wedding day part 1

The day before the wedding (12/31/09) and the day of (1/1/09) were both cray-zee.  I had a bunch of friends and family in town the day before, so I spent much of that day running around seeing them.   I have to say that my English major long-time friend Jennifer really stole the support-the-bride show.  There are many things that happened that I didn't even know of until later due to her quickness, and she helped me handle things that would have driven me crazy otherwise (shuffling family back to the hotel at 1:30am, anyone?).

The rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and New Year's Eve party were all fantastic.  But I was rather focused on what was happening the next day...

The day of the wedding, I woke up with three of my wedding party who'd stayed over with me.  Jen and I giggled in bed after we woke up, Dana went for a job, and Michael ate leftover cheesecake from the New Year's Eve party.  I wasn't all that tired, and I was ready to head on over to the hotel.   I was getting married!

Here's me calling someone - Cassondra, maybe - to mention something to Dave for me.  I hadn't talked to him all day, so I kept making up excuses to have someone talk to him for me.  Heh.

 Dave also getting ready with his brother.  You can see his black Lego cufflinks in this pic.

We had decided long ago to do a "first look" photo shoot before the ceremony.  We didn't want to wait too long between the ceremony and the dinner.  Dave waited for me, while I walked up the hill and tapped him on the shoulder.

This moment was intense. A lot of our shots are of us looking at the ground.  At once we were a little shy and speechless.

 After we had taken some pictures of just the two of us, our wedding party joined in on the chilly (40-degree weather) fun.

The girls.  Dana and Jennifer were my bridesmaids, while Tammy and Cassondra on the right were Dave's groomswomen.  I love this pic.

The entire wedding party.  Yeah, we're full of attitude.

 The boys.  Michael and Manny (my brother) on my side, and Adam (his brother) and Charley on Dave's.  Lots of hotness among our friends!

After being outside, we went back in a took a few more around the hotel.  By that point I was starting to feel truly exhausted.  All of the attention and being on my feet for hours made me want to just run back to my parents' room and sit down for a while... which I did.  No one was around for over an hour, and I did feel a little abandoned.

In the end, though, I was glad I had that alone time with my parents.  They kept me calm and focused - Mom helped me in and out of my shoes again. They were super-cute the entire day.

After all that waiting, it was finally time for the ceremony.  I was so relieved that I didn't have to stand around anymore.  I was beyond ready to party!