The Day We Said I Do

June 2, 2012. A day I will remember for the rest of my life. It's the day that I finally got to wear a big sparkly white dress. The day my dad walked me down the isle. The day I said "I do" to my best friend. The day I gained a handsome husband and became a wife. The best day of my life.

The day started early at about 7:00 with my hair appointment. I had 3 hairdressers for my seven bridesmaids, two moms, and myself. Julie, Tasha, and Brandy did a wonderful job on everyone's hair. Tiffany did makeup for my mom, Eric's mom, and myself. We all looked fabulous! I was surprisingly calm all morning even though we were running a bit behind my perfectly planned schedule. Once everyone was ready we took some pictures at the hotel. One picture that I really wanted that day was the dress reveal. None of my bridesmaids had seen my dress and I wanted to capture their expressions. Those photos turned out GREAT! (with the exception of Sara being hidden) We then hopped in the limo and headed to the church.The guys got ready at the hotel as well and also took pictures there before heading off to the church.

It was fun to be at the church early because we were able to look through the blinds that covered the window and see the guests being seated. Also, this was when we realized that my veil would snag on the carpet when I walked down the isle. This was a huge concern because it could have ripped or been torn right off of my head during the ceremony. We had to do a quick fix. My ring bearer, who was a total trooper about the whole situation, was assigned to walk down the isle with with flower girl while holding the ring pillow then rush back to where I was so he could carry my veil. For not having much practice with it, and for being so young, he did a perfect job!!!

During our wait for the ceremony to start my dad gave me a present. It's a beautiful necklace that has the "family" birthstones on it..mine, Eric's, my mom's, my dad's, James' and Jacci's. It too remind me that my family if always there for me. I love it!

As we prepared to walk down the isle I started to feel the nerves. This was the moment I had waited for for so many years! Everything went perfect! Eric was very nervous and I got the giggles. It's a little funny because when I was little I was in a church Christmas program. I had gotten the giggles...bad! I will always remember how upset my dad was with me. I think he was embarrassed more than anything but I'm sure everyone else thought it was cute! haha! Maybe its an "on stage" thing because I started laughing during our ceremony and couldn't stop. There was a moment when I looked at Travis, the best man, and he had the most serious "stop laughing" look on his face. It just made me laugh more. One of my favorite parts during the ceremony was when we kissed and the whole church burst out with "whoooaaaa whhooos" and claps. Everyone was so happy that we were FINALLY married.

 Eric and I left in his truck that was decorated with what other than bud light cans and the rest of the bridal party followed in my brothers galaxy, Ben's Nova, and the limo. We just went around the corner and waited until the guests had left the church then we went back to take pictures.

After we took pictures we were able to join the party! When I walked into the reception hall I was blown away by how beautiful and romantic is looked. I was so happy with it! Early on during the planning process my dad had this idea of Eric and I being introduced and we would walk down the spiral staircase...instead of the normal "walk through a door" thing like our bridal party did. None of the guests knew we were on the balcony so we took them all by surprise. I'm so glad we did that! It turned out awesome!

Just a few facts (more so I don't forget)- Our first dance song was "She's Everything"...Eric sang the entire song to me...I loved it! We cut the cake to "How Sweet it is". His mother son dance was to "All to You". We danced with his grandparents to "Should've Seen it in Color". I danced with my dad to "Walk With You". The bouquet toss (caught by my friend Jessica) was to "Wishin, Hopin, Prayin" and the garter (caught by my cousin's boyfriend Mike) to "Rack City". The last song of the night was "Time of my life".

I hate to admit this (I'm sure someday I will laugh at the memory) but I'm probably the first bride to slap her groom during the wedding reception. First of all...I NEVER slap Eric....this was a first for us! For one he never makes me mad enough to slap him and also I just wouldn't do that. Oh but this....this was grounds for an exception! During the cake cutting I made him promise me that he wouldn't put cake on my face. I should've known better. He went for it and as I tried to dodge it the cake smeared all over my cheek and into my eye. Now...I want you all to know that I honestly thought I had cake on my hand and so the slap was intended to get cake on his face. I guess my hand was clean and it was just an ordinary slap in the face! I was so embarrassed!!! Our photographers got an awesome shot though! :)

One of the favorite parts of the night was the photo booth. I think everyone (who used it) loved it! I so enjoy looking through the album that has all of the pictures in it! They are all so funny!!!

