Being Mrs. Jean: Wedding Day Recap

The last time I posted on this blog was just a week before the wedding ... now we are a month and a half into our marriage. Believe me I've sat down many times to write an update but it seemed like everything was either too mundane or too long to write everything out. BUT, It wouldn't make sense to have a marriage blog if I didn't at least post something about the wedding day.

I woke up that morning having tried very hard to get a lot of sleep. I feel asleep easily the night before because I was SUPER TIRED! But about halfway through the night I woke up and had this intense feeling of "oh my GOD, I'm getting married today!" I ended up talking myself out of freaking out and falling back to sleep. Definitely a God thing.

My hair stylist was getting to the house super early. So my first bridesmaids started arriving around 8am to get their hair done first. Kayla is the name of my stylist. She was super friendly and very fast. Honestly, she wasn't my first choice just because I wasn't comfortable having someone I didn't know do my hair for such an important day. But after doing 2 trial runs with her I was comfortable and she ended up doing a great job on both hair and makeup.

Not a great picture of me
but it shows Kayla

Curling my hair for an updo

Pictures taken by Becca Sanborn

Trina, Becca and I ran to Subway and got a quick bite but then headed straight to the church to get ready. At this point I was feeling really good. I wasn't nervous but more excited to finally get the day started. My photographers arrived and they started snapping as we got ready. Some of my favorite pictures are from this part of the day.

Putting on my mother's veil

Mom helping me put on my "something borrowed"
Earrings from friend Caitlin Hepburn

Double-teamed to lace up the back

After getting ready, we did some pictures of just me and then what felt like an endless number of pictures of my family. Looking back I have mixed feelings about me trying to do so many family pictures at this point. I should have done more with my bridesmaids. My thinking was that we would get to do a lot of wedding party pictures after the wedding at Travellers Rest Plantation. But because it was so cold (Thanks Hurricane Sandy) my bridesmaids didn't last long outside in the weather.

We waited what felt like forever for all the guest to get inside. In the meantime, me and the bridesmaids were tucked away in a small lobby.

My sister and I waiting.

We finally heard all the voice from the main lobby die down and I knew it was MY time. All of the bridesmaids went ahead to get ready to walk leaving me and my dad some time to sit back. We didn't really talk about much. At least not much that I remember. I do remember him saying that he was happy that David and I had found each other and that he was proud.

Really like this picture of dad and me. It was moments before walking down the aisle.

There seemed to be a small glitch with our musicians. The bridesmaids had walked down the aisle and were standing for close to a minute -- but the musicians kept playing their song and hadn't switched to mine yet. So dad and I stood there for a while just waiting. I could see David through the glass and he looked quite nervous. As I knew he would!! Later everyone told me he was SUPER nervous. Finally our wedding coordinator flagged down the musicians and it was our turn to walk down the aisle.

I tried really hard to remember what it was like to walk down the aisle. I wanted to be able to replay that video over and over in my head. I remember seeing specific faces like my friends Andrew and Forrest and some people from work. Then I tried to focus as much as I could on David. I only broke away for a moment when I saw my Grandfather who was crying. It made me almost cry, because I don't have the greatest relationship with my Grandfather ... still at that moment I knew he really did love me.

The ceremony was perfect. It was done by David's childhood friend Paul Bonner and my brother-in-law who I've knew since I was 6, John Capshaw. They each had a different approach and it came together for the perfect package. I did start crying at one point. It was when Paul was telling everyone "our story" and how we met. I started talking about the video I made that I later posted on Facebook that reconnected David and I. I started thinking about how the girls that sparked that video were all sitting in the crowd and how the small things in our life (that we may not want to do) can turn into such great and wonderful things. Of course I didn't have tissues when I started crying, but I was able to rein in back in and do fine the rest of the ceremony. David told me later that he cried when my dad was giving me away -- but I didn't see it until the pictures came back later.

Exchanging Rings

Mr & Mrs. Jean

Final Kiss for my Dad

David and I didn't see each other before the wedding so after the ceremony we did more family pictures and then got into "our car" and headed to the Travellers Rest. The car was one of the things I didn't really care about, but it seemed really important to David's parents so we let them treat us. It ended up being a really nice, classy touch for the wedding. We took David and I's pictures together at Travellers Rest and did as much wedding party as we could -- but again it was really cold. I think my dad said it got down to 49 degrees in the wind.

My cold wedding party ....

The rest of the day was sort of a blur. I remember lost of fun moments at the reception like getting to see my Channel 5 friends and friends from college, youtube and Disney. It was a great mixture of people. We also did something called the "Shoe Game" which I had found on pinterest and asked my bridesmaids Trina and Becca to host. It ended up being one of the highlights of the night and for the people that stuck around I think they got a good laugh. We ended the night early, which I knew we would do all along. All and all, I was happy! Of course there are small things that every bride would change looking back -- but that's another post for another day.