Our Honeymoon!!!

Drum roll please....it's what you've all been waiting for.  An inside look into what we did in our first days as husband and wife...our Honeymoon!!!

First things first.  If you're getting married soon, be wise!  Plan at least a day in-between the wedding day and the day you leave for your honeymoon.  It will give you time to collect yourself and your things.  Put less pressure on making sure you have everything for the honeymoon packed before the wedding.  And will let you breathe and enjoy a day before you rush off.  We did this and it helped keep me sane!  Make no mistake, I was ready to get out of town, but I didn't even have to think about anything honeymoon until the wedding was over and then I had the day to do laundry, open cards and gifts to deposit the money, so we could take it with us (Thank you all so much!  You'll see what we did with that money in the coming posts!) and kind of just tidy the house so it wouldn't be a wreck when we returned!

Tuesday, October 16, we flew American Airlines from RDU to Vegas.  My first time sitting in first class and it was such a treat! (Kevin gets to do this frequently because of all the traveling he does for work...AND he upgraded our tickets as a surprise to me...however, AA sent me the confirmation, which then sent me into a frenzy because I thought somehow I had cancelled the flight or something with our reservation was wrong, and Kevin was forced to tell me about his upgrade.  So, while he was bummed that it wasn't a surprise, I was still so excited!)  We had a breakfast meal on our first flight into Dallas and then an additional meal on the flight from Dallas to Vegas.  Unlimited drinks.  I was spoiled!

Here we are on the flight.  Vegas here we come!

Our meals and drinks in first class!  The breakfast omelet really was amazing!!!  Everything was!

We arrived in Vegas around noon and found a shuttle to take us to our hotel: The Bellagio.  Oh my goodness!  Everything there is so over the top!  The Bellagio had their "fall" decor up and it was all about leaves, which made me really happy because I felt like our wedding theme was just continuing on!

Fall decorations behind the registration desk!  LOVE IT!

We checked in, found our room, unpacked and settled in a bit and then realized we were starving!

Our room at the Bellagio and our view...we were upgraded to a fountain view and it was amazing!

We were, in fact, SO hungry, that we only made it across the street and to CaboWabo, in front of Planet Hollywood...the first restaurant we saw...to chow down on some delicious food!





  After we were full...and believe me, neither of us wanted to do anything after our meal...we were STUFFED...we proceeded to find the monorail and ride down to the Venetian for our gondola ride.  In doing so, we were able to check out the inside of a casino (Harrah's) as we traveled from the monorail.

On the gondola ride!



Inside the Venetian!

 Once we left the Venetian, we walked across the street to check out Caesars Palace and ran into the one and only Alan!  He was a one-man wolf pack, but when Kevin came along, Alan knew he was one of his own and then his wolf pack...it grew by one.  So there...there were two of them in the wolf pack!  He was alone first in the pack, and then Kevin joined in later.  HAHA!

We walked through Caesars Palace...and I swear, the REAL Caesar had to have lived there! :)

When we got back to the Bellagio, we found this little treat that the hotel left us:

Chocolate Truffles, two "B" chocolates and a note congratulating us! YAY!



After lounging around and eating our bonbons truffles, we showered and got ready for our fancy dinner at Prime Steakhouse in the Bellagio.  They knew it was our honeymoon, so they sat us by the windows so we could see the fountain show every 15 minutes!  Food was out of control pricey, but it was phenomenal!  And they surprised us with a dessert!  Seriously some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life, but I did almost fall asleep in my dinner.  It was 8pm by the time we were seated (11pm on the East coast, and according to our bodies) and by 8:30/9, I was fading fast!  I was so tired, I just couldn't eat any more.  I did actually leave some of my meal and that has since made me feel so guilty!  It really was so good, I can't believe I left any behind!

After dinner, we proceeded to crash hard and end day 1 of our honeymoon!  For more photos click here.

October 14, 2012

Our wedding day!
(I already don't remember so many details about our wedding day, which stinks because I pride myself on my awesome memory.  However, part of the reason I remember things so well is because I repeat them in my mind and write about them, like I'm doing on here, and rely on pictures to fill in the gaps.  Hence, my obsession with pictures and the reason I have so many journals from my middle and high school days.  If you asked about an random day in my life, I used to be able to tell you exactly where I was, what I was wearing, what happened, etc....no longer, but writing events down does help.  So, here we go!)

