Most people don’t talk about what happens before the ceremony; like all the preparation, making sure everything is where it needs to be, making sure all the people are where they need to be.

I realize for some it’s not the most important part, but really the ceremony and reception don’t happen without all the stuff that happens before it.

We dropped off all of our decorations and place cards and whatnot to our venue a couple days prior to the wedding.  That was a nice relief for us; knowing that they had it all there and they had our vision already in place, was a huge help.  I will say if you have the ability to have a day-of coordinator with your wedding; do it. It was definitely one of the best choices we made in this whole process.  Veronica took care of everything; we literally just showed up and enjoyed ourselves.

 

But, I digress.  We had everything dropped off and then one of my bridesmaids came down the day before the wedding since she lives a ways away.  Michelle stayed with us; helped make sure we were all ready to go and we spent the night just hanging out; catching up, reminiscing.  It was so nice to have her with us the night before.  She’s the one out of our wedding party that we really don’t see that often, so it was special to us to get some quiet time with her before all the festivities.

The actual morning of the wedding; all three of us had breakfast and started to figure out schedules.  Obviously, Devon and I live together and aren’t THAT superstitious, so we didn’t do the whole “the groom can’t see the bride before the ceremony” thing.  That just seemed too complicated.  My only request was that he not see the dress or me in it until the ceremony; but that was just more because I wanted his genuine reaction at the ceremony.

So, we all hung out in the morning for a bit and then I left to get my hair and makeup done before I met up with everyone else at the hotel (we already had a suite reserved so Devon and his guys got dressed there first and then went across the street to the venue while the girls and I got ready in the room).  Being the happy little introvert I am, I’m glad we all sort of went our way for hair and makeup because it gave me a little time to myself to think and process (and to finish my vows) before all the big stuff started.

I loved my makeup; hated my hair, but that’s all a story for another day.

I got to our hotel; the boys were done and gone already.  Lisa, Devon’s Mom came up to the room a few minutes after I got there to check on me, so she and I spent a few minutes alone together.  Then my girls joined me as well as our photographer, Emily.  She was with the boys as they got ready, too.

I really didn’t stress much throughout the day…until I got to the hotel.  Then some stress started a little; more because my hair was completely uncooperative so I essentially had to completely re-do it and didn’t really have the time for that.  I did some random maneuvering of it to at least get it presentable for the ceremony because, let’s be honest, who really cares what their hair looks like by the time the reception happens?   I didn’t care, anyway.

That took long enough that eventually Devon texted me to tell me Veronica was waiting for us and that everything else was ready to go.  I swore up and down FOREVER I was not going to be late to my own wedding so it was time to get it moving.

So, we headed over and they sequestered me away so that no one accidentally saw me. This is about the time that the whole “I’m getting married” reality set in.  Partially because I was all dressed for it and partially because I could hear Devon talking with the rest of the wedding party a little ways away.

A few minutes later all the talking stopped and I could start hearing music in the background, so I knew they were getting everything taken care of and beginning.  Then, they came and got me so I could walk in…….

…to be continued….