The Bailey Bunch Blog

Not a Sitcom, Real Life

Couples Bridal Shower!

 

I had the pleasure of helping to co-host a Couples Bridal Shower for my dear friends Lauren and Zach this past weekend. Boy, it sure is fun planning something other than a Baby Shower or a kids Birthday Party! Don’t get me wrong, you know I love ALL of my party planning, but a Bridal Shower was just what I needed to shake things up from my new norm!

It was so much fun checking out Wedding Paper Divas for the first time! I hadn’t heard of this company until after Patrick and I were married, so I was drooling and re-planning our wedding over and over again! Sigh, if only! Patrick gave me the worlds best excuse to not marry me again when he told me “I meant what I said the first time, so why would I marry you a second time?” Touché, hubby, touché. I guess I’ll just have to keep living vicariously through all my single and engaged friends 🙂

Lauren is a friend who always has pretty “things”…she’s always accessorized in her pretty scarves, headbands and Yurman jewelry, she’s the girl who will splurge on a designer phone case because it’s pretty, and she can pull off pretty patterns like nobody else I know! So when it came time to plan Lauren and Zach’s Couples Bridal Shower, we knew it had to be pretty…but not too pretty because it was for Zach as well 😉 We decided on the  Flowery Circlet Invitations in Sea Glass.

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The turquoise color totally manned up the pretty flowers right?! Sorry Zach, we tried 😉 We paired the gorgeous invites with a silver shimmer envelope with the complimenting Sea Glass liner and matching wrap around address labels. Could they have turned out any more beautifully?! Well, yes, but only by adding Zach and Lauren’s face to the postage stamp 🙂

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I need to mention that these invites weren’t initially for a Couples Shower. Wedding Paper Divas personally edits their products to meet their customers needs! This company is dedicated to making your visualization a reality! Not many sites will let you be this hands on, and we so appreciated this gesture in our planning process!

The shower turned out great! Truth be told, I had not ever met the girls I helped throw the shower with! We had been texting back and forth over details for a few months, so it was nice to finally put faces to the names! They were all creative minds and good cooks too – phu!

One of the ladies put together a photo booth that was of course a huge hit! Who doesn’t love a good photo booth to get silly in?!

IMG_6435 IMG_6473 IMG_6456 IMG_6452 IMG_6444 IMG_6440IMG_6439  As soon as the photos were taken, we directed the couples to write out their best advice to Lauren and Zach on the advice cards we got from Wedding Paper Divas.

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I love that Wedding Paper Divas provides a “Suite” for each invite, showcasing all of the matching products in the line! When I saw the advice cards in the Suite, I knew we needed to get them! My mom had an advice book at my Bridal Shower and Patrick and I still recall on some of the great tips we recieved! Lauren and Zach also got some great advice! My personal favorites were “No one knows all the answers…do what works for the two of you!” and of course Patrick and I’s advice of “If you’re going to fight, fight naked!” 😉

Hashtags are such a fun part of a wedding now! I look forward to seeing what couples will come up with, and Lauren and Zach didn’t disappoint! Lauren’s last name is currently “Yono” and I about died laughing when I saw #nomoyono – that’s about as good as it gets folks! When I saw that Wedding Paper Diva’s has Personalized Hashtag Napkins I just had to! They were a hit, especially for the bride-to-be 🙂

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The couple got to practice their cake cutting for the wedding with a Red Velvet Nothing Bundt Cake. As always, it didn’t disappoint! Who doesn’t love the perfection that is Nothing Bundt Cake?!

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I must admit, I hadn’t been to a Couples Bridal Shower before this one. I was a little worried about the guys having a good time, but giving them the grill to man, plenty of beer to drink and a corn hole set to keep them occupied made it a good time for all! I hardly saw my hubby the entire party, but it was still nice having him there 🙂

My fellow party planners came up with the cutest game for Zach and Lauren to play! Each held one of their shoes and one of their partners shoes. When asked an array of questions, each had to pick whether it was most like Lauren or Zach by holding up that persons shoe. They started off a little spotty with lots of disagreements, but they brought it home at the end!

