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31 July, 2011

Wedding day: Part 2

Ok, I know I have been a major slacker! I posted the first half of the wedding blog almost two months ago. I promised to finish the catch up, but I have been busy. I wanted to make sure I did it right so that we could look back and read it. So here we go!

If you're new to my blog and haven't read the first half of my day you can read about it here. You can also read about all the festivities leading up to the wedding here.

So without further ado:

May 21, 2011 I married my best friend. I arrived at Hemingway's with my bridesmaids about 4:45 in order to get our pictures done before guests started to arrive. When we got there we headed to the upstairs bathroom to get in my dress. Even though it was only May, it was exceptionally hot this day. I felt like I was melting and I was so nervous that my hair and make up were going to become a mess before the ceremony even began(it didn't!).


We were FINALLY all ready so the picture taking ensued! (I'm still waiting on all the edited pictures from my photographer so we'll have to make due with pictures taken by everyone else for now!)



I promise when the pictures from our wonderful photographer come in, I will make one last wedding post with my favorite pictures!

After we finished our pictures, we headed back upstairs just in time because Stephen and all of his groomsmen showed up for their pictures.

By this time, I was much less nervous. I still had butterflies, but my biggest concern was remembering my vows because I had decided not to write them down. Everything looked even more beautiful than I had expected, everyone had shown up on time, things seemed to be running smoothly, so I was pretty relaxed. My best advice I can give to future brides is to enjoy those last little moments with your friends and family because it's YOUR day and it will be over before you know it! Also, don't sweat the small stuff, once your married you won't even remember the things that seemed so HUGE.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before or not, but my dad was not a fan of wearing his tux("monkey suit" as he liked to call it) and he never let Stephen hear the end of choosing to wear tuxes for a beach wedding.

He hates to be hot, and he was trapped with us girls upstairs on the deck(he probably would never admit it, but he was a little nervous about walking me down the aisle too!) To take the edge of for all of his he ordered some champagne while we waited(best decision of the day!)
After that it was pretty much show time! So we headed downstairs to get into place.

The guys got into place with Pastor first, and waited. Once they were ready, the band started to play and it was our turn.

After all the girls walked down the aisle, Dad and I were up.
This is where my nerves really came back. Luckily, my dad thinks he's a comedian and kept us both laughing the whole time. I do believe he said something along the lines of, "It's not too late, we can still leave now." and "You're sure you wanna do this?" I laughed, but of course I was sure.
We were married by my Pastor. He had confirmed me 10 years earlier, so it only seemed fitting. We met with him before the wedding and had decided to keep it short, sweet and traditional. He did a great job, and really made the ceremony very personal.

One of our close friends sang a solo during the ceremony. She has an absolutely beautiful voice and we chose the song Only Hope from the movie A Walk to Remember. There wasn't a dry eye in the place!(No pictures of that yet, that will be with my picture post!)

We had always talked about writing our own vows. It was something we had decided on before we even got engaged! So we worked it out with Pastor to say the vows we had written to each other before we said the traditional vows.

That was the most nerve wracking part to me. I made Stephen go first. He wrote the most beautiful vows and that was the point in the service where I got teary eyed. He was cute though and wrote his out. Needless, to say he was a little surprised when it was my turn and I didn't have a paper to read from! I memorized mine, and to my surprise I didn't mess them up!
I was so relieved when the vows were over, I could actually concentrate on what Pastor was saying! But apparently my nerves weren't gone because I was shaking uncontrollably! When it was time for the rings Stephen laughed at how much my hands were trembling, and how hard it was for me to hang on to the rings.

I was pleasantly surprised that when Pastor asked Shawn(Stephen's brother and Best Man) for the rings, he handed them over without any funny business! Shawn is quite the comedian, and if you know him, you know this is very out of character!(He made up for it with his toast though!)

Shortly after this picture we were pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Volheim and he was allowed to "kiss his bride!"

