...wedding reception: our grand entrance...

And the World’s Worst Blogger Award goes to…

Eh, never mind all that.  Here’s the truth of the matter: Enough for Ever After has been sadly neglected as I’m busying myself with actually living the Ever After.  And I think it’s time to face facts.  I am not that girl who had a wedding and fell in love with having a wedding and would love to keep talking about her wedding.  Don’t get me wrong.  It was great.  I was proud of it.  We worked hard and it paid off because our wedding was A-list in my book and I loved every last detail.  That being said, by the time we got to our wedding I was sick of it and ready to put it away.  I am ready to put it away even now, but I still owe all of you patient readers the second half of the story.

So here’s the deal.  I’m going to do my darndest to push through the reception recaps, share all the helpful info that I can, and then I’m going to say goodbye.  I’ll leave this little blog hanging out here in Cyberland for a while in hopes that some of those ladies who will be planning future Nashville weddings, or any wedding for that matter, might find a little something that can help her along the way.  We’ve still got a ways to go, so don’t get all misty-eyed on me….but I just wanted you to know where this is headed.

Anyway, back to the reception….

Last you heard from me, DG and I had recorded that fantastic little video of us just being…well, us.  Our guests all parked in the Garage at the Curb Event Center, and we led them to one particular door.  Here’s how the transformation of our entrance to the reception took place.

This is really the only shot I have of the space before it was ready to go.  It's nothing more than a back hallway of white concrete block, but thanks to my lovely MOH, a drop ceiling, and some trusty binder clips, we draped it in black fabric and added some lighting to transform it into this...

We used strips of wide ribbon and clothes pins to organize the escort cards on the wall on the right where these...

became this...

Finally, this welcome area led our guests into a fabric tunnel, lit up with rope lights, which took them into the main reception area.

And cue the spotlight.  Here we our making our grand entrance....to the Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling.  Oh yes we did.  (The bridesmaids...and a little brother...insisted!)

         

Up next...how we built our reception venue from the ground up...quite literally.  Stay tuned!

Thanks to Will Knowles for these handsome photos.

...clasical-ish wedding ceremony music and processional: part two...

One quick note about our wedding ceremony music.  As a musician, I have a million musician friends.  After earning a music business degree at a college in Nashville, I've got pretty close ties with a lot of very, very talented people.  When it came time to plan out the music for our ceremony, I knew exactly who to call.  Granted, I could have organized everything myself, but instead my dear, dear friend handled it all.  I told him which pieces I wanted to  use, and he organized a small ensemble of really incredible vocalists, hired an organist, and held the rehearsals.  HE WAS A GOD SEND.  And hands-down, I have never heard such great music at a wedding.  EVER.  We (ok, I...cause DG really just went along with it for my sake) chose to use 21st century classical choral pieces, so our ceremony had a very traditional feel, without the same five selections you expect to hear at every wedding you've ever attended.  I'm not entirely sure I can find clips of every song, but sprinkled throughout the rest of these ceremony recaps, I'll try to give you a taste of what our ceremony sounded like as well.  If you happen to be looking for alternatives to the traditional songs you hear at most weddings, these are some really great options.  It certainly didn't hurt that the organ and acoustics at Edgefield were so nice.  Literally, I was overwhelmed at how well everything came together.  It sounded AMAZING.

So we pick up mid processional.  The choir began singing I Want to be where Your Barefoot Walks by local composer, David Childs as our grandmothers were seated and continued through the bridal party.  Listen here...

DG enters with our good friend and officiant and his best man.

My baby brother and DG's kid sister.

Groomsmen/Killer-reception-band-leader (we'll get to that later) and DG's older sister

Best buddies from college.

MOH.

Cutest flower girl on the face of the planet.

(All photos courtesy Will Knowles Weddings)

..my lovely ladies..

My bridesmaids’ dresses were one of the few details I decided to brag about prior to the wedding.  (You can read about all the decisions leading up to this point here, here,  and here.) 

