From October 13, 2012 to our wedding day on June 22, 2013 life was extremely busy and for the most part fun. The real stress of everything coming together didn't kick in until the last month or so when I realized just how close it was and also how much we didn't have done yet. I never pictured myself being the type of girl to worry about little details, but I really wanted our wedding to be two things:
1) I wanted it to be beautiful, romantic, and memorable.
2) I wanted everything to be able to have a really good time.
Our initial wedding budget was set for $5,000 and boy did we find out quick how that was not going to cover even close to what we were going to need to pull it off. We probably spent about $20,000 including the honeymoon which was $4,000. It's not that anything was necessarily over the top (okay, maybe a little), but we definitely didn't find a cheap way to do most things. I will say that we saved a lot of money on the catering because of my amazing Mom. I couldn't ask for a more selfless Mom and she really was there for me every step of the way. Besides cooking 120 lbs of pulled pork, she was at every appointment and calmed me down whenever I was stressing or worried that people just didn't care.
Now, since I got sick in 2008 my biggest fear about getting married was that I would be too sick to enjoy it. However, since I started my medication last year I haven't had one really bad attack. Lucky me, that streak was broken on my wedding day. I'd say it was 40% bad luck, 50% stress, and 10% punishment from God lol. The actual day of the wedding wasn't overly stressful. It felt hectic because there was a lot to do, but for the most part things were running fairly smoothly. However, I could feel the stress and anticipation building. I think I hit my peak when I found out that my photographer wasn't there when the ceremony was already running 15 minutes late. I didn't have a bridezilla meltdown, but I had to sit down from the stress of it.
The ceremony was interesting to say the last. Another goofy fear of mine was tripping over my dress which, ta da, came true. It wasn't that I necessarily tripped, but I was used to being able to hold it when I walked and I wasn't able to do that. Was it movie like? No. But I was able to laugh it off and focus on what really mattered: my husband and I. Another fun part about the ceremony was that I was facing directly into the sun. Oh, the things you don't even think about! It's funny because I was pretty emotional when I was waiting for everything to start, but I really was so focused on getting my vows right that I didn't get emotional during the actual ceremony. To be honest, the whole ceremony felt surreal and it was over really quick. There were some things we would've changed if we could've (more religious than we were hoping), but overall we became husband and wife so we were happy. :) Anyway, my attack really didn't hit me until after the ceremony during pictures. The stress of the ceremony was gone (yay, time for fun) and for some reason that is when my body decided to get sick. It was incredibly upsetting to me at the time and I was so angry that it had to be that day. Looking back now, I see it as part of the journey.
So, because of being sick, the reception was more difficult to say the least. I didn't eat/drink anything the entire time because I continued to get sick even without food on my stomach. I kept having to randomly leave and there was no way I was going to be able to follow the preset schedule we had planned. Basically, when I felt okay, is when we did our dances, cake cutting, etc. Towards the end, I did calm down enough to let loose and to dance a little, but I was pretty wiped out from being sick.
Honestly, my favorite part of the night was finally being able to leave and knowing I was going to get to crash at the hotel with Kyle and eat tons of food ha ha. Despite all the struggles of the night, I honestly can look back at our wedding with joy and to be able to remember the fun memories. I've joked with Kyle that we are never getting divorced because I don't want to get married again ha ha. I don't regret a thing or how much money we spent. Everything was beautiful and i really do think that people had a great time. I was able to really see who is there for me in my life and I am honestly so grateful for all of the love and support we have in our lives; it is amazing. The most important thing to me is that I finally married my best friend and I couldn't be happier now that all the stress of planning the wedding is over with. Although I got sick, I still managed to survive and that is something I never thought I could do even a couple of years ago.
So, here is to a lifetime of happiness with my best friend. I couldn't have picked a better man. :)
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| This made every stress instantly better. :) |
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| My Dad giving me away. |
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| Finally made it to the alter. |
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| Vow time. |
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| My sweet husband. |
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| Finally... the best part ha ha. |
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| My new parents. |
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| My amazing parents. :) |
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| Big family.. and this is only part of them. |
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| Acting like dudes... |
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| Acting like chicks.. ha ha |
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| I was insanely jealous of this picture.. lol |
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| Attitude |
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| Daddy daughter dance... |
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| Our first dance... |
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| Love dancing with him now... |
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| My big brother and his amazing girlfriend Jasmine <3 td=""> |
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| The photobooth we had at our wedding.. fun to fit my dress into ha ha |
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| My amazing grandparents... |
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| We love to swing dance. |
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| My two best friends. |
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| The raptor... |
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| Getting my baby snuggling time in... |
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| My beautiful mom and amazing brother.. |
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| Finally out of the 10 lb dress... and into my leaving dress... |
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| Leaving to spend our first night as husband and wife. <3 td=""> |