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It was such a beautiful day celebrating such a fun, loving couple, and I can’t wait to further celebrate them on their wedding day! Lauren and Zach, I wish you all of the happiness in the world as you embark on this new and exciting journey together! I want to encourage you both to take a moment on your wedding day to just look around together. Take in all the love, support and happiness that surrounds you! Remember that moment, and recall on it whenever times get tough. Know that so many people love you and are here to support you in all that is to come! So glad y’all are #goinggrunow 🙂

Be Blessed + Be A Blessing

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Mr. and Mrs. Stein!

On October 12th, 2011, one of my very best friends married the man of her dreams 🙂
Kristina and I met in college and became fast friends. Over the years we only became closer and actually lived together our Junior and Senior years of college. Throughout that time we may have had one or hundreds of talks about the future men we would meet and marry 😉 Josh is exactly the man Kristina had always searched for and I’m so happy she found her other half!
Kristina and Josh got married at the Duquesne Chapel, on the campus of Duquesne University, where Josh went to school. The weather was beautiful for mid-November. It actually reminded me of the weather on mine and Patrick’s wedding day…clear skies, sun in the sky, and a little chill in the air. A perfect day for a wedding!
Kristina’s bridesmaids were her sister Janelle and her cousin Brittany, who were later escorted by Josh’s brothers.

 

 
I’ve always loved Kristina’s mom, Netty, and she looked gorgeous for her daughters big day! How lucky is she to have had her Dad to walk her down the aisle 🙂
You can see the pride in the face of Kristina’s dad, Duane! Kristina made a perfect bride!
I loved the priest Kristina and Josh had marry them. He had an Irish brogue which made me an instant fan, but then he was hilarious on top of it all! Before exchanging rings, he held both in the air and proclaimed they were the tiniest and most expensive pair of hand cuffs – lol!
He also put their hands on top of each others and told Josh this was the last time he would ever have the upper hand…witty!
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Stein! May you have a lifetime filled with love, happiness and the best of times!
The reception was held at the Willow Room in Belle Vernon. It was a very pretty venue! I think the most beautiful thing (aside from Kristina) was the wedding cake! Holy Moley! It was ginormous and spectacular! Hands down the most beautiful wedding cake I’ve ever seen!
Another thing I loved about this wedding was the love I felt from their family. Netty and Duane went above and beyond making this day so special for Kristina and Josh! Duane gave the most touching speech welcoming everyone to the reception, and Josh and the Stein’s into their family. It was a walk through all the moments in his life that “took his breath away”. During his father-daughter dance to “Butterfly Kisses”, projectors came from the ceiling and showcased photos throughout Kristina’s life, and it was all a special surprise for her! Following, Kristina shared a dance with her Mom.
Such a beautiful day for a beautiful couple! I know they are going to have a wonderful life together, and I can’t wait to watch their love grow throughout the years 🙂 Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Stein!

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Reinhart!

On July 23rd, 2011 my cousin Beth married her long time love, Andy at St. Francis Xavior Church. Beth was just glowing as she walked down the aisle with her brother Rob. You could tell Andy was equally excited too!!
It was a scortcher of a day and there was no air conditioning at the church so needless to say, we were all a bit swampy – lol! Patrick’s entire sleeve was soaked! Beth somehow stayed radient the entire time though even in her big white gown!

The reception took place at “The Great Hall” in West View. I had never been there before and really enjoyed the uniqueness of the venue. I found out it acually used to be a church and was converted into a hall a few years back.
Beth’s wedding color was turquoise so there were touches of it throughout the wedding and reception…check out their cake!

There were so many special moments…I love these pictures from the toasts! How in love are they?!
Other couples in love…
Beth and Andy’s first dance was to the song “For You I Will” by Monica.
 
