One year ago today, I married my wonderful hubby, Blake! I can't believe it's been a year already, wow! Where has the time gone?
I've seen this on a few blogs and thought it would be perfect way for my first posting in awhile!
Wedding ABCs
Attending
We had about 175-180 guests total, plus my Kindergarten students and their families for the ceremony and mini-reception.
Bridesmaids
I
had 4 total- my sister was my maid of honor. Audra's a friend from
childhood, Megan is a friend from high school and Kate is a friend from
work/"adulthood." I had a great time with them all; I'm so glad I had a
smaller bridal party.
Cake
Simple but I really liked it. We
I ordered a custom cake topper off Etsy. She customized it to my dress
and flowers. Blake was wearing a Virginia Tech football jersey and I
had little Penn State football in front of me. I absolutely love it-
it's in our living room as I type!
Dress
I
love my dress. It was the second or third one I tried on and fell in
love with it. I think I loved it because the color was a little
different than many of the other ones I tried on.
Engagement
Blake proposed to me on Friday, February 20th! It was perfect and I was completely surprised. You can read more about that here.
Flowers
I
chose a variety of flowers in pinks and whites to use in both my
bouquet and my bridesmaids. I was so happy with how they turned out!
Groomsmen
Blake
had 6 groomsmen so we were a little imbalanced, two girls had to walk
down with 2 men! He had his brother as his best man, my brother, 3
childhood friends and one college. They look so handsome!
Honeymoon
We went to St. Lucia and stayed at one of their Sandals resorts. It was fabulous! You can read about it here.
Invitations
We
had pocket folds, very simple and we designed them ourselves, had them
printed and put them together. Kate came over to help me assemble and
address them too!
Justice of the Peace
In
our case, this means a priest because we were married in a Catholic
Church- the church I grew up in. We had some drama with our priest.
Originally, the priest who married my parents and my aunt and uncle was
going to marry us. But about a month and a half before we got married,
he had to have surgery and called me because he wasn't going to be able
to marry us :( He's fine now though! So, we went with a parish priest,
Father Joe.
Keepsakes
We
didn't do favors but our guest book was a book I made of engagement
pictures that people wrote messages in and gave advice in. I love
looking through it!
Ladies Night
We all met at Kate's house, went out to dinner and then out in Bethesda. It was so fun!
Music
Very
traditional for the ceremony. Our first dance was Sarah Evans, "I
Could Not Ask For More". My Dad and I danced to Tim McGraw's "My Little
Girl" and Blake and his mom danced to "Wind Beneath My Wings."
Newlyweds
Old, new, something blue, something borrowed
My old and something
borrowed was my grandmother's rosary. I had the florist wrap it around
my bouquet and I love that I carried it down the aisle. My dress was
my something new and my something blue was my undies and my garter.
Photography
My photographer was Exclamation Imagery and almost all of pictures from this posting came from her!
Question Popping
I
love how emotional both Blake and I were during the proposal- something
I will always remember, even if I can't remember the exact wording of
everything. I think I was too overwhelmed and excited to concentrate on
what he was saying!
Reception
We had our reception at Martin's Crosswinds in Greenbelt.
Shoes
I
had a little bit of a hard time finding shoes since my dress was a
little darker than white or ivory. I randomly found them at Kohls and
then added the "I Do" to the bottom!
Trash the Dress
No way!
Unique
I'm a Kindergarten
teacher and I invited my Kindergarten class to the ceremony and then to a
little cookie and tea reception after the ceremony. We also went to a playground to get pictures of the bridal party!
Vows
We did traditional vows, probably the most intense and spectacular moment of my life so far!
Wedding Woes
It
rained for pretty much the whole morning and then as we were getting
ready to leave for the church, it stopped raining and the sun peeked
through the clouds as we were getting out of the limo to the church!
X-rated
No way!
Young Kids
Only my kindergarteners and families, it was an adults-only reception. We didn't have any flower girls or ring bearers.
Zzzzs
We
were both exhausted by the end of the night! We had about 30 minutes
in between when we arrived and the reception started. I was exhausted
at this point! Blake got me a cup of coffee and I was good for the rest
of the night!
