A Million Dreams Come True ~ Megan & Kory's Fall Wedding 9/30/06

[So_Ready]

Hi girls! Many of you remember me as Hopeful1 on UW. My name is Megan. I got married September 30th and I'm finally thinking I'd like to share my story with some old buds of mine on here! Hope you enjoy!

My Wedding Day Story

The week before the wedding is mostly a giant blur. I don’t remember much. I remember pretending to try and work Tuesday and Wednesday but I think I ended up just leaving early one (or both) :shuffle: of those days and being done with it. It was so nice to think I was off work for 3 whole weeks!!!!! And soooo nice to have a couple of days to get things done beforehand.

I remember Thursday a bit so we’ll start there.

Thursday, September 28th

My sister and her daughter had arrived from Washington late Wednesday night. I even got to talk to them. My niece was so cute when I talked to her. I said, “Are you here in Arizona?” And she said, “YEAH! I’m here for YOUR wedding!!!!” And then she asked to talk to “Uncle Kooooory” (that’s how she says his name) and he was asleep already. She was so sad she said, “You know, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve seen Uncle Koooooory” and it had been nearly 2 years. She continued, “It’s been so long since I’ve seen him…like a whole WEEK!” I about died laughing when she said that. She’s 5 by the way. Just started Kindergarten.

Thursday is kind of blur. Doing last minute errands I can’t remember. I think that was the day I was working on the programs. Yup, it was. Well we had problem after problem with printing the programs and the CD favor labels – both of which I thought would be really easy tasks! Our printer decided to take a big fat CRAPPOLA on us which was, to say the least, mildly inconvenient with 200 programs and 200 CD favor labels to print. And then I went to print the CD labels I had designed in Publisher and realized they wouldn’t work with the great CD Stomper labels I’d gotten at Sam’s for $13 for 300 labels. I ended up having to go to Office Max and buy new labels for about $200. Ugh.

And we ended up having to buy a new printer and we went through I think 4 yellow ink cartridges because of my fall colors! LOL!

My family arrived here in town Thursday afternoon. Funny story…I had lunch with Kory’s family. After I left, my SIL and her BF went to the lookout there to take pics and offered to take pics of these nice people who were trying to get a family shot. As they were walking away the nice people overheard them talking about getting to the wedding site and my little cousin, who happened to be one of the nice people piped up, “Megan and Kory’s wedding?” Turned out they’d bumped into my Aunt, Uncle and grandparents! What a small world.

We all met over at our Aunt's house (that’s where we got married) – the whole kit and caboodle of my family came to help set up. At first we were all just standing around watching the rental guys unload the truck but then when they were done we got to work. We got all the chairs set up for the ceremony and all the tables set up for the reception – it was great we got so much done so quickly.

Kory's Aunt's had so many weddings there - she made things SO easy for me. She totally took charge telling the guys where to put things. It was so nice not having to micro manage and be able to trust everything would get done right.

Seeing all my family started to make it a LITTLE bit more real, too.

Here's a pic of the ceremony all set up Thursday afternoon.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ceremonysetupbeforehand.jpg

Then we went back to our house for dinner. The ladies in my family brought all the food – my Mom made Salsbury steaks for everyone. They set it all up so I didn’t have to do a thing (I was still working on the programs in the office!) and it was wonderful to have that time together. After dinner, they went to work. They saw my laundry on the bed and were like, “Can we fold that for you?” Then my Mom and sister put together the gift bags for the Flower Girls and Bridesmaids. They were doing all kinds of stuff trying to help us get ready. It was soooo nice to have that time with my family too. And they were all so excited to see us knowing we were pregnant, too. (Yes, we found out 3 weeks before the wedding!!!!!)

By the end of the night, I’d finally figured out the CD labels and got them printing. My family left. And just when I was ready to go to bed, Kory called in the troops and 2 of his buddies helped us get all the CDs stomped with the labels in the matter of an hour. What a blessing!

One of his GM had also helped us roll all the silverware the night before – people were SOOOO helpful! That’s 300 rolls of silverware!!!!!

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[So_Ready]

FRIDAY, September 29th

I don’t remember a lot of this day. I remember just constantly printing programs and printing programs and printing programs. Which, by the way, I have like 100 of leftover!!!!! HMPH! Oh well.

In the afternoon I planned to meet all my ladies – BMs, FGs, and lady family members for pedicures and manicures at my nail salon. Well I had one BM and my SIL show (turns out they were all helping set up the RD). Oh well, no big deal. We still had a great time. I got little rhinestones on my ring finger nails to be special. And I got pretty dark pink toes.

I had meant to be helping set up the RD all day but one thing after another kept coming up. I never made it over there!!!! I felt so bad. I went straight from the nail salon home to shower and get ready for the RD. I was all by myself and rushing like a mad woman.

Just after I got out of the shower and had self tanning lotion all over me so I couldn’t put any clothes on, the DJ FINALLY decided to call. This was our first conversation with him since we booked him over a year before! It was like a 20 minutes conversation. I gave him the songs that we wanted specifically and then just an idea of what types of music to play for the rest of it and he made me feel very confident he’d do a great job…and he did.

(Overall, I just tried to let go of being a Bridezilla and trust that everything would go well, expecting there would be mistakes and mishaps no matter what. I'm so glad I had this attitude and didn't waste this time being uptight and worried about every little detail!)

While I was naked on speaker phone my friend Diane decided to show up with her gift she didn’t want to “lug” to the wedding. She made it sound HUGE and it really wasn’t. She stood out in the living room for like 20 minutes while I talked to the DJ. I finally invited her in and just talked to her butt ass naked. :hysterics She’s one of my least modest friends so I knew she wouldn’t care.

I ended up being a LITTLE BITTY late to the Rehearsal. :blush: I told everyone to be there at 4:45 so they’d make it by 5 and I was the last one to arrive at 5!!!! LOL!

It REALLY made it real walking into the Rehearsal in my cute little ivory tea length satin dress. Seeing all of our very closest friends and family there for OUR wedding, I totally got overwhelmed and started crying. :bawl: It REALLY hit me finally at that point.