I knew the day would be a whirlwind! I knew it was going to be gone in the blink of an eye. I tried to remember to take in every moment. I wish I could relive that day every year (or maybe even have another wedding-with Eric of course- every couple of years!). We loved every moment. Thank you to all who were able to make it and thank you to those of you who were unable to make it but kept us in your thoughts that day. And thank you to our parents who made the day happen!

Church: St Joachim
Reception: Oak Ridge Winery
Photography: Matthew James Photography
Video: my cousin Christian (so glad we have a video to remember the day by)
Flowers: Sweet Peas
Food: Devincis
DJ: Elite

Days leading up to the BIG DAY

         I wish I would have been able to keep up on my posts while the events were happening because it is all a bit of a blur now, especially the days before the wedding. I had planned our wedding date perfectly, in my opinion! Before he even proposed I, of course, had a GRAND plan! And this time...it went exactly how I planned it (sticks tongue out at Blogs title). For years I have planned it all out...if he proposes by this month then we can get married that month and my bachelorrete party can be that weekend, we will have kids by this age...you get the picture! And every time that proposal didn't happen on my timeline I would have to scratch it all out and start over! But this time, this time it worked!!! When I decided I was going back to school I mapped it all out all over again. If he proposed in the coming months then we should get married June 2nd. That would give me approximately 1 week before the wedding for last minute preparations/relaxation (YA RIGHT!) and 1 week after the wedding before summer semester began to rewind and get things situated again (I didn't think there would be a honeymoon in our future). Of course other dates would work but this one fit perfectly...don't you agree with my craziness?!
             Needless to say...he proposed! January 14th. Giving us about 4 1/2 months to plan my perfect wedding. As most of you know the planning began as soon as we got back from our trip and we had most everything planned within weeks! And guess what?! It happened perfectly! June 2nd ended up being the most available day of the season for most vendors!
             I ended up having about 2 weeks before the wedding without school and I am so glad I did! My mom had done a lot of the decor herself while I was busy studying, moving, and working so there wasn't MUCH left but boy did it add up!! And we kept adding! "Oh! We should do this or that!" As my mom said...it's a good thing I wasn't living at home during the last few months because the wedding probably would have cost a lot more in decorations, I would have gotten no studying in, and we would have been constantly coming up with new ideas and spending way too much time making those ideas happen. I have to say that I surprised myself and probably others with how calm and "unbridezilla like" I was (ok I might have had my moments!). I started to feel the pressure those last couple weeks but luckily we had so much help with decor preparations from my Aunt Judy and family friend Sheri (and all others who helped).
              A few days before the wedding a pretty big wrench was thrown right at my head! The reception venue failed to tell us that they could not provide Budweiser products...only Coors. Now, this may not seem like too big of a deal to most....but if you know Eric's family then you know that this was a biggy!!!! I dreaded telling him! He surprisingly took it quite well. He also was pretty insistent on getting 3 kegs rather than the 2 recommended by the coordinator (strongly recommended!).
              I also, before the beer incident, was informed that my grand plan of having guests outside the hall, while we took pictures, to enjoy appetizers and cocktails was a horrible idea! I left the venue in tears....yup it was finally time for my break down. I just hate it when I have a plan and it doesn't go as I want! I suppose the coordinator felt bad because she called me later that evening and told me that they would make it work and not to worry. I'm making the coordinator seem so awful but honestly she was awesome!!!!
              I should also mention another hiccup we had during this planning process. After finally finding a church to hold the ceremony we thought we were in the clear! Shortly after booking the church my mom discovered that the priest was on trial. She followed the trial and one morning sent me a text that he would not be marrying us...he was found guilty. It was pretty funny when my maid of honor called me that morning. I had a feeling she was calling to tell me the bad news. It was because of her that we had even considered St Joachim so I'm sure she felt a little nervous about telling me. Luckily, I had already known of the issue which was a relief to her! Eric's mom was a big help in finding us someone to perform the ceremony. The poor guy was so overwhelmed with everything going on because of the trial that every time I spoke with him he seemed confused...never knowing who I was or when he was supposed to be marrying us. In fact...he called Eric a couple days before the wedding to make sure he WAS marrying us...seems there may have been a mix up because a Spanish speaking deacon thought HE was marrying us! We had met with him to go over vows and such and he asked for my baptism certificate. He said he didn't know how to use the copy machine and would return it to me at our next meeting. I knew leaving it with him was a bad idea! I knew that if my mom found out that I had left it there she would be furious! But how much damage could he cause? Well....apparently a lot. At our next meeting when I asked for it back he had no clue what I was talking about and swore he never kept it but offered me a COPY! Oh man! My mom better never ask for that thing back!!! Luckily days before the rehearsal he called to say that he had found it!! I was so relieved I had to tell me mom the story!
