Wedding Story Part I

I have so much to share. I don't even know where to begin.
Friday June 21st, 2013, I married the love of my life, Ty.
So shall I share my wedding day experience? I split it into two parts. Here is part 1 of our wedding. The photos that I have added are photos from friend's cell phones or cameras. Since our photos won't be done for a bit, the only photos we have are friends and family photos.

Our wedding,
how can I describe it? .......perfect.
Not because nothing went wrong, but because the entire focus of the wedding was on the love of Ty and I. And you could feel it in the air. Let me go back a bit and tell you about our reception.......

We walked in through the tall stone gateway and lush greens, to a cheering crowd full of family and friends who all came to celebrate our love. Mr and Mrs. LaFountaine, the Dj announced as a 1920 tune happily played. The vintage furniture and dreamy candles set the mood. Our table centerpieces were filled with depression glass & vintage bottles filled with a variety of white & soft colored flowers including my favorite, peonies. There were round gold tea holders, some mercury candles and feathers throughout. Not one centerpiece was the same and I loved the entire setting. Walking towards that dance floor, I took it all in. A time capsule inside my mind. I set my bouquet down and we danced to our first song, Stay By Rihanna. We held our arms around each other and as much as I imagined it would be awkward dancing in front of almost 100 people, it was surprisingly serene. No one else seemed to be there but Ty and I.  And it brought me back to the moment I knew I was falling in love with him. An unplanned night on the beach that changed my life forever.

Next, my sister and brother-in-law got up to say a speech. As truthful as his comical speech was, it was tear-jerking and heartfelt. Then Ty's best man gave another emotional speech which we cheered and toasted to. After, I stood up to thank everyone for coming and to introduce the next musical selection. I had practiced what I was going to say for a couple weeks, but I didn't know how I was going to get through it without choking up. What I had to say had been waiting to be said for years and years of my life. I made it through the entire speech. I thanked everyone for coming. I told everyone that I had taken words from poems that I had written way back when I first met Ty and put them into lyrics. I told them that my younger and very talented sister, Kalin helped me write a song to those lyrics and was going to sing it to Ty for me. It took her only 2 days to write this song and I was so excited to surprise Ty with this song for the first time.

I wanted him to know that this song was a way for me to thank him for all that he has done. I broke down a bit at the very end when I told Ty these words,

"Ty, this song is a way for me to thank you for making me happier in the last three years than I've been since my childhood, for saving me in so many ways and most importantly, for being.....an amazing father to Scarlett....my song for you. I love you."

And then Kalin got up with her guitar and sang. I held Ty's hand and I could feel his heart beating faster as we listened to the lyrics of a song made just for him. She got a lot of compliments on that song and rightfully so. ( I will share more of that song later) My Dad said a blessing and then we ate dinner and danced to a few wonderful mix of Great Gatsby inspired music.  Our cake was perfectly done by the wonderful Amanda Russell. It was exactly what I wanted. Our cake cutting was as I expected...and as Ty didn't expect. He fed me nicely and I had a little fun....Haha.

And then we danced and danced some more. The Great Gatsby soundtrack was a huge inspiration to our wedding as well as the Notebook soundtrack and other 1920-30ish music. Of course it was mixed with some modern music as well. And when the sky got dark, we stood on the green for the wish lantern release. We all lit our lanterns and made a wish as they floated up up and away. How could I have dreamt that this night would have been so wonderful? I stood there in the night, Scarlett in my arms and Ty by my side watching wish lanterns float up into the night. It was truly magical. This song playing now is the song that played during the wish lantern release. Fitting was the name, Your Hand in Mine.

There was an ora that just wrapped around you and I'm pretty sure everyone felt as peaceful and full of love in that moment, as I did. I remember exhaling and thinking, this day is here, it happened, it was beautiful and I wish I could stay in that moment for a good long time. Perfect was the word to describe it.

But my wedding didn't start that way. In fact, a lot of things didn't go as planned. My mother told me something before the wedding that I repeated to myself. She said,

"Even though this is your perfect day, the day is not perfect. Things go wrong and if you expect perfection, you will be disappointed. "

And she was right. Just like any other day, sometimes things don't go as planned. I had my share as well. So luckily, I had her words in my mind the entire week of my wedding. The week before our wedding, we found out that one of our groomsmen couldn't make it to be in our wedding. I was pretty upset and Ty was disappointed but with some convincing from Ty, we both came to the conclusion that these things happen and nothing really mattered but our love. But bad news wasn't done. We had some unexpected things happen with our honeymoon and we had to cancel the week before. I was pretty bummed about this. I think I may have cried. Okay, yes I did indeed cry. But again, it was one of those things that was no one's fault and so we decided to rebook it for August and we carried on with wedding plans. Then, a week before the wedding, my flower girl dresses came in from London (two months late) and we were disappointed to find that they were all wrong! They were supposed to be floor length dresses of chiffon with a silver braided belt and lace capped sleeves. We got all that except Scarlett's dress was too short and Elyssa (my niece), her dress was too big, had a jagged hem and the outside transparent layer of the dress was about 5 inches different than the underneath layer.....I was panicking. We only had one week to fix them. We spoke with alterations and decided we would leave Scarlett's shorter and make Elyssa's shorter to match. And just like that, another problem was solved. No one would know but me that they weren't the exact ones I ordered. But of course, another hiccup came along. My flowers almost got delivered the week before the wedding due to a date typo!! This was a problem since I special ordered some very delicate flowers and might not have been able to get them if it didn't get caught in time. But it did. I began to exhale as everything came together.

Things were all in place and going smoothly. The morning of the wedding, I met all of my bridesmaids and mother for breakfast. We ate at a quaint country restaurant. Pretty good start to our day. My maid of honor, Ty's sister and I headed to my reception area to set up while the bridesmaids went to start wedding hair prep. All that know me, know that I am the type of person that needs to see for myself that things are in place. I didn't have a wedding coordinator when it came to my reception, I did it all myself with the help of some of my girls to set up. When we got to the reception area, we had one hour to set up 14 tables with centerpieces, 2 sitting areas, a seating chart, decor and more. We did it pretty quickly and made our way back to the ceremony location to start getting ready. The weather was perfect! Hair & Make-up was like an assembly line and by the time 3:00 rolled around, we all looked beautiful! The guys had met for lunch and were relaxing in the other building with beer.  I was so happy with how the day was going. We had some snacks in our room & toasted with some champagne & strawberries before getting dressed. Before you knew it, the event coordinator called for us and the bridesmaids headed down to get in line. My dad joined me in my room & we took a couple photos together. "Ready?" He asked.
"Yes, let me just touch up my make up." I said. My make up was fine but my nerves were starting to over come me and touching up my make up seemed like a good way to stall for a moment. A way to let me regain my composure. I could feel myself getting hot. I grabbed my foundation and unscrewed the top with my shaky hands. The next part came in slow motion for me. I watched it slip from my hands, dance inside the sink and slowly, globs of tan foundation splattered down the bottom of my dress..........

I lost my breath. I froze. Four or five large splotches of make up streaming down my beautiful, vintage-inspired ivory wedding gown. "Dad!" I called in panic....My dad rushed in with towels. His face was as white as mine. After that, the room went blurry and I could feel myself start to hyperventilate.



(To Be Continued)







Part II Here

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