And much to my surprise, my MIL and FIL, and all of our family had worked tirelessly all day long to set up a BEAUTIFUL Rehearsal Dinner. They’d even set up all the twinkle lights, standing lights and heaters PERFECTLY without any direction from me! It was so beautiful!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/RD1.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/RD-tables.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/RD-centerpieces.jpg

There were 7-8 tables with celedon green linens and pink paper napkins and the centerpieces from the Bridal Shower which everyone admired (my MIL MADE them!). It was so perfect. I was also happy to see that despite Kory and I disagreeing over serving alcohol at the RD, they had opened up the bar for people to help themselves. K didn’t want to serve alcohol and I did. So that was nice. And our friends were respectful and didn’t get wasted. They just had a beer or two, or a glass or wine or something and then we went and partied later.

So to get the Rehearsal started. Our officiant had a very limited timeframe so we decided to do things kind of backwards. I was surprised that my coordinator and officiant didn’t take over more with the running of the Rehearsal but I was the only one who knew what was going on anyways so I didn't mind running it!

I got everyone’s attention, thanked them for coming, introduced our coordinator and officiant and started in. We started with the Groomsmen and Bridesmaids all lined up at the “altar” and went backwards from there. It was a very simple rehearsal. Our officiant went through just a few things for the ceremony and that was that. It was great to get all the details figured out though. And despite Kory insisting all of his 11 GM & Ushers stand up there with him against my 6 BMs, it all worked out just fine with them walking out together, getting introduced later, etc.

Kory & I rehearsing...
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/RD-KoryandI.jpg

Me showing our 2 nieces and FGs my ribbon bouquet.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/RD-meandFGs.jpg

Then we went to start the Rehearsal Dinner – the fun part. We’d hardly seen everyone so K and I were excited to do some mingling.

The RD was beautiful. We had spaghetti with two different sauces, salads and garlic bread. Everyone loved the food AND the cake I got from Costco.

We finally figured out an AWESOME gift for our parents and for K's Aunt & Uncle, the hosts of the event. We got a sweet deal on nice framed artwork for them that were nice photographs of Sedona and the Grand Canyon – big ones too! We wrote on the back of each one of them, too. They LOVED them. HUGE HIT. And I ended up giving the speeches to all the parents other than that damn MIL of mine – I made K do that!!! It turned out really nice.

Then we gave FG gifts and they all loved they’re little goodie bags. They had coloring books, hair things, photo albums, journals, writing pads, stickers and all kinds of cool stuff.

Then we gave the BM gifts. I ended up finding them really nice sterling silver bracelets then added some lavish bath and body stuff and the earrings I got them to wear on the wedding day if they wanted. They LOVED it.

K got cool stuff for his GM too. Belt buckles for a couple of the more cowboy types, money clips for some of the others and I can’t remember the rest. One was a lighter I think. The GM & BM all came up and complimented us on our choice of gifts so that was nice.

By about 9 pm family and friends had pitched in to help clean up and we were off for a night out on the town!

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[So_Ready]

Wedding Day Story – Part 2

Friday, September 29th (continued)

After the Rehearsal, the girls decided to head to one bar while the guys went to another. The guys seemed determined to keep me away from my man long enough so they could get him totally trashed. LOVELY!

Right before I left the RD to head to the bar I realized that one major thing had not been done yet. We needed the stage we were storing at our house from the wedding in May moved back to the house to be used for my little surprise performance at the wedding – I had PROMISED the performers I’d have it for them. (They had come by on Thursday when the rentals were being delivered and set up and we went over everything – I was feeling very confident they would do a GREAT job. And they did. More on that later.) So Kory gathered the guys and took them to our house to get it done and I headed to the bar.

Right after I arrived, Kory called me and said even with NINE guys, they had tried everything to lift it and just couldn’t. He said, “Sorry hunny but this thing ain’t movin’ – you’re going to have to do without it.” At first I was so frustrated – what was I going to do without it? But it ended up working out fine.

I went in and had a nice glass of Perrier with my friends. Was glad my pg best friend was able to be here to share in all of this as she was 5 days overdue to have her baby and scheduled to be induced Sunday morning. She was very glad she could be a part of it too.

After a drink or two, we decided to go crash the party at the other bar and bust in on the boys. When we got there, they were SERIOUSLY trashed. It was pretty funny. Kory was still ok, just buzzed, but they’d been dumping shots down his throat. Lovely. :sappy:

My girls and I went and danced a bit – it was funny because the band that was performing was a band I know really well. I know the main performer from my old partying days. They started to end one set and he recognized me – my friends quickly announced to him that I was getting married the next day. So he whispered to his band and they played one more song dedicated to me. He made this big announcement to the whole crowd, introducing me as the Bride getting married tomorrow. It was really cute. Everyone was staring at me while we danced through the song.

We went back into the other part of the bar where the guys were hanging out. They were about to head to yet another bar and us girls all wanted to go, too, because we knew that one would be the busiest and most fun place to be. But the guys had other ideas – it was so dumb, they tried to get Kory to convince me to stay at that bar with the girls. I was like, “Whatever!” And we totally went to the bar right behind them! And it turned out fine. It was actually fun because we ran into some old friends from back in our single bar-hopping days and got to share all of our news.

I was so excited because somewhere in the midst of this whole evening, I was talking to my Bridesmaids and telling them how I was staying at my house alone that night because Kory and I didn’t want to wake up and see each other on our wedding day. My MOH was so awesome and piped up right away, “I’ll stay with you tonight!” Turned out she’d packed all the stuff she’d need for the next day “just incase” she ended up staying in town that night. I was so happy to have my MOH staying with me.

So about 11:30 I started feeling pretty tired and woosy. I asked Kimmy if she was ready to go home and she was so good and just came right with me. Kory and I made out a bit before I left :hehe: and told each other we’d see each other at the wedding! He was so cute – kept saying I was going to be his “wifey poo.” :mushy: He even walked me out to my car and saw me off – such a gentleman!

