at our hands. I wanted to savor that moment.
And then...
splash
Mucus
Right out of my nose
plopped right into our hands.
Just one single drop of my snotty nose fell on our newly blessed rings.
I looked up at Roger with panic, who immediately got the giggles.
Not just regular "hee hee" giggles. No, he got "My face is going to turn red as I try to hold in the extreme laughter" giggles.
With a friggin video camera running!
Luckily, it looks like I had one single tear fall down.
The pictures might be very dramatic.
A single tear falls into their open hands.
It's actually snot from my nose. One, single drop of watery snot.
Then came vows, prayers, kiss, another kiss, clapping and leaving the church to go take pictures.
And you'll just have to wait for the rest of the story for another night!
Really, do you even need any more after the snot drop?
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