Good...

 

Here it is - my wedding recap...with a nod to a famous Clint Eastwood (former mayor of my beloved Carmel) movie.

The Good - what went right

    I certainly want to start with the positives because there are a lot of them.

1. We got married! Isn't that the whole point? Everything else that happens at a wedding is just icing on the cake...oh dear, don't get me started on cake.

2. The ceremony was perfect. It went exactly as I'd planned, Chris got emotional and told me I was beautiful. We had family surrounding us and friends witnessing the moment.

3. The Sand Ceremony. We got a bunch of different colored sand and got all the kids (grown, littles and grandson) and us to pour it into a container at the same time. The results are more beautiful than I could have imagined. The song Step By Step by Brandon Davis was playing and I took the opportunity to tell all of them that I loved them and would be there for them always. The container was an owl that Chris found and wanted to use for the sand because my late sister collected glass owls and he wanted her to be represented at the wedding which was so sweet of him.

4. The Music. I did a damn good job putting together all the playlists which made it easy for our friend Sean to help us out by playing just the right song at just the right time. I loved all the songs we walked down the aisle to and then we had 3 straight hours of Halloween/dancing music. At a certain point in the reception the song 'Somebody's Watching Me' came on and Cadence grabbed my hand so we could go out on the deck to dance to it because we are always singing that song at home. That's a sweet memory that will live in my heart forever.

5. The Venue! OMG I love, love, love that Train Depot venue. It was PERFECT for our group and gave us a lovely ceremony space. I hope to have all my parties there for the rest of my life, it was beautiful and private and amazing. It was the perfect choice.

6. Our decor. We spent a lot of time and most of our limited budget picking up spooky decor and it looked perfect in the space. Poor Chris did most of the decorating by himself because the people that were supposed to help him backed out and he did a phenomenal job. It wasn't easy lugging several storage totes up those stairs (especially with his knee injury) and then trying to figure out how I wanted it set up. He had insisted that we not see each other on the wedding day so I know it added stress to him to have to do it on his own. It definitely stressed me out now being able to help and, let's face it, control everything...and I'm not even a control freak. He did great.

These are the plates we used with matching tumblers for the drinks and we asked everyone to take them home as a favor from our wedding. Since so many people didn't show up we have many plates leftover so we'll just use them for our annual Halloween/Anniversary parties.

7. My family. I can't even begin to express how much I love my family and how special they were during this wedding. They had been there supporting us from the beginning of our relationship and they were so excited about coming to the wedding. It's a 7 hour drive from Alabama to where we live but they never wavered in their determination to come and they arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning. We got to spend a lot of time with them and they gave Cadence and I a place to spend Friday night because Chris didn't want us to see each other until the ceremony and Cadence wanted to stay with me. I love each one of them and it means the world to me that they went out of their way, drove 7+ hours, to be there for us.

They rented this amazing vacation house here in town, just a couple of miles from where we live, and that became our home base for the weekend. They arrived in town on Thursday afternoon and ordered pizzas for all of us for dinner. 

The next day while my sister in law, sister and I went to get our nails done, Chris made lasagna which we all had for dinner Friday night. Cadence and I spent the night on Friday (it was a 4 bedroom house with an amazing kitchen) and then we all went out to lunch on Saturday. It was the most time I'd been able to spend with my family in years. My brother (he was married to my older sister before I was even born) gave me away and did a wonderful job. Both he and my brother in law (married to my sister/niece) put a lot of thought into their costumes (it was a Halloween party after all) and it all made me feel so special. My new sister in law, she and my brother are newlyweds themselves, is an ordained minister so she did our ceremony and made it so personal and special. My sister (who is technically my niece but we grew up together so we're sisters) is my rock, my best friend, my most favoritest person in the world (after Chris) and my biggest supporter. I felt her love every moment of the wedding weekend and she looked so beautiful in her lavender dress. Nothing would have been the same without her. However, I have to give a big shoutout to her husband (who I've known for 35 years now) because he rocked it down the aisle as my Bubble Dude. He danced and pranced just like I wanted him to. It made me laugh and I've only seen it from the backside since I was hiding in the wings when he went out.

They are my people and I wouldn't have made it through the last 4 years without them so having them at our wedding was everything.

8. Our friends. We invited over 60 people and probably less than 20 showed up and that includes my family. I have feelings about the ones that didn't bother to make it but I will always be grateful for the ones that did, the ones that took time out of their weekend to be there with us. We had a great time with our friends. My boss and her daughter were there all the way from Orlando. She doesn't like going to new places so the fact that she came all that way and drove home in the dark means a lot. Chris's boss was there with his wife and kids, we love them. A former co-worker of Chris's came early with his fiancee to help Chris when the setting up process started to overwhelm him and some new friends were there who I hope will be a big part of our lives in the future. My favorite guests were the 3 ladies that Chris transports at 5am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They've formed a bond with Chris on those early morning rides so it was important to me that they were there and they looked like they were having a fabulous time. They entered into the spirit and came in costume and I loved meeting them and talking with them. Chris's oldest daughter was there with her boyfriend and our grandson and that was wonderful. They've been on the road truckers for the past few months so it was the first time we'd seen them since June. I wish Chris could have had all his kids there (his oldest son chose not to come which caused some tears on the wedding day) but we cherish the ones that made the effort...although I guess the 10 year old and 8 year old really didn't have a choice. Luckily they had a great day running and playing with some of the other kids.

9. My Charlie. And last but definitely not least - my flower girl was none other than our dog Charlie. She looked adorable in her little flower girl dress (which I'd had for years) and her pearl leash. She walked down the aisle with my 10 year old daughter and made her presence known by barking at the beginning of the ceremony but she settled down and was an angel the rest of the night. When I'd sit down at the reception she would take a nap on the train of my dress.

I will remember our wedding day with fondness because of all that went right.

But there's always a few things that are epic fails so next up:

The Bad - what went wrong