Old Soul, Young Heart

I've told Philip that I have never been, nor will I ever be, as nervous as I was right before I walked down the aisle.  It was probably my own fault, listening to the song that I was going to walk in to probably a hundred times, picturing the moments leading up to when it was actually going to happen. And then when it was time, I was both having an out-of-body experience while being acutely aware of myself. I wanted it to be dramatic, because--c'mon--who doesn't? It's not a moment that I had dreamed about my entire life ... I'm not that kind of person. But once we decided we were having a wedding... yes, I did think about it. I liked the fact that the chapel had doors and I wanted to use them. So I had Sheila, my good friend from high school, and the wedding coordinator close the doors after the flower girls walked down. The music played for a little while and then the moment came in the song. Yes--I waited for the right moment in the song. And the doors ope...

It started as I kindly asked everyone to leave the room so that I could put on my wedding dress. It was the only time all day that I spent alone. It was quiet in there. I had a moment to just be like, "Okay... this is real." I was cold, clammy, and sweating all at the same time. My dad, my brother, my aunt... we had our little moments together. And then it was time to get into the elevator. That's when it really hit me. And then I was in this little room with my dad and my aunt and the photographer--really, it was a big closet--waiting... waiting for what felt like 23 minutes, which in reality I'm sure it was more like 5 minutes. I was breathing heavily, I was shaking, my feet would not keep still. I look very happy and calm in that photo, but I was in agony. I just wanted to get the show on the road! I remember hearing the Feather Theme from Forrest Gump. I knew that the grandmas and Philip's parents were walking in... my vision for the day was coming t...

Way behind. I guess it could be worse. We opted to not do many flowers at all, because... They are super expensive. Like stupidly expensive. (I spent $550 on four bouquets and one corsage. Shyeah.) They are unnecessary. I feel like people don't really notice them at all. The only flowers I ever remember seeing at weddings are the bridesmaid and bride bouquets. Did we miss not having boutonnieres for the boys? That would be a no. Mine. Our's. Joy's. I have to say that they turned out quite different than what I was envisioning. I wanted hydrangea bouquets because they are my favorite flowers. I found dark purple fake ones that matched the bridesmaids' dresses perfectly and some lighter purple ones that accented the dark purple perfectly. I wanted to use the darker ones in my bouquet and the lighter ones in the bridesmaids' bouquets. I thought that they would look much more hydrangea-y and not so rose-y. We also had to do a lot of trimming on ...

While looking for something old/new/borrowed/blue, I asked Joy (Philip's mom... my mother-in-law... ha!) if she had any great ideas for what I could use for any of those things. She knew that I was looking and bought me this beautiful hankerchief for the day of to use as my "something blue." It's very similar to our logo and it's got little crystals on it. Beautiful. This is when she was giving it to me right before the ceremony. She's so sweet. I love her to pieces. I'm so glad I had it during the ceremony and just held on to it because I definitely needed it to wipe my tears and runny nose! The perfect "something blue."

This one was the easiest of the something old/new/borrowed/blue, because basically I bought everything new! My dress was from Bridal Elegance. I really do feel like this dress was meant for me. It was on the sample/sale rack and the sales girl brought it to me. I wouldn't have found it otherwise. I loved it. I loved the ruching, the modified sweetheart neckline, the fit and flare (really I think this one is considered mermaid), and the asymmetricalness of the bottom. Despite some of the issues I had with it later on (expensive alterations and cleaning), it was so worth it. That freaking sash. Hahaha. You all remember the sash saga. After all of that, I found the perfect one on Amazon, of all places. I knew that I wanted a bolder earring since I wouldn't be wearing a necklace. I saw these at Von Maur and fell in love immediately. I knew that I wanted pear-shaped ones because to me they have more of a classic, elegant feel. I just couldn't stop thinking abou...

Christmas Eve and Christmas got in the way of Marriage Monday... I had a really hard time coming up with stuff for my something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. I wasn't opposed to not really doing it if I didn't find something for each thing. One night my dad and I scoured my mom's jewelry looking. I found something that I thought might work for my something old/borrowed/blue and I kept it in the back of my mind if I didn't find anything else over the months and weeks leading up to the wedding. It ended up being my something old and borrowed. Actually I ended up putting it in our wedding keepsake box, so I guess I can't even call it borrowed. But it is, in a sense. So my mom collected Precious Moments. Our whole house is full of them... there are curio cabinets and shelves of them all over the downstairs. As a kid, she tried to get me on board by buying me pieces. I myself have two shelves of them to this day in my bedroom. I thin...

I skipped last week's Marriage Monday because I wasn't in the mood and was seriously lacking the motivation... Like I said in the previous week's Marriage Monday, I was very calm the morning of the wedding. Our photographer and videographer commented several times that I was one of the calmest brides they had ever been around haha. My aunt and I went to get the flowers, we hung out while the others were getting their hair done, and all of a sudden it was 11:01. And I looked at the clock beside the bed and said... "Oh my god--I'm supposed to be at Fox and Hound's right now for my makeup appointment!" I just could not believe that I did that! I never forget about things like that. I grabbed my aunt and we sped away. I called F&H on the way there; luckily we were only like 15 minutes late and the girl doing my makeup was running behind anyway. We even got done earlier than I had anticipated. (Sidenote: The trial for my makeup was not good. ...