We processed out and the picture taking began. (Sadly, I was so nervous and wrapped up in everything I'm not 100% sure what song we walked in or out to! I'll ask my mom..)



When we finished with pictures, we made our way back out the gates so the DJ could announce us. This song I do know, we all walked in to the Florida State war chant! I LOVED it, and it couldn't have been more perfect for us.(Some of our wedding party were less than thrilled with the choice since they are Florida fans, obviously we love them anyway!)


We went right into our first dance which was to "Never knew I needed" by Ne-Yo. (Perfect for us!)

Then we finally had a second to breathe! Our photographer, Tara, we awesome. She made sure we stopped for a minute and got some food. Everything was delicious and it was nice to sit for a minute just the two of us and have a break! It didn't last long though, and it was time to mingle and see everyone. It's so nice to have everyone you love in one place, but it's SO hard to get to see everyone!

After what seemed like a few short minutes, Tara let us know it was time to cut our cake. We hadn't really talked about this so we improvised and had fun with it! :) We did get a little messy, but that's just us!

This is my favorite picture.. he's warning me that he will get me back :)

After cake cutting, it time for the toasts! As I mentioned before, I was a little nervous for Shawn's because he had told us before hand how "epic" his was. I was also a little nervous for Lindsay's considering she was pretty tipsy by this point and hadn't written anything down prior to the wedding...
But in the end it was nothing to worry about! Everyone gave the best toasts, they were all just the right amount of jokes and mushiness, and again I got teary eyed! Everyone's sweet words and welcoming gestures just confirmed how excited we all are about joining both sets of families and friends. My dad(who despite his loud voice, isn't much of a public speaker) gave an impromptu toast and had everyone rolling! It really could not have been more perfect!

Now with all the formalities out of the way, it was time to cut loose! The drinking and dancing really began. We had an absolute blast and it wasn't long before we were all a hot, sweaty mess. But we were loving it!
 My veil wouldn't stay in anymore, and it looked too cute on my little cousin, Sophie not to share it!


(This was during Beyonce's single ladies)

Then it was time to throw the garter and the bouquet. Stephen's friend, Bobby Shell, caught my garter(and he told me the other day it actually still hangs from the mirror in his car!) and one of my closest friends and bridesmaids, Scotti, caught the bouquet. Those two were perfect for really hamming up the pictures(but those will come in the picture post because I don't have any pictures from it!)

Then we danced and danced until the night was over. The DJ played one last song(something from Lady Gaga I'm pretty sure) then everyone lined up with sparklers for us to run through to the car! It was so pretty! But happened so fast! When we got in the car, I realized I hadn't really had a chance to say good bye to anyone and I had left my bags there. My best friends brought my stuff by the apartment to us since I was going to need my purse and all for the honeymoon the next morning!

Of course our incredible wedding party had thoroughly trashed decorated our car, but I don't seem to have any good pictures of it either, so that is still to come as well!

By the time we made it back to the apartment I couldn't wait to get into something comfortable and take my hair down. It was probably after midnight and we had to be about 4:30 to get to the airport. Stephen passed out almost instantly, but I still had to pack. I packed cleaned up and got everything ready for Shawn to come stay with Natty and then managed to sneak in a few hours of sleep before getting up to head off to our incredible honeymoon. That post will come this week I PROMISE!

Our wedding could not have been more perfect, and we're so thankful to our families and friends for helping us to make it such a special day! You were all truly wonderful and we're so blessed to have you all who love and care about us! We'll look back on the pictures forever and one day show our kids and be able to tell them all the crazy/funny stories from that weekend with all of our favorite people!

So there you have it, the wedding recap I had promised for so long. Stay tuned, the honeymoon edition is to follow very soon! Until then, Happy Sunday y'all!

2 comments:

  1. These pictures are all so beautiful! I LOVE your dress! And what a perfect setting too!

    ReplyDelete