And Beth and her brother Rob danced a special dance to Faith Hill’s “There You’ll Be” in honor of their father…it was such a beautiful moment! I really felt Uncle Rob’s presence there right then, and I know how proud he would be!
Beth and Andy had a photo booth for their guests to enjoy…always a fun time! Check out the newlyweds pre-photobooth picture!
Gotta love a good family wedding!! Below are some pictures of our crazy crew!
Beautiful wedding Beth and Andy! I wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness! Happy Happily Ever After 🙂

The Imperfectly Perfect Wedding Reception

Patrick and I had our wedding reception at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association in Oakland, PA. I fell in love with it at first sight! The Schenley Room is where the cocktail hour took place. It’s a more masculine room with the dark green and red decor paired with the big wooden bar. Next-door is The Pennsylvania Room which is where dinner and dancing took place. It screams elegance with the white pillars, fancy sconces on the wall and who can forget the gorgeous crystal chandeliers!
I loved that there was a more masculine room paired with a more feminine room. I felt it was the perfect combination for Patrick and I to both love where we held our reception! And we did love where we held our reception! The reception however…!
Well, let me explain!
When our bridal party got to the P.A.A. we were escorted to an upstairs room where we had some drinks and appetizers. My MOH informed me that my fabulous lingerie kept poking out the top of my dress and asked if I would be more comfortable maybe taking it off until the end of the night. Being a rookie at lingerie I had never realized how uncomfortable it really is and said “Yes, that would be great”! So we headed to the bathroom where we took off the lingerie.
Worst. Decision. EVER!
When it was time to put my dress back on something went terribly, terribly wrong with my zipper. The zipper was up but it started to split from the bottom up. It was a nightmare! What was supposed to be a quick change turned into about a half-hour ordeal trying to keep my dress on! We were in no way prepared for this…I mean who really prepares for their brand-new wedding gown that cost a ton of money to have a faulty zipper? With all my will I didn’t cry. I stood there praying for a miracle as my poor MOH had her head up my dress trying to safety pin me from the inside to be as inconspicuous as possible. All the while our wedding coordinator at the P.A.A. was telling us our guests were seated and patiently waiting on us to be served…no pressure! We did the best we could and got in the line-up to be introduced as quickly as possible. The entire timing of the wedding was majorly off at this point and I knew it. Poor Patrick just gave me a hug and said it would all be okay. I had on my brave face as we were introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Bailey 🙂
My mom and MOH did a fabulous job pinning me in, you really can’t tell I was unraveling at the seams here!
As soon as we got in to the Pennsylvania Room we cut our cake! It was delicious!!
P.S.
That is a “B” on top of our cake…I don’t know why every picture has it backwards, I’m going to have to check with our photographers on if they have a picture with the “B” going the right way!!
Patrick and I then sat down at our sweetheart table to eat our dinner. Patrick’s brother and Best Man gave a great speech about how he’s always looked up to Patrick and my sister and MOH gave a speech about the trials and tribulations of marriage. Both did a fabulous job! So, so touching!

 

Our first course of dinner was the Wedding Soup. I was so nervous about my dress I couldn’t even eat. Patrick’s mom saw this and took me aside and asked if she could try fixing my dress. So I left my new husband to eat alone and went to try out Linda’s idea. I was so scared as Linda took out each pin and unzipped my dress completely. She then zipped it up and it was perfect! I was in one piece again! I was so grateful to her!!! I remember feeling like a million bucks walking in with my dress right this time! And I was so excited to tell Patrick my dress was good now! Patrick had already finished the salad and was mingling with friends. Gosh, it had to have looked so obscure seeing these newlyweds eating separately and mingling separately! We did get to eat our main course together fortunately! I chose the Boursin Crusted Fillet Medallions and they were amazing! Patrick ate the Stuffed Chicken Breast and my other Medallion – lol!

