A 10.10.10 Post-Wedding Update!
WARNING: A very long, ranty, picture-filled, Post - Wedding Update!
Phil and I got married after being together for 10 years on 10.10.10. We were engaged for two and a half years and had plenty of time to plan, but that didn’t matter. We also tried (or, more like had to) to keep our budget small, and that was another... fun obstacle. So now for a brief synopsis before more wedding pictures than god.
Clicky the cut to see lots of wedding pictures and the + positives and - negatives of my wedding weekend:
DAY BEFORE
- I was so stressed, that I didn’t eat and was running on 3 hours of sleep from my bachelorette party the day before, and hardly remember anything from this day.
- I had two mental snaps and screamed like a crazy bridezilla.
+ The grange and pond looked EXACTLY how I planned it, maybe even better!
DAY OF
+ Our hair appointment was way shorter than planned, so before the wedding we did a little leisurely shopping!
+ All of the bridesmaids got ready on time, and looked beautiful, I got to the wedding early.
- When I arrived at the grange (we drove by because Phil was still there, so we drove a bit away and hid) there were WAY more children there than had RSVPed. While setting up the day before we had JUST enough seats for people who RSVPed, of course.
- Originally, we were going to have our guests walk from the reception site to the ceremony site (about .4 mile). But we rented a bus to transport people back and forth because Phil thought that the walk would be inconvenient, my family walks the distance very often and I didn’t think they would mind, so I wasn’t concerned. Unfortunately my family was not aware of the bus (we rented it about 3 days before the wedding) and walked down to the pond, making it look like (to Phil’s family) they had “priority” space at the ceremony, and making my family feel under informed and left out.
+ No one tripped going down the aisle and Maggie (our three year old) did not cry.
+ The ceremony went off without a hitch. The handbinding went smoothly despite very little practice, and it was very memorable and fun.
- On our way back up the aisle... there was one of those dreaded non-RSVPed children STANDING IN THE ASILE PLAYING A GAMEBOY blocking my way up the aisle. Yes, this really happened. He didn’t move until someone PULLED HIM OUT OF THE WAY AND I WAS ONE FOOT AWAY FROM HIM! *heavy breathing*
See? Ridiculous!
+ I didn’t fall over my dress when jumping over the besom.
- We tried to sneak away from the crowd to start taking our pictures (to avoid a impromptu receiving line, since we only had an hour for pictures) and people stuck around anyway muddling our pro pic time.
- When one photographer went with the boys, and one went with the girls, Phil and I took pictures with our families. We were without a list (since I was stupid and didn’t make one) and were just kind of taking pictures when we thought of them.
- We didn’t get nearly as many pictures as I wanted, and when our hour was up, Phil and I hadn’t taken ANY pictures by ourselves. I was so worried about the time constraint that I almost didn’t take any, thank goodness everyone convinced me otherwise.
- We put our schedule back 20 minutes so we could take pictures together. So when we arrived at the reception site our guests were hungry and cranky.
+ Thankfully for the un-RSVPers, the right amount of RSVPed guests didn’t show up, that everyone had seats, even though they didn’t have their names on them.
- In hindsight, the bridal party should have gone up to the buffet and grab their own plates, but we were served, which just held up the guests eating even longer. I also wished that the guests would have started to eat during the photos, just to save some time.
- Also, instead of having place settings (which was a last minute decision) I should have laid out my guestbook pages (what I planned on doing) because only half of my guests actually filled them out.
- Some of the dreaded non-RSVPed children went upstairs unsupervised and started to play the music (ipod playlist) which was upstairs in the “dancing area” while the speeches were going on downstairs in the “dining area” loud enough to be disruptive to the speeches.
+ The speeches were great and I had to try my hardest not to bawl my eyes out. So sweet!
- My bridesmaids fell apart. Literally. One had a migraine, one had an allergic reaction, the 9month pregnant one’s baby descended during my ceremony causing her dress to fit COMPLETELY different than it was altered to, and fall apart. And the two other dresses I hemmed, the hem fell apart.
- After the dinner, we went upstairs so Phil and I could have our first dance. And no one from his side of the family, came up. They all DISAPPEARED. So I had to wait for everyone to COME BACK INSIDE to have my first dance.
- I was so exhausted, from sleeping 6 hours total for the three days before the wedding, that when I finally had something to lean on (Phil) I slept-danced.
- My father wasn’t exactly pleased with my father-daughter dance choice. (I will come to you by Hanson) He thought it would be more... like Led Zepplin, but I just couldn’t find something that clicked.
+ The members of my family DANCED! It was great. I’ve never seen them dance before.
+ Maggie kept herself entertained for most of the reception and/or my mother kept her under wraps.
- The iPod reception didn’t work out so well. I had people just walking up to the speakers, hovering, looking at the screen, “tsking” and huffing and CHANGING the music, or plugging in their own music!
+ Phil disappeared somewhere in the middle of the reception, when I was trying to get the cake cut. He was outside comforting his Step-Mother who was crying outside my reception (more on this later).
