Our Wedding

Ahhhhhhhh. Where to begin? I’m back at work today after the most amazing two weeks of my life in which I A) got married and B) went on my honeymoon, and despite being back in New York for two days already, I still feel like I’m walking around in a fog.

Here’s the thing about getting married that’s hard to anticipate beforehand: it’s the most emotionally overwhelming thing you’ll probably ever do until you have a child (I’m just guessing on that second part, but something tells me popping out a human might top getting hitched on the emotional barometer).

I don’t mean overwhelming in a stressed-out way. I mean overwhelming in that you’re in a heightened emotional state for like, 72 hours straight. Between traveling via plane, train and automobile, seeing all of your closest family and friends in one place, coordinating a million logistics and saying some of the most meaningful words you’ll ever say, it’s one stimulus after the next after the next with no time for your brain to process what’s going on.

I’m finding it hard to focus on checking email let alone any *real* work today, so I figured a little reminiscing on our wedding weekend is just what the doctor ordered. We won’t have pictures back from the photographer for several weeks, so thank you to our awesome guests who captured and shared the photos in this post!

Our wedding was on Saturday, February 24, and in what I now realize was one of my most sound decisions to date, I decided to take the entire week before the wedding off. If you’re getting married and have this option, especially if you’re getting married out of town, take it.

I spent the Monday before the wedding packing, crossing off checklists, and going to the tanning bed like any tropical bride trapped in an arctic winter would. On Tuesday I flew to Florida and had my final dress fitting, and thank the holy ghost of Michael Jackson, the thing fit.

My mom and I spent Wednesday running around like madwomen, buying last-minute odds and ends, wrapping gifts, printing our programs, finishing decorations, etc., etc. Since our wedding was in Florida and I was planning it from New York, I had to have everything I wanted to order shipped there, sight unseen. My mom’s living room looked like Christmas morning with about 20 boxes packed with gifts and wedding accessories by the time I got there.

Here are a few of the things I did during those few days before the wedding that make it a good idea to take time off from work if you can get it:

• Writing and printing our programs
• Making and printing the seating chart
• Taking lots of back-and-forth phone calls from vendors to finalize details
• Planning the day-of timeline
• Putting together welcome bags for hotel guests
• Answering lots of last minute questions from guests via phone, text and email
• Writing cards and wrapping gifts (this can be a lot when you consider your bridesmaids/groomsmen, both sets of parents, your officiant and any other key wedding participants)
• Packing for the wedding and honeymoon
• Traveling to the wedding location (I’m so glad I got there several days in advance)

Anyway…

On Thursday, we packed up the car like a Tetris game and drove over to West Palm Beach where the wedding would be held. We got checked into the hotel and again, I’m glad we allowed a time cushion here because our room was several hours late in being ready for us to check in (my first lesson in the “just roll with it” mentality necessary to not lose your mind when getting married).

Johnny had flown into West Palm Beach the night before, and somehow we were able to sneak away just the two of us for dinner on Thursday before all the insanity began. By the end of dinner both our sets of parents had joined us for a drink, and one of my favorite moments was just sitting there at the table with all of them talking and laughing and taking it all in.

By Thursday night our first wedding guests had started to arrive; we met up with them and promptly celebrated with way too many cocktails. Although it meant getting a late and somewhat painful start Friday morning, I’m so glad we went out with some of our friends on Thursday night. Not only did it help take away some of our nerves, but it completely removed any temptation to party the night before the wedding. Instead, by Friday night we were more than ready to head to bed early so we could wake up feeling rested on the wedding day.

I don’t know whether it was lack of sleep, logistics starting to pile up or just plain old nerves, but Friday was rough for me. I started to get panicky when we were running late to the rehearsal dinner, and then panicked even more when I realized I had neglected to invite a set of John’s close family members to the dinner itself.

Up until that point I had felt pretty calm about the whole wedding, not paying too much attention to the details. Suddenly, though, I started to get this sick feeling that I might have made a huge mistake in being so cavalier. Who else had I accidentally left off the invite list? Did I do something ridiculous like tell the caterer the wrong date?

As our rehearsal dinner got started (40 minutes behind schedule), I pulled John around a corner and asked him in a panic, “is this fine? Is everything fine???”

He held my hands and told me that everything was, in fact, fine, and I just needed to take a few deep breaths. Bless that man. He stood with me there for a few moments, helped me breathe in and out, and we went back to our seats together. I ate pizza, drank a beer (we did a casual dinner at Mellow Mushroom) and mingled with our guests. Slowly but surely I started to relax.

