Marriage: Day One

It was a laaaaaaaaate night last night. Even though it was a Wednesday and most folks left between 9-10pm to get to bed for work in the morning. Mike and I stayed until the end. In fact we were the clean-up crew. After all my talk about not cleaning up my own wedding that is exactly what happened. Thank God, my maid of honor (who'd been with me for 48hrs) took pity on me and not only stayed, but made her husband come back so they could take a car load for us. It should have occurred to me that it took two carloads to get it there it may always require two carloads to get it home.

Future brides, plan your clean up. I was on top of set up (who would be there, what needed to get done), but somehow I dropped the ball on clean up. I had some people volunteer, but I never reminded them or sent out emails asking for help like I should have. We all made it home after midnight. We all got to work/school/our honeymoon in the morning we just didn't didn't look refreshed.

We didn't go right to bed either. We ate some more cake and opened presents first. Adrenaline. In the morning we dropped Isaac at school and made a Target run (to replace the overnight stuff that got left in my maid of honor's car). I used the electric cart at Target since we were in a hurry and I left my crutches in the basket, oops! Mike had to rush back for them while I said goodbye to Riley. After that bumpy start we hit the road. Thank goodness some people gave us cash because we didn't make it to the bank and there was somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 in tolls to get to the port. Make another note future honeymooners: leave earlier and set the GPS to no tolls.

We got there, took a $90 (cringe) close parking space and checked in. This was my second cruise, but my first time on Disney Cruise Lines. I kept telling Mike everything will be a little more efficient this time and I was right. We checked the big bag. Mike pushed my wheelchair and carried the laptop bag. I had my purse, the vase with my bouquet and the to go carton with wedding cake in it. We were in our room by 2pm (we were scheduled to leave port at 3:45pm). It was a beautiful day and we were so glad we got the balcony.

It was strange, leaving the kids behind and we were very tired, but as soon as we were in our room that all melted away. We were just newly weds on their honeymoon, phew. We have never not been responsible for at least one kid as long as we've been together. It really melted all the stress off. I'll never forget as long as I live, about 10min after arriving Mike started unpacking and putting his clothes away in the drawers! I was stunned. I sat on the bed slack jawed, watching this spectacle. "What are you doing?", I asked. "Unpacking, we're going to be here a while", he answered matter-of-fact as ever. I've never seen him unpack a bag before. I'm lucky if he takes the groceries out the bags. That was just the beginning.

The "I love you"s, affection and attention were easy and uninterrupted by kids or the daily routine. I always imagined getting on the boat and laying by the pool with a book while Mike did his own thing and we'd meet up for meals. It turned out we wanted to be together, imagine that! It was partly because Mike was usually open to whatever social, entertainment or vacation related thing I suggested (for the most part). I knew in the first hour this would be an amazing trip for us.

We watched the the port disappear from the balcony and then grabbed some late lunch. We were all the way forward on the boat directly across from the elevators which is a sweet spot. It also meant the adults only pool was directly down from us. Awe-Some! Even the life boat drill was kind of fun. Disney music playing all over the boat didn't hurt either. There was no "happy honeymoon" sign on our door so I called guest services to see what kind of fuss to expect. They told us to stop by for some just married buttons. We did some exploring and then it was dinner time.

On a Disney cruise you keep your wait staff and table number and rotate dining rooms. It's a neat system. We were nervous about having to sit with a table full of strangers, but they didn't show. They must have known we were on our honeymoon. After a delicious dinner we stopped by the room to change. There was a note tucked under our room number that said rose petals around a towel animal had been "delivered". Only, there weren't any. The bed looked like this

I was a little bummed. Conspicuously lacking petals of any kind and a cobra's not exactly a romantic animal. It was the first night of our honeymoon and how could Disney make a mistake? We assumed they'd straighten it out and we left. We took a dip in the hot tub and then went to see The Help. It was a great day.

Katie Got Married

March 21,2012

I vowed: I promise to respect the differences between us (especially the ones I don't understand)
As much as I cherish our common ground
I promise to make sure you're on time as long as you promise to fix things
I promise to love you, even when I hate you
And to tell you so with sincerity
I promise to be honest (especially when your jokes aren't funny)
I promise you imperfection and mistakes
But, I promise to always aspire to be a person worthy of your love.
I will attempt to accept your compliments as easily as your criticism
I promise to love you fully, with my every cell and molecule
I promise to strive every hour to love you for exactly who you are
I promise to support even your worst ideas and to appreciate your best intentions
I will fight through the worst times and laugh through the best, by your side always"

And...I got one of these:

There was kissing and a big party, with cake!