- No one ate the cake.
They were beautiful nonetheless. And delicious!
- Phil’s family left early.
- There was a clear separation of the party. While my friends and family were upstairs dancing and wedding-ing it up, Phil’s family and friends were either outside drinking, or downstairs (the eating area) listening to different music.
+ Garter and Bouquet Toss went well.
- People did not look like they were having fun.
- The afterparty. Yes, originally I thought this was a good idea. It was not. It was probably the worst idea of the night. I was so exhausted, that I barely made it to the end of the regular reception... tack +4 hours onto that, and we were sitting downstairs, and barely speaking to each other for lack of brain function to put two words together. Meanwhile, Phil was upstairs, drinking and partying, and drinking.
- We had to pretty much “Shoo” people out the door at 2am. Because I was a zombie.
- Phil got drunk. The drunkest I have EVER seen him. This resulted in me holding a trash bag for brand-new-husband puke on the way home. And one of my bridesmaids helping me out of my wedding dress (sexy) after we put Phil safely to bed.
- After I had settled into bed next to my passed out drunk-y husband, I made the mistake of reading my Facebook messages, and received a very lengthy message from Phil’s step-mom informing me that she was very hurt that she was not the center of attention at my wedding. From not getting a special picture, to no listing in the program, and god knows what else. She also decided to tell me that I was no longer invited over her house, wedding day, best day for messages like this.
DAY AFTER
+ Phil was not hung over!
+ My mom and Phil’s mom cleaned up the whole wedding mess. They. are. amazing.
+ The wedding was over. I was married. It was done. I could resume normal life now.
Pluses: 25
Minuses: 16
Yeah, so my wedding was far from perfect. Was it worth all the stress? Probably not. Would I have done is all differently? Yes. Would I do it again? Only if I had $20,000 so I wouldn’t have to actually THINK about anything, just PAY for someone to think of it for me.
Now, here’s the only important part (well, aside from the whole I’m married now thing)... PICTURES! Seriously, the most pictures ever posted somewhere ever:
Details:
Seating Card Tree
Guestbook Table
Card Pumpkin and Candy Bar
Paper hearts, from an Offbeat Bride Tutorial
Candy Apple Favours
Centrepieces
Table Numbers
Cakes
Topper 1
Topper 2
Topper 3
Besom
Programs
Ceremony/Posed Pics
There are a lot more pictures, but I don't want to be crashing computers left and right. So you can see them here, if you really really want to:
Slideshow of ALL the pics:
link to the Flickr Set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colleenvmacdonald/sets/72157625169175671/
Phil and I got married after being together for 10 years on 10.10.10. We were engaged for two and a half years and had plenty of time to plan, but that didn’t matter. We also tried (or, more like had to) to keep our budget small, and that was another... fun obstacle. So now for a brief synopsis before more wedding pictures than god.
Clicky the cut to see lots of wedding pictures and the + positives and - negatives of my wedding weekend:
DAY BEFORE
- I was so stressed, that I didn’t eat and was running on 3 hours of sleep from my bachelorette party the day before, and hardly remember anything from this day.
- I had two mental snaps and screamed like a crazy bridezilla.
+ The grange and pond looked EXACTLY how I planned it, maybe even better!
DAY OF
+ Our hair appointment was way shorter than planned, so before the wedding we did a little leisurely shopping!
+ All of the bridesmaids got ready on time, and looked beautiful, I got to the wedding early.
- When I arrived at the grange (we drove by because Phil was still there, so we drove a bit away and hid) there were WAY more children there than had RSVPed. While setting up the day before we had JUST enough seats for people who RSVPed, of course.
- Originally, we were going to have our guests walk from the reception site to the ceremony site (about .4 mile). But we rented a bus to transport people back and forth because Phil thought that the walk would be inconvenient, my family walks the distance very often and I didn’t think they would mind, so I wasn’t concerned. Unfortunately my family was not aware of the bus (we rented it about 3 days before the wedding) and walked down to the pond, making it look like (to Phil’s family) they had “priority” space at the ceremony, and making my family feel under informed and left out.
+ No one tripped going down the aisle and Maggie (our three year old) did not cry.
+ The ceremony went off without a hitch. The handbinding went smoothly despite very little practice, and it was very memorable and fun.
- On our way back up the aisle... there was one of those dreaded non-RSVPed children STANDING IN THE ASILE PLAYING A GAMEBOY blocking my way up the aisle. Yes, this really happened. He didn’t move until someone PULLED HIM OUT OF THE WAY AND I WAS ONE FOOT AWAY FROM HIM! *heavy breathing*
See? Ridiculous!
+ I didn’t fall over my dress when jumping over the besom.
- We tried to sneak away from the crowd to start taking our pictures (to avoid a impromptu receiving line, since we only had an hour for pictures) and people stuck around anyway muddling our pro pic time.
- When one photographer went with the boys, and one went with the girls, Phil and I took pictures with our families. We were without a list (since I was stupid and didn’t make one) and were just kind of taking pictures when we thought of them.