During dinner our DJ played a slideshow of our childhood photos set to music. I had always planned to have this at our wedding. Days before the wedding though, the man I had hired to create this bailed on me. He had had my photos for over a month and said he got tied up with work and couldn’t complete it. I was beyond livid! When you pay someone for a service it should be done! And to bail on someone days before their wedding…just wrong!!! Fortunately I have amazing friends!!! My friend and bridesmaid, Krista, had created a slideshow of us as a gift for my Bachelorette party, not knowing I had hired someone to do the same thing. We used her version and it was a huge hit!
Patrick and I had had a really difficult time finding a song for our first dance. What we consider “our songs” are songs that we both love to sing and jam out to together. None of which have a thing to do with love!! Could you see us dancing our first dance to Zac Brown Band “Chicken Fried” or “Sic’Em On A Chicken”, Jerrod Niemann’s “Lover Lover”, Adele’s “Rolling In The  Deep” or Boston’s “More Then A Feeling”?! Yeah, not happening!
Patrick wanted us to dance to Michael Buble’s “Feeling Good” and I wanted his version of “The Best Is Yet To Come”…both of which were kinda awkward to dance to.
I love love love Ray LaMontagne’s “The Best Thing” but always hated the very first line for a wedding…
“Baby, it’s been a long day baby. Things ain’t been going my way you know I need you here to clear my mind ” in reality it would have been quite fitting – haha!!!
I had found a song on Pandora called “Count The Days” by an artist named Ernie Halter. The words were exactly the words in my heart when Patrick was in Tennessee during our engagement! But I feared people wouldn’t know the song.
We thought we finally had found our song when we heard Johnny Cash “Rose Of My Heart”. The words were beautifully written and we both loved it! We danced to it for my mom and she hated it! She said it sounded like a funeral.
I had so much stress over finding our song I tell you!!!
Finally we decided on Keith Urban’s “Making Memories Of Us”. It has beautiful and true lyrics sung to a tender melody by a well known artist…jackpot! We never made it to dancing lessons so there was nothing fancy about our dance except for a few random spins and turns. It was a beautiful moment for us! I’ll never forget when Keith Urban sang the lyric
“you’ve been stretched to the limits but it’s alright now  “…SO TRUE KEITH!

 

  My dad and I then took center stage as we danced to Heartland’s “I Loved Her First”. I let my dad choose the song and actually didn’t know what song we would dance to until we were out there! I always had a hunch he’s pick that one though, and secretly had always hoped that would be the one!

I remember my dad saying Patrick and I looked like pro dancers out there and he had inquired if we did make it to dance lessons. Well any little turn or move Patrick and I had made during our dance was about to be overshadowed in a big way!

 

Patrick and his mom danced to Steve Winwood’s “Roll With It” and should probably go down in history as the BEST mother-son dance ever!!! I remember when I first asked Linda what song she wanted to dance to Patrick with and she said “Oh I don’t know, just roll with it, baby.” and I said “Okay” kinda puzzled. Then Linda said “Yeah, Roll With It, Baby! That’s the one!” and I said “The song Roll With It Baby?!” She said “Yes! That’s the one!” When I got home I pulled up the YouTube video for Patrick and informed him that this was the song his mom wanted to dace with him to at our wedding. Patrick got a big grin on his face and started dancing around the house and singing it – lol! Secretly I always wondered how in the world they were going to pull of dancing to that fast of a song…they mastered it! Check it out…!

That dance got the entire party started! Everyone was clapping along, cheering and having a good time! And when it was time to open the dance floor nobody was shy about getting down!
The dance floor was never empty and never even close to being empty! People were out there all night long having a good time! Our DJ, Bill Bara, did a fabulous job playing great music all night long!

We tried to talk to people as we saw them (since we never got to go around from table to table) while also trying to make appearances on the dance floor and get last minute portraits taken with our grandparents and parents since we didn’t have time to do that at the church. I felt like we were being pulled in every direction! Oh, and my flats and purse never made it to the reception so I had to walk barefoot all night and had no makeup to touch up with throughout the night!!

Then came our bouquet and garter toss…quite memorable. Patrick first retrieved the garter from my leg to Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”.
I then tossed my bouquet to Moulon Rouge’s version of “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”. I remember seeing girls running from all directions to come and catch it – haha! The date of one of Patrick’s teammates in Tennessee caught it! Her name is Naomi.

 

Patrick then did a little baseball skit to Trace Adkins “Swing, Batter, Batter” before tossing my garter out to the waiting group of guys! Our friend Dez caught it! Patrick played with Dez on the Steelers and he was actually one of the masterminds behind our matchup! He got us some good luck in our marriage by placing the garter of Naomi to Nelly’s “Hot In Here” – haha!

