Completely Out of Order...Our Rehearsal!

I think I might just have the most disjointed, jumbled up recaps ever. Whoops! Hope you all don't mind. Lets take a step back and talk about the wedding rehearsal!

I have always wanted to wear my mom's veil for my wedding...but I just couldn't find a dress that suited me AND the veil. My solution? Wear it to the rehearsal!



Let me tell you a little backstory on why I thought this was such a good idea - beyond just the sentiment of it. When my cousin got married, my littlest sister Ashlyn was the ring bearer. She did great at rehearsal, walking from the bride's side to the groom's side with the rings...right behind the bride. No one took into account the long train the bride would have on her wedding day! Well, the wedding is going along beautifully, and it is time for Ashlyn to present the rings. She is standing on the bride side, knowing she has to get to the groom's side. So what does she do? She take a little running start and JUMPS OVER THE TRAIN! Luckily she cleared it! Whew! It was the funniest/scariest thing. Can you imagine if she had landed on the dress? Oh goodness!

It was great practicing with a train - helped me realize the difficulties I would have moving around with all that dress behind me!

Our rehearsal was a great success. Everyone was on time, everything went the way it was supposed to...perfect! Here's a nice laugh from me and Dad...


Our Bear Bearer is obviously bored. :) But you can see a glimpse of my fabulous red peeptoe pumps I wore in this picture!



We're ready!!!!!

Practicing the walk in...I think I teared up more at the rehearsal than I did at the wedding. This is when it hit me - we are really getting married!!!!!!!!!!!

My husband and Dad, practice the "hand off".


Our Rehearsal Dinner was tons of fun. We had about fifty people there, but it still felt so intimate. We loved spending time with our friends and family.

Our godson/Bear Bearer's mom gave us these shirts. The front says "The Bride" or "The Groom" and the back has our names. Love them!

Friends and family...


Gavin & "Uncle Nate"

My beautiful nephew!!!

A not so great photo of me, but let me just tell you, I absolutely LOVED my dress! It is a Suzi Chin and it is on sale right now at Nordstroms! Less than $60! Go get it!!!


This may be the only photo I have of my bridesmaids' gifts. I made these! They are towel wraps, with ribbon added on and their monogrammed pin. I had hoped to get a photo of the girls in them but it didn't happen. Oh well!

And there you have it...our wedding rehearsal and dinner! Did yours go as smoothly as mine??

One of My Favorites

This picture is absolutely one of my favorites from the whole wedding. To the blog browser, it may not look like much. Allow me to explain.



About fifteen years ago, I first caught sight of my future husband in this very room. We were in sixth grade, and it was my first night at his youth group. I remember seeing him, sitting against that wall, with a red pick in his hand, having a smart comment for everything the youth pastor said. Not much has changed. :) I had no idea that night that he would someday be my husband. Amazing how God works!

We were married in that same church, so this is a photo I always dreamed of having. Thank you to my talented photographer, Audrey Snow, for capturing it so beautifully!

When Do You Weigh Yourself?

Like most women, I have a love/hate relationship with the scale. Usually it just puts me in a bad mood. But I can't seem to part with it.

My husband and I disagree on what time of day is the most accurate read for your weight.

I weigh myself in the morning, right before I take my shower. He says I need to weigh myself later in the day.

The way I see it - the morning numbers usually make me happier, and what does it matter if it is "exact"? I should be able to know how much I have gained or lost since I am weighing myself at the same time every day. And don't forget the fact that a woman's weight fluctuates dramatically throughout the day!

He completely disagrees with my theories.

So I'm turning to you. What time do you weigh yourself and why?

An Award!

My sweet friend, The Roddy Bride, has given me an award - the Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award. (By the way, I thought of you this morning when I was doing the Shred! Thanks for getting me back into it!)




I'll admit it - I love getting blog awards - but I am terrible about posting them or passing them on!

So for this one, the directions are simple: Post the award on your site, write 10 interesting things about yourself, and then pass it on to 10 other bloggers. I can do this.