- We didn’t get nearly as many pictures as I wanted, and when our hour was up, Phil and I hadn’t taken ANY pictures by ourselves. I was so worried about the time constraint that I almost didn’t take any, thank goodness everyone convinced me otherwise.
- We put our schedule back 20 minutes so we could take pictures together. So when we arrived at the reception site our guests were hungry and cranky.
+ Thankfully for the un-RSVPers, the right amount of RSVPed guests didn’t show up, that everyone had seats, even though they didn’t have their names on them.
- In hindsight, the bridal party should have gone up to the buffet and grab their own plates, but we were served, which just held up the guests eating even longer. I also wished that the guests would have started to eat during the photos, just to save some time.
- Also, instead of having place settings (which was a last minute decision) I should have laid out my guestbook pages (what I planned on doing) because only half of my guests actually filled them out.
- Some of the dreaded non-RSVPed children went upstairs unsupervised and started to play the music (ipod playlist) which was upstairs in the “dancing area” while the speeches were going on downstairs in the “dining area” loud enough to be disruptive to the speeches.
+ The speeches were great and I had to try my hardest not to bawl my eyes out. So sweet!
- My bridesmaids fell apart. Literally. One had a migraine, one had an allergic reaction, the 9month pregnant one’s baby descended during my ceremony causing her dress to fit COMPLETELY different than it was altered to, and fall apart. And the two other dresses I hemmed, the hem fell apart.
- After the dinner, we went upstairs so Phil and I could have our first dance. And no one from his side of the family, came up. They all DISAPPEARED. So I had to wait for everyone to COME BACK INSIDE to have my first dance.
- I was so exhausted, from sleeping 6 hours total for the three days before the wedding, that when I finally had something to lean on (Phil) I slept-danced.
- My father wasn’t exactly pleased with my father-daughter dance choice. (I will come to you by Hanson) He thought it would be more... like Led Zepplin, but I just couldn’t find something that clicked.
+ The members of my family DANCED! It was great. I’ve never seen them dance before.
+ Maggie kept herself entertained for most of the reception and/or my mother kept her under wraps.
- The iPod reception didn’t work out so well. I had people just walking up to the speakers, hovering, looking at the screen, “tsking” and huffing and CHANGING the music, or plugging in their own music!
+ Phil disappeared somewhere in the middle of the reception, when I was trying to get the cake cut. He was outside comforting his Step-Mother who was crying outside my reception (more on this later).
- No one ate the cake.
They were beautiful nonetheless. And delicious!
- Phil’s family left early.
- There was a clear separation of the party. While my friends and family were upstairs dancing and wedding-ing it up, Phil’s family and friends were either outside drinking, or downstairs (the eating area) listening to different music.
+ Garter and Bouquet Toss went well.
- People did not look like they were having fun.
- The afterparty. Yes, originally I thought this was a good idea. It was not. It was probably the worst idea of the night. I was so exhausted, that I barely made it to the end of the regular reception... tack +4 hours onto that, and we were sitting downstairs, and barely speaking to each other for lack of brain function to put two words together. Meanwhile, Phil was upstairs, drinking and partying, and drinking.
- We had to pretty much “Shoo” people out the door at 2am. Because I was a zombie.
- Phil got drunk. The drunkest I have EVER seen him. This resulted in me holding a trash bag for brand-new-husband puke on the way home. And one of my bridesmaids helping me out of my wedding dress (sexy) after we put Phil safely to bed.
- After I had settled into bed next to my passed out drunk-y husband, I made the mistake of reading my Facebook messages, and received a very lengthy message from Phil’s step-mom informing me that she was very hurt that she was not the center of attention at my wedding. From not getting a special picture, to no listing in the program, and god knows what else. She also decided to tell me that I was no longer invited over her house, wedding day, best day for messages like this.
DAY AFTER
+ Phil was not hung over!
+ My mom and Phil’s mom cleaned up the whole wedding mess. They. are. amazing.
+ The wedding was over. I was married. It was done. I could resume normal life now.
Pluses: 25
Minuses: 16
Yeah, so my wedding was far from perfect. Was it worth all the stress? Probably not. Would I have done is all differently? Yes. Would I do it again? Only if I had $20,000 so I wouldn’t have to actually THINK about anything, just PAY for someone to think of it for me.
Now, here’s the only important part (well, aside from the whole I’m married now thing)... PICTURES! Seriously, the most pictures ever posted somewhere ever:
Details:
Seating Card Tree
Guestbook Table
Card Pumpkin and Candy Bar
Paper hearts, from an Offbeat Bride Tutorial
Candy Apple Favours
Centrepieces
Table Numbers
Cakes
Topper 1
Topper 2
Topper 3
Besom
Programs
Ceremony/Posed Pics
There are a lot more pictures, but I don't want to be crashing computers left and right. So you can see them here, if you really really want to:
Slideshow of ALL the pics:
link to the Flickr Set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colleenvmacdonald/sets/72157625169175671/