...my grandfather walked up.  This was the 1/2 that didn't make it to the photo session.  And the significance of this man is one I've never delved into in this journal I don't think.  My father and I went through a rough patch (as I am sure many children do during their rebellious stages) in my teens.  He was very hard on me and I am sure I was ( Read more... )

Robert and I pulled up to the front of The Ruins to happily find Stephanie and her husband standing there for us to arrive.  I don't even know how to thank them properly for all they did for us that day.  *sigh*  Anyway, they let us know that if we wanted to do a grand entrance as planned, we would need to sneak into the room we got ready in ( Read more... )

Letting it All Sink in...

Robert and I quickly made our way into the bridal suite for the veil to come off, the gardenias to be pinned in, and Jamie and Brian to follow so we could sneak back out when everyone had left to sign the certificates.  When we got there, it appeared someone had thrown away the gardenias!!  We searched everywhere.  Then ( Read more... )

Stephanie asked if we were ready, and my dad gave my hand a little squeeze and told me to take a breath, and rely on him just one more time to get me where I needed to go, safely.  That comment didn't actually register with me until I was halfway down the aisle, but luckily I was so in shock that I didn't actually cry.  Thank goodness!  Because I ( Read more... )

Lady in Waiting

We still had a considerable amount of time before the ceremony began so I snuck into the bridal suite of the chapel (which isn't much more than a back office) where my family (and many extended family) were waiting. Robert was busy getting his round of photos taken care of, so I decided that I wanted to sneak around the chapel to see ( Read more... )

The Bridge is Up??

One little item of business I failed to remember was the small channel bridge separating the chapel from The Ruins.  And wouldn't you know it that it happened to be up while we were trying to make our way to the chapel...late?  Ugh.  So my dad started in on how we are late, this is going to ruin everything, yadda yadda yadda.  ( Read more... )

The Morning of Our Wedding!

I didn't sleep a wink.  Not one.  I remember waking at 5:00 a.m. thinking there is no way I could cheat myself out of an extra couple hours of sleep.  Unfortunately, my nervous stomach (not happy from the night before and stress) and reeling mind had other plans for me.  I was like a child on Christmas morning laying in ( Read more... )

The Rehearsal Dinner

Luckily I had Jamie to ride with me to the dinner.  I was a pile of excitement with no outlet and a 30 minute drive.  I had been to Calabria's over a year ago and couldn't remember what it looked like inside.  Robert insisted we use the place and honestly, this was a detail I just didn't care much about due to the surrounding ( Read more... )

Drama

Just as we were plagued by guest list drama (although most favorably rectified), Robert also experienced an issue with one of his groomsman.  This was the groomsman who had called us an hour before our engagement party to say he wouldn't be able to make it because he was having 'car issues' and called at 1:00 am the day the bachelor party ( Read more... )

Monday

Monday was the last day I decided to work.  I was exhausted from all the last-minute items I felt responsible for and wouldn't you know it that my last day at worked turned into a debacle of a day.  I spent the majority of my time putting out fires, yelling at people as diplomatically as possible and trying to clue my coworkers in.  Needless ( Read more... )