My girls were amazing and the whole time we were taking pictures, I really just couldn’t stop saying how hot they were!  I was so pleased with the way their dresses went together and helped to tie in everything else.  I could continue rambling…but I’ll let Will’s photos speak for themselves…

Ugh.  See?  Sooo hott.

And cute!!

 Most adorable flower girl ever. 

Seriously.  You wish she was your flower girl.

Pretty just like her mommy.

I might have wanted DG to let me keep her...

Bestest MOH. Ever.

My favorite Canadian.

DG's big sister/My former roomie.  LOVE her.

DG's little sister.  Love her too!

Sisters!  So maybe I just claim them as my own.  Sorry, DG.  They're mine now.

Five of my favorite people in the world.

Just goes to show you that sometimes thinking outside the box really pays off!  I thought my girls looked gorgeous!  And I don't think any of them paid more than $100 for thier dresses.  That strapless number was something like $30!!! 

...fail proof...

I woke up Saturday morning around 7:00 AM because my body just wouldn’t let me sleep any longer than that. Never mind the fact that I’d been on my feet for two 15-hour days of wedding set-up. Never mind the fact that I’d only been asleep for a handful of hours. I was awake. All my girls were there at the hotel with me, and they were still faking sleep, so I turned on the light in the bathroom and cracked the door, made a cup of coffee, and sat down to write what I would say to DG in the ceremony that afternoon. It wasn’t more than half an hour before all the girls were awake and we just sort of leisurely sat in our PJ’s in the dimly-lit room trying to mentally prepare for the day ahead. Only a few minutes passed before my MOH’s husband showed up with fruit and bagels and cream cheese and GOOD coffee. (He was a God-send that day!) Once we had some breakfast in our bellies, we drew the curtains back to reveal the rain…the very heavy rain. I knew it was coming, so by that time, I had just accepted it. Our church was beautiful and there were tons of cool little nooks and crannies to take pictures in, so not much was lost. We turned on the weather and my MOH said, “Let’s just look at it this way: There’s a 20% chance of no rain!” Whatever. I wasn’t worried about it anymore. It wasn’t like we were trying to get married outside.

We proceeded to plug in the iPod and sing along to a bunch of ridiculous pop tunes while we were getting ready. We had four hours before we had to leave, so we were able to have fun and take our time. It was wonderful. There was hair and make-up flying everywhere. Licks being sung into curling irons and hairbrushes. People running around in their underwear. It was like the best slumber party ever….only at 8:00 AM. I plopped down in front of the window armed with my little mirror and my giant case of cosmetics to do my own makeup while all the others were taking turns in the shower. Occasionally, someone would ask for my opinion on this eyeliner or that bobby pin or whatever. I moved on to finish my hair and then curled and styled my mom’s and DG’s older sister’s hair. People said I was crazy for wanting to do things myself, much less for offering to help with my bridesmaids, but I had fun and it was good for me to have something to do.

We were only a few minutes behind leaving for the church. I ended up in the Yukon with my mom and dad and brother, two bridesmaids, a flower girl, and a dear friend. We somehow found ourselves bursting into song. “Going to the chapel and we’re…” We were feeling a little silly, so we started out singing really badly and out of tune, but somehow by the end of the chorus we had accidentally started singing in three party harmony. It happens. We singers can’t help it. Anyway, our trip to the church was really the first time we noticed the severity of the weather. We were on the interstate trying to make our way downtown and got stuck behind a pretty nasty wreck. My navigational-mastermind of a MOH directed my dad off the interstate and through the streets of downtown Nashville to our church. I’m pretty sure we made it there about five minutes after we’d planned, so I was feeling good. The rain was annoying, but we had big golf umbrellas and everything was fine.

