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!

I've got a bad case of the

MONDAYS!!

It has definitely been Monday all day today! I had to work the 12-8 slot at work(my least favorite!). But I still had to wake up early for an 8 a.m. doctor's appointment.(What was I thinking?!?) The bright side is I did get done early and was able to get my work out in before getting ready for work. Which is a good thing considering I wouldn't have done it when I get home tonight at 9! It's been a weird week at work this week anyway with last minute reservations and lots of maintenance calls. Oh, and did I mention I'm also on call? Luckily, no middle of the night phone calls(KNOCK ON WOOD!), but I have had at least a couple calls a day for random things. Wednesday can't get here fast enough for me to hand over this on-call phone! As much as I'd rather be home cooking dinner and hanging out with my sweet husband, he's probably a little relieved not to be dealing with my grouchy Monday mood tonight!

Anyway, enough crankiness! We had a great weekend! FRIDAY night we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant with my family(margaritas always = a good time!). Then we called it an early night and watched ridiculous amounts of How I Met Your Mother reruns that we had on the DVR(Have I mentioned that we are currently OBSESSED with that show?!) 

Saturday I had to work 10-6(not so much fun), but then we got ready and went to the casino with two of our best friends. Now, I'm not a big gambler by any means. In fact, you could say I have the world's worst luck! (No worries, I only took $40 with me!) So I'm not usually much into going to the casino, but Stephen has been dying to go for a while now, so we went and we had a good time. Maybe too good a time since we didn't get to sleep til about 4 a.m.! 

Sunday Was nice and relaxing. We got up and got some Subway. When we came home I found a burst of productivity and cleaned the house really good and even unpacked the straggling boxes in the guest room. (I will admit there are still 2 boxes left in there, but we're waiting on new furniture in there) I even got Stephen to help me hang a lot of the pictures on the wall. Still have quite a few to go! After our very productive day, we met his brother and sister for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Delicious and dinner with all three of them together is always entertaining!!

I was thinking about it, and I still haven't wrote the full wedding blog, let alone even attempted a honeymoon recap! It's coming soon I promise. Cross your fingers, maybe even this week! Hope you all are having a better Monday!(At least having a better idea!) Happy Monday, y'all!

The never ending marriage saga

I must confess... I am NOT the world's perfect wife. *GASP* Shocking, I know! I am not the most domesticated goddess ever. Again, no surprise. I despise yard work. I like things neat, but I am in now a neat freak. If my Saturday options are clean the house top to bottom or go to the beach, grab a cold beer and join me in the sand! I try to cook dinner every night, but chicken, rice, and green beans are my go to dinner. Also, I am not above ordering a pizza after a long day of work. Clean laundry can sit in the basket for 3 days before it gets folded and put away. Stephen has always known these things about me. For those of you new to my blog, we have lived together for the past several years before we were married exactly two months ago on May 21st.

So why am I finding all this "homemaker" stuff so hard? I've been doing it for years! I can't make a decorating decision to save my life(without my mama's help). Things that I made all the time before(rice, roast, potatoes) suddenly don't come out right? Is it all in my head or is there really more pressure to be a domestic goddess now that i'm officially a wife.

Let's rewind a bit and share my latest blunder. Stephen is the yard maintainer. The inside is my domain, but out in the jungle, that's all my handsome husband's job. With his schedule and this Florida heat, lawn mowing is a constant battle with our oversized yard. This week he had planned to mow the lawn Wednesday after work. But Tuesday night my mom called to tell us she had gotten our wedding video back. So of course we had to go over the next night to have dinner and watch it! So plans were changed.

I am by no means a "house wife". I work a 40+ hour a week job too. However my job isn't a typical Monday-Friday 9-5 job. I have random days off. This week I was off on Wednesday. I got up early even though I was off and got some things done around the house, I went to base for some blood work, I spent a little time by the pool, went to the commissary and exchange and still made it home before 1. Well I thought I would surprise my husband and cut the grass for him so it would be done when he got off. Feeling very productive I dug out some old clothes, and headed out to get going. *DISCLAIMER*: I have NEVER mowed a lawn in my life! So I call my mom and figure out how to work the lawn mower. I get out there check the gas, manage to get it cranked up(Shocking to me!) and started off. I was surprised how easy it was. I'm mentally patting myself on the back through all of this and thinking how excited my husband was going to be when he got home. About 20 minutes in(and not very far into the yard I may add) The lawnmower started making a crazy noise, I look down and it's smoking. Uh oh. So I stop it check the gas and oil. Well the oil appeared to be low. Frustrated but determined, I ran up to the gas station, asked what kind goes in a lawn mower, and then armed with a quart of 10W30 motor oil headed home to finish my surprise!

