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velessaSo yes, my husband and I were married on July 7th, 2007 (yeah, I was one of those ^_^ ). I could not have asked for a more beautiful, wonderful, fantastic day. Everything was just amazing, and aside from a few very minor snags, pretty much perfect! I actually was very relaxed and at ease for most of the day; the only time I really got nervous was right before I walked down the aisle.
The Good:
* The gift I gave my dad made him cry (see below). It was the sweetest thing ever. ;_;
* We kept the ceremony short, sweet, and to the point, and many of our guests mentioned how much they appreciated it!
* Our DJ was a great MC and made sure everything moved along as planned. If we had tried to do the iPod thing I don't think we would have had any idea when to do what or how much time we'd spent on each part of the reception.
* Our videographer - we hired a student from a local community college, and he was great for a super cheap price!
* My dad's speech was hilarious!
* The music - we worked very hard on our playlist to make sure everything played was exactly what we wanted, as we're both very particular when it comes to music.
* Josh's grandfather sang in our ceremony and it was beautiful.
* The cake was even prettier than I'd expected and was delicious!
* The food was excellent and I DID eat plenty of it! ;)
* The weather was absolutely PERFECT. We held the wedding outdoors in Northern California (Los Gatos), which in a normal year in July should have easily been in the high 80s to 90s. We really lucked out as it was only in the mid to high 70s, just right!
* It was great having all our friends and family gathered in one place. I also got to meet a lot of Josh's relatives I hadn't gotten the chance to meet before, and we hung out with them the next day as well since we held the wedding at a lodge where they could stay.
* After everything was over, we donated the flower arrangements to the local hospital. I was happy to put them to further good use, and they were happy to take them. =)
The Not As Good:
* My venue came with two day-of wedding coordinators and one of them may as well have been Paris Hilton (not only in looks, but for all the use she was). She hadn't laid out the tables or favors the way I wanted, and when I got there and asked for it to be corrected, all I got in response was a vapid stare and apparently zero comprehension. Thankfully the bridesmaids (Josh's sisters) came to the rescue and took it upon themselves to get everything in order.
* My bouquet, while gorgeous, weighed a TON! I couldn't wait to put it down!
* I nearly fell down as I went up the stairs on the ceremony platform! During rehearsal I had been wearing a short dress and had no problems. But at the actual ceremony I forgot I wouldn't have the use of my hands to lift the dress (was holding the bouquet in one hand and Josh's hand in the other), and I caught my toe on the edge of my gown and stumbled. Thankfully I didn't actually fall down. I was much more careful coming down the stairs!
* Slight snafu with the sound system: the first part of the ceremony was Josh's grandfather singing On the Street Where You Live accompanied by his aunt on the keyboard, but there was no sound...it turns out the DJ had plugged one cord into the wrong hole, and we were standing up there for like a minute in silence waiting for the music to start. Thankfully our officiant broke the tension with a joke ("I promise you, there will be a wedding today!"), and they figured out the problem and fixed it. The rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch.
* Our officiant wrote "officiant" in the space on the marriage license where he was supposed to print his name. We've had to send it back with corrections a couple of times now and STILL haven't gotten the official license yet. =/
* We cut the slice of cake too small and couldn't actually pick it up with the server, so Josh had to pick it up with the knife instead. Oops! ^^;
* I have NO idea what to do with all this leftover wedding stuff now!
Advice for those getting married soon:
* Have your wedding in the afternoon or evening. Our ceremony started at 5:30, and this gave me and the wedding party plenty of time to relax and get ready during the day.
* Take care of as much as you can for the wedding well in advance. I never really felt any stress over the planning because I had all our major vendors booked by the end of August 2006. From then on I just took care of all the smaller details one at a time over the course of the year, and I found it all to be very easy.
* Get your backup makeup ahead of time. My one stressful moment of the day was in the morning when I ran out to the department store to buy the lipstick my makeup artist had used during the trial, but I had no idea what it was called and neither did she. I had to call her up and she had to have her sister look through all her makeup to find the name of what I was looking for (Lipglass "Nymphette" from MAC for those who are curious).
* Take as many pictures as you can prior to the ceremony. This will give you more time to spend with your friends and family and less time eating up precious reception time. I did all the pictures I wanted without the groom beforehand, and then we didn't have so many to do together following the ceremony.
* Make sure everyone who writes on your marriage license pays attention and follows the instructions exactly! One tiny slip-up and it won't be accepted.
* Do make sure you visit each table at least once; you're busy, but make the time to do it! After the wedding I realized there were some relatives I hardly ever see whom I hadn't visited with at all, and I felt bad about that.
* Everything goes by incredibly quickly. Try to book as long a reception as you can (ours was only 4 hours, I wish it could have gone on longer!). Take a good look around and try to remember as much as you can about your special day.