MOH and I had fun at my house – she was the perfect person to stay with me. She loves dogs and didn’t mind mine sleeping in the room with us.

Saturday, September 30th - WEDDING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next morning we woke up about the same time and started getting ready for my little 10 am ladies breakfast at my FAVORITE breakfast spot. I got showered and everything and blow-dried my hair so it was ready for my stylist. I was brushing my teeth and something just somehow set me off – I went to lay down again in hopes I’d feel better but I got super nauseous. I told MOH I thought I might throw up. She was getting ready in the bathroom with me. Next thing I know, I’m hugging the porcelain throne! :puke: Yup, my first throwing up with this pregnancy on my wedding day!!!!!!! But I felt a lot better afterwards! LOL!

I grabbed all of my wedding accessories that I had bagged up together and even had managed to pack an overnight bag the night before since we’d be staying the night at a really nice resort – a FABULOUS wedding present from Kory’s bosses!!!!

We got my wedding dress in the car along with everything else – my RD dress incase I decided to change to leave the reception being pg and all, etc. Oh and at the last minute we found this great ivory fur shawl I’d been given for my b-day to use to keep me warm – don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. In the end though, it ended up being such a perfectly warm night, we didn’t really need the 10 $60 heaters we’d rented or the shawl I bought, or the shawl I brought, and I stayed in my dress the entire night – did NOT want to take that thing off! LOL!

We headed to breakfast at 10 am – I was actually on-time for once! I wore my “Just call me Mrs. Hislastname” shirt. When I got there, I had the valet park my car and when they asked me for my last name, it took a minute and I said my maiden name but then said, “But this is the last time I’ll be using that name cuz I’m getting’ married today!”

My Mom met us there along with my other MOH, my pg best friend (again, so glad she could be part of this!) and I think 3 or 4 of my other Bridesmaids. Only 2 didn’t make it – my SIL because she was helping with the set up at the wedding site, and our friend Rhonni – she was a little trashed the night before so we knew she was feeling it this morning!

We sat on the patio – perfect sunny day with blue skies and not a cloud in the sky AND the perfect temperature. A NICE DAY FOR A WHITE WEDDING! :lmao:

I asked for some toast right away to calm my stomach and then ordered a breakfast burrito and some fruit. My girls all ordered Mimosas and had one for me too. My MOH#2 was sitting next to me – she had told me that she they had started trying for a second baby this month and she was wondering if she was pregnant. Well, I was asking her if she was going to have a Mimosa then and that was when she admitted that she’d taken a pg test that morning!!!!!! :wow: She said there was a VERY VERY faint line but it was so faint it was nonexistent and she just couldn’t believe that she was pg. She’d test again tomorrow. She told just my Mom, my pg BF and I and asked us to keep it a secret. She was so sweet not wanting to steal my thunder.

Well, as it turns out…first off, I’d forgotten our wedding day was also their wedding anniversary. Later on I sent her to the store to get bobby pins for my hair and she picked up a pg test while she was there. She came back and took it at the house and got a clear as day :bfp:on their anni!!!! And that girl didn’t say A WORD to anyone!!! And her DH showed up just after the ceremony had started so she had to wait through the whole ceremony to even tell him! They are so excited – she finally told me the whole story when we got back from the Honeymoon. She’s only 3 weeks behind me!!!

So anyways, breakfast was awesome. After breakfast, I sent my SIL to the copiers to have my programs folded – they’d offered to do it free of charge. I tried going by at 10 when they opened but they were closed – I was hoping this wasn’t a sign that they might just randomly decide to be closed today. But alas, it was. She went around noon and they were still closed for no reason despite the hours on their door reading 10-2 on Saturdays.

I headed straight from breakfast to K's Aunt's house to meet my hair and make-up ladies. They had planned to get there early to set up for me. I got there about 11:15-ish but we ended up being a little late getting going because I was running around for a bit answering questions and stuff. So much was already set up and it just looked amazing. I had been VERY concerned about the linens we ordered. We’d ordered Pimento that looked Rust colored but when they showed up they looked BRICK RED. Ok I might’ve had every color under the rainbow in our color scheme, but that was NOT one of them. :lol: We threw a big fit and made the rental people replace the linens that looked Red, not rust. But I was still concerned that what we got looked more Red than Rust. Well, when I got to the wedding site and saw the linens on the tables, I realized right away that they were perfect and really did look RUST and perfectly fallish! Phew!

Here's a pic of the set up from before the wedding.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/receptionsetup.jpg

I went inside to get settled in for hair and make-up. It felt so weird to be sitting down to get my hair and make-up done for MY WEDDING. Sooooo surreal!!!!!!

I have to say, our friends and family were AMAZING. And my Coordinator was AWESOME. I mean unbelievably awesome – I can’t even begin to say. Her & I both know my caterer really well, in fact, my Coordinator’s DH works at my caterer’s restaurant. Well, my caterer couldn’t have been more scatter brained through this whole thing. One day she’d call us and say she needed us to rent chafing dishes for her even though she’d told us she had all of that, and then the next day she’d say she had it covered. It was ridiculous – one thing after another where she just “forgot” she’d told us she’d do something and at the very last minute (as in Friday morning) was saying we needed to do it.

For example, she had offered to bring the RD dinner stuff in disposable trays so we could just throw them away after. But no, she forgot having that convo with us, too, and just sent them in chafing dishes…in fact, the same dishes she’d need for the next day, which meant we’d now have to clean them overnight! ERGH! Well, fortunately, my Coordinator just offered to take them home and wash them overnight. That was just ONE of the many things she did to go above and beyond. Her DH also spent the day helping us set up and did a great deal of the table set up. They were just amazing.

So anyways, I got started on hair and make-up and it was at that point where I just had to let go and fully relinquish all control to my friends, family and coordinator and just have faith it’d all get done and get done the right way. In the end, of course there were things I would’ve done a bit differently but none of it really mattered, ya know? And it was much better for me to just not worry about those little things!

