I woke up on November 9th early and feeling ill. It was going to be the happiest day of my life, but the anticipation was killing me. It didn’t help either that the girls at the rehearsal dinner the night before had gotten a little crazy and we had stayed up much too late drinking and eventually ordering pizza. Luckily the MOH had opted to spend the night with me at the hotel so I had someone to keep me company and make me eat breakfast before the girl doing hair and makeup arrived.
The morning seemed to drag on but slowly friends and family trickled into the bridal suite to come spend time with me before the festivities started. It seemed like all the sudden my hair and makeup were done and the photographer had arrived. It was time to put on the dress. The dress was made by my mother, she has sewed since she was a little girl and it’s been a passion of hers ever since. Which is fortunate for me since I got a custom made dress. Back in the spring we went to NYC for the weekend and we shopped in the Garment District for material. I knew I wanted a lace overlay and we found beautiful material with a unique design.
Since my mother made it we were able to mesh together two patterns, one that encompassed most of the dress and the other provided the distinctive straps on the back. We realized during fittings however that we would chance messing up my hair while putting the dress on, so it was decided that my mom would attach the straps to the back that day. I think that was the most stressful part of the day for her.
Luckily the day was sunny even if it was cold. With our ceremony not starting until 7, it was nice to get the portraits done early in the sunlight. Years ago when the First Look idea first became trendy I thought it was a terrible idea, why would you want to ruin that moment where you appear the top of the aisle. Over time though I came to realize that it gave the bride and groom a chance to have a special moment alone before the ceremony and I’m so glad we did. Timing wise we didn’t have much of a choice anyways so it’s fortunate I had changed my mind before we were even engaged. Our photographer had scouted out Old Town weeks before the wedding and decided on the Carlyle House. I had worried with a November wedding that the trees would all be bare but the colors were amazing. From there we went to the waterfront for more photos before meeting the bridal party. The group photos were taken as the sun was setting and we have some beautiful shots. Our photographer was recommended by a friend and we were both extremely happy with how the photos came out.
After a quick ceremony it was time for cocktail hour. As discussed previously, the food was amazing! Since photographs were done we were able to mingle with our guests while sampling some of the appetizers. I was anxious at that point though because after cocktail hour we were going to do our first dance. Instead of doing the normal sway we had taken five dance lessons and had choreographed dance to Dean Martin’s “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”. The dance was pulled off nearly flawlessly.
After that it was dinner, speeches, cake cutting and then dancing. The speeches given by our MOH and Best Man were great. People have continued to tell us that they were some of the best they have ever heard. I have to give my own speech in return when she gets married in July and I’m afraid that the bar has been set pretty high. The groom's cake was made by a friend of ours who worked in a bakery in high school. Appropriately enough she's also a Cardinals fan!
When we met with our DJ he asked us what kind of wedding we wanted to have, our response was fun. That was all we were interested in was making sure the music made people want to get up and dance. And they did, the DJ kept the dancing going with music that appealed to everyone.
We were so fortunate that we were able to have family and friends from all over the world make it in! It was definitely everything we hoped for while we were planning, the people we loved all gathered around us and having a good time.
The morning seemed to drag on but slowly friends and family trickled into the bridal suite to come spend time with me before the festivities started. It seemed like all the sudden my hair and makeup were done and the photographer had arrived. It was time to put on the dress. The dress was made by my mother, she has sewed since she was a little girl and it’s been a passion of hers ever since. Which is fortunate for me since I got a custom made dress. Back in the spring we went to NYC for the weekend and we shopped in the Garment District for material. I knew I wanted a lace overlay and we found beautiful material with a unique design.
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| The bodice of my dress |
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| Getting sewn into my dress by my mom |
After a quick ceremony it was time for cocktail hour. As discussed previously, the food was amazing! Since photographs were done we were able to mingle with our guests while sampling some of the appetizers. I was anxious at that point though because after cocktail hour we were going to do our first dance. Instead of doing the normal sway we had taken five dance lessons and had choreographed dance to Dean Martin’s “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”. The dance was pulled off nearly flawlessly.
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| Some of our delicious appetizers |
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| Groom's cake |
When we met with our DJ he asked us what kind of wedding we wanted to have, our response was fun. That was all we were interested in was making sure the music made people want to get up and dance. And they did, the DJ kept the dancing going with music that appealed to everyone.
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| The party! |
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