If you want to see everything, click here for the links to the galleries of the wedding and honeymoon photos on our website. The professional photos are on the Picasa gallery.
And if you just want some wedding highlights, here they are. Enjoy! I sure did. =)
Rehearsal:
Limo to rehearsal dinner:
Rehearsal dinner:
Wedding day!
Tables set up:
Gift table with memorial candle surrounded by photos of my deceased grandparents:
Cake!
Centerpiece, a hurricane candle with a flower wreath:
Present for my dad:
Photos prior to the ceremony:
Me with my mom:
Me with my dad:
Me with my brother:
Me with my grandma, my only surviving grandparent:
My whole family:
My parents:
My brother:
Me with the bridesmaids, my Matron of Honor Jennie and Josh's sisters Meredith and Alicia:
The handsome groom:
Josh with his groomsmen, his Best Man Pete, my brother, and his friend Tim:
Josh with his mom:
Josh with his dad:
Josh with his parents:
Josh with his sisters:
Josh with his maternal grandparents:
Josh with his paternal grandparents:
From the bridal suite you could see the wedding garden, so I was watching people finding their seats:
Time to get to the ceremony!
I have NO idea what this look on my face is...
Dad kissing me goodbye:
I tripped just about here...
Grandpa singing "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady:
Exchanging rings:
The kiss!
Being more careful going down the steps...
Just married!
More pictures taken following the ceremony:
Us with our officiant, Daniel:
Obligatory rings and flowers shot:
Time for the reception!
The Best Man, Pete, making his toast:
My dad toasting us:
We took a few more pictures at the reception:
One big happy family!
Me with my friends from high school, college, and the internet:
Me with my friends from work:
First dance:
Me and Dad:
Josh and his mom:
Time to cut the cake!
Bouquet toss:
Garter toss:
Us with the winners, two of Josh's cousins (he's got lots of them!)
Winners of the Married Couples Dance (52 years!). Our DJ is laughing because the advice Grandpa gave for a long lasting marriage was "Always do what she says!" ;)
Kids dancing the night away:
The reception patio lit up at night:
Well I think that's about enough of that. Check out our Picasa album for pictures from our honeymoon cruise to Alaska! =)
The Good:
* The gift I gave my dad made him cry (see below). It was the sweetest thing ever. ;_;
* We kept the ceremony short, sweet, and to the point, and many of our guests mentioned how much they appreciated it!
* Our DJ was a great MC and made sure everything moved along as planned. If we had tried to do the iPod thing I don't think we would have had any idea when to do what or how much time we'd spent on each part of the reception.
* Our videographer - we hired a student from a local community college, and he was great for a super cheap price!
* My dad's speech was hilarious!
* The music - we worked very hard on our playlist to make sure everything played was exactly what we wanted, as we're both very particular when it comes to music.
* Josh's grandfather sang in our ceremony and it was beautiful.
* The cake was even prettier than I'd expected and was delicious!
* The food was excellent and I DID eat plenty of it! ;)
* The weather was absolutely PERFECT. We held the wedding outdoors in Northern California (Los Gatos), which in a normal year in July should have easily been in the high 80s to 90s. We really lucked out as it was only in the mid to high 70s, just right!
* It was great having all our friends and family gathered in one place. I also got to meet a lot of Josh's relatives I hadn't gotten the chance to meet before, and we hung out with them the next day as well since we held the wedding at a lodge where they could stay.
* After everything was over, we donated the flower arrangements to the local hospital. I was happy to put them to further good use, and they were happy to take them. =)
The Not As Good:
* My venue came with two day-of wedding coordinators and one of them may as well have been Paris Hilton (not only in looks, but for all the use she was). She hadn't laid out the tables or favors the way I wanted, and when I got there and asked for it to be corrected, all I got in response was a vapid stare and apparently zero comprehension. Thankfully the bridesmaids (Josh's sisters) came to the rescue and took it upon themselves to get everything in order.
* My bouquet, while gorgeous, weighed a TON! I couldn't wait to put it down!
* I nearly fell down as I went up the stairs on the ceremony platform! During rehearsal I had been wearing a short dress and had no problems. But at the actual ceremony I forgot I wouldn't have the use of my hands to lift the dress (was holding the bouquet in one hand and Josh's hand in the other), and I caught my toe on the edge of my gown and stumbled. Thankfully I didn't actually fall down. I was much more careful coming down the stairs!
* Slight snafu with the sound system: the first part of the ceremony was Josh's grandfather singing On the Street Where You Live accompanied by his aunt on the keyboard, but there was no sound...it turns out the DJ had plugged one cord into the wrong hole, and we were standing up there for like a minute in silence waiting for the music to start. Thankfully our officiant broke the tension with a joke ("I promise you, there will be a wedding today!"), and they figured out the problem and fixed it. The rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch.