Well, my hair and make-up took about 13 hours. :shocked: Just kidding. A slight exaggeration to make the point that it took WAAAAAAY longer than we’d planned. I had my hair cut quickly first and then my stylist started on my do which took forever because she had a broken foot in a cast. My make-up gal was so good with working on my make-up even though my hair stylist was knocking my head all around all over the place but she just couldn’t get too much done until my hair was done.

My Bridesmaids started showing up between 12:30 and 1 p.m. They’d all gotten their hair & make-up done individually and then were just putting their dresses on at the house. It was perfect. They had all picked out perfect jewelry and looked fabulous.

By 1:30, all the Flower Girls, female family members and Bridesmaids were at the house all ready for pictures that were supposed to start at 1:30 or 1:45. But was the Bride ready? NO! She was still having her make-up done!!!!!! Fortunately, the ladies used that free time to get my programs folded. But the Flower Girls were antsy and because of this, ended up pooping out early later on. One of my few regrets.

In the midst of all of this, my make-up gal offered the professional steamer she had at work to my Mom so she could steam the hem of my dress – it had gotten just a little bit wrinkled. So my Mom got it all steamed and it looked just perfect.

I got kind of hungry in the midst of having my hair and make-up done. And when I got hungry, I got queasy fast if I didn’t eat being pg and all. Well, I LOVE my Mom. And my sister too. They had both packed little coolers with healthy, nutritious homemade snacks for me. My Mom offered me a hard-boiled egg which was perfect since it’s packed with protein. So picture this, (btw, my photographer had showed up around noon to get “getting ready” pics so she did catch all of this on film). I’ve got my hair lady behind me with her foot up on a chair in a cast, my make-up gal dips the egg is some salt for me and accidentally gets WAY too much on the egg. She goes to feed it to me and says, “You better take a big bite or it’ll be too salty.” So I take this HUGE bite of the egg to the point where my cheeks look like they might explode…all eyes are on me in the room…and at the moment my photographer snaps the most hilarious picture!!!! :hysterics

So anyways, right around this time, my Coordinator came into the room and said in a calm voice that hinted at her suspicion we were about to have a crisis, “Uh, Megan, do we have plates?” In that moment a whole stream of thoughts ran through my mind. We had ordered the plates when we went into the rental company, we’d picked out specific plates and watched him put them into the computer BUT in this moment, I realized that the list they had faxed to me of our final rental order did not have any plates on it and I had never caught it, and neither had my coordinator. We had counted every last thing they brought to make sure we had everything but seeing as we were checking it all against a list that was missing those plates, we never caught it! And just to give you a little background, at Kory’s cousin’s wedding in May (at the same place), they’d had nice plastic plates and I thought that was so tacky! I was soooo insistent on having nice real plates to up the level of class so our wedding would be nicer than theirs. But in the end, guess what we had to go run out and buy at the last minute? Nice plastic plates! :hysterics And it didn’t matter a lick! My coordinator was fantastic and just sent the Serving Manager right out to the store to buy plates at 2:30!

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[So_Ready]

So by the time we finally got my hair and make-up done and were ready to get me dressed, I felt SERIOUSLY rushed. It was like 2:30 by this point. It kind of sucked being so rushed through this part. But the guys were scheduled to show up for pics at 2:45 and we’d already called and told them to wait until 3 to come.

So getting my dress on was pretty funny. I think it really did take every single Bridesmaid, my hair and make-up ladies, and my Mom to get me into that thing. I actually stepped into the dress and the slip all at once at my seamstress’ suggestion which worked pretty well but was much easier said than done! :lol: Then we had to sticky tape the dress to my boobs in like 4 places so the top of the bodice wouldn’t stand off my chest. That was another funny moment.

Just got into the dress
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics357.jpg

Next, a couple of my Bridesmaids held my skirt up while BM Marcy got my garter on. It was such a funny site to see! We got the shoes on and the jewelry and everything was looking good.

I just had to get my bangs fixed and lipstick put on. It was torture sitting through this because we were soooooo far behind schedule.

My jewelry
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics257.jpg

My shoes
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics246.jpg

At this point my Mom started ushering in family members to get a sneak peek of me before the ceremony. It was perfect – I just wish I hadn’t of been so rushed that I could’ve enjoyed these special moments more. My Papa came in and was just about moved to tears when he saw me – I’ll never forget the look on his face, it was so precious. My Dad came in, and managed to hold it together and not cry. He was so sweet and just kept telling me I was so beautiful and looked like a princess.

Then Megan (my coordinator – yes, we have the same name!) came in and said the Flower Girls were dying to see me so we let them come in and get a sneak peek. They were so cute all oohing and aahing and telling me I looked like Cinderella and like a Princess. Soooo cute!

As an aside - when I got home later and went to take off all my jewelry I realized I didn't even wear my beautiful bracelet! I was in such a hurry getting dressed I completely forgot it! :duh: I was soooooo sad!!!!

We finally made it outside for pictures around 2:45. I decided to skip all the pictures of me alone with my family since we could get shots of Kory & I with the family after instead, and just do pics with the Bridesmaids and Flower Girls. We started with the poor Flower Girls since they had been waiting so patiently for over an hour. I got some really really cute pics with them.

While we were taking pics with the Bridesmaids, together and each individually with me, we heard that the boys were arriving. Luckily there were 2 entrances to the wedding site so my Coordinator told them to come the other way so they wouldn’t drive right by us as we were taking pics in the backyard.

We literally got 15 minutes of pictures before we had to go inside and hide so the boys could get their pics done. I was sad because I’d wanted some really nice Bridal Portraits before the wedding and we had to skip that, but my Photographer promised we’d get it later. Well, in the end this made for a very stressful photo session after the wedding but that wasn’t just because we had so many photos to take and Kory has 5 step-families thanks to his Mom, but it was also…THANKS TO HIS MOM. Yes, after-ceremony photos were hell thanks to her. More on MONSTER IN LAW later.