I have no clue what time the girls started waking up...maybe 5am...some unGodly hour!
I got up a little later, took my "chill out meds" and let the make-up ladies in.  My stomach was already a mess, but the anxiety medicine and a plain bagel soon became the cure.  As we sat around and ate, the girls signed our wedding book and took turns getting hair and make-up done.  The morning just FLEW by!  I don't remember Janet, my mother-in-law, leaving to go back to her hotel to get ready.  I don't remember Hannah, our wonderful hair stylist, packing up her things or leaving.  I'm not even really sure what I did all morning...it's a blur!  By the time make-up was finished, Craig was there to start photos and we were really rolling!  I had a pillow fight with the girls, just for fun, and opened my gifts from Kevin before putting on my dress.  The first time I cried the whole day was reading Kevin's sweet card and the ugly cry started!

Cue: ugly cry!

By the time I had my dress on, Priscilla had arrived with lunch from Jimmy John's and little bottled Bellinis. YAY! The girls ate while I posed for some photos Craig was taking.

I had no time to eat, so we packed mine to go and it was time to hop in our ride to go to the Rose Garden. The Rose Garden has great memories for me!  It's so close to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, where I grew up going to church, so it was a place we visited with Sunday School (on random Sunday mornings) as I was growing up.  I also had my first dance recital, with Art's Together, on the Rose Garden Amphitheater stage when I was 4 or 5 years old.  I was a greenbean in that recital!  A really awesome greenbean!  So, it really was the perfect location for our "first look" and some wedding party photos before the ceremony!


Kevin and I went back and forth about a "first look".  I wanted to be traditional and not see Kevin before I walked down the aisle.  However, I also know how emotional I am and I didn't know if I could get through the ceremony without crying if I had the shock of seeing Kevin, for the first time, then.  From a photographer's point-of-view, "first looks" are great because they can truly capture that first moment and get great pictures before the wedding, while also capturing the first time you see each other in the church...which truly is a totally different moment!  I'm really glad we did a "first look".  I got a little emotional in the Rose Garden, but I was able to hold it together during the ceremony and I think our "first look" photos are awesome!

I LOVE this one!  Kevin is most likely saying, "but your dress is strapless and you hate strapless." :)  He definitely teared up a little!

Some of my favorite photos from the Rose Garden...

Maybe my favorite photo from the entire day!

Next, we were off to the church (a little late, but who's counting).  I ducked downstairs to the choir room to wait...finally ate my Jimmy John's...and got my veil on.

My sister cleaning my feet (that somehow got dirty in the Rose Garden) as I chow down!

The girls helped me get upstairs to the "holding room" and then it was game time.  Seriously, it all happened so quickly!  In the time it took for the girls to leave the "holding room" until it was time for me to get in position behind the double doors to the sanctuary, it was maybe mere moments, but it was just Priscilla and me in the "holding room" and those moments of quiet were so glorious.  I didn't even realize it was actually quiet until it was almost time for me to go...and I'm not really sure now what I was thinking about in those moments, but I'm very thankful that Priscilla didn't try to make idle chatter with me just to fill the gap.  That was one of my most favorite moments of the day, especially since I was walking down the aisle by myself.  It truly was a time to collect my thoughts and attempt to come to reality about what was about to happen in just moments.  And this is one of my favorite photos of the day:

I don't remember smiling.  I don't really remember getting down the aisle.  I don't remember guests that were seated along the way and I don't remember Priscilla fluffing my dress, but this just proves that people had my back!  I may have walked down the aisle alone, but I was not alone!

