Marry Me Monday #3: My Wedding Part I

Happy Monday Dear Readers and welcome back for the third edition of Marry Me Monday! As I am sitting here trying to get over a bad case of allergies, I'll be talking all about my wedding! July 14, 2012 was the best day of my life and I can't wait to share with you all of the things that made it so special. That's not to say that things didn't go wrong [Trust me, they did! I'll share those parts with you too...] but all in all I couldn't have asked for anything better. All of the photos on the blog today were taken by the wonderfully talented husband and wife team at Highdot Studios. If you are in the Austin/ San Antonio area I HIGHLY recommend them for your photography needs. They were so friendly and made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera, not to mention their posing ideas were amazing! Loved how our pictures turned out. 

The day of my wedding, I woke up with such excitement and nervous energy. I went straight to the reception venue with my mother, her friends, and the groomsmen to help beautify the room. Everyone was so sweet and I was beyond thankful for their help. Looking back though, if I would have had the budget to hire a wedding planner I completely would have. It would have been so nice to relax the entire day and also have my mom stress free. Oh well, too late now! Ha. 

While I was at the wedding venue decorating, the bridesmaids gathered at my parent's house to get started making all of our bouquets. I'm telling you, my friends are amaaazing. And so crafty! I ordered yellow roses and hydrangeas from Sam's Club for our bouquets, boutonnieres, and centerpieces and ended up saving a ton of money. [I'll detail more on the do's and don'ts of ordering flowers from Sam's Club or similar retailer in a later post!]

This handkerchief was my grandmother's who passed away a few years ago. I know she would have loved to see my get married, so I kept this with me throughout the day so that I could have a little piece of her there.

My bridesmaids helped with my makeup and my Matron of Honor, Amber, did an amazing job with my hair. You may have heard me talk about how talented she is here! As you can see in this photo, I don't have my glasses on... I must have had wedding brain that week, because I forgot my contacts in Dallas and then drove four hours away to my hometown for the wedding. I didn't even notice that I didn't have them until the day before the wedding! I had a mini-meltdown complete with tears and sad phone calls to local vision centers. No one was able to help me out, but at the last minute my groom saved the day! He was able to find a place that would give me enough free samples to last me through our honeymoon!! Oh my goodness what a relief... I just kept thinking, "I don't want to wear glasses in my wedding pictures, and if I don't then I will have blurry memories!!". Sigh. At least this crisis was averted. 

Right before we left for the church, the girls gave me a sweet letter and gift to open from Stephen. This letter was seriously sweeter than honey and so heartfelt. It made me so excited to get down the aisle and seriously calmed my nerves.

Once we got to the church, we all gathered in the dressing room to get me in my dress. At this point I was so nervous, but everything started to feel so real. I had dreamed about this day for years {we dated for six years before getting engaged} and it was finally happening.

My amazing Maid of Honor, Mandi, tied me into my dress and also took care of my bustle at the reception. This process isn't exactly easy btw... Make sure you take someone with you to a dress fitting so they can learn how to do this!

At this point, I was so ready to get down that aisle and say "I DO"!!

Thanks so much for coming by the blog for another edition of Marry Me Monday! Will be back next week for Part II of my wedding story!