I started to walk inside to go hide and was FURIOUS, I mean LIVID when I saw that the Groomsmen were standing INSIDE IN THE HOUSE looking right at me!!!!!! I turned around quickly and had a Bridezilla moment. I was like “Get them out of the house NOW! I do NOT want them seeing me before KORY!!!!!” Understandable, right?! :nod:

So they cleared the Groomsmen out and we went and got situated in the bedroom again. It was so nice to have some calm time to relax before the ceremony started, and to spend with my girls. I had to have my hair completely re-curled. My hair lady was in serious amounts of pain with her foot and was also having to watch her daughter who was a Flower Girl so I could understand her disappearing for awhile. Luckily my Bridesmaid Keri is just a pro at curling and styling hair. She was so sweet and told me not to worry, she’d make sure I looked perfect and wouldn’t mess it up! :lol: She also kept looking at me and saying, “Megan, BREATHE.” It was cute. She did manage to get my hair entirely re-curled and fixed to the point where I was SUPER happy with it.

I told the girls I wanted to catch a sneak peek of Kory arriving through the window and at first they scolded me but then Keri, my little window watcher said, “Quick Megan, get over here and you’ll get a little peek at your soon-to-be husband!” I peeked through the blinds and OMG did he look so perfect and handsome in his tux. I was wondering how he was feeling and heard from everyone that he was feeling much better and was very excited.

Those boys got lucky because they had a full 45 minutes of photos. Kory got some great photos with his family and Groomsmen. Until his Mom took over. Seriously, she had such issues when it came to our wedding photos. I can’t even begin to tell you. This was just the beginning of her psychotic episodes. I missed all of it but later my photographer showed me some of our pics on her camera and you could see where MIL just took over because suddenly she was in every picture and all the pictures were of her and her DH’s family. And the thing is, we love her DH’s family to death, but we have the LEAST connection to them out of the 3 major step-families Kory has, ya know? They’ve only been together for like 2 years.

So while us girls were waiting for the ceremony to start, my best friend (the pg one) showed up and my hair stylist came back in. It was perfect. All at one moment I had ALL the most important girlfriends in my life in one room. So the girls poured some champagne (they even brought non-alcoholic champagne for me) and made a couple of toasts to me that were really sweet. Then it was my turn to make a toast to them. I will never forget this moment. They were all standing shoulder to shoulder in a circle, holding their champagne glasses. I ended up making this beautiful speech to them that had every single girl in tears, including me (yet I managed not to mess up my make-up!!!!). I just said, “You girls are all the most important women in my life – you are my family. I’ve met ALL of you since I met Kory and over the last few years we’ve become the best of friends. You guys have all supported me through trials and tribulations, through thick and thin.” Then I went around and thanked each of them specifically for what they are to me. It was awesome. Such a beautiful moment to share with my girls beforehand!

We got my hair and make-up all touched up and I was ready to go. I kept staring at myself in the mirror thinking, “Wow, this is it. This is you’re going to look to get married!” It might sound weird but I really feel that I ended up with an overall look that was exactly what I wanted.

Keri stayed by the window watching guests arrive and such. Soon enough the boys were lining up right outside the window to start the ceremony. It was so weird to be stuck in this little room and know that 300 people were right outside for MY WEDDING! Keri called me over to the window and we watched the boys get ready to walk down the aisle. We definitely started late but it wasn’t a big deal at all – I have no idea why we were behind – this time, I was ready! :lmao: After the boys walked down the aisle, the Bridesmaids stepped out and got ready to go, along with the Flower Girls.

At some point in all of this, my little window-watcher said, “Oh Megan, come quick, you HAVE to see this.” As I rushed to the window she said, “Megan, look out this window and fully take in this moment, and never forget it.” I looked outside and *getting choked up* saw my sweet sweet Daddy standing outside all by himself in his cute tux, PACING and rehearsing his “give me away” lines. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. And just as Keri said, one of the most memorable moments of my wedding that I will never forget. Keri turned to me and said, “Look at your Dad – he’s SO nervous. You go out there and put your arm in his and say, ‘Daddy, you’re going to do great.’” So I finally walked outside, ready for our walk down the aisle. I did just what Keri said, put my arm in my Dad’s and said, “You’re going to do great, Daddy.” He laughed and told me again how beautiful I looked.


More coming...

[So_Ready]

It was amazing how quickly things happened from this point on. The Flower Girls and Ringbearers were right infront of us ready to go down the aisle already. I could hear the beautiful music I’d picked for the BM & FG processional playing and after listening to that song (Blumenthal by Ulrich Schnauss) 10 times a day every day for months envisioning my wedding day unfolding to it, it was absolutely unbelievable to me that THIS was the moment, MY music was playing for MY wedding right here and now!

My coordinator did a PERFECT job at sending everyone down the aisle at the perfect time.

In watching the video I later noticed that my Grandparents entered before the Mom’s and walked in as couples together – it was a cute touch that really made them feel special. But Kory’s Grandma declined at the last minute to be escorted down the aisle since she walks with a cane. This left an extra Usher so guess who got to be ushered in by not one, but TWO Ushers…MIL-ZILLA. OMG. Watching the video I about died laughing. :lol: She was so full of herself feeling like SHE was the center of attention walking down that aisle with 2 Ushers. She was looking around at everyone like, “Look at me, aren’t I so special?” :rolleyes: And from there on, not being the center of attention became her greatest demise as she slipped further and further into her shocking new role as MIL-ZILLA.

The Flower Girl Brigade was VERY well received. It was cute because they all practically RAN down the aisle tossing rose petals as quickly as they could. In watching the video I saw that Kory even said to Joelle, his brother’s daughter, “Belly, smile!!!!” (We call her Joelly Belly). But everyone in the audience was smiling at how cute they were – it was adorable.

I was standing JUST out of view in the sideyard with my Dad in total shock it was about to happen. I kept telling myself “This is it, it’s really happening” but it just didn’t sink in.