Since the oil gauge seemed to be reading completely empty, I poured the whole quart in there. I let it sit for another minute, then cranked it up. It started without a problem, but the smoke was still there. Now I was nervous. I failed to mention this before, but our lawnmower is a loaner from Stephen's grandparents. It was starting to rain, and I didn't want to really mess up the mower so I conceded defeat and put it back in the garage and went to shower. I called my dad and he told me that most likely the mower would be ok. I waited for Stephen to get home and told him my sad story, and he thought it was normal and not a big deal. I felt much better when he said this and didn't worry about the mower anymroe and enjoyed the night eating dinner and watching our awesome wedding video with my family.

Well, today I came home from work and Stephen was out mowing the lawn. With smoke coming out of the lawnmower consistently. So of course I get the third degree on what I did to the mower, he proceeded to tinker with it, and now it's just sitting in our garage, not looking so good. Looks like I will be using my next pay check to purchase a new mower for his grandparents! I'm sure in a couple years, or even months, we'll look back on this and laugh at how my sweet surprise turned into quite a faux pas. But for right now, it's not so funny!

Marriage is for better or worse, and don't get me wrong I love married life. But it isn't always flowers and sunshine! This is a whole new chapter, and I'm trying my hardest to keep up. We'll get it figured out one day, I'm sure....

Until then, Happy Thursday y'all!

What I'm loving Wednesday!

Ok here it is loves, I promised I would be less.. um.. sarcastic? This week and go back to my optomistic WILW posts. If you're feeling grateful this week, too then head on over and link up with http://littledaisymay.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-im-loving-wednesday_13.html!

This week I am LOVING:

That although we had a change of plans and missed Bands on the Beach, we eneded up having a fun dinner with Dad at one of my favorite restaurants.

I'm loving that my sweet Mama took her whole afternoon Friday to help me shop for the house, and I'm loving how cute it's all coming together!(Now if I can just get her to come help me hang up pictures.. hmm..)



I'm loving my incredible husband (as always) and that he is planning a little mini "vacation" for Labor Day! Lucky for me he loves to be on the go as much as I do!

I'm loving this little face! But I'm missing him and his Mama! Need some Trae and Mandy time!

I'm LOVING that I have this Sunday off and my sweet hubs is already talking about fun things to do! :)

I'm loving these cute outside mats for the house, but I can't decide which ones!!

With a "V" though of course!

and this one from personalizationmall.com

Yes, I have turned into one of "those" decorating people and I'm obsessed!

I'm loving that I've had two days off in a row, and that I'll work Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and get another day off! :)

I'm also LOVING how sweet my Natty dog has been lately! He's such a big love. He just wants to cuddle all the time, which I admit can be annoying at times, but I just love him to pieces!

What are you loving today?? Happy Wednesday y'all!

And the award goes to....

ME! For being the WORST blogger EVER! I know, I know. I've gotten terrible and I sincerely apologize and hope you don't stop following me just because I'm old and boring! But the truth is, I AM old and boring. I work, I come home run, cook dinner, and then hang out with my husband and dog. Occasionally we meet the family for margaritas. WOO! Wild night for us!

What have I been up to since I'm not blogging? Internet shopping. I have become an addict. I'm working on getting our house all put together which is proving more difficult then I had anticipated. My sweet mama spent all afternoon last Friday trying to help me make some decisions and do some long overdue spending of wedding gift cards. We found some awesome stuff! Check it out:


Sounds silly, but this is *currently* my favorite thing in the house! It's the bath rug in our bathroom. Got it at Target, check it out here. I'm sort of obsessed.

When we moved in our room had one hunter green wall and three off white walls. I was at a loss of what to do in their since our comforter had been red. Thanks to my brilliant mother, we went with chocolate brown sheets, and a tan microsuede comforter. Gorgeous and super comfy! To tie it all together we got these awesome throw pillows! (There are two more, but I can't find them online for you)
  
Give me a couple more weeks to get pictures hung and everything situated and I'll post actual pictures of all the rooms, promise! The crazy thing is that I used to HATE throw pillows, but now i'm obsessed! My new project is finding a comforter set for the guest room. I'm thinking black and white damask, but still searching! (Open to suggestions on favorite houseware websites!)

Besides work and decorating I've just been hanging out enjoying being a newlywed. I'm in the process of getting back into running. It's a slow process, but my body is getting used to it again and my clothes are thanking me for working out so they fit better again! Trying to avoid that newlywed 15!

