I'm married!!!!!!!

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I'll pick up where Mike left off in the story. (If you haven't already read it, click on the link to his blog on this page and read that first.)

So throughout the whole wedding planning process I was relatively un-stressed. Strangely so, apparently. But let me tell you, it all caught up to me on Thursday & Friday. All of it.

Thursday started out well as our friends & family started arriving. I had a hair consultation to figure out how to fix it, place my veil, etc. on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and that's where things started getting stressful for me. I ran late at the hairstylist and then traffic was a beast and we ended up being 20 minutes late for the ceremony rehearsal at the Gardens. Also, it was hot. Damn hot. So I started worrying that it would be unbearable for our guests (and me) on Friday for the 6 p.m. ceremony.

The rehearsal dinner was really fun with good food and cake. Seeing all our friends & family mixed up and mingling for the first time was a trip. They all got along really well and had a blast.

Once we got back to the hotel, all the younger people wanted to keep partying, so we went on the hotel shuttle to the Carolina Ale House. A fun time was had by all, including me with too many drinks the night before my wedding. I wasn't drunk but I definitely drank too much. We got back to the hotel about 1:45 a.m. and my sister and I finally went to bed about 2:30 a.m.

We had 9 a.m. manicure/pedicure appointments so I had to be up early. I couldn't sleep, though. Is there any worse feeling than laying in bed, not able to sleep when you know you NEED to sleep, and worrying about dumb stuff? Well that's what I was doing. I was worried about tripping down the steps of the pergola (gazebo) after the ceremony. I was worried about my tan lines showing. I was worried about how I'd dance with Mike and my dad at the reception. I was worried about people having enough to eat. So all in all I got about three hours of sleep. Not fun.

Friday was a whirlwind. Me and eight other people (four bridesmaids, Mike's mom & aunt, my aunt, Mike's "sister", and a groomsman's wife) went for manis & pedis and that was very nice and relaxing. I couldn't really eat all day, though, because my stomach was churning so much.

Then at 1 p.m. I got my hair done, along with my sister, Kelly, and cousin (and bridesmaid), Karen. Once we were able to get out of the salon by 2:30 p.m. I started to relax more. So we headed back to the hotel (me with my veil in my hair and wearing shorts & flip flops) where me & Kelly had to pack up our room really quickly and move up to the honeymoon suite to finish getting ready. The makeup artist/photographer met us there and did our makeup, and did a really good job. Then I put on my dress, shoes, and jewelry, my mom cried a little bit, and we were off!

I'll leave off there and let Mike tell the next part of the story.