You Make My Dreams Come True: Getting Pretty

I woke up around 7:30 the morning of the wedding with lots of butterflies in my tummy. I get insanely nervous and my stomach always gets upset when either something big is happening (i.e. starting at a new school, moving away to college, etc) or I'm going to be doing something in front of a lot of people (especially public speaking). Um, I think your wedding day is the epitome of those two things. Needless to say I wasn't feeling very well, but after reading the email David sent me at 7:32, I had a smile plastered on my face. While it's probably not the most interesting thing to any of you, I started this blog for my own memory, so I'm posting it here. :) 

Good Morning, Baby!

Today is the most special day of our lives. We are officially closing what has been a pretty darn good chapter of our lives and opening what is set to be the best chapter yet! Most people wait a lifetime to actually meet someone that is meant for them the way we are meant for each other. The fact we met at 14 is awesome to think about! God has blessed us in SO many ways, it's unbelievable.

Sweetie, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever met. And to know you will be walking down the aisle to meet ME is still hard to believe. There has never been one doubt in my mind that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. In fact, I miss you so much the few moments we aren't together, it is crazy!

So, enjoy your last morning as Ms. my old last name, because you have an incredible family and amazing upbringing. Without your folks, this would have NEVER been possible. This afternoon you become Mrs. my new last name, which is the best thing that has ever happened to the new last name family!

I can't wait!!

I love you with everything in me,
Always and Forever.
David

Is he not the cutest thing ever? I married a keeper. After reading that I honestly thought to myself, 'No matter what happens today, I'm marrying this man and that's all that matters.' (I'll be honest, I let myself forget that a couple times, but deep down I knew it was the truth.) My hair appointment wasn't until 9:30 and I didn't want to wake everyone up, so I had some time to myself. I attempted to go back to sleep for a little while, but there was no chance of that. So instead I texted my soon-to-be hubby saying thank you for the email and that it made me cry (of course) but also made me even more excited for the day. I told him I loved him and couldn't wait to see him, and he sent the funniest reply back:

'Eeee!' is my go-to phrase, ha! And then I, of course, had some last minute stuff I needed him to do.

Soon BM S was awake and went to get breakfast, but I was way too anxious to eat. Once she got back she, BM M, Jr. BM K, and I all left for the hair salon. I'm so thankful for that BM S had her dad's camera and was able to get all the pictures of the morning!

Jr. BM K and BM M - I love this picture :)

Surprisingly we were done pretty quickly. I have a TON of hair and it takes awhile to curl all of it, but she was done even faster than my hair trial. 

We made a stop at McDonalds on the way back to the hotel so I could get a large Dr. Pepper. I drank an insane amount of those in the month leading up to the wedding, and it was about the only thing that sounded good at the time. We met MOH A back at the hotel since she had gone to breakfast with her family (she lives in Louisiana and doesn't see them often) and she had happened to pick up a present for me from my sweet groom. I had almost forgotten I'd be getting a gift from him, so I was surprised when she'd met up with David's older brother to get it that morning! I opened it right away and teared up (again) reading the card.

As soon as I saw the shape of the box I knew exactly what it was. Back in January when we'd picked out my wedding bands there was a necklace at the jewelers that matched my ring setting perfectly. They tried to talk David into buying it, but I thought it was way too expensive. They had me go to the store next door and when he met back up with me he swore he hadn't bought it. I was almost sure he did, but he wasn't giving anything away. Turns out he had and I was right!

Love my bestie!

Photo by Lola Jo Photo Design

Shortly after I called my mom and had her head over to start my makeup. Conveniently, my parents' house is only a couple miles from the hotel we stayed at, so she was there within minutes. I loved having my mom do my makeup. Not only did she do a fabulous job, it was nice to spend some quality time with her that morning!

Meanwhile, we started the flower girl tutus. I'm so glad I had help from BM S and Jr. BM K. We kind of switched off between getting ready and working on them, and we finished them just in time! My mom had found pink petticoats for the girls, but I just wasn't crazy about how they looked. I'd envisioned tutus and I knew I could make them easily. Unfortunately the project just kept getting pushed to the end of the list, until I finally got the rest of the supplies for them Friday night at midnight. I had planned to finish them before I went to bed, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open. While I'm sure some brides would never finish a project the morning of their wedding, it all ended up working out just fine! 

Photo by Lola Jo Photo Design

Photo by Lola Jo Photo Design

Photo by Lola Jo Photo Design

I promise I'm not constantly on my phone - In these pictures I was either writing my last blog post as a miss or was trying to deal with the issue of our jr. groomsman's lost tux jacket. (No worries, David had it.. I don't know why.)

I love that MOH A and BM S wore their towel wraps to get ready. They looked so cute!

They all added their finishing touches and slipped into their beautiful mismatched black dresses. I know every bride says this, but I had gorgeous bridesmaids.

Photo by Lola Jo Photo Design

Photo by Lola Jo Photo Design

Photo by Lola Jo Photo Design

Once they were all ready it was time for me to 'slip into' my dress. I wanted more than anything to have my sisters and my mom help me get dressed. However, both of my sisters were incredibly late to the hotel (like 45 minutes +) and we couldn't wait any longer to put the dress on. We were already late to the first look, and the boys were already at the location we chose for pictures (outside, in the 100 degree heat, in black tuxes). This is one of the times that I wish I would've sucked it up and realized that things go wrong on your wedding day. Instead I let myself cry and I hate that I look upset in a lot of the pictures of me getting dressed. It just hurt that they missed that moment and messed up the whole day's schedule with our photographer. Granted, both of my sister's had 2 month old infants, but I had hoped that they'd be able to be on time just once. Anyway. I've got to get over it!

I may have been upset, but as soon as I put that dress on I immediately felt like a bride! There's no feeling like it - Looking up into the mirrior to see that everything has come together: the hair, the makeup, the jewelry, the dress. It's so exciting! But I'm going to make you wait until tomorrow for those pictures. I'll leave you with these:

Photo by Lola Jo Photo Design

Photo by Lola Jo Photo Design

Was the morning before your wedding crazy? Did anything go wrong?

Tip #4: Tell your bridesmaids to arrive much earlier than you actually need them to. Then if they're late (which someone will be) it won't be as big of a deal, and it's always better to have too much time than too little.

Need to catch up?

We started on Thursday.

We decorated Friday morning.

We rehearsed.