The music for the processional tapered off and suddenly it was completely silent.

I remember stepping forward just a bit and seeing the last couple of rows of people on one side turned around looking my way, hoping to catch a peek at me. I remember seeing one of my good friends Kassie get a direct view of me! Then all of a sudden, it was starting! It was completely un-phucking-believable hearing “Take My Breath” away begin. You know that song, the one from Top Gun, and how the very first part of it is just so dramatic and beautiful. And in the wedding video the song got SUCH a reaction - everyone was so shocked I chose that song as my processional. They all thought it was so cool. Everyone started whispering when it started playing, and looking around talking to each other and I even heard one person say, "Oh no, this means we're going to cry!" :)

I was thinking to myself, “What part of the song did I want to walk out to? Do I want to let it play a bit or get going? I don’t know!”

I took a deep breath and just stepped forward. I stepped up the couple steps to the backyard where Megan and my florist and good friend quickly rushed behind me to get my train perfectly straightened out. I think Megan told me to go and I started walking. I heard our officiate say, “Will everyone please rise.” And then all 300+ of our guests stood up and turned and fixed their eyes on me as I started down the back of the aisle.

My Dad was sooooooo awesome because in this moment, with that awesome dramatic music I’d picked and 300 of my friends and family staring at me, knowing I this was IT, it FINALLY FINALLY HIT ME. :shocked: And it was seriously overwhelming. I started crying right away and not just crying, like uncontrollably sobbing but trying to hold it back and smile so it kind of sounded like I was just hyperventilating! :lmao: My Dad whispered to me through his smile, “This is it honey, this is YOUR moment. Enjoy it. Soak it up.” It was so perfect that he said that in that moment. It really summed up all the overwhelming feelings I was having in that moment. I made it down the aisle, barely seeing any of the people in the sea of faces but trying to take it all in. I wondered what I looked like with the veil over my face and all, wondered what they were thinking seeing me for the first time, all these people. And part of me, in the back of my mind, remembered all the dozens and dozens of weddings I had been to in my lifetime where I’d watched the Bride come down the aisle hoping I’d get to live that dream someday. And it hit me that I was actually The Bride this time, I was right where I’d always wanted to be.

I sobbed uncontrollably the whole way down the aisle. I call this picture "Bawling Bride." :hysterics
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics106.jpg

As soon as I could see Kory, I just fixed my eyes on his completely and did not take my eyes off him until well into the ceremony! Towards the end of the aisle, I tried my best to stop crying but just couldn’t. I remember wondering if Kory would think something was wrong with me and I was right. He later told me he DID think I might be having a panic attack and wanted so badly to rush to me and comfort me! Awww! My Dad and I stopped at the end of the aisle and it was the perfect part of the music that started to fade away as I took a deep breath and tried to collect myself.

The music died down and Susan said, “Megan, with whom do you come and whose blessings accompany you?”

My sweet Daddy, so nervous, said loud and clear, “Megan comes with me, her father and also with her mother,” and he looked over at my Mom, and that was when it finally got to him and he started to cry :bawl: continuing, “And she is accompanied by all of her family's blessings” he finished as he looked at my Grandparents and the rest of my family.

In watching the video, I later saw that when I passed my Papa (my Mom’s Dad who’s my only living Grandpa) – a man whom I’ve rarely in my lifetime seen cry – he was absolutely sobbing seeing me in tears comin’ down the aisle. And when my Dad got choked up, my Papa got even more choked up. It was really sweet to see that in the background.

One thing that I wish would’ve been different here is that our Officiate was also asking Kory with whom did he come and whose blessings accompanied him. I wish she would’ve waited until after my Dad removed my veil from face to let us have our moment, but she seemed pretty nervous and kind of rushed right into that instead so I don’t know if anyone was paying attention while my Dad was lifting my veil but it was still a beautiful moment for us.

My Dad was so cute…again. He looked at me and was like, “Ok now?” He was soooo worried about removing my veil from my face – I had given him specific instructions to make sure he didn’t rip the veil in the tiara and that he straightened the veil out after he was done. Poor guy was so stressed about getting it all right! :mushy: I said, “Yeah Daddy, now.”

So he removed the veil from my face – very carefully! And straightened it as he did.

At that point, my Mom handed him a Kleenex for me and I just took my time, stopping for a second to dry my eyes without ruining my make-up. My Mom straightened my veil from behind. Then finally we realized it was time for us to say goodbye officially. So I hugged my Daddy and kissed him on the cheek and said, “I love you Daddy.”

And then I walked up to greet my man! Our eyes just LOCKED and stayed that way quite a ways into the ceremony. We both had huge grins on our faces. I said “You know hunny, right here in this moment, it feels like we’re the only 2 people here.” He smiled and nodded and said, “I love you. You look beautiful.” And then Susan began the ceremony.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics119.jpg

More to come...

[So_Ready]

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CEREMONY

The ceremony was my favorite part of the wedding – it was absolutely perfect. Our friends and family have all made repeated comments to us that it was THE most beautiful ceremony they’d ever witnessed because it was so full of heart, so genuine and so personal. They felt very connected to us through the whole thing – we both cracked a few jokes, as did our PMC, which made it really enjoyable for everyone.

I have to thank UW and many of you girls for sharing ceremonies, inspirations, etc. because I pieced my ceremony together out of things I found online that I liked, and some parts I wrote myself, and some parts our Officiate wrote.

Here's one part:

"As Megan & Kory enter into marriage and celebrate their love, they honor all those who join their lives in committed partnership and would like to encourage you, as they share their reading and vows, to join hands with your partner and remember your own commitments to each other."

It was really cool here to see that everyone really did grab hands with their significant others, looking over lovingly into their eyes as they did!

At one point our officiate said:[/I]

"Kory, do you take this woman whose hand you now hold, choosing her alone to be your wedded wife?"

Kory: I do.

And I looked over at the audience and said, boldly and proudly, “I’ve waited a LONG time to hear that!!!!!!!!!!!!” Everyone just laughed so hard, even Kory!

