Video Collage from our Wedding day!

Our Wedding Day

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

Update on Wedding Things!

So, since our last post, a lot has happened! Our countdown until we take the plunge is currently at 16 days...boy, time flies when you're having fun! But to be honest, Jonathan and I can't wait until this entire stress of planning a wedding is OVER! Trust me, it was fun and we don't regret having a wedding AT ALL...but, it will be good to know that it's over at the same time.

On Valentine's Day, Jonathan and I went down to the Sarasota County Courthouse and got our Marriage License --very exciting! Since we took a 6 hour premarital course back in June, the price for our marriage license dropped down from about $95 to $60, not that we saved money really since the class was about $50 for both of us to attend (for food and materials, etc.), but still, we enjoyed the class and think that everyone should take it before they get married...when you think about it, 6 hours is NOT a long time compared to a lifelong marriage (and besides, it was fun too!).

Us at the courthouse on February 14, 2007!

We also had our final meeting with Deacon Pat (our officiant) at St. Martha's after getting our marriage license. Our ceremony and everything is set to go, and we won't see him again until the rehearsal! Meredith also has her LAST dress fitting next week! (She's dying to post pictures of her in the dress on here...in fact, she's DYING to show Jonathan too! It's very hard to keep secrets from your best friend...Especially when it's about something as important as your wedding dress!)...Ahh!...only 16 more days until he sees her in it at least! We can't wait until we see each other for the first time at the altar...this is the only part of our wedding day we are REALLY impatient about!

Bachelor and Bachelorette Party plans are currently underway as we speak! The boys are going to Disney Quest in Downtown Disney on Monday, March 5. The girls are having their party on Thursday, March 8. They're going to McCurdy's Comedy Club (to start the night off) and afterward, are heading over to the The Daiquiri Deck on Siesta Key for the remainder of the night. Fun times!

Today we also reserved our cabin in the Smoky Mountains for our "Pre-Honeymoon." Since our actual Honeymoon isn't until May, we decided to go on a road trip to Tennessee for 4 days! Yay! We LOVE mountains! It will be absolutely beautiful!

Photos of our cabin in the Smoky Mountains:

Engagement Pictures

We got all of our engagement pictures back today from our photographer and they turned out better than we could have expected! They were taken on Lido Beach, in Sarasota and are (c) 2007 Al Gordon.

To see the photos, click below:

Engagement Pictures

Rome, Egypt, and Greece...Oh my!

We finally booked our honeymoon! On May 16, we'll be flying to Rome, Italy where we'll explore the city and spend two nights in a hotel. On May 19, we'll board our ship for a 12 night Mediterannean Cruise! (CAN WE SAY...DREAM VACATION!?) We'll get back to the states June 1 where we will then commence packing for the BIG move...!!! Yay for starting our new life together!

Our Cruise Itinerary:



Now, you may be wondering...May? I thought they were getting married in March!? Well, you would be correct, but apparently the weather/tourist season in Europe is way better in May, hence the good few months between the wedding and the honeymoon.

But, we WILL be spending our wedding night in our suite at the Hyatt in Sarasota. After that, we decided to go on a good-ol-fashioned road trip to Tennessee where we'll stay in a cabin up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere for a few days...perhaps even visit Graceland on our way back! :)

Yay! We can't wait! 52 more days until the big day!

Cake Tasting!

Today was our cake tasting appointment with Frank at A Piece of Cake - probably Jonathan's favorite part of wedding planning thus far haha! Frank is one of the few wedding cake bakers that actually uses fresh ingredients, no preservatives, and no mixes. Jonathan and I both immediately fell in love with this simple white cake decorated with cherry blossoms:



All of the flowers and leaves on his cakes are made from sugar and are edible- even the cherry blossom stem is made out of chocolate! Now, comes the hard part. As you can see here, he has many different kinds of cakes and fillings. After trying most of them today we came up with this (Depending on how many people RSVP, we may or may not skip the second layer):

BOTTOM: European Chocolate cake with Chocolate and Raspberry filling
THIRD LAYER: Pound cake with Cream cheese filling and Strawberries
SECOND LAYER: Carrot cake with Cream cheese filling
ANNIVERSARY LAYER: Chocolate Coconut cake with Kahlua filling

I think I found THE dress!

