Wedding Recap Part 3

Most of the following was written a day or two after the wedding as I recaped the big event for some friends who couldn't get there and were dying for details. I am so glad that I did this right away because I really did forget almost everything that happened. When my photographer sent me the pictures I said a lot of "oh yeah, I forgot about that". It's amazing that the old cliche of it all being a blur is 100% true, and here I was thinking that I had been stopping to savor moments. Below you will find part 3 you can start with part 1 here and part 2 here. 

At some point Katie decided to document the decorations that I created during the 3 month planning process. Starting with the centerpieces for the tables and the flags hanging across the yard.

The picnic basket for gifts and cards, the suitcase for the madlibs our guests filled out and the fingerprint guest book.

Eventually it was decided that it was time for cake, we thought we had everything set up and were ready to go until I looked around and realized I was sans groom. I felt like I might die a little as the crowd started to gather and I stood there alone very much the center of attention. To break my own awful tension I asked for volunteers for substitute grooms for the cake cutting but the Beef magically appeared before anyone stepped forward.

We'd had the "should I smash the cake" discussion before hand and we both said no thank you to getting cake smashed in our face. But I could see the beef wanted to smash cake in my face so I said please no and he asked me if I really wanted to smash cake in his face and I smiled, to which he replied, do what you want, you know they're expecting a show.

So we cut the cake and he picked up a slice and I could see him debating, trying to gage my reaction, before he could make a decision I leaned forward and bit the cake out of his hand because I'm a crafty ninja like that and of course I smashed some cake up in his face because I'm a brat. I did help him clean it off though.

Then it was time for dancing, we got our first dance in (Then by Brad Paisley) which was funny because we had to keep switching the directions we were spinning in as much alcohol had been consumed and someone was getting dizzy. I kept zoning in and out of being painfully aware of the crowd and focused on his face.

Then I danced with my father (I loved her first by Heartland) which turned me into a sobbing, white knuckled mess for a minute until we started chatting away about the world series of beer pong. 

The beef got a dance with his mother and heaven help us, by the next day we had forgotten which song. At this point the Revs  FIL, Greg, decided this was his chance to dance with me which took me by surprise and then he promptly passed me off for a dance with my new FIL.

 And then suddenly the music changed and The Beef and Greg were cutting a rug. They win for best dance moves.

Katie took a few moments to take advantage of our slightly intoxicated calmed nerves and threw us in the woods for a few more couple portraits.

And then came the moment I think my dad had secretly been waiting all day for. The giving of the speeches. I know he'd been working on his for a long time. I requested that there was a microphone present just for this occasion because I suspected he would bring his own if we didn't provide one. The speech he gave was so heartfelt that I was of coursed reduced to tears again and then laugher because he is ever the showman. 

 Up next was my father in law, who might be the coolest person on the face of the planet. He speech was off the cuff but no less special. At one point he had us close our eyes and listen to the crowd roar, it was a really cool moment. 

 And then we were handed the microphone and I tried my best to stay as far away from it as possible because public speaking is my nightmare.  The Beef was nearly as flustered and did his best to say thank you to everyone. I did the only thing I found appropriate at the moment. 

As it does the microphone ended up back in my fathers hands where he was interrupted by The Beef step-father. There is no need to mention what was said because a picture speaks 1000 words.

After that some of the crowd started to clear out and the party got a bit more rowdy. I went inside and changed into my after hours outfit.

To Be Continued...

Honeymoon Recap

We left for our cruise almost 2 weeks after the wedding. I highly recommend this because I was able to get out all my Thank You cards and get everything put away so there was nothing to worry about while we were away. We went on an 8 day Carnival cruise. 

Cruise was fun, but we both had colds so we took a lot of naps and stayed in the room a lot, which really wasn't so bad. 

We started out taking the train down to NYC where the ship was leaving fun. The train ride is always a prime time for couples selfies. 

We arrived at the cruise terminal in what I thought was really good time but ended up having to wait almost three hours until boarding the ship. Apparently the computers were down so all check in was being done manually but they didn't feel like letting anyone in on this information. 

This has us slightly cranky but that all went away when we stepped into our stateroom.

Orange juice is good for colds right? Even if there's vodka?

The second night was the first Notre Dame game of the season so I put on a green dress and headed to the on ship sports bar after dinner. They lost and I pouted.

The third night the Giants were playing the cowboys and I was pumped because they were showing it on the HUGE screen over the pool. But they lost and I pouted.

Our first stop was San Juan. It was awesome in that we found a nearly empty beach and played grab ass in the ocean for a while before heading back to the ship for our afternoon nap.

 One of our issues on the boat was not wanting to spend all of our money at the bar. We bought bottles of vodka on the boat but couldn't find anything decent to mix it in because the juices were gross and the soda cost money. While off the boat we found a store that sold cans of fruit punch. BINGO!

Only left the boat for about an hour in St. Thomas to do some shopping because it went from hot and sunny to cold and rainy every 20 minutes or so and I was hacking up a lung so I wasn't into 

it. We did a ton of souvenir shopping there though. 

 

Once back on the boat I decided to relax on the deck and watch the weather roll in and out of the little cove we were docked in.

Every night we had a fun game where when we got back to our stateroom post turn down service it was a race to see if I could get to the towel animal to take a picture before The Beef punched it across the room. 

Went on an ATV tour in Grand Turk which was fun and super pretty, we also hit margaritaville like a freight train.

And here's a random assortment of pictures from the rest of our trip.

Having been on Royal Carribean's ships as well as Princess this was my first time on Carnival and I wasn't overly impressed, though it didn't diminish my fun.

When we arrived home we had to face the fact that The Beef was not allowed to wear his wedding ring to work so he fixed that issue. 

I always said I wouldn't consider marrying someone who wasn't in it for the long haul, all too often people seem to think of marriage as temporary, I'd say getting a tattoo is a pretty good indication he's sticking around.  :)