The Post-Wedding Post of DOOOOM!
June 8, 2008 Wedding Review
The day actually started quite early in the morning as Eric arrived back from his bachelor party and needed tending to as he was a bit drunk.... I got him settled and hydrated and we headed to bed
Several bridesmaids were staying at my parent's house, two others were local, and we all met up early in the morning and headed out to start getting ready.
Hair and makeup was done by Alyce Typton of Always Love Yourself Mobile Salon and Spa. I've mentioned this before but she has an RV that's been converted into a hair salon and will travel around Connecticut to do haircuts. Her main calling is to provide hair cuts for women who have cancer and to help them feel better about themselves but she'll also do wedding and prom and regular haircuts for anyone who wants them. We went to her as she was on the way to the location. Gas was just too crazy to have her drive to the location as well.
The hair turned out spectacularly. This woman was amazing, she gave us all beautiful hair and we modified my hair trial to come up with my wedding hair. I was so thrilled with it. It was a really relaxing morning and all the girls got to have nice girly time.
We were actually beat to the location by the guys as we were running about a half hour late. I got laced into my dress and we started pictures. Diane (wedding planner) arranged a private meeting between Eric and I for photographs. The butterflies started as soon as he turned around. The look on his face when he saw me was amazing.
We took a ton of pictures before the ceremony which helped me realize that my shoes were NOT going to remain on. They were off before I was done with photographs and I was barefoot for the rest of the day which made me extremely happy.
The weather was gorgeous. We were right on the water of Long Island Sound and there was a cool ocean breeze coming in off of the water that kept everything pleasant and about 10 degrees cooler than instate (which was around 96 degree F, we had 80-85 ) It was clear blue skies for the ceremony and pictures.
The ceremony was beautiful. JoAnn Post, my parent's pastor, presided and it was quick (about 25 minutes). She told us she wanted Eric and I to memorize our vows so I spent the morning drive down to the ceremony site doing just that. Eric was a slacker, he needed her to repeat. It was funny. We had the ferry horn blow, and a plane take off from the nearby Groton/New London Airport interrupt us but it was amusing.
We did tons of pictures after the ceremony while our guests were in cocktail hour. Since Branford House is right on the water there some awesome places for pictures on the rocks by the water. I insisted on crawling everywhere I could get a good picture. I love climbing over rocks on a shoreline and a wedding dress wasn't going to stop me ^_^ While we were doing this a thunderstorm was moving in and the clouds were spectacular. The Uconn Campus police asked if I was crazy as they watched me climb over the rocks in a dress with a storm on the way. I said yes...
We did our introductions, the bridal party to Ride of the Valkyries and Eric and I to Also Sprach Zarathustra (also known as the 2001 Space Odyssey theme). The song version that the DJ had wasn't the one I wanted, but I honestly could have cared less at the moment. Again, I just found it amusing. We got our first dance done, toasts and then rain started.. Everyone got inside, and literally as soon as the last piece of sound equipment was pulled in the horizontal rain started. It was spectacular! It rained throughout dinner, which was fine as the food was awesome. We cut the cake, did parent/child dances and by then the rain had stopped and the weather had cooled off spectacularly. The sky cleared out for a beautiful sunset.
Everyone I talked to loved it, the food, the ceremony EVERYTHING. Well... when my Mom asked her sister how she liked it and she said the food was awful but we think it was more of a sibling rivalry as my cousin is planning a wedding for a year from now and we kind of set the bar fairly high...
We were dancing until 10pm. People started leaving after the ceremony and there was a fairly slow but steady decline in guests through the evening but I think that had more to do with it being a Sunday and people needing to get home if they didn't take monday off.
Eric and I didn't have a place to stay that night until that day... >.> But we were planning on heading to a hotel where some friends of ours were staying. They ended up paying for a room for us, which was amazingly nice. We hung out that evening just chatting (these are people we know from WoW but had never met before in the real world so we wanted to hang out as much as we could)
If I could change anything... I would change nothing. I had so much fun and had no stress and everything was beautiful. The centerpieces ended up achieving exactly what I wanted for a vision. The cake was amazingly delicious, especially since we never did a tasting and the design was beautiful.
