The Wedding Day!

I have been putting off posting about our actual wedding day for nearly a month now. I have no idea why. It was wonderful, practically perfect and I loved every minute of the day. But for some reason putting everything down into words seems like a huge task. So, instead, I'm going to share tidbits!

Tidbit #1
We were in town for a couple days before and after the wedding, and so, we got to spend time with friends and family. We were so happy to be able to do this! Yes, we were also very busy, but by fitting in our friends and family, we enjoyed our busy days. Here is some proof:

Promptly upon arriving in the city, we met up with A's cousins (pictured above), best man, and the best man's soon-to-be-wife. We immediately went out for drinks and food, followed by more drinks and peanuts. We threw our peanut shells on the floor. We're reckless like that.

Tidbit #2

Our wedding was a definite collaboration by friends and family. We definitely could not have done it without the tons of help they gave us. My mom and one of my maids of honour made the bouquets, our friend took on the DJ duties, A's family made our cakes, several friends drove our wedding party around before and after the ceremony, a groomsmen took care of the music during the ceremony, our DJ saved our butts by making the cd for the ceremony around midnight the night before the wedding, my friend and my mom and stepdad did all the decoarating of the hall, my dad and stepmom took care of the booze (so very important!), etc, etc, etc. The list goes on, but you get the gist! 

We are so grateful for everyone's contributions. It made our day that much more special to know it was a collaboration of everyone we love's hard work! Here's some of the hard workers that we managed to capture on film:

This is my mom and maid of honour hard at work making our bouquets. I was supposed to help... but *somehow* I ended up mostly watching and taking pictures!

When A and his groomsmen arrived at the hall to help with the set up, they discovered a plethora of 'Happy Birthday' balloons hanging from the ceiling. Thankfully, A didn't feel it necessary to call me! The guys braved rickety ladders to make sure our wedding didn't look like a birthday party!

They also had the task of arranging all the tables and chairs. As you can see, they dutifully checked their floor plan handout to make sure everything was in the right spot! Tia then did a huge amount of decorating, although she somehow avoided the camera!

Before the reception, my dad and stepmom put out all the wine and cider while my mom and stepdad finished decorating. Looks like they did a pretty awesome job, eh?

I wanted to add in a picture of our DJ friend hard at work, but he sneakily set up behind the curtain of the stage and therefore avoided photos! At any rate, he did an awesome job and somehow got my shy little nephew to perform for everyone... he's magic!

Tidbit #3
Photobooths are magical machines designed to create oodles of fun! I was originally going to make us our own photobooth (with DIY inspiration from some other blogs) but then our photographers offered it to us at no extra cost because they're just starting to do them. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! One of the best parts is all the extra photos. We even got photos of guests that otherwise wouldn't have been in any of our pictures - so it's nice to have that proof that they were there and that they had a blast! There's nothing quite like seeing your dad kiss your godfather...

(note: this is not one of the professional shots from the photobooth, but I will add some of those in another blog post - so stay tuned!)

Tidbit #4
Our friends and family tore up the dance floor! It was hilarious, fun and exhausting! My shy 4 year old nephew broke the ice by performing a solo dance to Thriller, A's dad got everyone out of their seats by starting a Conga line, one of my bridesmaid's instigated a little limbo action, and in between we danced, danced, danced!

This picture's a little fuzzy, but you get the idea. A's dad was realllly into it!

Tidbit #5
Everyone says your wedding day will just fly by and you won't really remember all the details. That couldn't be further from the truth for us. I soaked in every moment of the day. I remember getting coffee with my dad before my hair appointment (yes, my dad was the one who went with me to the salon!). I remember driving around campus to kill time before the ceremony while my stepmom fed me a granola bar. I remember feeling confident as I said my vows in front of a bunch of people (which was bizarre considering my immobilizing fear of public speaking). I remember talking to each of our guests and really enjoying their company. I remember eating and going back for seconds! I even remember the conversation I had with my dad while we danced. It was not a blur. It was perfect - every second! :)

That's all for now! I'm going to share all the photos by the pro's in separate blog posts, so stay tuned for those over the next week or so!