[I]Then when it came my turn to "With this ring, I thee wed", I added a proud “proudly” on the end of it because I’m so proud to be his wife now!

Kory put my ring on me...and of course he says to everyone, "That's not fair, she gets two!!!" :hysterics Susan looked at him and said, "You'll get YOURS later!" Everyone just died laughing! :roflol:

Then we did the breaking of the glass. Our officiate explained:

"In the Jewish tradition, the breaking of the glass has several symbolic meanings. One that I think is particularly fitting to this occasion is it’s the last time Kory gets to put his foot down!"

That line got a huge laugh from our guests!

It was right about here that I realized the ceremony was over and all that was left was pronouncing us. I couldn’t believe it! I got all giddy and ALL smiles looking at Kory like “We did it!!!!” And hearing her say those final words was just music to my ears! I savored every last word of it!!!!

So now, without further ado, by the authority vested in me by the state of Arizona, it is my great honor now to pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!

Kory and I just GRABBED each other almost violently! :lol: We couldn’t wait to hold each other and kiss! Our kiss was perfect. I don’t remember if we had any tongue action or not but it was absolutely perfect. Everyone was cheering so loudly and whooping and whistling. When we were done kissing, Kory said, “Oh I gotta break this glass now!” So he turned to the audience and said, “I guess this is the last time!” And he stomped on the glass. The Jewish family members yelled Mazel Tov! Then I grabbed my bouquet back from my MOH, turned and put my arm in Kory’s as Susan announced,

Susan: Friends and family members, I would like to present to you for the first time, Mr. And Mrs. Kory and Megan Hislastname!

Then everyone jumped to their feet and started cheering again. Kory and I each raised our free hands in the air and started screaming too. We were so happy! “Beautiful Day” by U2 started to play as we started back up the aisle. It was SUCH a surreal moment. Everyone was just so happy for us and Congratulating us as we went back up the aisle.

We walked straight out to the frontyard where I saw the reception all set up for the first time – it just looked AMAZING, and absolutely perfectly what I had dreamed of. Then I saw the cake for the first time and again, was totally surprised with how perfect it turned out. Then Kory and I went inside to the bedroom to have a private moment. Kory will tell anyone who asks that this was his favorite part of the whole day. We got a few minutes all alone (with our photographer snapping photos quietly) to just revel in the moment. It was so nice. We were just so happy and just kept hugging and kissing and saying, “We did it!”

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics513.jpg

Ok, I'll have to post the rest another time. I'm off to dinner! Sorry! You can post now!!!! I'll be back to post the rest and more pics!

[Kristie]

Congrats Megan!!! You looked BEAUTIFUL! I look forward to seeing ALOT more pictures :D :D

[kate]

Your dress is amazing!! I can't wait to see more!

[*TanyaJeanne*]

Everything looks so beautiful! :)

[-->Kat<--]

everything looks gorgeous so far... can't wait to see more pics :D

[So_Ready]

I wrote this little poem myself...feel free to steal it if you want!

It reads:

"Tears of joy may be shed today
by Bride & Groom alike
But our friends and family also may
Need to dry their eyes
So just incase you think you might
shed a tear or two
Please take a pack of Kleenex now
Courtesy of the Bride & Groom."

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics073.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics565.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics566.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics567.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/ProWeddingPics068.jpg

[So_Ready]

I designed and printed our CD favors myself
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/CDfavors.jpg

[dolphincc]

Congratulations Megan. You look stunning. Everything looks beautiful.

[lalalola]

wow! your wedding looked absolutely amazing! I hope u post more pics!

[*Stacie*]

Everything looks amazing.... gorgeous fall wedding. I can't wait to see more! We both had similar wedding dresses! Congrats on the baby :)

[*Sarah*]

Hey Megan! You already know that I loved everything!! The tables looked awesome. The color scheme was perfect for a fall wedding!!

[Trinia]

:whoop: So glad you posted this here! Your wedding was beautiful, you looked gorgeous of course!!

Also I love your centerpeices!

[Raychel]

Everything is just gorgeous!

[sweetiez]

oh my everything was so beautiful:)

[Andrea]

:waiting:...we've been waiting a while for more pictures...

hunny, you're wedding was absolutely GORGEOUS...absolutely BREATH TAKING! You made such a gorgeous bride. Can't wait to see pictures of you and Kory :)

CONGRATS ON THE BABES

[carolinalady67]

What a beautiful wedding! Congrats.

[saraw04]

Congrulations! I love your colors.

Sara :)

[nikkiscott]

Everything looks great. I love the colors.

[So_Ready]

And then it turned ugly…

Now let me start off by saying our day was absolutely perfect, and all the little and BIG things that went wrong just become a part of the perfection of the story, and even now we can already look back and laugh.

So to pick up the story where we left off, sharing our private moments post-ceremony in the bedroom. It felt like we’d hardly had 3-5 minutes when suddenly Kory’s cousin busted in to change their baby’s diaper and it was over. (Was there not ANY other room in the house they could've used?!)

Anyways, despite the VERY rude interruption to our private time, it was absolutely perfect. At that point, my make up gal came in to fix my make-up. Took about 15 minutes – ugh, she took so long at everything! Then we went out into the kitchen to sign the marriage license!!!! That was awesome!!!!! Made it so real!

Then we finally headed back out to the backyard for our picture hour. Now’s when the real fun begins. Our family and friends were all waiting in the backyard. I was surprised by how many people hung out back there. And everyone was wanting to say Congrats and talk to us when we really just needed to get our photos done while we still had daylight and before the cocktail hour ended up being way too long, making our guests antsy.

So it immediately became very stressful and quite frankly, a TOTAL buzzkill. It was hard to smile when it was so incredibly stressful. It was stressful to begin with being on a limited time schedule, cramming pictures in before the sunset, and trying to get a photo with everyone in all 15 families, but MIL-ZILLA was the one who made it REALLY stressful.