And dancing...

Married!!

The Day Before

It's a busy one! I got us 90% packed for the honeymoon, finished up the favor tags and kissed Mike and the kids goodbye at noon. I donned my "Mrs. [his last name] shirt" to go setup at the venue. I loaded my car and dropped Miss Riley off to nap with her flower girl counterpart. Boo's mommy gave me these:

I can't say it enough, my bridesmaids are awesome. I got trail mix and he got wasabi nuts. When I arrived at the venue Lara was out front ready to help me unload. After the first trip with arms laden we discovered they had a cart. Always ask, my DIY bride friends. We got my car and my cousin/day of coordinator's car unloaded in two trips with the aid of the cart.

Set up went pretty smoothly we had quite a few pairs of hands. The venue setup tables according to my floor plan and the linen company draped fabric first. The linen company was great, I was thrilled with their work. The guy from the venue disappeared when we were one table shy and quite a few chairs. Tracking those down was a slight annoyance. The caterer had the table cloths delivered so that was the first task.

Take it from me, bring a hard copy of your seating plan with you to set up. Luckily, people accessed their email via their phone and we got things sorted. I also left the table names at the house so we put post it's down so we knew where things went. That was the beginning of an important lesson (especially if you have creative and elaborate plans) have a simple plan b. So important to your sanity (and everyone else's).

Then when we'd done all we could do we needed to rehearse the ceremony. Those 4 hours we had to get set-up before rehearsal flew by. After a brief rehearsal (we started late) everyone went to change for dinner.

We clean up nice don't we? I passed out the ties and found one missing (eek!). My father-in-law selected the perfect restaurant for the occasion. It was called St. Pete Brasserie. They were very good to us and the food was amazing start to finish. It was a lovely evening. I couldn't have asked for more.

After we left I was kicking myself for not thanking everyone with a toast, duh! I was too busy eating and drinking. Now, "I'm getting married in the morning..."

The FINAL Update Monday!!

Done

• Bachelorette Party/Henna!
• Bridal Shower
• All menswear is here including ties
• Play list is complete and a backup disc has been burned.
• Started the pre-packing laundry, yay honeymoon!
• Confirmed all the hair/make-up appointments
• Borrowed a printer and recruited help to finish favor tags and seating chart.
• Packed my overnight bag for tomorrow.
• Organized my bins into: Rehearsal Stuff/Tuesday Set-up, Wedding Day stuff, Stays with the bride, Day of for Mike & Isaac and Honeymoon (I'll pack it when the laundry's done).
• Located all necessary paperwork/documents for honeymoon
• Had phone meeting with photographer. All of my reply emails were disappearing into his spam folder).
• A few phones calls from the baker our cake is underway!
• Made it to the "week of"!

Still Looking Forward To

• The rehearsal
• The rehearsal dinner!
• Finishing the packing
• My hair and make-up appointments
• Sleeping over at my maid of honor's house the night before (with my sister)
• The wedding!!
• The Honeymoon!!!!!!

It was an exhausting, but amazingly fun weekend! Both my bachelorette and bridal shower were amazing. I couldn't be happier. I need to get a few loose ends tied up before tomorrow afternoon and then I'm out of here until after the wedding!! Hurray! One last push to get through these tasks and then I can let the current of the events carry me to the end.

I feel so loved after all the hard work my bridesmaids put into the weekend. I really can not wait to get married. Which my 20yr old self would never have believed. Life is funny. Here I am getting married to a boy I went to high school with, raising two kids it doesn't seem possible. At the same time it couldn't happen any other way.

2 days (48hrs)!!!

Mad Hatter Tea Party Bridal Shower

Bridal shower day! I do wish we'd planned it for later in the day since my bridesmaids partied all night with me and then got up early to set-up the shower. Up at 8am after a bachelorette party to pick up fresh canolis and such. My girls are rock stars. I got up at 9am which is sleeping in when you have a toddler. I had coffee and got ready with my unofficial bridesmaid (and awesome henna artist). When I arrived I was greeted with a crub side canoli.

I waited to do both my bachelorette and shower until the weekend before the wedding so my sister (and only out of town bridesmaid) could be there. It was an absolutely beautiful March afternoon. Everyone brought a dish to share and the girls invited everyone to wear the "bestest maddest hat". I think only three people came sans hat (we provided some) and most people really did a wonderful hat decorating job! I loved them all. I love a good party theme and this one was a winner for sure.