Vendor Reviews:
Nifi's Wedding Planning: A
Partially my fault in not getting her the information on vendor meetings that my parents were going to so she didn't attend those and there were a bunch of last minute changes the days before the wedding but it all got sorted out. I loved Diane. She was amazingly organized and I never stressed out that day. She told me where to go and the day ran smoothly. Even my parents admitted to being glad I hired her because of the lack of stress.
Parson's Photography: A+
Absolutly amazing. Because I hired them after hiring Diane I got a couple good deals for the price. They covered my rehearsal and I had three photographers at one point during the ceremony. The teasers that I've seen look amazing and they took TONS of photos.
Coastal Gourmet Catering: A+
Holy cow these guys are amazing. I never met with them, they were one of a set recommended to me and were the only ones who replied to my requests who said, "Yeah, we can do that." The only guidelines they had to go by was "New England Clam Bake" and boy did they deliver! The food was spectacular! I just wish I was hungrier because I wanted to go back for seconds!
AfterHours DJ Entertainment: A+
I had Bert and Sal for 7 hours of coverage. They provided mics for the ceremony and all the music from there on out. I was told they were great at reading crowds and it was true. Not only that, but they found all the songs I requested for different special things. For example, I wanted "Still Alive" the ending credit song from Portal to be played during the cake cutting and Bert found it! He even gave us a cd of the special songs at the end of the night that was personalized and must have been put together before they came. He was hilarious and the guests loved him. He also had a special interactive dance selection that we could do and essentially the groomsmen dressed up as the Blues Brothers and did a dance for the guests complete with props. It was hilarious and everyone really got into it.
Always Love Yourself Mobile Salon and Spa: A
Loved Alyce and I loved how she did everyone's hair. Karen was amazing as well for doing everyone's makeup. The pictures speak for themselves.
Anderson's Garden: A+
Again, due to distance I only met with the florist once, all other meetings were with my parents. And yet again, they were able to take my barest of descriptions and fulfill exactly what I wanted. I said no roses or tulips or any typical wedding flowers, I wanted blues, greens and purples and wanted to look natural and messy. I loved how my bouquet turned out. And my centerpieces were spectacular. Everything flower related was spectacular.
What you all want to see....
Yes, that's right. The DJ was running around taking pictures too! Crazy!
First, my teasers from the Pro Pics.
My absolute Favorite Pic. I cannot wait until i get the proofs without the watermark. You can see all the amazingness that was my bouquet. I was so thrilled when i saw it! And it smelled yummy!
Probably second favorite!
Notice the bare feet?
Me'n my Dad.
There was this amazing piece of huge driftwood just out of reach and if I didn't have to be dry for the reception I would have totally taken the risk of getting wet to reach it for pics.
Sexy guys! Husband is the one in hte middle. My brother is to his right.
My something blue. Originally I was going to wear my mom's garter but we forgot it. No big deal, we weren't doing a garter or bouquet toss anyway. Diane was genius and that marble stayed in the ENTIRE night.
My shoes and necklace. The shoes are awesome and comfy, they just had too narrow a heel for the grass. I can still wear them! And I did on our honeymoon.
Being put into my dress!
That's our cake in the background with our wedding rings. I'm not sure where the cake server came from. It might've been a prop or provided by the caterer. Either way, it wasn't something i was concerned about.
All of our guests.
See the crazy severe thunderstorm on its way?
Cocktail Hour
The Cake was a triumph. I'm making a note here... huge success.
Cake cutting! I must make note, of hte awesome DJ and the fact that he found "Still Alive" from the Portal ending credits. It was a total joke and the people who were supposed to get it, got it, and the people who had no clue, had no clue. *geeks*
Party time! That is my brother, pimpin' it up, with the DJ... Because the girls loved Bert the DJ and made him dance.
Now onto the DJ photos!
The Usher ushering both Moms down at once. Eric's Dad couldn't make it (he has MS and was bed bound for health reasons)
Our amazing pianist
My amazing brother. By the way, ladies, if you want an EXCELLENT trumpetist for your wedding, might I suggest my brother? He's just started college, and technically not professional so won't be expensive, willing to travel around CT. My wedding is not the first he's played in and comes with excellent references besides me. /end advertisement
Our two Ushers looking rather confused.
Waiting with my Dad to start walking down.
Our Pastor. Notice the totally awesome view in the background. Oh yeah, I was so staring off at all the boats during the homily. You can see it in the video.
*snicker* Recursive much?