Now I had made a list of photos that the Photographer had in her hand. And my Coordinator was supposed to be lining people up and putting them into the pictures according to the list. But MIL-ZILLA had her own ideas.

We got our pictures with the Bridal Party. But after that, MIL-ZILLA took over. She started bossing around our Coordinator, Florist and Photographer like she was in charge.

So we got a ton of pics with her family and then my Photographer did just as she promised and said, “We HAVE to get your photos of just you 2 done NOW while we still have light.” So we stopped and did those photos. But MIL was freaking out the ENTIRE time, going OFF on my Coordinator and Florist (who ar DEAR friends of ours). We later heard that she put my Coordinator into tears, and that our Florist said to her, “You want to take this outside lady cuz I WILL throw down with you. This is THEIR day, NOT yours!” WHOOT WHOOT, GO FLORIST!!!!!!!! :pointlaugh:

It was so hard to enjoy our wonderful pics of just the 2 of us with everyone having their own agenda. But we did get some wonderful pictures TG. We just took our time for ourselves despite all the chaos.

Towards the end of the photo session our coordinator came up to me several times saying that hors deourves were done, people were ready to eat and it was REALLY time to start the Grand Entrance. So we squeezed in a few final photos. I luckily did manage to get pics with all of my family.

At that point, it was a matter of rounding up all of the Bridal Party. They had all scattered. But we did finally manage to get them rounded up. The DJ started announcing everyone. Then he even made a little announcement about the FGs and RBs and the parents – and everyone clapped for each group. We had all the BP standing on the dance floor and K and I were still waiting to be introduced. At this point we’d bustled my dress which was so nice! As much as I thought I’d hate to part with that train, it was SO much easier to walk in with it bustled! :lol:

He took forever to get the announcement out so we finally just started walking out. Everyone just went nuts when we walked out. I’m so glad we picked the song we did for the Grand Entrance – “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure, one of our FAVORITE songs. It was perfect for the moment. We both raised our free hands up in the air again and were screaming along with everyone else. The DJ finally got the “Mr. & Mrs. HisLastName” out and it was just awesome. Then we walked out to the dance floor since everyone was standing around it and we just grabbed each other and hugged while everyone cheered. We were SO happy. And when everyone started screaming as we walked out, all the stress and tension from that terrible Photo Hour just disappeared as if it'd never happened!

After the Grand Entrance, our coordinator took K and I straight to the buffet to get started eating. She was great going through the buffet and dishing up whatever I wanted for me so I wouldn't accidentally spill on my dress or anything.

By the time we both FINALLY made it to our table to eat after being stopped and congratulated by a million people (and actually noticing who was there for the first time! :lol: ), our food was cold. :lmao: Not very enjoyable but it was still really good and I actually managed to eat quite a bit.

One of my BMs went and got me some almond champagne to sip on - it's our fav champagne and had lots of meaning for us. Anyways, we had pretty toasting flutes – I’ll see if I can find a pic of them. My bosses gave them to us – got ‘em off our registry. I had an orange one and Kory had a blue one. So I HAD to try the champagne because it’s our absolute favorite and they’ve sent us a bottle every time something good happened in our lives – one when we got engaged, when we bought our house, etc.

So in order to avoid chaos sending 300 people to the buffet, and also to avoid anyone feeling like we’d intentionally made their table the last to get released to the buffet, I thought we’d do a little game I’d seen done rather successfully at another wedding. Basically, each table had to “serenade” the Bride & Groom to be released to the buffet – the fastest tables to think of a song were the first to be excused to eat. It took a lot longer than I planned because the DJ did it a bit differently than I’d seen it done before and people ended up singing a LARGE portion of a song (keep in mind there were at least 30 tables!). But it was really funny. Kory’s family made up a version of The Adam’s Family song that was personal to us and everyone just died laughing.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/mk4806/Adamsfamily.jpg

There was a “Happy Wedding to You” and then…OUR absolute favorite. One of THE best moments of the wedding that we will never forget - nor will our 300 guests.

My little niece got up on a table…she is 5 and just started Kindergarten about a week before the wedding…and sang “That Puppy in the Window” as loud as she could, complete with “Aarrf Aarrfs” in the pauses. Everyone was just DYING laughing and going, “Awww!!!!” It was one of THE coolest moments of the entire wedding and luckily we even got it on video!

Then we had about 3000 toasts after dinner. :lol: Seriously, there were probably 10-15 people who gave toasts. But they were all really sweet and made us smile. When they finally got done, the DJ called everyone to the dance floor and that was when the parents had a chance to say something. First off, I started out by welcoming everyone and saying thank you for both Kory and I. I also gave special thanks to all of our family members – of course, MIL was nowhere to be found throughout this whole thing even though I gave her a very classy and un-deserved thank you. :lol:

I told my parents that I was so thankful for Kory coming into my life and reminding me of the importance of family because now they are 2 of my best friends. We all cried at that one. Then my Daddy got the mic and he gave the sweetest speech that totally made everyone cry. He was like, “I can’t believe my baby girl is married now. I am so proud of you as a daughter, and seeing the woman you’ve become. Welcome to the family, Kory – we’re so glad to have you as our son-in-law. Thank you for helping us all see the importance of family over the last few years.” That’s about all I can remember of it. It was so sweet. Then K’s Dad said just a few lighthearted words and then the mic was passed back to me to introduce my surprise!

[So_Ready]

Okie dokie girls, there's another installment for ya. I'll paste the rest in here tomorrow.

P.S. BIG NEWS!

:jump4joy: :jump4joy: :jump4joy: IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!:jump4joy: :jump4joy: :jump4joy:

[Andrea]

:bliss: hunny that is awesome...im so excited for you. Im guessing that it what you wanted...

[stephjhudson]

I cried reading your wedding story! it was so beautiful! and congrats on the baby girl!!

[Hughto]

Hi Megan! Loved your story and pics! Sorry for the MIL headaches. And congrats on the baby girl!

[Sabby12s]

Beautiful WDS. Congrats on the baby girl. Waiting to see more pro-pics....