Wedding Day Re-cap!

The wedding was perfect.
We had so much FUN!
Everything was more perfect than anything we ever could have planned...

MERE'S SUMMARY OF THE ENTIRE DAY:

Woke up (I slept like a rock the previous night since I was exhausted from all of the bachelorette/rehearsal festivities!) around 7am and took a nice, long, hot shower. By 8am all of the bridesmaids were at my house doing hair/makeup and having a light breakfast (fresh fruit, muffins, and honey butter). At 9:30am we piled in my mom's Honda Pilot and headed over to the hair salon. we get our hair done, sip on wine, talk, etc. While we were there I handed out the individual letters I wrote to each girl (and my mom)...which, was emotional to say the least-- everyone was crying! At 10:30am we were still hanging out at the salon, relaxing, listening to music and talking to the stylists- everyone kept saying how surprised they were that I wasn't nervous and how they were happy I wasn't being a bridezilla. hahaha, and it's true, I wasn't nervous at all...but for some reason I had to pee every few minutes (which my mom solely blames on nerves for some reason- maybe she's right?). Anyway, I was scared because once I got my dress on, there would be no peeing for a long time since it would be such a pain to take it on and off! Anyway, at some point the bridesmaids began putting their dresses on to get ready for the limo (which was supposed to pick us up at the salon). For some reason, I decide, "Hey, let's call the limo place to make sure they know where to pick us up." Everyone was like, "Meredith, you're crazy...of course they know where to go...but okay, we'll call because you're the bride." So they called...and guess what? The limo driver was AT our house (thinking he was supposed to pick us up there)! So I gave him directions to the salon and he was there exactly on time as planned, but only because of my OCD since I feel the need to check things a billion times...Thank god for that! :)

So we pile into our beautiful, white limo and play with all of the buttons because, hey, that's what you do in limos. It was around this time when I started to get some little butterflies in my stomach. Soon we were in the church parking lot and my Matron of Honor was calling Jonathan and the boys to make sure they were somewhere where they wouldn't see us walking into the bridal quarters. So we get out of the limo, walk into the bridal quarters and see all of the flowers and bouquets perfectly arranged on a table. Yippeee! This was positively exciting: there is something about holding a bouquet that just MAKES you a bride! We bring everything we need into the bridal quarters (my dress, crinoline, makeup, etc.) and eventually come to the realization that we forgot MY SHOES back at the salon! So my WONDERFUL bridesmaid (Kelly) and the limo driver race back to the salon and bring me my shoes within the hour! *phew*

So, I decide it's time to get dressed so I get everything on (including my shoes, haha) and eventually other family members and friends start visiting the bridal quarters (I kept thinking, "Wow! The wedding is really soon! I get to see Jonathan pretty soon!") The two nurses arrive with my dad and as soon as my dad sees me he starts bawling....so then, I too, start bawling. And then my mom. I think he just gets full of really strong emotions of both happy and sad- happy for me, but sad that he can't be all that he used to be.

With 45 minutes until 1:30pm (the beginning of the ceremony) I started to put on my cathedral veil and realized that I needed A LOT more bobby pins, and I only had four. We are talking, the veil would NOT stay in my hair for ANYTHING, it just kept sliding out! At this time, my mother-in-law walks in the bridal quarters to see me one last time before I walk down the aisle and she sees everyone in search of bobby pins. She takes a GIANT bobby pin out and starts fixing my veil with it and within a second, my veil is completely attached to my head! Yay! As soon as this happens, I start hearing the organist in the church play music (a sign that people are being seated, etc.) YAY! In the meantime, our videographers and photographer are going back and forth between everything filming and taking pictures of everyone and everything! Excitement!!!!