Somewhere in the mix, my zipper busted again 🙁 Linda grabbed the back of my dress to cover me and we bolted out of there as quickly as possible. I was pretty defeated. It happened just when I was starting to enjoy myself again. I again retreated to an empty room where my sister and Mother-In-Law pinned me into my dress again. This time there were no disguising it. There were safety pins all the way up the back of my dress. To try to hide it though, they took the bottom of the train of my dress and pretty much pinned it to the top of my dress. I had paid $200 for my bustle…it was supposed to be this beautiful layered silk taffeta with the crystal medallions gathered in the back. Instead I got my train practically tucked into the back of my dress!  At this point I was ready to just go home but we tried to make the most of it by just having a good time on the dance floor.

 

 

Only one person said something to me about my dress being broken, which was difficult to hear. I’m sure others noticed but opted not to say anything which was probably the best thing for my sake! My zipper breaking twice was horrible. I hope no other bride ever has to go through that.

We didn’t have a theme to our wedding persay, but we did tie in lots of cookies! Pittsburgh weddings are known for having a cookie table. I remember the first wedding Patrick and I went to together. It was my friend Colleen’s wedding and I was actually one of her bridesmaids so Patrick and I weren’t sitting by each other. I ended up finding him parked in front of the cookie table lol. He said “I don’t know what the heck this is but I like it!” I then explained to him that most Pittsburgh weddings have a cookie table and he made me promise we’d have one one day. So we indeed had a cookie table, actually cookie tables! Our centerpieces were actually intricate cookie trays and our favor was a personalized cookie with each guests name and table number on it.
Unfortunately our wedding flew by so quickly I never even got to see the cookie table that night. There were over 300 dozen cookies on it though! We had boxes there for guests to take home all the cookies they liked!

We also had a signature drink, “The Bailey’s Kiss” that we never got to sample. It was a mixture of Bailey’s and Amaretto! (Thanks Miss Palma for grabbing this picture, we didn’t have one of it!!)

 Patrick and I had always planned on doing an early exit together. I had asked our DJ to announce our final dance to Chris Young’s “Gettin’ You Home”. Patrick and I have always loved this song and thought it would be the perfect end to our wedding reception 😉 I remember loving this dance so much!!
Patrick and I then headed out to get our car only to find that none of his groomsmen got the memo to have his car waiting for us. So there we are with no car for our early exit!!! I had envisioned a “Just Married” sign with coke cans tied to the back of his car and here we didn’t even have a car! I felt humiliated and really just wanted the night to be over. It seemed as if nothing had gone my way. Within a few minutes we got word that Patrick’s dad grabbed the car and it was waiting for us. Patrick scooped my in his arms, I gave a quick wave and we were out of there!

We never did get our “Just Married” sign or coke cans but I think we both were so happy to be married and off to spend our first night together as man and wife! We stayed in the Braeburn Suite at the Inn On Negley – the room we had selected months ago for this special night! It took Patrick about 15 minutes to get all the safety pins from my dress lol! It it took me another 20 minutes to get my veil and all the bobby pins out of my hair! Finally though I was released from all my pins and Patrick and I were able to give each other the best wedding gift ever!

The End 🙂

LOL…If only!

Around 3 AM I woke up from my sleep. My heart was pounding, my throat was tight and I felt like I couldn’t breath. I remember waking Patrick and telling him but he was pretty much dead to the world – lol! So I got out of bed, went into the bathroom and put some water on my face. I remember seeing my dress lying there on the floor and rethinking the events of my wedding. Tears filled my eyes and I began to sob uncontrollably. I cried and cried – and it felt SO good!!! I realize now that I had been holding those tears in all day long! It felt so good to finally get them out and I felt like I could breath again! After I cried myself out, I washed my face again and went right back to bed.
Patrick and I woke pretty early to the sweet scent of breakfast. We showered and got ready then headed to the dining room. The staff at the Inn On Negley made us Eggs Benedict as a special treat (I had requested it the previous day!) It was delightfully delicious!!
After breakfast we played some checkers in our room. There were no pieces to be found so we decided to get creative…my pins from the previous night vs. the prank bells the groomsmen gave Patrick at the altar – haha!
Before checking out we documented our stay…

Such a special place!!

