First off, the night before...man what chaos! Thankfully, my parents, Jordan and I had met with our pastor the week beforehand, to go over all the major details. I would recommend to anyone getting married, do this. We laid out what we wanted, so that when we got to rehearsal, most of the decision making was out of the way. I actually made a major change to the ceremony setup that day that would not have been possible to accomplish during rehearsal. I decided that I wanted to stand on the left! Crazy I know. Here's the explination, for those of you who weren't at rehearsal to hear it: when my cousin got married last year, I had never met the groom. But, because of the traditional bride's side and groom's side, I could only stare at K's back the entire ceremony. While she has a very pretty back, I would have much rather watched her face. I decided then that when it was my turn to say my vows, I would be facing my family. Not only that, but I knew my sisters had something special planned, and if I stood on the traditional bride's side, I would not be able to watch them in the choir box (which would have been behind me). It was quite comical the night of rehearsal because Jordan's grandmother came clomping down the aisle to tell the pastor that he didn't know what he was doing!
Then it was morning, and all of us girls got up at the crack of dawn. After a quick cup of coffee, we loaded up and went to our hair appointment. My "second mommy" fixed us up all pretty (I don't think I've ever had that much hairspray!). This is about when it really kicked in for the first time that I was really getting married!
After our hair appointment we all went to the church to get ready. Another one of mom's friends brought us lunch and then it was time to get into my dress! I felt like a Barbie doll with everyone pulling and primping and fixing and all that.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, I was allowed to see Jordan. We hadn't seen each other since the rehearsal dinner the night before! Again, not very traditional, but I'm so glad we decided to see each other before the ceremony. The photographer was in the room with us but neither one of us had any idea. I'm anxious to see these pictures. There were lots of tears of joy!
After that, lots and lots of pictures. Jordan and I both hate the camera being in our face, so we weren't looking forward to this part. However, our photographer did a fantastic job and made us feel very comfortable. She said it will be about 3 weeks for the pictures to be done, so I'll post those as soon as possible.
Is it really time to go? OMG!!!! I had a minor freak out at this point...Mom made me eat a little more to calm me down. Down the stairs to the fellowship hall, then up again into the foyer. Then one of my "brothers" started to sing. I could barely hear him but it really gave me a peace. The wedding party started their walk, Dad and I hid just out of sight. Will Maycee go down the aisle? I was told she did, but I wish I could have seen it. She probably stole the show! OMG it's my turn! Deep breath! Thankfully Lauren was there to make me breathe. She fixed my hair, my dress, and then it was time to go. The ushers opened the doors and there was Jordan. I don't think I looked at the audience the entire ceremony. Only Jordan.
A great deal of the ceremony is a blur to me. We said the vows at the right time, lit the unity candle, took communion (so glad we decided to do this!). We kissed, and then my sisters went to the choir box. I knew they had been planning something for a long time, but I had just assumed that they had picked some sweet song to sing. But then Kelsey said she wrote it. I thought I had heard wrong, but at that point I was already crying. I wish I had a recording of the song to post on here, it was incredible. It turns out Kelsey had written the lyrics way before we were engaged, and gave it to my uncle to write music for at Thanksgiving. I had no idea. It was such an amazing part of my day. After all that, we were pronounced man and wife (finally!) and then dismissed our guests. We rang the church bell and then it was time to party!
And boy what a party! The meal was great, more pictures were taken. And the dancing! Anyone who knows me knows that I do not like being the center of attention. I'll dance, but usually only if there is a huge crowd and I am in the back of it. But not this day! I had been so stressed out for so long that I hardly left the floor. Fast songs, slow songs, everyone had so much fun. We finished the night by singing "Hang on, Sloopy," an oldie that I fell in love with at Kristen's wedding. Most of the guests are not Ohio State fans, and honestly, neither am I, but the song was a hit anyway.
I will make one comment about the wedding night. There is something that they don't show in movies and I feel all brides should be warned of. The wedding night is not full of romance like the movies would have you believe. Instead picture the bride sitting on the bed in tears while the groom tries desperately to get the headpiece and bobby pins out of her hair! Oh it was awful. It sure looked pretty during the day, but it was miserably difficult to get out!
My mom threw a morning after brunch the next day for the family that was still in town. Then we were off to our minimoon! We stopped at Oliver Winery and I'm so glad we did! I've converted my beer-drinking husband into a Wino!
Brown County was awesome, although we almost died (ok maybe that is a slight exaggeration)! The heat wouldn't turn on in our cabin so Jordan lit a fire in the fireplace. He had played with the flue and thought it was open, so we really stopped paying attention the fire. The next thing we knew, our eyes burned and I started wheezing. The cabin was filled with smoke! Jordan quickly doused the fire and got me outside and made me breathe the fresh air. I was slightly panicked, so my brave new husband had to save the day! We froze that night, thinking it very strange that the cabin didn't have any extra blankets stored for emergencies. The next day, we went horseback riding in the park and shopped in Nashville. We came home that evening to a warm cabin! Somehow, the heat that would not kick on for anything the night before, started in the middle of the day. Weird. Oh and when we were packing up to leave, we found the spare blankets. And a guest book that explained the flue and the heaters. All were hidden in very strange places. You'd think in a publicly rented cabin that those things should be placed in obvious spots for stupid people who don't work fire places on a normal basis.
Ok seriously, Haley. Wrap this up. I got a little carried away. I'm married. Whoo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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