FINALLY, we are all called to start walking to the front door of the church! AHHhh! I am surprisingly calm-cool-and-collected at this point; I was honestly too happy for words. We enter the church...my dad sees me again and immediately starts crying....so then, I too, start crying. Rebekah (the flowergirl) who walked down the aisle just before me makes her way to the altar and the deacon tells everyone to rise. Then...the organist starts playing the one song that has ALWAYS brought tears to my eyes: "Here comes the bride!" Ahhh! So my brother positions himself and my dad and I walk next to my dad in his wheelchair...and yep, his wheelchair ran over my dress (which I kept telling everyone would happen! for some reason, no one believed me!)...my brother frantically tries to pick UP the entire wheel chair off of my dress and then we continue our walk down the aisle, my dad still bawling (which caused a lot of guests to cry as well). The deacon asks, "Who gives this bride away" ....and my mom, dad, and brother all say "we do." Jonathan walks toward me giving me his arm and we walk up the stairs to the altar....and holy moly...It was perfect. I stared into Jonathan's eyes and we were both completely calm -not what we expected since we both dislike being in front of large crowds. It was like we were the only two people there. I still had some tears...but Jonathan really started to choke up when we said our vows. Deacon Pat did his homily, which was short, sweet, somewhat casual/easy-going and very personal. Asking the crowd how many of them were married and talking about how forgiveness is extremely important in a marriage. His blessings were also amazing: he talked about how being friends before lovers is always most important. It was perfect. Then it came time to introduce us to the crowd...He said, "...and now, it is with joy, love, and honor I introduce to you all for the very first time: Mr. and Mrs. Morrow!" So we faced the crowd, and the organist began playing the recessional song. So Jonathan and I head back down the steps and realize we didn't kiss, so we stop right in the middle of the aisle and have our first kiss there! hehe Then we continue down and out of the church where we have our reception line to say hello to all of our guests....and then take pictures for probably an hour or two. And it's funny because I thought for sure I'd get sick of smiling, but I never did! In fact, so many people came up to us during the course of the night giving us the most amazing compliments like, "They never saw a happier couple" and "Meredith never stops smiling- she looks beautiful in every picture" and "This is the best wedding I've ever been too!" It was great. I had so much fun.

After pictures at the church, we headed down to the reception to take some pictures there. At 4pm, the bridal party and Jonathan and I were introduced to the reception guests and began our first dance to "Blue Eyes" by the Carey Brothers, which, surprisingly, everyone seemed to like. It definitely fit the first dance them. After our dance, everyone was seated and began getting food. Jonathan's mom came up to us bawling and told both of us that, "She just knows in her entire heart that we're soulmates and that she is SO happy for both of us." It was very, very, very touching. After eating our yummy prime rib, Jonathan and I cut the cake! (No, we didn't smash the cake in each other's faces!) After that was the bouquet toss (Michele caught it!) and the garter toss (my cousin Evan caught it)! Jonathan was very nervous about "getting the garter" in front of everyone, but I think he handled it pretty darn well...and with class! What a good guy I have! :)

The rest of the night is a blur......We went down to Marina Jack's (our high school hang out; where we went on dates to kiss on the park bench!) with our photographer and videographer at sunset so we could get some ocean sunset shots! This was so much fun because the park was really crowded and everyone kept coming up to us congratulating us...hehe :) We took some amazing pictures there and I can't wait to get them back! (Should be about 2 weeks!)

Then we drove back to the reception where some crazy dancing had broken out while we were gone! I ripped off my veil and joined the party of course! It was toooo much fun! I swear, I never had more fun in my life! Everyone kept "Ooohhing" and "Awwwing" over Jonathan and I...lol....I also loved having a reception venue that had both inside and outside because it was really nice to go mingle, etc. It was PERFECT.

Jonathan and I decided to do our last dance around 10:30pm ("At Last" by Etta James- which everyone LOVED!) Everything was perfect. It was a fairytale day, completely. Jonathan and I both finally realized why people have weddings! It totally surpassed all of my wildest dreams and expectations...it was just a good, fun, loving party with good music where I got to kiss Jonathan a lot. Nothing beats that! :)

After our last dance, all of the guests lined the sidewalk that led to our getaway car (which was decorated to the nines, btw) and threw rose petals as we passed them...it was SO pretty and a perfect ending to the perfect night! :)

Everyone loved our forune cookie favors because they were "homemade" and had "cute, creative, wedding-themed fortunes," but I think everyone's fave was definitely the computer monitor that Jonathan had hooked up to media player. He made the white picture frame for it as well, and we had some really great pictures of us through out the years, along with pictures of our family, with some good tunes playing as well. All night long people kept stopping to check it out and ended up staying for awhile to watch! Good stuff.

This morning Jonathan and I left our beautiful Hyatt honeymoon suite (btw, we got complimentary champagne delivered to us shortly after we reached the hotel the night before) and realized that we forgot to put our overnight bags in the getaway car! So, we were stuck wearing (once again) my dress and his tux! We looked pretty funny going down to eat breakfast on Sarasota Bay wearing our get-up with all of the tourists wearing spaghetti straps and sandals! hahaha It was cute though, and once again everyone congratulated us! When we went to pick up our car in valet, they knew which car was ours right when they saw us- the "JUST MARRIED" decorations gave us away.

...And now, I am off to finish packing for Tennessee! We are leaving at 4am for 4 nights in the Smoky Mountains for our "Honeymoon!" :)

Also, on a side note (because I thought it was cute), even though we used my car as the getaway car, my brother decided to decorate Jonathan's car as well. Jonathan has a Mazda 6, so in the back window instread of writing "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!" (Mazda's slogan), my brother wrote, "Groom, Groom, Groom!" with the Mazda emblem underneath... hehehe :)

Pictures can be found on Picasa by clicking on the picture below:

Our Wedding Day