Our entrance
Husband being a goon and making me laugh
MOH and BM giving a join toast.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning! Severe Crazy Best Man Hair Warning!
I don't have any pictures of the food yet. I wish I did. It was spectacular. I will be making a much more thorough post when all my pro pics come back, which alas, won't be until July. *sobs* I loved my lobster.
We combined the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dance into one. It worked well.
Soooo happy, and having a GREAT time!
Highly funny picture. The BM on the left is my sister in law and she is sooo goofy. This kinda captures that essence of her.
Making the DJ dance too
Doing the Twist, the only dance husband claims to be able to do.
My mom and dad. I have never seen my mom get down and dance like I did that night. It was so awesome.
BM etc. I say that only because one of the BM's brought a 'date' of another girl who essentially just hung out with us and helped the other BM's. I met her on Thursday, my wedding was Sunday, and we're very good friends now ^_^ Which I think was the intent on the BM's part. Ah well, she became an honorary BM. And my parents invited her back up to visit... even if I wasn't there... ahaha!
This picture kinda shows the centerpieces. I don't have a good one of htem yet, and this one hardly does it justice.
The owners of the horse I rode in high school. When Husband and went in for our premarital sessions we were asked who we would most want to model our marriage after. We both picked this couple, I admire them sooo much! They've been together for almost 50 years and he still pinches her bottom when he thinks no one is looking, and even if people are looking he'll do it anyway. They were incredibly honored when we told them that. It really meant a lot to them.
The Lighthouse after the storm.
My mom dancing
The Blues Brothers Sequence!
The spectacular sunset!!!!
So all in all, I definitely took the advice so many brides before me have said.
-Don't sweat the small stuff! Truer words have not been spoken and I was so relaxed through the whole day.
-Delegate delegate delegate to people you are either paying, or can trust.
-Don't worry about the little details. Or at least, don't agonize over them. So what if your wedding party isn't even. It doesn't matter. The guests don't care. There are so many different ways of entering that no one is going to notice if one groomsman is walking two women down on his arm.
-Smile and laugh and have fun. You're celebrating something amazing and beautiful.
Xposted many many places including weddingplans, over20kweddings, ne_weddings and 2008_weddings Sorry if you see it multiple times
The day actually started quite early in the morning as Eric arrived back from his bachelor party and needed tending to as he was a bit drunk.... I got him settled and hydrated and we headed to bed
Several bridesmaids were staying at my parent's house, two others were local, and we all met up early in the morning and headed out to start getting ready.
Hair and makeup was done by Alyce Typton of Always Love Yourself Mobile Salon and Spa. I've mentioned this before but she has an RV that's been converted into a hair salon and will travel around Connecticut to do haircuts. Her main calling is to provide hair cuts for women who have cancer and to help them feel better about themselves but she'll also do wedding and prom and regular haircuts for anyone who wants them. We went to her as she was on the way to the location. Gas was just too crazy to have her drive to the location as well.
The hair turned out spectacularly. This woman was amazing, she gave us all beautiful hair and we modified my hair trial to come up with my wedding hair. I was so thrilled with it. It was a really relaxing morning and all the girls got to have nice girly time.
We were actually beat to the location by the guys as we were running about a half hour late. I got laced into my dress and we started pictures. Diane (wedding planner) arranged a private meeting between Eric and I for photographs. The butterflies started as soon as he turned around. The look on his face when he saw me was amazing.
We took a ton of pictures before the ceremony which helped me realize that my shoes were NOT going to remain on. They were off before I was done with photographs and I was barefoot for the rest of the day which made me extremely happy.
The weather was gorgeous. We were right on the water of Long Island Sound and there was a cool ocean breeze coming in off of the water that kept everything pleasant and about 10 degrees cooler than instate (which was around 96 degree F, we had 80-85 ) It was clear blue skies for the ceremony and pictures.
The ceremony was beautiful. JoAnn Post, my parent's pastor, presided and it was quick (about 25 minutes). She told us she wanted Eric and I to memorize our vows so I spent the morning drive down to the ceremony site doing just that. Eric was a slacker, he needed her to repeat. It was funny. We had the ferry horn blow, and a plane take off from the nearby Groton/New London Airport interrupt us but it was amusing.