Our first day of marriage included lunch at Primanti’s with the Bailey’s and opening gifts with both families which was a blast! Once everyone left, Patrick and I made a quick trip to the mall for last minute honeymoon stuff. We grabbed a romantic dinner to bring back to the house…Taco Bell!

The remainder of the night was spent packing for Playa Mujeres, Mexico!! Next up…our Honeymoon review! 😎 Stay tuned!

Our Wedding Day!!!

Oh the memories of our wedding day! Leading up to our big day I had always heard that every wedding ends up having some kind of outrageous story behind it. Subconsciously I probably wondered what on earth our story would end up being but honestly, I went into our big day thinking ‘how on earth could something go wrong?!’ I mean I spent months devoting my life to this one day. Really, my wedding monopolized my free time for the 6 months I spent planning! But of course we did have stories and who would have guessed I was the leading lady of it all – lol!
Our day ended up being perfect in it’s own way. Would I change some things if I could…it would be tempting…but would I really change it? Never! All of the imperfections made it OUR day. We look back on things now and laugh. My MOH-tastic sister told me several times throughout the planning process, “If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry!” So we choose to laugh! And I choose to share all the laughs and imperfections with you 🙂
I’d like to preface with something I found quite funny. Do I have any “Sex In The City” fans out there?! If so, then you may have seen the episode “The Catch” It’s the episode where Charlotte and Harry tie the knot in a traditional Jewish wedding and everything goes terribly wrong! First, Harry sees Charlotte in her dress a few days prior to their wedding, then in their newspaper announcement, Charlotte has an ink moustache! At the actual wedding, Harry spills wine down the front of Charlotte’s dress, Samantha breaks her bracelet on the altar (there is a big scene with everyone trying to clean up all the pearls!) Harry can’t break the glass and Charlotte ultimately slips and almost falls on one of the forgotten pearls! After, the main character, Carrie, finds a crying Charlotte in the bathroom who says “I just wanted everything to be perfect” and Carrie comforts her by saying “The worse the wedding the better the marriage!” I had to laugh because I so related to Charlotte!!! I just wanted everything to be perfect too! I’m hoping Carrie’s words ring true, because if that’s the case, Patrick and I will have one heck of a happy marriage 😉 BTW – Charlotte and Harry’s wedding ended with the Best Man giving an inappropriate speech and the Maid of Honor’s speech catching fire from a close by candlestick! ***Note***Our wedding was not this drastically bad! But it was by no means perfect!!
So, last entry I told you about my attempts to get to bed with Baby Teddy and Katie at the Inn On Negley. By the way, the Inn is a little bed and breakfast in Shadyside, and it’s AMAZING! I highly suggest it for a little vacation! It is absolutely beautiful, the beds are a dream and the service was superb! Not the mention, the breakfast was to die for!
At 3:30 am Baby Teddy lost his pacifier and this Bride-To-Be was up for the rest of the day! Katie retrieved the pacifier off the hardwood floor and Baby Teddy was down for the count. Aunt Maggie on the other hand, not so much! Butterflies had already taken over my tummy and I couldn’t stop thinking about my wedding day! I tried to fall back asleep but it was hopeless. So after an hour of battling the butterflies to go back to sleep, I was up and at it. I decided to enjoy a nice bath. We stayed the the Courtland Suite at the Inn which has a whirl-pool tub so I decided to have at it. The Inn provides L’Occitane toiletries, which was marvelous…I love L’Occitane! So I took a relaxing bath at 4:30 am – lol! After my bath I finally got to read the card that Patrick gave me the night before with my pearl ring…he made it himself…look how cute!!
My hairdresser, Val, arrived at the Inn around 5:30 am to start her work for the day – so it was bound to be an early morning from the start. She did both my mother and mother-in-laws hair, 5 of my bridesmaids hair and my hair. Future brides-to-be…I don’t suggest this! When it came down to it, we were kinda rushing to get my hair finished, and I’m sure Val was tired from doing hair for 8 hours! It was fun to have my loved ones there though. All morning long we watched “Father of the Bride” which was really, really fun! I’ve always loved that movie!