Before I got dressed, I did a few minutes of final touch-up in the sanctuary to clean everything up. I think I even made some comment about how the lighting in the church looked even cooler because it was so gray outside. The silver lining, I guess. Our photographer friend had scouted out some pretty cool places within the church to take photos, so after I was in my dress, I was obliviously having my picture taken while the chaos was going on. My friend who’d coordinated all the musicians for the ceremony and was singing a solo himself had called to leave a panicked voicemail about how his car had flooded and he couldn’t get out of his neighborhood and he didn’t know what to do. Luckily, I had not answered my phone. My MOH got in touch with him and took care of it, I think. I think he ended up borrowing a neighbor’s SUV or something to get through the water. Another friend who was acting as our day-of coordinator for the ceremony called later to say they’d been trying to get to the church for almost two hours and weren’t sure they were going to make it in time. We found a quick replacement and pressed on to start the ceremony on time.

I knew things were bad when guests were still arriving just as I was about to walk down the aisle. There were obviously a number of people who didn’t make it at all. Once we got started the ceremony went off without a hitch. It was exactly what I’d hoped it would be and so much more…and gratefully, I felt really present and awake for all of it. I’ll write more about all that later on. There are a lot of things we did in the ceremony that most people don’t do, and all of them were REALLY meaningful to me. Anyway, once we arrived at the reception and saw how many of our guests were unable to come, we were a little disappointed. By that time, we’d learned about the flooding and the interstates being shut down. Don’t get me wrong, the reception was still wonderful….but there was this sort of scary, melancholy tone to it…simply because our guests had gone through a lot to be there at all. I still had a lot of fun, but the room felt pretty empty. We started making the rounds to talk to our guests and realized there were so many who had to turn around and go back home. One friend who lost their car. Others who had tried five or six routes before getting through. And everyone knew it was getting worse, and that getting home would be a challenge for most of them. About two hours later DG and I were headed out the door.

The next morning, our 8:00 AM flight was delayed a few hours due to more storms. We finally made it out of Nashville around 11:30 AM, and arrived at our resort in Mexico only a few hours later than we’d planned. Not a huge deal. We were still in shock that all of this had happened on our wedding day, but it wasn’t until Wednesday when we checked our email that we realized just how devastating the weather had been for our city. We opened an email from a friend to discover the following images…

(Source)

How? HOW did this happen on our wedding day? CRAZINESS! It was just insane. After having been back from our honeymoon for the better part of a week, we are still hearing stories of the absolute nonsense our friends and family went through trying to be at our wedding. I secretly wonder if I’m partly to blame. Back in February when DG and I tattooed our wedding date on our arms in roman numerals…I was slightly nervous that some natural disaster might come along and stop our wedding from happening. I even remember saying, “What happens if there’s a tornado, or a hurricane, or an earthquake, or a flood or something?!? We HAVE to get married on May 1^st now.” DG assured me that nothing was going to stop us from getting married that day….no matter what. And obviously, it didn’t. We are married….but IT SURE TRIED.

How?!?

People say rain on your wedding day is a sign of good luck. I usually don’t put any stock in adages like that, but if there’s any truth to that at all, I’m pretty sure the Great Flood of 2010 has ensured that our marriage is FAIL. PROOF. We are going to be married forever.

Note: DG and I and our families and close friends were fortunate enough to survive this crazy disaster without any real damage to our homes. I am immensely grateful and hope that you fellow Nashvillians were kept safe through the flood! Let’s get our hands dirty helping those who were not so lucky.

…wedding weight loss, an update…

Like every bride, I, too, am on a mission to be all svelte and slinkdified on my wedding day. We began this journey here. I am happy to report that, albeit SLOW, DG and I have still been successfully chipping away at our formerly pudgier selves. (Ok, his progress? Not that slow. As of this morning, he's lost 59 pounds. I repeat…Fifty. Nine. Pounds. It's ok to be a little jealous. I know I am. And SO PROUD!)

I'm excited because I'm having one of those rare and precious days when I actually feel skinny. You girls know what I'm talking about. And it's happened with convenient timing because after work this evening, my MOH and I are going to another gown fitting. I'm excited! And I'm pretty sure that my dress is going to be a tiny bit looser than when I did my last fitting in January. (I have more stars on my little chart to prove it. 18 pounds now!)