Natty cracks me up. He has been very needy lately! I hate to see him in a few years when we decide to have babies, he will be the most jealous thing you've ever seen! He's loving his big back yard, but he doesn't like to be out there alone for long, he wants attention constantly!


This is him pouting one morning when I was getting ready for work. He's a late sleeper and doesn't like when we get up and leave him to go to work!

This last weekend was Stephen's weekend to work. Those weekends suck because he's so tired we literally do nothing. Luckily it was my weekend to work too, so we were both content to just chill. I'm already looking forward to this coming up weekend because I have Sunday off and the Hubs is off too! Sunday Fun day? I'm thinking, YES!

Have I mentioned lately that I have the most incredible husband?? He brought flowers home the other night "Just because" he said I needed them after a long day. What a sweetheart! :)

Lately, I've had a terrible case of wanderlust. I'm having the uncontrollable urge to take a weekend road trip to do some exploring, but our savings account is appreciating it's growth, so I'm trying to control that urge.

I will TRY my best to be better about blogging! I'm off the next two days so hopefully I'll have something blog worthy to report! Tomorrow I think I'm going to the base pool with one of my best friends and her sweet baby girl, so I'll try to have some pictures to share!

Smile everyone! Monday is pretty much over! Happy Monday y'all!

SO WHAT!

Well I normally link up with What I'm Loving Wednesday(Which I love by the way and still think you should check out from Jamie!) But today I decided to try out a new one. If you ask my mother, this one fits me a little better. She loving refers to me as Ms.(Now, Mrs.) Negativity. No worries, I will return to being an optimist next Wednesday and tell you all about what I'm loving!

Today I'm going to go with Shannon at Life after "I dew" to tell you all the things this week, that I'm just thinking "So WHAT!" about. So here we go...

SO WHAT if...

• I slept an extra 30 minutes this morning instead of getting out bed for my run. I can run tonight.
• My husband decided to have company over tonight and not tell me until this morning even though we have no groceries in the house. That's what grocery stores are for, right?
• My blogging has become sporadic and I'm lucky if I post 2-3 times a week!
• We've lived in the house for almost three weeks now, and still don't have the first picture hung up on the walls and still have boxes in the guest rooms.
•  I volunteered to work on my day off tomorrow
• We have a huge yard and I'm dying to plant a garden, but no that I can't keep anything alive.
• Our cable NEVER works now that we changed companies. It's cheaper. 
• Having a longer holiday weekend and working at the beach all the time with vacationing people has given me the urge to get out of town
• I graduated with my bachelor's degree, but now have no desire to really use it and would rather go for my Master's degree or shift gears entirely and get a nursing degree.
• I painted my nails and they've already chipped and the ends of my hair are splitting. I'll get around to making a hair/nail appointment eventually
• I tried to make a doctor's appointment, but the office never calls me back. Gotta love Navy hospitals!

In spite of the shorter week, it's still been "one of those" weeks and I'm just in "one of those" moods. Thank God for my sweet, sweet husband who has enough patience for the both of us, and my very supportive family and friends! It's the little things in life... Happy Wednesday y'all!

What I'm loving Wednesday!

 

Yay! What I'm loving Wednesday! Head on over to Jamie's blog at This Kind of Love to link up too!

Wednesday already?! This week is flying! Which is one thing I am loving today! I have an extra long week this week. 6 working days, but then a holiday weekend! Woo hoo! I do have to work Saturday, but I get Sunday, Monday, and half a day Tuesday! Yipeeee!

4th of July is one of my favorite holidays! I don't know our plans yet still. But we are kicking off the weekend with a little get together at the new house. I'm LOVING this. I've gotten all kinds of yummy ideas for snacks to make that night, and my favorite part is that we're making a HUGE slip n' slide in the back yard! Can you say fun?!

I'm loving that tonight Stephen and I are going to eat dinner at my parent's house and FINALLY deciding on wedding pictures! We've had the proofs for a month, but haven't decided what we wanted and printed and what we want put in the photo book. There's so many pictures it's just too hard to decide! I'm really looking forward to seeing my parents. Now that we live further away, we don't see them as often. Before we moved we went over there for dinner 2 or 3 times a week. The flip side of that is I'm getting more creative with my cooking! (Husband is enjoying this!)

I am LOVING getting settled into the new house. Which also means I'm  LOVING getting a little creative in my decorating skills! I'm no Martha Stewart. My mom got all those genes and kept them for herself, but I'm trying, and recruiting her to help!

I'm LOVING this comforter set to go in our sherbert green guest room. What do you think?

I'm LOVING that it's FINALLY almost the end of this work day! I'm ready to head to my parents' for a yummy dinner and a visit and to see my sweet husband! (Who I'm ALWAYS loving by the way!)