I spent most of the day as a huge bum though! I was showered but for hours I sat there in PJ’s waiting for it to finally be my turn to get ready! At noon my makeup artist, Loretta, got there and my day finally began 🙂 Loretta did a great job! So did Val! I was very happy with how my look panned out  🙂
All of my bridesmaids and flower girls were there as I finished up getting ready and they all turned around as I put on my dress to assure it was a surprise. Only 3 of the 8 had seen it prior to the big day!
We took some group pictures then it was on to the trolley for the ceremony…but not before our photographer, Milla, could snap this picture (one of my faves!)
The butterflies got rowdier on the trolly! I was so excited! The girls pulled a quick on on me and had me “ring the bell” but in reality it made a terrible farting noise…we all got a good laugh. THEN I got to really ring the bell…yay!
When we pulled up to Saint Paul’s Cathedral, I was kinda freaking out, not because of nerves but because of my under-garments! I had on this fabulous corset which had garter straps that connected to my thigh-highs…very classic and sexy! Well, we never moved the straps to fit me so they kept snapping off and hitting me in the rear!! I just wanted everything to be perfect during the ceremony so it kinda set me off that it wasn’t. Then my shoes set in and I realized my beautiful Bagley Mischka’s were doing me so wrong! I remember standing in the line-up ready to walk down the aisle and I wanted to take my shoes off – even just for a minute!! LOL! My MOH told me she didn’t think it was a good idea, which was probably right – lol!! Brides-to-be…buy comfy shoes!!! I was so focused on what they looked like and the designer label on the inside. Oh if I could do it again! But, in my (and my shoes) defense, they were beautiful and matched perfectly…at least they had that going for them!
It was surreal walking down the aisle on my dad’s arm and seeing Patrick there beaming at the other side! I remember just focusing on him. My eyes never left his! He looked so handsome…what a dream come true!
When we got to the altar, Father commented on how cold both mine and Patrick’s hands were. I blamed mine on holding my flowers. Patrick responded “at least it isn’t my feet!” – we both laughed so hard…that was pretty clever!!!
Patrick and I did a great job with our vows and the exchanging of rings. No stumbled words…yay!
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150112975835942&oid=423212440356&comments
But things got interesting when it was time to give a sign of peace to our parents and we realized that the roses we ordered for each of them were nowhere in sight!!! We instead met them with hugs…
We played it off smoothly but this brought up the question as to where our bouquet for the Blessed Mother was. In the Catholic church there is a tradition for the Bride to present, the Blessed Mother with a small bouquet of flowers if she has a close relationship with her. I pray to Mary daily and always knew I wanted to honor her on our special day. So I whispered to my sister and she also saw no flowers in sight. During Communion my sly MOH went up to our floral arrangement and plucked out a single pink rose…problem solved!
It ended up that our peace roses and the bouquet for Mary were in the church, but were left in the last row of pews. Then Patrick and I made a little mistake when lighting out unity candle. We lit them perfectly but forgot to blow out the ones our parents had lit!
Patrick’s Aunt Karen said it best when admitting our blunder, “All in God’s plan – that’s because their “lights” will always shine bright in you both!” Well said Aunt Karen!! BTW – We’ve been to two ceremonies since and they both forgot to blow theirs out as well – it’s now Patrick and I’s little inside joke 🙂 
Our priest went a half-hour over and we were almost unable to get pictures on the gorgeous altar of Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Fortunately we had an on-the-ball bridal party who came right up after so we were able to get a few shots…this bridal party brought their A-Game!
Literally 5 minutes later we were in the trolley and on our way to our bridal photoshoot. My feet hurt so bad! Fortunately, the pictures turned out GREAT! Here are a few of our favorites!! Thanks Milla C. Photography!
Somewhere in the mix of the photo shoot, a shoe went through the bottom of my dress. It may have been my shoe? I just remember hearing a rip and seeing the hole. Lovely, right?! Nobody noticed, nope, not with what was to come…! Trust me, it gets even better then this! Stay tuned for the next blog capturing our oh-so-interesting wedding reception 🙂

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