Wedding Day Recap

I spent the night with my parents, in my old bedroom.  When my alarm went off, I forgot for a second where I was and promptly fell off the bed.  After checking for broken bones and bruises, I ran into the kitchen, where my parents were already busy at work on reception food.  It was WEDDING DAY!  I sat in the kitchen with them and made ham sandwiches (Hamlets) for the reception.  We had purchased black forest ham and honey ham, and some really delicious rolls to put the ham in.  We also had mustard and mayo, and slices of cheese.  So my dad and I did the sandwiches while my mom made the cheesecake tarts.  (Titus Tarts - not made of people.)  We talked while we worked, and my parents were very encouraging and positive about the marriage and about the wedding itself.  While I knew it was right and had absolutely no doubts whatsoever, knowing they "approved" still meant a lot.

We had a few things to finish up at the theatre that morning, so we planned to meet there and finish everything up.  I was fine with seeing him before the ceremony, as long as he didn't see me all dressed up and looking awesome.  So wearing jeans and my "bride" t-shirt, I went up to the theatre and we finished up all the small details we needed to do before the wedding could happen.  We went upstairs and started getting dressed about an hour before the ceremony.  I had my sound guy (brother-in-law Rob) start the pre-ceremony music and we started getting ready.  It was so much fun getting dressed and made up with the girls.  Our photographer came up and took some photos of the girls helping me with my hair and make-up, and then she took a few shots of me in my dress in the dressing room.  I'm looking forward to seeing how those turned out.  She took some detail shots of the dress, jewelry and wrap too, and I'm sure those are going to be gorgeous!

It was 2 p.m. before we knew it, and I wasn't quite ready.  Everyone went downstairs and I followed.  At the last moment, I realized I forgot my bouquet.  Hope ran back upstairs (in her heels) and got it for me.  She totally saved the day!

We all walked down the aisle to "Concerning Hobbits" from Lord of the Rings.  I've loved that piece of music since the first movie came out, and it was important to me to walk to it.  I have honestly never felt so beautiful or so happy in my life.  I think I floated rather than walked down the aisle.  Luckily, I didn't trip.  Walking with my dad, walking toward Jon, who was standing there looking more nervous, happy, and handsome than I have ever seen him, was a moment I hope I never forget.  Words cannot describe it.  I wish they could, because I want to have a record of this memory and I don't ever want to forget that feeling. But I'm at a loss as to how to describe it.  I know I couldn't stop smiling.  :)

We stood there while my cousin Bill said a few words, and then he went into the ceremony that included words we chose together beforehand.  The words meant so much because we picked them together, and they were exactly how we felt about the moment.  When it was time to recite our own vows, we got the scrolls we had written them on and began opening them.  But the seals were too good and it took a minute or so to actually break the seals.  I got mine finished first, but Jon was supposed to do his vows first, so I wanted.  It was a nice ice-breaking moment and we were grateful for it.  Jon's favorite moment was when the preacher offered his pocket knife to help.

His vows were... perfect.  I've never in my life had anything so beautiful spoken to me.  And funny.  He has such a fantastic sense of humor!  I almost felt bad that my vows were all sappy without much humor at all.  Although they did have some funny moments.  I'll post them in a separate post a little later.

The rings were beautiful and exchanging them was a nice moment.

Then it was time for the sand ceremony, which I was looking forward to and also kind of dreading.  My mom was to sing a song during it, and I really didn't want her to start crying while she was trying to sing.  I didn't want her to be embarrassed by that - I would have been fine with her starting to cry, but she wanted the song to be perfect and if she had cried it wouldn't have been perfect in her eyes.  But she didn't cry.  I was so proud of her for holding it together!  We poured the sand veeeeery slowly and managed to finish just before the end of the song.  We kind of softly talked to each other during that time and laughed a little as well.  That was pretty awesome too.  And we have a cool jar full of colored sand to display!

After that, the ceremony was pretty much over.  It only took 25 minutes and was hopefully entertaining enough that people didn't get bored.

We took lots of pictures after exiting the theatre (to the them from Pirates of the Caribbean.)  Lots of different combinations of people, and then some of just us.  We also had a little sword fight, which the photographer enjoyed taking some pictures of as well.  I can't wait to see those!

After the photos, we entered the theatre again, where people were already eating and having some fun.  We did our first dance, and about halfway through, I invited everyone else to join us.  Quite a few couples came out and danced, including Hannah and Noah, which was adorable.  I danced with Noah too, after he danced with Hannah for awhile.  I can't wait to see that photo too!

We then cut the cake and did the photos with the glasses, but then it was time for the photographer to leave.  So we just hung out after that, eating cake and talking with our friends and family.  People started leaving at that point, so we hung around until everyone left and then we helped my parents pack some things up and left ourselves.

It sounds a little odd, the way things ended, but it was perfect for us.  Our friends stayed around longer than family members, so we got a chance to hang out with them for awhile.  And we managed to get on the road earlier than we expected, which was also pretty nice.

So that was the wedding day!  I'll have pictures soon, so look for those.  And once we have the photos, I will do some little step-by-step things describing how we DIY'd some of our decorations and things.