Wedding Recap - Photos, Transport and Stress Oh My!

I have promised myself that I will have the wedding recaps done before we get our professional photos back.  We should get those between 1-3 weeks from now so I better get typing.  I aplogize for the length of these posts but this was just so huge for me that I need to give it a decent recap for myself. 

When last we left Beluga Girl and Orca Boy (seriously, the coloration is remarkably similar) we had set up the reception space and were getting ready for the "first look."  I had been all prettified by two wonderful women at the Edgefield spa and got into my dress with only a tiny bit of help to zip it all the way up. I was determined to do it myself without anybody around in the room but needed to call Diane for the final zip and to make sure I didn't have back cleavage.  Who knew your back could look so much like an ass? 

The photographer showed up before I got fully zipped and started shooting.  I was surprised how little I noticed him and how natural I felt with him shooting all the time.  I thought I would have a bigger problem with being photographed but I had so many other things going through my mind that I didn't even notice.  So I was dressed and accessorized for the wedding but didn't really feel like a bride until I got to hold my bouquet.  That was the first moment I actually felt bridal.  I loved my bouquet too.  It had wonderful yellow flowers, tiny touches of white (can we all just agree that a white dress with an all-white bouquet is BORING and should be stopped? Agree? Good!), beautiful seed pods and the pieces that really made the bouquet pop; chocolate fern curls.  I could have stared at it for hours.  The florist did a beautiful job.  Sadly there aren't any good pictures of it yet.  The billy button boutonnieres for the guys were also perfect.  A fun, unusual flower for a fun, unusual occasion.

"How the hell do we put these on?"

I met Kevin outside and the photog had him turn around for the "first look."  Now, this seems a little silly because he had seen me in my dress a bunch of times, seen the shoes, seen the necklace, seen the hair and make-up but had never seen it all together.  But it was the actual wedding day so it was a little different this time.  He looked so handsome in his tux even though his hair was still wet from hurrying through his shower.  He was SO stressed from the insane reception set-up that he was almost in tears and the first thing he said to me was "we should have eloped."  The pom poms gave him PTSD.  We quickly got out of the stressful morning mood and into having fun being together on our wedding day and taking photographs around the grounds of The Edgefield. 

Taking pictures was a lot of fun.  I felt really pretty at the time although the few photos I have seen don't make me feel that way now.  But at the time I felt beautiful which is all that matters.  I have never seen a photo of me I have liked anyway so why should the wedding be any different.  I also thought Kevin looked great but after seeing his hair in some of the shots I don't hold out much hope for either of us in our photos and he usually photographs beautifully.  Orca Boy's hair looked like it had been cut by a Flowbee.  It is what it is though.

After photos the stress came back big time when we started to worry about the school buses we had rented for guest transportation.  We hadn't heard them come up the drive-way and were kind of freaking out that they weren't going to be there.  Turns out only one of the two made it and after Kevin did some take charging with the situation our guests were finally able to head out to the reception space after waiting and waiting for the other bus to show up.  I found out later the bus driver took some wacky, long route instead of the quick easy route they should have gone if they used Google maps.  This all resulted in people getting to the reception later than we anticipated and caused us to get there later than we wanted as well.  The stress level was rising.  We were worried people wouldn't have enough time to relax and have a drink before the ceremony began and that we wouldn't have any unwinding time.  Turns out that was probably good because it wouldn't have been unwinding time at all.

On the way over we spent time stressing about the reception space and whether the cake topper was on the table so the cake lady could find it or did someone pack it away so we would have to dig for it when we got back.  I also couldn't get anyone to return a phone call or text at this time either.  Aaaarrrgghhh!  The most important thing to me was the cake and I didn't want to walk in and not see the cake in its complete state.

We arrive at Mississippi Studios and shoot up the side stairwell to the little waiting room at the top.  We could hear the pre-ceremony music we had carefully chosen (all non-sappy songs about love), could hear people talking and laughing and I could feel my pulse quicken.  I can feel it now just remembering and typing about it.  We were both so much more nervous and excited than we thought we would be.  Heart pounding, sweating kind of nervous and excited. We talked with our officiant and went over a few last minute items. We were getting more and more nervous as the moments ticked by.  We were moments away from getting married. 

(Seriously, I am feeling that heart-pounding nervousness reliving this.Yikes!)