* Our officiant wrote "officiant" in the space on the marriage license where he was supposed to print his name. We've had to send it back with corrections a couple of times now and STILL haven't gotten the official license yet. =/
* We cut the slice of cake too small and couldn't actually pick it up with the server, so Josh had to pick it up with the knife instead. Oops! ^^;
* I have NO idea what to do with all this leftover wedding stuff now!
Advice for those getting married soon:
* Have your wedding in the afternoon or evening. Our ceremony started at 5:30, and this gave me and the wedding party plenty of time to relax and get ready during the day.
* Take care of as much as you can for the wedding well in advance. I never really felt any stress over the planning because I had all our major vendors booked by the end of August 2006. From then on I just took care of all the smaller details one at a time over the course of the year, and I found it all to be very easy.
* Get your backup makeup ahead of time. My one stressful moment of the day was in the morning when I ran out to the department store to buy the lipstick my makeup artist had used during the trial, but I had no idea what it was called and neither did she. I had to call her up and she had to have her sister look through all her makeup to find the name of what I was looking for (Lipglass "Nymphette" from MAC for those who are curious).
* Take as many pictures as you can prior to the ceremony. This will give you more time to spend with your friends and family and less time eating up precious reception time. I did all the pictures I wanted without the groom beforehand, and then we didn't have so many to do together following the ceremony.
* Make sure everyone who writes on your marriage license pays attention and follows the instructions exactly! One tiny slip-up and it won't be accepted.
* Do make sure you visit each table at least once; you're busy, but make the time to do it! After the wedding I realized there were some relatives I hardly ever see whom I hadn't visited with at all, and I felt bad about that.
* Everything goes by incredibly quickly. Try to book as long a reception as you can (ours was only 4 hours, I wish it could have gone on longer!). Take a good look around and try to remember as much as you can about your special day.
If you want to see everything, click here for the links to the galleries of the wedding and honeymoon photos on our website. The professional photos are on the Picasa gallery.
And if you just want some wedding highlights, here they are. Enjoy! I sure did. =)
Limo to rehearsal dinner:
Rehearsal dinner:
Wedding day!
Tables set up:
Gift table with memorial candle surrounded by photos of my deceased grandparents:
Cake!
Centerpiece, a hurricane candle with a flower wreath:
Present for my dad:
Photos prior to the ceremony:
Me with my mom:
Me with my dad:
Me with my brother:
Me with my grandma, my only surviving grandparent:
My whole family:
My parents:
My brother:
Me with the bridesmaids, my Matron of Honor Jennie and Josh's sisters Meredith and Alicia:
The handsome groom:
Josh with his groomsmen, his Best Man Pete, my brother, and his friend Tim:
Josh with his mom:
Josh with his dad:
Josh with his parents:
Josh with his sisters:
Josh with his maternal grandparents:
Josh with his paternal grandparents:
From the bridal suite you could see the wedding garden, so I was watching people finding their seats:
Time to get to the ceremony!
I have NO idea what this look on my face is...
Dad kissing me goodbye:
I tripped just about here...
Grandpa singing "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady:
Exchanging rings:
The kiss!
Being more careful going down the steps...
Just married!
More pictures taken following the ceremony:
Us with our officiant, Daniel:
Obligatory rings and flowers shot:
Time for the reception!
The Best Man, Pete, making his toast:
My dad toasting us:
We took a few more pictures at the reception:
One big happy family!
Me with my friends from high school, college, and the internet:
Me with my friends from work:
First dance:
Me and Dad:
Josh and his mom:
Time to cut the cake!
Bouquet toss:
Garter toss:
Us with the winners, two of Josh's cousins (he's got lots of them!)
Winners of the Married Couples Dance (52 years!). Our DJ is laughing because the advice Grandpa gave for a long lasting marriage was "Always do what she says!" ;)
Kids dancing the night away:
The reception patio lit up at night:
Well I think that's about enough of that. Check out our Picasa album for pictures from our honeymoon cruise to Alaska! =)
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-25 10:57 am (UTC)I also like Josh's mom's dress a lot (I'm weak toward blue ^_^).
You all look really happy. I'm really glad you had a great time.
Congratulations, again :D
no subject
Date: 2007-08-25 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-25 07:43 pm (UTC)I wasn't able to hear either of the speeches, the best man's or your father's. I have excellent hearing, but trouble distinguishing words, so I think that was just me as well.
Oh wow, did you look beautiful. Like one of your Japaneses musical princesses, which I'm sure didn't influence you at all :o)
I had a lovely time, too. I'm glad you actually got to enjoy/remember your day.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-26 11:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 05:21 pm (UTC)You look so beautiful in these pictures. And so happy! Congratulations!
no subject
Date: 2007-08-31 11:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 08:44 pm (UTC)No wonder you liked my hair, we have the same style!!! ;)
You're so cute. You have great taste and the colours on your bouquet are gorgeous!!!!