The food was amazing too. Aside from fresh canolis there was a gorgeous wedding cake shaped teacup cupcake display. Each teacup had a cupcake with an Eat Me sign in it. The girls printed little labels that said Mike & Katie 3/21/12 for the bottom of each cup (which they collected at thrift stores). The teacups were favors for the guests to take home. Lovely. There were tea sandwiches, mimosas, tarts and so much more. The only thing we didn't touch was the hot tea, it was just too warm. We ate outside at tables with mismatched table cloths under the shade of mismatched umbrellas. It was very wonderland.

It made for a very jolly atmosphere. People made amazingly sweet toasts I teared up a little, but mostly we laughed about how lost Mike would be without me. We played that clothes pin game where you couldn't say the grooms name and later you couldn't say the bride's either. My mother-in-law took the prize for that one, a tea pot. Before we went inside we played a game where armed with Mike's answers to a set of questions the girls asked me to tell them things about Mike. When I got one right they clapped. When I got one wrong I had to chew a piece of gum. Blah. I ended up gagging on the wad of gum and starting over. I think I got half of them right. I maintain that some of his answers were wrong, though.

That's me with my bridesmaids! Nice party girls! Don't worry we toasted our hostesses as well. After everyone was full we moved inside for presents. The very first one was from my mother-in-law. It was Mike's grandmother's handkerchief and beautiful card. That's when the water works really started. I love my new family. My mom also gave me her grandma's handkerchief with the pin my mom wore for her something blue on it, so I will have several generation of women with me on my day. I got clothes and a hanging travel bag for the honeymoon, some lovely cards, towels and a shoe organizer among other things.

The best part of gifts was my wonderful bow bouquet. I had been so looking forward to having one. Lara made it from all the ribbon and pretty tags and then made tissue flowers to fill the gaps. Isn't it perfect? Just like my shower, amazing. What a great day. Now for a nap!

Bachelorette Party!!

I wanted a slumber party/mehndi night. It was a little bumpy getting my family out the door, but sooooo worth it. It was exactly what I wanted (and needed).

Proper bachelorette party attire? Check. Those are pink jammies with Mickey and Minnie on them that say "the perfect couple" and "love is the answer". I'm a wild one. What can I say?

Proper accessories, check. Novelty crown with viel and sparkly bride button. Also, a bindi that matches my jammies, a must.

Ready, set bridal henna!! I was in love with my henna. It came out lovely. Mike's initials are in the foot design. It actually says MH hearts KC. Perfect.

All the bridesmaids henna. So cool and unique. It was a great night. We ate junk food, watched Bridesmaids and Hangover 2 and got awesome henna. 4 days....

The Dress That Wasn't

I have 5 more posts as un-legally-married woman! Whoa. That being said there is so much to say on the subject of my wedding as I sit down to type my head spins. I broached the subject in an earlier post, but this is an incredibly specific incident. My bridesmaids dresses are beautiful Jim Hjelm Occasions (style 5007) in emerald green dupioni silk in a very classic 50's cut.

They became a nightmare because of where I chose to purchase them. The girls were given dresses two sizes too large and they all had to pay almost as much as they paid for the dress for alterations. I feel physical pain thinking about it. When I started I pictured black strapless dresses with green sashes, something in the neighborhood of $30 per dress. Once I had my wedding party assembled we decided against strapless and once I found the dress I decided against black.

I loved the classic 50's cut of it. It's fun, spring-y and figure flattering. However, the quirky asymmetry on top gave the seamstresses headaches, the color caused friction (and later doubt) between Mike and I and the cost of dress plus alterations became a problem. The other night I was watching My Fair Wedding and I saw the dress. The one I should have chosen. On the show it was black with a sparkly brooch. Mike and I gasped. Stunning. It's Aria style 121

Vintage, fun and simple. In black with the sparkly brooch just like on the show. That should have been the dress. I looked it up thinking it would be expensive and kick my rational brain into overriding the waves of sadness and regret. It's slightly less! They will ship you a sample to try on in your own home! (Face Palm) Mike said it would have looked beautiful on my girls. I agree. I love it.

When I really got sad Mike suggested that some time after the wedding I buy it for myself. It's a nice idea, but our bank accounts are hemorrhaging money as is it and as a mother of two spending more than $20 on an article of clothing for myself makes me nauseous with guilt. Anyway, heed my warning and shop around! I fell in love with a picture in a wedding magazine (steer clear of those!) and never thought twice when the girls agreed. Look around take at least one bridesmaid with you if you can and really think it over. Don't find the perfect style/color/hassle-free dress when it's too late.