We did tons of pictures after the ceremony while our guests were in cocktail hour. Since Branford House is right on the water there some awesome places for pictures on the rocks by the water. I insisted on crawling everywhere I could get a good picture. I love climbing over rocks on a shoreline and a wedding dress wasn't going to stop me ^_^ While we were doing this a thunderstorm was moving in and the clouds were spectacular. The Uconn Campus police asked if I was crazy as they watched me climb over the rocks in a dress with a storm on the way. I said yes...
We did our introductions, the bridal party to Ride of the Valkyries and Eric and I to Also Sprach Zarathustra (also known as the 2001 Space Odyssey theme). The song version that the DJ had wasn't the one I wanted, but I honestly could have cared less at the moment. Again, I just found it amusing. We got our first dance done, toasts and then rain started.. Everyone got inside, and literally as soon as the last piece of sound equipment was pulled in the horizontal rain started. It was spectacular! It rained throughout dinner, which was fine as the food was awesome. We cut the cake, did parent/child dances and by then the rain had stopped and the weather had cooled off spectacularly. The sky cleared out for a beautiful sunset.
Everyone I talked to loved it, the food, the ceremony EVERYTHING. Well... when my Mom asked her sister how she liked it and she said the food was awful but we think it was more of a sibling rivalry as my cousin is planning a wedding for a year from now and we kind of set the bar fairly high...
We were dancing until 10pm. People started leaving after the ceremony and there was a fairly slow but steady decline in guests through the evening but I think that had more to do with it being a Sunday and people needing to get home if they didn't take monday off.
Eric and I didn't have a place to stay that night until that day... >.> But we were planning on heading to a hotel where some friends of ours were staying. They ended up paying for a room for us, which was amazingly nice. We hung out that evening just chatting (these are people we know from WoW but had never met before in the real world so we wanted to hang out as much as we could)
If I could change anything... I would change nothing. I had so much fun and had no stress and everything was beautiful. The centerpieces ended up achieving exactly what I wanted for a vision. The cake was amazingly delicious, especially since we never did a tasting and the design was beautiful.
Vendor Reviews:
Nifi's Wedding Planning: A
Partially my fault in not getting her the information on vendor meetings that my parents were going to so she didn't attend those and there were a bunch of last minute changes the days before the wedding but it all got sorted out. I loved Diane. She was amazingly organized and I never stressed out that day. She told me where to go and the day ran smoothly. Even my parents admitted to being glad I hired her because of the lack of stress.
Parson's Photography: A+
Absolutly amazing. Because I hired them after hiring Diane I got a couple good deals for the price. They covered my rehearsal and I had three photographers at one point during the ceremony. The teasers that I've seen look amazing and they took TONS of photos.
Coastal Gourmet Catering: A+
Holy cow these guys are amazing. I never met with them, they were one of a set recommended to me and were the only ones who replied to my requests who said, "Yeah, we can do that." The only guidelines they had to go by was "New England Clam Bake" and boy did they deliver! The food was spectacular! I just wish I was hungrier because I wanted to go back for seconds!
AfterHours DJ Entertainment: A+
I had Bert and Sal for 7 hours of coverage. They provided mics for the ceremony and all the music from there on out. I was told they were great at reading crowds and it was true. Not only that, but they found all the songs I requested for different special things. For example, I wanted "Still Alive" the ending credit song from Portal to be played during the cake cutting and Bert found it! He even gave us a cd of the special songs at the end of the night that was personalized and must have been put together before they came. He was hilarious and the guests loved him. He also had a special interactive dance selection that we could do and essentially the groomsmen dressed up as the Blues Brothers and did a dance for the guests complete with props. It was hilarious and everyone really got into it.
Always Love Yourself Mobile Salon and Spa: A
Loved Alyce and I loved how she did everyone's hair. Karen was amazing as well for doing everyone's makeup. The pictures speak for themselves.
Anderson's Garden: A+
Again, due to distance I only met with the florist once, all other meetings were with my parents. And yet again, they were able to take my barest of descriptions and fulfill exactly what I wanted. I said no roses or tulips or any typical wedding flowers, I wanted blues, greens and purples and wanted to look natural and messy. I loved how my bouquet turned out. And my centerpieces were spectacular. Everything flower related was spectacular.
What you all want to see....
Yes, that's right. The DJ was running around taking pictures too! Crazy!
First, my teasers from the Pro Pics.