With 57 or so days left to go, I still have enough time to see some pretty decent progress, so I've been trying to really kick it up a notch to ensure I have no regrets. I'm pretty pleased with myself…but here lately I've been feeling super overwhelmed. Training for the half-marathon, plus working full-time, plus planning a wedding, plus an additional part-time job on the weekends=no rest for the weary. I'm pretty sure I cried four times yesterday for no reason. So I have a new plan. The MOH and I are just going to walk the half-marathon. I think it will be really nice to have some time the Saturday before the wedding to reflect and talk and do what we do. It will probably do a lot to set my mind at ease….and now I'm actually looking forward to it. We'll keep doing our long walks every Saturday morning between now and then to make sure we don't start limping at mile four, but the rest of the week, I'm going to do what I want!

And what I want is this…

A couple of weeks ago I found a 50% off gift certificate to Bikram Cool Springs for 30 days of unlimited yoga classes on Half Off Depot. For those of you who might not know (cause I didn't) Bikram Yoga is a series of the above 26 postures over the course of a 90-minute class in a room heated to about 105 degrees and 40% humidity. (I have never sweated so much in my life!) Granted, it is a serious workout, but it doesn't feel like something I have to do…it feels like something I do for me. So rather than all those extra runs during the week, I'll be in Cool Springs sweating and bending and twisting and loving my life. I might be kind of cheating the system here, but Groupon featured a deal for 30 days of classes at another studio this week, so I promptly purchased that as well. Once my current deal runs out, I'll use the Groupon. I'll be doing half-price yoga up until the wedding, and I couldn't be happier. Here's the best part! While I was trying to decide whether or not to abandon my running today, I did a little research. I wanted to know what how my calories burned would compare because I certainly don't want to disrupt my progress. According to a number of sources I found, I am burning somewhere between 650-1000 calories a class. That's more than running! I'll take that!

Here's hoping the fitting goes well tonight! Maybe they'll have to take it in. J

...ok, real quick...

My one displaced bridesmaid was able to fly in for the weekend, so EV, my dear MOH, planned an extra special lingerie shower/bachelorette party for tonight.  We didn't want to try to squeeze it into the craziness of wedding week, and tonight was the only time we could get everyone together...so it may be a little early, but tonight we're celebrating.  And I have just one thing to say.

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

Now.  What to wear???

...bridesmaids' dresses?...check!...

During Bridesmaid Shopolooza 2010 (or while were out shopping last Saturday), my chief objective was to finish dressing the bridesmaids.  I think we succeeded with flying colors.  I'll let you judge for yourselves.

My lovely matron of honor had already selected and ordered this dress from Nordstrom's.  It's been one of my top picks all along.

The next lovely bridesmaid, a dear friend from college, was in Nashville visiting a few months ago and tried this next dress on.  We loved it on her, but it was a tiny bit roomy.  A few weeks later I found it on clearance at Dillard's (sorry, it's no longer in stock) for something like $24.00!  We decided that at that price, we'd just have it altered!  It's so perfect for her.

DG's sisters were next on the list to purchase their dresses, so with the other two in hand, we hit up David's Bridal over the weekend, where they each tried about a bajilion.  Here's what they settled on, and I think they'll both look stunning! 

(Find this dress here. Only $79.99 on sale!)

(Find this dress here. Click Tissue Taffeta.)

The colors are a little skewed compared to how they look together in person, but I'm really glad we decided to coordinate instead of match.  I think it allowed the girls save money, as well.  The most expensive of all of these was just over $100.  We'll be doing something similar with our guys, and it's all going to come together so well!  Here's to checking things off the list!  More on groomsmen fashions and pretty shoes to come...

...weight watching and the wedding...

Once upon a time, I thought I had to wait.  There was a certain kind of person I wanted to be.  She looked a certain kind of way, spent her time doing certain kinds of things.  She was me, but better.  Improved.  And she could have exactly the kind of guy she wanted.  So I set out to become her, hoping that if I 'deserved' him, he would come.  We girls tend to think this way.  (Gratefully, I was wrong.  He came despite my imperfections.  And he was so much more than the he I'd imagined.)