I can't even believe I can type this, but I DIDN'T CRY!  My eye was watering a little bit and I had a bit of an eye booger, so I did wipe my eye right before I said my vows...which lead some guests to believe I was already crying...but I wasn't!  If you don't know me well, not only am I prone to cry, but I sob.  And about anything and everything.  The worst is if I see someone else crying.  I may have no connection to the situation at all, but I'll bawl just out of sympathy!  I'm glad I didn't.  I think some of it was being in awe of the moment, but I really wanted to say my vows clearly and with purpose and I think I did!  Umm...I'll never really know because we don't have video of our ceremony (don't even get me started about why), but we do have a free audio recording of it thanks to the sound system folks.  So, yay!  We can listen to the audio sometime! :)

We were really adamant about having communion as part of our ceremony because we wanted our guests to feel like they had a part in the day and for it to be a bit interactive instead of them just sitting and watching.  We also prepared songs that were to be sung during communion (more crowd participation) and they were played (thanks Susan), but no one started the singing, so they weren't sung.  I definitely would have started singing, but we were actually the first to take communion, so by the time we got back to a pew, the first song was already almost done and it wasn't until after the second song started that I realized no one was singing along.  Oh well!  Communion was a little comical itself!  The groomsmen didn't have a clue when to release guests to go up for communion.  Not their fault.  Their "training" the night before was so jumbled, I'm surprised they even knew where to stand!  It all worked out and it was fine, it was just funny!

We're married!

Immediately after the ceremony, we took family pictures in the church...

and then the bridal party went out to jump on "Molley" the City of Raleigh Trolley to ride downtown to The Big Easy.

More photos were taken...like this one:

Craig really is AMAZING!  He saw the Carolina Trust on the ground and rounded us up for this photo and then added the awesome caption!  I just LOVE it!

...before we ran upstairs in The Big Easy to bustle my dress, switch out my veil for my oak leaf headband...

...and line up in The Stockroom to be introduced.  And here's where the blur begins again!  I remember being introduced and I remember our first dance: "God Gave Me You" by Blake Shelton! 

 

Kevin and I took one dance lesson before the wedding so we would have a semi-official first dance.  I kept begging him, in the days leading up to the wedding, to pick me up and do a lift, but he just refused.  So, I was really excited when he picked me up in the middle of our dance!  It was very sweet!

My mama welcomed everyone and prayed for the food.  I just LOVE this photo of Kevin wiping away my tears!  My mama's welcome included sayings from my Grandaddy that made me cry right before we prayed!

Then I think we ate?  No clue!  We actually did eat, even though we were greeted by many guests during that time.  And Craig grabbed us to do a few shots while everyone was eating.  It was also during dinner and before the toasts that Mr. Thom, our pastor, realized that we hadn't signed the marriage license.  There was a bit of a frantic rush to get that taken care of before we got into the toasts.  Followed by the cake cutting and the anniversary dance!

Cutting the cake!

There was a bit of booty shaking to be done before we got to the bouquet toss and the garter toss! 

Followed by more dancing and then our sparkler exit and rickshaw getaway!

Not sure if I'm screaming, laughing, waving, or saying "paparazzi, go away."  This just makes me laugh!

Riding the rickshaw back to the hotel was really fun!  I had never been on a rickshaw before.  It was really relaxing and the temperature was just perfect!  We enjoyed it!  When we got back to the hotel, we rode up to our floor and Kevin picked me up and carried me into the hotel room (very sweet)!  It was really dark in there and everything was a mess from getting ready that morning.  He kept saying, "why didn't they even clean," and I was like, "it's not big deal...I know where the furniture went...it's all good."  Turns out, he and the bridesmaids had planned to have the room cleaned and have rose petals leading to the bed and candles everywhere.  Well...the hotel staff had set up the adjoining room like that (the one the bridesmaids were staying in, that had two double beds, because THAT makes sense, right?) instead of ours.  I thought it was fine because I didn't know any differently, but Kevin and the girls were mad!  They had spent so much time making sure it was right and the hotel staff still messed it up!  Oh well!  These will be the stories we remember after years have past!  The little mix-ups!

I ran into the other room to take photos because it just made me laugh that they could mix it up!  Who decorates a room with double beds when there is a king suite right beside it, and both have my name on it?

I just LOVE our pictures!  I think I've looked at them 200 times already and I just can't get enough!  To see all of the ones we've seen so far, click here.

Ya'll have been so patient!  Honeymoon pictures and adventures to come next...I hope they prove to have been worth waiting for!