My absolute Favorite Pic. I cannot wait until i get the proofs without the watermark. You can see all the amazingness that was my bouquet. I was so thrilled when i saw it! And it smelled yummy!
Probably second favorite!
Notice the bare feet?
Me'n my Dad.
There was this amazing piece of huge driftwood just out of reach and if I didn't have to be dry for the reception I would have totally taken the risk of getting wet to reach it for pics.
Sexy guys! Husband is the one in hte middle. My brother is to his right.
My something blue. Originally I was going to wear my mom's garter but we forgot it. No big deal, we weren't doing a garter or bouquet toss anyway. Diane was genius and that marble stayed in the ENTIRE night.
My shoes and necklace. The shoes are awesome and comfy, they just had too narrow a heel for the grass. I can still wear them! And I did on our honeymoon.
Being put into my dress!
That's our cake in the background with our wedding rings. I'm not sure where the cake server came from. It might've been a prop or provided by the caterer. Either way, it wasn't something i was concerned about.
All of our guests.
See the crazy severe thunderstorm on its way?
Cocktail Hour
The Cake was a triumph. I'm making a note here... huge success.
Cake cutting! I must make note, of hte awesome DJ and the fact that he found "Still Alive" from the Portal ending credits. It was a total joke and the people who were supposed to get it, got it, and the people who had no clue, had no clue. *geeks*
Party time! That is my brother, pimpin' it up, with the DJ... Because the girls loved Bert the DJ and made him dance.
Now onto the DJ photos!
The Usher ushering both Moms down at once. Eric's Dad couldn't make it (he has MS and was bed bound for health reasons)
Our amazing pianist
My amazing brother. By the way, ladies, if you want an EXCELLENT trumpetist for your wedding, might I suggest my brother? He's just started college, and technically not professional so won't be expensive, willing to travel around CT. My wedding is not the first he's played in and comes with excellent references besides me. /end advertisement
Our two Ushers looking rather confused.
Waiting with my Dad to start walking down.
Our Pastor. Notice the totally awesome view in the background. Oh yeah, I was so staring off at all the boats during the homily. You can see it in the video.
*snicker* Recursive much?
Our entrance
Husband being a goon and making me laugh
MOH and BM giving a join toast.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning! Severe Crazy Best Man Hair Warning!
I don't have any pictures of the food yet. I wish I did. It was spectacular. I will be making a much more thorough post when all my pro pics come back, which alas, won't be until July. *sobs* I loved my lobster.
We combined the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dance into one. It worked well.
Soooo happy, and having a GREAT time!
Highly funny picture. The BM on the left is my sister in law and she is sooo goofy. This kinda captures that essence of her.
Making the DJ dance too
Doing the Twist, the only dance husband claims to be able to do.
My mom and dad. I have never seen my mom get down and dance like I did that night. It was so awesome.
BM etc. I say that only because one of the BM's brought a 'date' of another girl who essentially just hung out with us and helped the other BM's. I met her on Thursday, my wedding was Sunday, and we're very good friends now ^_^ Which I think was the intent on the BM's part. Ah well, she became an honorary BM. And my parents invited her back up to visit... even if I wasn't there... ahaha!
This picture kinda shows the centerpieces. I don't have a good one of htem yet, and this one hardly does it justice.
The owners of the horse I rode in high school. When Husband and went in for our premarital sessions we were asked who we would most want to model our marriage after. We both picked this couple, I admire them sooo much! They've been together for almost 50 years and he still pinches her bottom when he thinks no one is looking, and even if people are looking he'll do it anyway. They were incredibly honored when we told them that. It really meant a lot to them.
The Lighthouse after the storm.
My mom dancing
The Blues Brothers Sequence!
The spectacular sunset!!!!
So all in all, I definitely took the advice so many brides before me have said.
-Don't sweat the small stuff! Truer words have not been spoken and I was so relaxed through the whole day.
-Delegate delegate delegate to people you are either paying, or can trust.
-Don't worry about the little details. Or at least, don't agonize over them. So what if your wedding party isn't even. It doesn't matter. The guests don't care. There are so many different ways of entering that no one is going to notice if one groomsman is walking two women down on his arm.
-Smile and laugh and have fun. You're celebrating something amazing and beautiful.
Xposted many many places including weddingplans, over20kweddings, ne_weddings and 2008_weddings Sorry if you see it multiple times