finally!

I think I'm finally finished processing the wedding. I love reading recaps and all, but had NO desire to write them.  I still don't, really - I'm ready to move on to the other things that are consuming my brain, but here we go anyway!*

Our wedding started out in a very stressful way. Our relatives came and drove us crazy (with notable exception - my aunt, who not only was helpful but pretty much ran the whole show. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I hated my flowers (the only dahlias that were available due to the unusually cold/wet weather we had been having), my makeup-doer backed out the afternoon before, I wasn't 100% pleased with my dress, and on and on and on. A bunch of friends jumped in and helped do all kinds of last minute things. We found a new makeup-doer. The local-but-not-organic cherries for the centerpieces found themselves in a bath of fruit/veggie wash. The night before the wedding, Bryn ironed my dress for 4 hours, ordered me around so I could get organized, and prepped fruit until 3. T and I went to bed at 4 in the morning (after having premarital sex for the last time, awww yeah).

this is a total lie. not "all done". not at all.

I got up before 7, when I began to run around like crazy again. That day, many people who were helping pre-wedding arrived late because of one reason or another. Getting stuff to the venue was an absolute nightmare. The tandem bike got left at home because no one had a truck. I received 4 separate text messages within an hour concerning the location of the homemade lavender-infused vodka!

Two people who were on time were Kathleen, who was doing my hair, and Erin, our photographer. Also, Milton was on hand to help get white cat hair on everything possible.

gratuitous cat picture.

We all consumed lots of Viso.

gratuitous hot fiance pic

Kathleen curled my hair with a curling iron and set each section with an alligator clip.

my day of "perfect beauty" - featuring the worst under-eye circles of my life!

tools

Then we tied a scarf over it in grandma-like fashion.

Erin took some neat details shots of our wedding clothes.

Kathleen and Erin drove to the venue together while I finished running around doing Icantevenrememberwhat, and forgetting ALL my jewelry (which I didn't even remember until after the wedding, when I mourned the absence of my CUTE bird earrings and bicycle locket). Best thing of the morning? The GORGEOUS bouquet my neighbor Jan made me! All the best dark-red dahlias with random foliage from our yard.

After a kerfuffle over WHERE THE EFF IS UNCLE RAY, I NEED TO GET OVER THERE ASAP, I ended up driving myself to the venue, alone, in our housemate's car, nearly getting in a head-on collision with a woman haphazardly exiting a motel near the venue. T had told me by phone, "Go in through the front door so you don't see the backyard [where the wedding was]... you do not want to see how un-set-up things are at this point." EFFFFF. So I went in the front and went straight upstairs to get ready.

Kathleen came up and finished my hair. And after feeling a little "meh" after the trials.... she nailed the hairdo perfectly. I loved it!

T's friend, Alison, who might be the most normal lady I know, helped me do natural-looking makeup. We were unable to do much about the enormous bags under my eyes, but whatever, I got 3 hours of sleep and that's what photo editing software is for.

My dress fit perfectly, thanks to the pigging out I did the couple days before the wedding. The few pounds I gained back actually made a huge difference in the fit of the boob area! Also, I'd like to give a huge thank-you to the shapewear industry. I wore a strapless bra that actually stayed up (tested it with the 1-year-old the week prior!) and a "Miraclesuit", which looked awful, felt okay, and kept my stomach in check and didn't creep down! Kathleen and Erin helped me zip and tie my dress. My friendors kept me totally sane, since all my other friends were running around setting things up downstairs.

 Then we had an impromptu photo shoot in the white-and-turquoise subway-tiled bathroom with a built-in vanity:

HA! The bottom half of this window is frosted. This pic is a LIE.

So I'm dressed, starving, and ready to go. And things still aren't completely set up, and it's after the wedding's start-time and Thomas hasn't even taken his clothing out of the car because he had a disaster with the sound system and had to tell everyone what to do besides that. And I pace back-and-forth in the upstairs bedroom...

pic by me. obviously.

(To be continued)

(Hey, you're lucky you got this much!)

*All photos by Erin Thomas Photography, unless otherwise noted! You can also "like" her facebook page (which is more frequently updated)!