                   Oh and then there was the vase fiasco! Two days before the day we were supposed to take the vases to the florist we found out we didn't have 1/2 the vases! We looked all over Lodi and Stockton for the perfect vases. Luckily the florist was able to improvise and our centerpieces still turned out beautiful!
                    Goodness I'm sure there are more of those little things that seem enormous that the time but lets move on shall we? Rehearsal day..............
                     Luckily we were able to decorate the reception venue on Friday. SO thankful because it took all day and I wouldn't have been able to deal with it on our wedding day! We had awesome help.....my parents of course, my Uncle Roger, Aunt Judy, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Marsha, Bridesmaids Jeana, Gina, Sara, Jacci, Nicole, maid of honor Brittany, Jeana's boyfriend Tim, our friend Ben, Cindy, Scott, and even Cassie and Brian! (gosh I hope I covered everyone). I'll admit that I did have a little breakdown there also. It was getting late in the day and I was hoping to be finished my 3 so we would have time to get ready for rehearsal at 5 (We didn't leave until about 4). A lot of the people had left and there was so much left to do. Ok, so I might see things that others don't, that may not NEED to be taken care of...but this was the wedding I had dreamed of and I wanted everything perfect! Poor Eric got the brunt of it....he better get used to it! haha! But he's the worst at seeing what I see. I see a crooked table cloth and he sees a perfectly set table and that was not the time to tell me "It's fine Christina...lets go so you can get ready!" oh no no no (as he would say)!!! We did finally leave even though I knew there were still many things that could have been done. It calmed me to know that my Aunt would be there in the morning to finish up the details.
                    We quickly got ready for the rehearsal and headed to the church...where the issues continued. The parents were all late and the Deacon was becoming VERY agitated. I finally decided to start without them. It went well for the first 2 minutes until he was trying to line up the bridal party in some really odd way. I had to speak up which only flustered him more. Once I got it perfect we continued. It went fairly smooth from there.
                    After the church we went to dinner at Scott and Cindy's home. We really wanted the backyard feel where people felt free to get up and mingle rather than sit at a table and stare at the person across from them. Nicole and Tasha did an amazing job decorating for the dinner. It was so romantic! I thank Scott and Cindy for agreeing to have it in their backyard because it was absolutely perfect!! We handed out our gifts after dinner. We had gotten all of the parents and present grandparents a photo book of all of our engagement pictures. We even wrote little love notes in each book. Eric got the groomsmen flasks with their names engraved, with the exception of Mason who is underage..he got a fancy knife set. I had started buying for my girls early so the gift boxes kept getting bigger...I just can't resit! It started with robes. I wanted all of the girls in matching robes with my mom and Eric's mom in different matching robes and myself in a white "bride" robe. It took me forever to find the perfect ones! I don't think I took any pictures of the robes but those will be in the wedding pics. Then I decided to do something a little more personal and make them those super cute wire name hangers that some of you may have seen on pinterest. I thought...how hard can this be?! I soon figured out that they are very frustrating to make and time consuming but once you get the hang of it they are actually pretty fun. I had one, almost HORRIBLE, mishap while making them. As I was bending the wire it flew up and hit me directly in the eye. I sat there with my eyes closed for a minute praying that it wasn't as bad as it could easily be. When I opened my eye is was quite blurry. I immediately put some ointment in that I had from a previous eye mishap a while back. I just wanted it to go away, rewind 3 minutes please!! It was right after I put the ointment in that I realized that it was cut metal that had scratched my eye and I should probably get it checked to make sure there wasn't any metal remnants that would rust and cause a bigger problem. It wasn't painful at all luckily. I looked at the clock that read 5:00...CRAP! All my wonderful eye doctors are most likely home by now. I called a friend/coworker to check and sure enough the doctor was out....but luckily our newest addition was sticking around and was willing to wait for me at the office. I rushed over and had it check out. Luckily it was only a superficial corneal abrasion...but right across the pupil making my vision blurry. It was 100% healed by the 3rd day!....DARN THOSE HANGERS! :) I had also found some super cute flip flops for the girls and moms and I had matching white ones.