1. I am a licensed attorney - but I don't practice law.

2. I have 3 sisters (but you probably already knew that).

3. I have spent time working in orphanages in Romania and Guatemala.

4. My family has lived in the same house since I was four years old.

5. I can bend my elbows backwards.

6. I still sleep with my teddy bear (unless my husband kicks him out of bed.) Hehe.

7. I met my husband in 6th grade.

8. I graduated from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.

9. I have never had a white Christmas.

10. I have a serious weakness for anything with chocolate and peanut butter.



Whew! There you go - a little about me.

And now...who to pass it on to?

A Classy, Catholic Southern Bride
Cheapwife, of course! :)
The Farmer and the Southern Belle
You Can't Take it With You
A.Mountain.Bride
Wedding For Two
A Wedding Story
A Little Birdie Weds
Life After I "Dew"
Bride-On-Purpose


Congrats, ladies! :)

And It's Time!!!!

Where did we leave off? Oh yes...time to walk down the aisle!!!

The doors opened, and I saw my groom with the biggest smile on his face.

My Daddy and I walked in the doors and headed down the aisle.

My poor groom didn't know what to do with his hands. He kept rubbing them together, rubbing them together...

I love this shot of him and his big brother Nick.

My Mom had one request when it came to my bouquet - she wanted a daisy. See, daisies have always been my flower. This was my way to honor her as I walked down the aisle. I had a gerbera daisy that I carried with my bouquet, but not actually in the bouquet. Unfortunately, I was squeezing the bouquet so tightly that the stem snapped! I handed her my tiny little flower and we laughed together. :)




And then it was time for Daddy's big moment. "Who gives this woman to be married to this man?" "Her mother and I".

He kissed me on my cheek...

Hugged his soon-to-be son-in-law...


And he joined my hand with my groom's. I love these photos. It is so symbolic of my Daddy welcoming my new husband into our family.

And then, it was time for the marriage covenant! Our Pastor (who has known us for YEARS) had a wonderful sermon to share, all about how marriage is a choice and love is a choice. It was important to both of us to have our vows read, "I choose you..." and he really explained this. It was wonderful.

I love this photo of us praying together. It speaks so much to our faith.

The church looked so beautiful.

I love the photos of my groom as he says his vows.

And I love this photo of my parents, watching approvingly.

Beautiful.

Nate's brothers and friend Gavin looking on...

Another wonderful photo. But it cracks me up that you can see our Pastor's "script" inside his Bible. :) At some point we took Communion, but we don't have any pictures of that. (Boo.) As I've said before, it was probably my absolute favorite moment of the whole ceremony.

Oooh. Another one of my favorite moments. We had a "family blessing" instead of a unity candle. Each of us had an uncle speak - mine spoke about the importance of faith and family in our lives, and then his uncle said a prayer as our parents surrounded us. It was beautiful.

And then...it was time to kiss the bride!!!

My husband likes to make fun of me, because after he kissed me, I grabbed his face and kissed him again. One kiss wasn't enough. :)

"Introducing, for the very first time...Mr. & Mrs. august15! :)

Hooray!!!!!!

We all walked out of the sanctuary and into a smaller room. On the way in, my new brother-in-law stepped on my dress and I heard a "RIIPPPP!" I almost died. But I think just one of the "pickups" in my skirt came out because we really couldn't see any tear. WHEW!!!

I love this photo of me and my new sister-in-law!!!

Wow...I love re-living all of this with you!! Thanks for letting me share my stories with you!

Time to Get Married!!

It's Friday night and I'm sitting home alone watching reruns of "Say Yes to the Dress." I can't get enough of this show!

So of course seeing all these dresses makes me want to look at pictures of my own wedding!

So here's where we left off. We arrived at the church and it was time to finish those last minute details!

Pinning the boutenairre on my Daddy...

Kelly and Katie keeping themselves entertained. :)

Pinning my Grandma's corsage...

And a few shots with my dear teddy bear, Cuby!

And then...it was time! As I waited upstairs, this was going on inside the church. My soon to be husband walked in behind his two older brothers. From the very beginning of wedding planning, he always wanted to walk down the aisle...so he did! :)

Our bridal party entered...(for some reason we don't have photos of everyone entering...strange!)

And then...it was time for our "Bear Bearer". He walked in the doors, saw his Uncle Nate and took off running!! These is one of my favorite photo sequences from the whole wedding!

Then my soon to be husband started wringing his hands, anxiously awaiting my arrival!

My Daddy and I were told, "It's time!" And we were ready!