Finally! The Post! (it's really long, beware)

Alright so basically the Friday before the wedding was a complete gong show. First we find out that Jason's best man's tuxedo may or may not arrive by Saturday afternoon. (Wedding was scheduled for 1:30) Apparently it had been sent mistakenly to Kelowna... You know, Kelowna, Coquitlam... I guess they're easy to mix up? They both start with a "K" sound... So they put that tuxedo onto a Greyhound, and they also contacted their head office in Toronto and had one shipped from there. Either way, at that point it still wasn't clear if it would be there or not.

Meanwhile, on the bride's end of things, the decorator/rental lady we were renting dishes, cutlery, and table linens from had not sent her the invoice, despite multiple emails requesting this. These emails were typically responded to with something like "I have down that you wanted cloth napkins, do you still want these?" Well hmm... let me think about that, if you have it down, then YES! Anyways, so finally we get the invoice emailed so that we can write her a cheque for that day when she was to drop off all the items (Because having her set them up and take them down is a whole lot more money) When I got the invoice, I burst into tears... It was more than double her quote. Turns out she didn't even quote us a whole lot of what we'd already talked about when we met at my house in April. Yes, 4 months in advance, and she had the nerve to say "we shouldn't have left it to the last minute" Last minute?!? She was the one who wouldn't reply to my messages. Gahh.. Anyways, advice to future event planners: Ask me for her name and DON'T EVER USE HER...

So while I sat outside and bauled, my mom was yelling at her on the phone, trying to make sense of the quote vs. the invoice. It ended up that we had to cut the cloth napkins, we were going to have no mugs (because neither the quote nor the invoice had them, although she put on both of these "coffee spoons"), and we would have no beautiful brown table runners with smaller champagne runners that we painstakingly picked out in April. Still outside on the bench at my moms, I remember thinking I wasn't supposed to be this sad the day before my wedding... My sister came out and actually gave me a hug (she's not all that outwardly affectionate). That's when she offered to sew table runners if we could find some fabric. Off we went to the fabric store... We checked out the clearance section and lo and behold there was some chocolate brown fabric - enough for a bunch of smaller table runners (we decided on smaller ones for ease of sewing) All in all it was much cheaper than renting! That night my sister became my hero, she sewed about 12 table runners until 2:30 or 3 in the morning, and got up at 7 on Wedding Day and sewed the remaining 8 that morning.
Here's Jocelyn sewing so happily...

And here's Erin cutting out fabric all night...

And of course my Heather, overtired and way too enthusiastic for this picture...


They looked beautiful, it was unbelievable. Which leads me to the other behind the scenes happenings! Lindsey and Mike, two of the greatest decorators I know, worked tirelessly to decorate the hall for the reception. It looked absolutely amazing, and I am truly honored to have friends like them that would work that hard to make our special day that much more beautiful.

Here are the table runners in action!

And here's Martha and "Hard-workin" Hemmerling...


As you can see, I had hot hot people involved...

So after the crazy night of sewing, there was a crazy day full of fun. I could add a lot of pictures but I think I'm going to save some for when I get my professional pictures back. I will add a few though, because a) I know everyone is just dying to see them (yeah right haha) and b) I just like looking at them!

Anyways, the day went so quickly! Before I knew it my hair was done and I was putting my dress on... Here's a great pic of my mom helping me get ready...

After I was all tightened up and ready to go it was time for a mamosa toast with the girls. But not before a quick drink to calm my nerves...

Meanwhile, the groom and his boyz were all washing cars and getting the 2 lifted Samurai's looking pretty with pink and white flowers. I will add that picture soon or at least direct you to that pic on a website once I get them all uploaded... But for now you just picture that in your mind if you weren't there.
I remember standing outside the church auditorium in a line with the girls in front of me. My heart was pounding as I heard the music start, sending the cue to the grandparents and Jason's parents to head down the aisle. My mom was on my right, and my dad was on my left, I had my arms in theirs. My dad was telling me I looked "radiant" among other things and I had to tell him to stop or I would be a complete mess. It was all I could do not to cry. I heard Jason's funky music start (The song from Napoleon Dynamite where Uncle Rico first appears... It's fantastic!) and I knew it was almost time. The girls were each sent down the aisle, looking gorgeous. Then the music faded, and Norah Jones started (Love Me Tender was the song) Then I started down the aisle. I was looking at Jason the whole time but it felt like I was spinning. I was so nervous. I remember breathing in gasps, because I was seconds away from sobbing uncontrollably. Everything went wonderfully... We had our first communion together, which was a great moment to reflect and thank God for bringing us together... Then when we were lighting the candles and signing the registry, my dad, Jocelyn, and Heather sang "Your Everything" by Keith Urban, as planned. When that finished, my dad announced that he had a "special gift" for us, and he and Jocelyn sang a song my dad wrote called "Soul to Soul". He framed it for us and it's hanging in our house.

Finally the time came for us to seal the marriage with a kiss. Jason apparently had forgotten our conversation about this step so as he leaned forward to kiss me, I said "oh just a second" and Erin went behind our beautiful forest foliage backdrop and produced a stepping stool. I stood on this to kiss him (we never usually kiss on level ground anyways, he's just way too tall) and I swear it was the talk of the day...


Then it was picture time... as I said, I'll post a link or something to these when I get them. It was a crazy busy time, but somehow I managed to get a bit of meditation in... some quiet time...


All in all it was a fantastic day (though I was rather relieved when it was over, I was exhausted) and what's even more exciting is that now I have a husband who I love more than anything. I'm so excited to grow together, and for all the adventures we get to share together.