                After rehearsal I spent the night at the hotel and some of my girls joined me...Brittany, Sara, Jeana, and Gina. Nicole and Jen also spent some time but went their separate ways come bed time. It was so much fun to spend an hour our so talking about the upcoming events. :) Some of the groomsmen stayed at the house with Eric that night...which I thought was so cute :) haha!!!!
               Overall I really enjoyed those last two weeks (really the entire 4 1/2 months!). Again, I thank everyone for their help and also for putting up with me during my "moments"!

Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties

         Eric and I both had our bachelor and bachelorette parties on Cinco De Mayo weekend. My bridesmaids tried to keep the entire thing (other than the date) a secret from me....but as Eric will tell you, I am a very nosey and sneaky girl! We were in the car one evening with Ben, Gina, Sara, and Travis and the guys were talking about Eric's bachelor party plans. Now, just so there is no confusion, I was 100% NOT trying to trick anyone into telling me details about mine! I playfully said "Travis, guess where I'm going for MY bachelorette party!"....I was completely expecting him to say "I don't know" or "I can't say" and I was going to respond with "VEGAS!!!!!" even though I knew chances were slim that that's were we were going..I just wanted to tease them that mine was in Vegas and Eric's was camping! Well, leave it to Travis to say "TTTAAAHHHOOOOEEEE"!! It was a delayed reaction as Gina looked to the back seat at Sara and they both said "UH! TRAVIIISSS!!!!!!!" HAHAHAHAHA! Yup he ruined the surprise! Eric swears I did this on purpose but I promise I didn't. I promised the girls that I wouldn't tell the other bridesmaids or my maid of honor that the secret was out and I would act totally surprised when I "found out". I didn't have to keep the secret for too long though. Brittany, my maid of honor, was over one night and we were talking about wedding details and such when she said "Do you realize what weekend your party lands on?" I shook my head no and she said "Cinco De Mayo!" I didn't see the big deal and she must have seen the confusion on my face because she continued with "Tahoe is going to be CRAZY that weekend!". I giggled and said "Tahoe huh?!". She was so upset that she had spilled the secret that I HAD to tell her that I had already known!
          The weekend was incredible! We had 14 girls in 3 rooms at Monte Blue. The girls had the room decorated SO cute!!! It was all seven of my bridesmaids, my cousins Stacy and Kat, and my friends Kim, Megan, Whitney, and Jessica. It was so much fun to have us all together! We learned how to dougie in the hotel hallway/foyer, played "suck for a buck" which got me somewhere around $164, went to the pool, shopped, ate good food, went to clubs, danced until 5am (even my pregnant sister in law!!!), and tried to feel tipsy..but never seemed to succeed. Thanks to them I have enough lingerie to last my entire life!!!!!!!!!!!! haha!!! I know there are so many other awesome memories but I just can't seem to think of them all (that's why I'm blogging...my memory is HORRIBLE and I need something to look back at).
               Eric and his groomsmen plus some other friends and family went camping at Bodega Bay. I don't know much of what they did other than drink a lot and go crabbing. The guys asked me to make a pink tutu for Eric and also one for his blow up doll. They got him a beer helmet that they decorated with pink flower and butterfly stickers. Lets just say that the few pictures I did see of the weekend were pretty hilarious!
               I know I'm on repeat but we seriously have the best friends and family!!!!!!!!!!!

Bridal Showers

      Now that the big day is over (sad face) I can hopefully catch up with my blogs. The first thing I need to blog about is my wonderful bridal showers. I was fortunate enough to have two..one thrown my by bridesmaid's for friends and family and another thrown by two of my coworkers. They were both beautiful and perfect!

           My bridesmaid's did a wonderful job throwing a country garden themed shower complete with a tea bar and diamond rings as napkin rings. It was a lot of fun, especially the game we played to see if Eric's answers to questions would match mine. I cracked up the entire time! He did pretty well....I guess after nine+ years we should know each other pretty well (although we learn something new every week it seems!).

           My coworkers Becky and Susan hosted a shower for my other coworkers and also invited mine and Eric's moms. Susan lives on a lake so it was the perfect setting with lots of cheese and crackers, lunch, and finished with blue ice cream! One of my coworkers, Erica, made blue cake pops too! So Cute! I really enjoyed spending time with my coworkers outside of the workplace.
           I am so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life that care about me so much! I wish I had more pictures but of course I wasn't busy taking pictures! Thank you to all who planned/helped with the showers. And thank you to all who came to my showers!!