It's true what they say about weddings being stressful. While I mostly gave up on worrying before the wedding, the day of I said a few choice words more than a few times.

My mom, sisters, bridesmaids, and I woke up severely early to go set up the reception and ceremony area. I never got around to setting up the ceremony site, because it was two hours until go-time when I actually left from setting up to go get ready. My mom and most of the bridesmaids set up the entire ceremony site while I was back at the house.

I didn't start getting panicky until it was 2:45 and my dress still wasn't on. The wedding was set to start at 3, so you can imagine how I felt. Once I actually got into the car, with my giant headpiece, I realized I'd only peed once all day, and also that I couldn't breathe.

Despite the fact that I arrived, with my parents and bridesmaid Julie, about 15 minutes late, the entire wedding, ceremony and reception, went surprisingly well.

As my dad and I started to walk towards the curtains and down the steps to where Andre stood, I was fighting to hold back severe sobs. Still, we made it to the stage without anyone falling, and besides a couple of sand issues (we forgot the lines at which we were supposed to head over to the sand, and we filled our hourglass too full), everything went beautifully.

I still have no idea what the actual ceremony site looked like, and I suppose I won't know until we get pictures back.

How many wedding party members does it take to get a cricket out of a layered dress? All of 'em! Crickets are good luck, right?

We were able to get formal family and wedding party pictures, and I believe that, in itself, is a major feat.

The reception wasn't necessarily planned out, but my photographer (which was my mom's cousin) was able to give us some heads up on how to move along. I got through a dance with Andre, both my parents, my best friend from high school, and one of my sisters.

During the entire reception, the only thing either Andre or I ate was the small bite of cake we each shoved in each other's mouth, but we also had some champagne to have (surprise) toasts to.






Both the ceremony and reception were outside, and while it was slightly hotter than we had hoped, at least it didn't get rained out.

The ceremony and reception, combined, lasted only about 3 hours, and we actually waited until everyone left before we took any bride and groom pictures.

We were told by more than a few people that our wedding was fun, and of course, at the end of the day, we were happily married, so mission accomplished!


xx,
PS. Keep an eye out for our wedding photos, once we get them back!



Linked up with Macy at To Travel & Beyond for Wedding Wednesday.