Wedding Week...

The week of the wedding, I only worked through Wednesday.  Kevin worked through Thursday.
My Thursday was spent getting my rings cleaned, eyebrows threaded, picking up some new clothes at the mall, shopping for gift bags for our wedding party and packing those gifts, grabbing my pea coat from work...that I had forgotten on Wednesday, forgetting to pick up final stationary from Melody and racing as fast as I could to her house to grab that (two hours late)...scarfing down a Chick-fil-a sandwich on the way back to the house...frantically cleaning so Christi could comfortably stay in the guest bedroom.  And then waiting for the bridesmaids to start arriving!
Oh...and my internet went out, which aided in my lateness to Melody's (because I wasn't getting her e-mails saying, "are you still coming?" "You're an hour late.") and forced me to walk around the block checking e-mail on my iPhone.  I was down the street, doing just that, when Jamie arrived first with Hayden and Nolan in tow...then came Christi and Ashley.  The four of us went out to Cheesecake Factory for a last dinner before the wedding action really kicked into gear.

Dinner at Cheesecake Factory

Then we returned to my house where my sister and Allyson arrived and the girls surprised me with a bag of gifts. 

Bag of goodies!

I was able to do my last minute "inspection" of the girls in their dresses and shoes!  Seriously, planning a wedding when your bridesmaids are so far apart, in different countries, is pretty difficult and this was the first time they were all in the same place with their wedding gear!  And they looked great!

Bridesmaids in one place!!

Then came arranging my "bouquet" for the rehearsal and hanging around a bit before I sent everyone home!

Bouquet making!

My girls!!!

Friday, I woke up with a bad headache and a stomach ache to boot!  I don't think I got out of bed until over in the afternoon.  I was a wreck!  I wanted to run away and cancel the wedding!  The added pressure came when family started calling to say they were in town.  I was still in bed and I didn't want to have to "be on" and deal with anyone.  Maybe I just needed a day to wallow in my pity and feel bad for myself while I was feeling sick, but that's what happened.  Kevin finally convinced me to shower and try to pull myself together and I managed to stomach bits of a baked potato to have some nourishment!  Thank goodness Christi was staying at my house because she was able to field calls and just hold the fort down while I wasn't feeling good. (Thank you so much Baby!  You saved the day!)  The break in the day happened when my mama called and said she was on the way to Raleigh to pick up Kevin's groom's cake in Cary.  That was fine and dandy, but then I got a follow-up call with her saying that the cake wouldn't fit in the cooler she had brought along.  Obviously, I couldn't put a surprise cake in my fridge with Kevin and his family coming over, so she came to get me and I jumped in the car and off we went to Gravy to see if they would keep it for us.  And they did!  Thank you Lord!

And then on the drive back to my house, I thought, "better call the church florist and just make sure everything is good for the alter flowers."  So, I did and that's when I was forced to transition from "sicky, feel sorry for myself, girl" to..."you better not mess with me, I'm getting married in 2 days, bride."  So, Saturday, the day of our rehearsal at the church...there was to be a memorial service scheduled about 3 hours before our rehearsal.  They had asked to have flowers at the memorial service, so our wedding flowers were to be set up around noon on Saturday and stay through the church service on Sunday and on to our wedding that afternoon.  Well...when I called the florist to make sure she knew we wanted autumnal flowers, she proceeded to tell me that the flowers were light pink and light blue for the memorial service and that's what would stay for our wedding.  WHAT?  Who the crap orders light pink and light blue flowers for a fall wedding.  Definitely NOT THIS BRIDE!  I was livid and I let the flower lady know.  In her defense, she said she hadn't gotten the message about fall flowers, but the memorial service folks had called her and specifically asked for pink and blue....the only problem...I was paying for the flowers, not the memorial service folks.  They were just getting flowers on the alter because of me.  So...I proceeded to call the flower lady's contact, who didn't know anything about the situation, but said she hoped she hadn't messed anything up.  Well, someone had, because the memorial service folks were just steam-rolling everyone else!  I finally got her to understand that my money was paid and the flowers on the alter for our wedding needed to be reds and oranges and yellows and greens...and NOT light pink and blue.  She said she'd figure it out money-wise and for me to just make sure the flower lady would agree to make another arrangement for our wedding.  That call went much better!  She was more than happy to make another arrangement, she just wanted to make sure she'd get paid....and I told her she would be.  Ahh...and that shook me out of my "sicky" mode.  When you have a crisis and you're the only one that can save the day, superhero clothes have to come on and you just have to get it done!