A large portion of this equation has always been my weight.  I grew up a fat kid.  I distinctly remember the first time I decided to put myself on a diet in my elementary school lunch room.  I was eight.  I spent most of my childhood and early adulthood feeling bad about myself.  It was hard and painful being so dissatisfied with my body, but somewhere along the line, something changed within me.  I made a decision to start taking better care of myself.  I accepted my plight, knowing that I'd grown-up with less than healthy habits and that genetically, the odds were sort of stacked against me, and I started slowly changing.

It was probably about two years ago that my best friend (and MOH) proposed that we train for Nashville's Country Music Half-Marathon.  It seemed like an impossible task, but we had about nine months to train and we knew it would keep us accountable.  I certainly would never claim to be an athlete...and that three hours was SUPER hard...but we did it.  I still had a way to go, but I was in the best shape of my life.

About a week after we ran the half-marathon, I moved home.  I lost the support and accountability of my best friend and spent all of my free time with my family, whom I love dearly, but who also encouraged the development of those habits I'd fought so hard to overcome.  I was saved by my a part-time job which required me to stay on my feet at work every day.  Even though I ate whatever I pleased and pretty much quit exercising entirely, I gained only six or seven pounds in the year before I came back to Nashville.  Then I came back, started my old desk job...and sat down.

It's the thing that's always hung over my head...and going into wedding, with the prospect of starting a family someday in the not-so-distant future, I want to look and feel my best.  DG and I have had about a million conversations about saving our children from the same sort of self esteem issues we suffered as kids.  His family medical history is laden with all sorts of preventable diseases and ailments just like mine.  And his dad passed away at a much younger age than is fair.  So together, we are changing our lifestyle.  It is a challenge for sure, but doing it together makes all the difference in the world.

Even this morning we found ourselves out on the greenway near his house for a nice little run out in the sunshine.  When we were on our way back to the car, I teared up a little (that's normal right?) trying to explain to him how much it means to me that he's doing this along with me.  (He's already down over 30 pounds! I'm so proud!)  Working together with someone who knows where you're coming from, who understands the struggle, and who is invested in your health and future is exactly what I needed.

So here's where I'm at.  Down about 11 pounds since I've moved back.  Keeping track via Weight Watchers online program.

(It's less than $20 a month and I highly recommend it!  It's practical.  Flexible enough to fit in to your normal life and logging all my food and exercise is the only way to keep me on target.)

So we'll just keep plugging away.  I've got about five and half months left and the MOH and I are planning to run the half-marathon again this year...exactly one week before the wedding (Yikes!)...complete with custom bedazzled bride and MOH wear, of course.

I know that I'll never be supermodel thin...but on my wedding day, I want to be able to look in the mirror knowing I did everything I could to feel the most beautiful I've ever been...and to know that what I'm offering DG on that day is the very best version of me and nothing less.  More than that...I want us to be around for a very, very long time to take care of and love each other.

…we got the church!!!

As we speak, DG is downtown at Edgefield Baptist paying our deposit and taking more pictures of the beautiful sanctuary for us to share.

I am happy to report that things have been going well on the wedding front lately. So, so much to tell. I'll be working on some more updates over the next few days.

Yesterday was a good day, too. DG met with his caterer friend about our reception. I was so pleased with the deal he worked out for us. The food is going to be fun and fantastic and affordable.
Plus…these babies arrived in the mail yesterday. I'm in love. J

I'd originally seen them at the flea market for $15 when I fell in love with them, but of course, they didn't have my size. I went scouring the internet to find them, and ended up ordering them from Overstock for about $35. Not too bad for the shoes I plan to wear on my wedding day…at least in my opinion.

AND! My MOH found this lovely dress at JCPenney for only $80! (I am so all about this bridesmaids'-dresses-that-aren't-traditional-bridesmaids'-dresses-thing.)

We've got to have a place to start in our shopping for coordinating but non-matching bridesmaid dresses, so why not start with the MOH, right? Yeah, I think so too. So she's going to go ahead and order it.  Worst case scenario, it doesn't work and we return it.  We're hoping for a little something like this…