By the end of the dinner I was feeling like myself again, and we headed to a bar to meet up with more of our guests before calling it a night around 11 p.m. (just like I promised, mom!).

On Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early feeling pumped. My stomach is getting butterflies just thinking back to it. I knew that no matter what happened, whatever little crises came up throughout the day, none of it mattered. I was getting married and damnit, it was going to be awesome!

I spent the morning getting ready with my mom, bridal party and future mother-in-law. We listened to music, drank mimosas and joked around, but I barely remember any of what we talked about. It’s a blur. I just remember working on my vows, checking the timeline, and one of my maids of honor giving herself a bad mullet with another bridesmaid’s hair extensions.

Before I knew it, it was time for what will go down as one of the best moments of my life—definitely top three: our first look.

There are a lot of wedding trends I couldn’t have cared less about, like matching wedding-day outfits for the bridesmaids or a sparkler send-off at the end of the night. Don’t get me wrong, I think these are completely adorable when other brides do them, they just weren’t things I was that into for my own wedding. But when I heard about the concept of a first look, I knew right away it was something I wanted to do.

For starters, I’m a crier. I cry at cheesy rom-coms. I have to change the channel when those ASPCA commercials come on. But I would basically rather die than cry in front of people. I knew if I saw Johnny for the first time while walking down the aisle, I would lose it. I loved the idea of having a quiet moment, just the two of us, to see each other and take it all in. If tears happened, I would have plenty of time to get it together before seeing anyone else.

I also loved the idea of getting a lot of our pictures knocked out ahead of the ceremony. Traditionally, when the bride and groom don’t see each other beforehand, you have to wait until after the ceremony to try to squeeze in all of the family and wedding party photos. With a first look to see each other before the ceremony, we were able to get a ton of the pictures done before any guests arrived, which was awesome and left more time to mingle during cocktail hour.

So, while Johnny waited on the sidewalk outside our hotel, I walked up behind him. He turned around, and for a second I think I stopped breathing. Yes, this is the sappiest thing I’ve ever written. It was, simply, the best. We’d been together for a long time (like eight years long) before the wedding, and had seen each other at our very best and very worst. Even so, nothing quite compares to seeing the person you’re about to marry on your wedding day. It was magic. I can’t wait to get the pictures back.

Ugh, I’m done now.

After that, any nerves I’d had evaporated and it was basically an endorphin high for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We took pictures. I walked down the aisle to the wrong song (again, “rolling with it”). We listened to my uncle’s beautiful wedding sermon and said our vows, part of mine in the Latvian I’d been secretly practicing for weeks. We mixed and mingled and spent time with friends and family who came from far and wide to spend the day with us.

And we danced. Oh, did we dance.

When John and I first started planning the wedding, we talked about the vendors that were most important to us to figure out where we wanted to allocate our budget. Mine was the photographer. His was the band. I haven’t seen our photos from the photographer yet, but OMG, the band delivered. Their set list was the perfect mix of current and classic and they had the crowd on the dance floor all night long. It was the party of my dreams.

There were the obvious amazing moments, like our first dance and the heartfelt toasts and when our guests tossed beach balls in the air at the end of the ceremony. But some of the moments that stick in my mind the most are the smallest things: giving my parents their gifts the morning of the wedding. My awesome wedding coordinator delivering me a RedBull when I started to get sleepy while we waited for the ceremony to start. The walk along the waterfront back to our hotel with my *husband* after leaving the after party. I’m writing these memories down not so much to share them with the world, but because I don’t want to forget them myself.

Whew. I’ve written a novel and I’m not sure anyone will even make it this far, but if you did, I’ll sum things up by saying that our wedding day was hands down the most joy-filled, happiest day of my life. To the friends and family who came so far to be with us, to those who sent well-wishes from afar via call, text, mail and social media, and for our amaaaaazing vendors who helped make it all possible, THANK YOU!

Here are some of the South Florida vendors I loved working with:

Wedding coordinator: Gabriela Sousa Events

Venue: Palm Beach Sailing Club

Photographer: Debi Meoni of Thompson Photography Group

Florist: Beautiful Kreations

Band/MC: Hammock Entertainment

Transportation: Molly’s Trolleys

Hair and Makeup: Divine Beauty Artists

Rentals: Superior Party Rentals

Catering: Rivera Events

Videographer: Ted White

Up next, read about our honeymoon in Costa Rica.

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