I returned to my house to find Kevin and about 15 other people (family and friends) gathering to go to the NC State Fair!  It was loud in the house, but all was well.  Crisis averted!  We all hung out for about 30 minutes before splitting up into cars and driving over to the fairgrounds.  I still wasn't feeling so great...probably because I'd only had a few bites of a baked potato all day...so I was ready to hit the food.  However, we had about 15-20 people that wanted to stick together the whole time...impossible!  By the time we made it to "the best corn booth at the fair", I had smoke coming out of my ears and I was about to pass out from hunger.  The rest of the night went okay.  I still had my headache, but we ate (corn, ham sandwich, fried cheese), we walked, the guys played games and won prizes...Kevin won me a bear...and we made it out with everyone in the same group!  I went home and went straight to bed around 9pm!  Sleep was necessary!

Games

Bear Kevin won!

Saturday morning I woke up headache free, but feeling a little sick on my stomach.  That I recognized!!  Just the normal anxious tummy I've had my whole life.  (Seriously!  It's a curse!  I used to have it in elementary and middle school so badly that I had to take anxiety medicine so I was able to eat in the morning, or I just wouldn't eat all day and the stomach pain would continue all day because of nerves and an empty stomach.  I even managed to give myself a stomach ulcer in middle school.)  I proceeded to take my special anxiety medicine, prescribed just for the wedding, and then climbed back into bed to write all of my thank-you notes to my bridesmaids and my card for Kevin for the wedding day.  It was really relaxing and felt good easing into the day.  But, then it was "go" time.  I showered and got ready, packed the car and Christi and I hopped in and drove over to my mama's best friend's house.  Sue hosted a bridesmaids brunch for me and all of the bridesmaids, my mom and Kevin's mom, and wow did she roll out the red carpet.  Not only is her house like a museum...just so beautiful and everything in it's place...but she had thought of every detail.  We had mini muffins and juice, complete with "V" napkins.  Then, we sat down for the main meal.  Salad and quiche and baked apples and a wonderful chocolaty dessert.  Sadly, my stomach wasn't quite strong enough to handle the full meal, but I did the best I could and really enjoyed the meal.  I so wish I could eat it all over again today.  I'd clean my plate!

Sue's beautifully decorated table!

Girls at bridesmaids brunch!

Me and Mrs. Sue!

After our morning at Sue's, we headed to Cameron Village for manicures and pedicures...

Cameron Nails!

...checked into the hotel...and changed for the rehearsal.  The day just flew!  By the time we changed clothes, we were already running late for the rehearsal.  We arrived and made it through the entire ceremony, with some difficulty.

The only picture I have from the wedding rehearsal (Thanks Leah!)

Figuring out communion was tricky and nothing was made clear at the end of our time in the church.  Oh well, we had a deadline for when we had to arrive at Gravy, so we headed out.  By the time we all arrived at Gravy, I was ready for some food and thank goodness we chose Gravy because it was amazingly great food!  We had an awesome time relaxing with family and the bridal party and really enjoyed ourselves.  There was food and drinks and passing out gifts and the thumbprint tree and then dessert.

Bridesmaids and their dates at the rehearsal dinner.

My mama putting her thumbprint on the tree!

My girls know I LOVE purple, so they all dressed for the occasion.  No planning involved here!

We left and I headed back to the hotel with my girls, where we stayed up a bit just figuring out last minute details for the next day.  That, too, was relaxing and by that point, I was excited, but tired, and it really didn't seem possible that the very next day I would wake up for the very last time as Miss Victoria Elizabeth Ewing.  I headed to bed around 10pm and slept pretty well in the King Bed by myself.  My only wish is that I could have gotten a few more hours of shut-eye.  I think I run best off of at least 9 hours. :)