I spent the entire day trying on wedding gowns at 2 different stores with my mom (we had so much fun!), and I found a few that I really like. But, I actually get goosebumps with one particular dress; my mom and I are even referring to it as "MY" dress! :)...We didn't buy it though because I figure I have a year...who knows- maybe I'll fall in love with something else later...(I have a feeling this is the one though!)...Anyway, I'm not sure if I should post pictures or not...I think I want to surprise everyone the moment they see me walk down the aisle...

It's official! 3/10/07 here we come!

WE SET A DATE! We booked our ceremony at St. Martha Catholic Church in downtown Sarasota today for MARCH 10, 2007 at 1:30pm (our rehearsal will be MARCH 9, 2007 at 6pm)...We also booked our reception at The Sarasota Garden Club! Click on the picture below to see pictures of both!

Wedding Planning

Jonathan proposed today!

While my mom and Jonathan were at work (FedEx on Christmas Eve = NOT fun) I was busy running around doing a bunch of stuff in preparation for my aunt's Christmas party: baking cookies, cleaning house, getting last minute gifts, etc. (...somehow I even made time to go tanning!). Needless to say, I was completely nasty and sweaty and just plain icky from doing work all day, which was okay because I had a few hours until the party so I still had time to shower and get dressed. Jonathan and my mom were not due home until around 5pm, but for some reason, Jonathan walked in the door at 3pm. I was of course very happy and asked him why he came home so early...He replied that work didn't need him and that he had to get ready for my aunt's party-- in reality, he left an hour early so that he could propose (everyone at work was cheering him on!). I asked him why he had to get ready so early, and he told me that we were leaving as soon as my mom got home. So as he was hurriedly changing out of his FedEx uniform into nicer attire, I was very confused since I had planned my day so that I would have enough time to get ready and now here I am- being forced to get ready in only a few minutes!

So I proceeded to run around the house like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything done at once! Jonathan went in the other room and then came back and met me in the kitchen. I noticed that he had one hand behind his back and thought nothing of it (he was holding the box with my ring in it!). I tried to hurry past him telling him that I had to get in the shower, but he gently stopped me and asked (in the cutest voice) "If I had a second'....and that was when I realized what he was doing!!! He totally caught me off guard: here I was looking my absolute worst, standing in my mom's kitchen and having Jonathan just stare at me so lovingly....as if I were some supermodel! lol...only Jonathan! Anyway, I grabbed him and just hugged him and said "oh my god" over and over again...He told me he loved me...and when I finally let go of him, he got down on one knee and asked if I would be his wife....and of course I said yes!!!! I was completely dazed...I couldn't believe what was happening, I thought for sure I would have been able to predict when he would ask me, but NOPE-- he definitely got the surprise that he wanted!

After showing me the ring and sliding it on my finger....I was even more awestruck....I was hopping around the house acting all crazy and crying...I just kept saying "oh my god, oh my god!"....We finally called my mom who was still at work...She could tell just by the sound of my voice that Jonathan had proposed!....Still on the phone with me, she turned to the customer she was working with at the time and said, "MY DAUGHTER JUST GOT ENGAGED!" lol...and then she told the rest of the FedEx workers and they were all excited for us....

When my mom finally got home from work, we went to my aunt's Christmas party- it turned out that most of the people in my family had seen the ring a few days prior, so they all knew it was coming! Jonathan and my mom actually went to see my dad at the nursing home the day before and Jonathan asked both of them for permission to have my hand in marriage. My dad ended up crying because he was so happy for us!...He said congratulations and that "this is such a big step for us" and that he was so proud... He told Jonathan that he would shake his hand if he could :(

Anyway...it was an amazingly, wonderful, perfect day!!! I still can't believe it! I'm so happy! I love how he proposed too-- since we both knew it would eventually happen, I think this was the only way he could have REALLY surprised me...catching me at a time when I seriously least expected it! I have tons more to say, but I'm exhausted and we have to get up early tomorrow- we're driving to Deland to have Christmas with his family and let them know about our engagement! (We decided to tell them in person rather than calling them on the phone) Wish us luck!