Wedding Recap: The Morning Of

Happy Tuesday friends!

Thanks for joining me for another step on our wedding day journey. 

As mentioned last time...I didn't sleep the night before. Seth on the other hand, slept 8+ hours with his hands behind his head and legs crossed like he was relaxing in the sun!

The nerves started to set in as soon as we got to the hotel. There had been so much activity, so much running around, and so little time to actually spend time with Seth. I know it seems silly to want to spend time with him right before the wedding, but at that point he had been living in Gilroy for a month and I only got to see him on the weekends! 

I was lucky to have my girls with me that night, that is for sure! I gave the girls their bridesmaid gifts and we all attempted to hit the hay around 11:00. Melissa, Ashley, and I decided it would be fun to share the King size bed...but us sharing a room never comes without shenanigans. Shenanigans and tears in this case, these sweet girls prayed for me and asked Jesus to calm my anxious heart. 

These are some of the moments I could never forget, not even if I tried.

After about two hours of tossing and turning. I decided that sleeping was a lost cause..and that I was certainly wasting my time even trying! I fumbled around the hotel room for a while, I made sure the slideshow was perfect, I took a bath, and I spent a few hours in the lobby drinking the free coffee! I seriously couldn't wait for 6:00am to roll around, hoping someone would be up!  

It definitely took a while for everyone to wake up, and everyone was shocked that I didn't sleep! It started showing on my face soon enough though. My cheeks were puffy, my eyes tired looking, and I was starting to get irritable. Uh oh.

Luckily, my mama showed with champagne and juice. Champagne can make even the tiredest of brides feel better. 

The hair and makeup promptly started at 9am. Andrea started on each of the bridesmaids hair, and Janet arrived to do mine.  I had been growing my hair out for four whole years for this very day, and I'm so glad I did.

I thought about dying my hair dark before the wedding, thinking I would regret later having so many highlights. To be honest, I wish I had indeed made my hair all one color before the wedding, but I obviously can't go back and change that now!

What bothers me the most is the orangey tone of my hair in all of the pictures. Oh well!

 I got a little cat nap while Janet curled my hair, which took a ridiculous amount of time considering all of the hair spray...I won't tell you how long I had to scrub my hair after the wedding, you'd be so shocked you might fall out of your chair. 

Let's talk about wedding hair for a second. Because I had grown it out for so many years, it needed to be perfect. 

I had initially wanted my hair to be big loose curls, with the top pinned back so it wasn't in the way. I eventually got something that I liked, but I started panicking when I looked in the mirror and felt like Shirley Temple. I totally understand the need for using un-Godly amounts of hairspray to make it hold for the whole day, but it felt like...glue. 

I ended up pulling at it most of the day trying to get it to come down, it was just so tight! My hairdresser used a 1 inch wand, which I regret asking her to do. Wands make for really tight curls that taper and get smaller at the end. Oh well, it ended up being just right. My hair feel just past the top of my wedding dress, had it have fallen any lower it would have taken away from the ruching on the top of my dress!

It was 12:00 before we knew it. It was time to pack up, get in the limo, and head to the winery!

Nerves started at this point even worse than ever. Even though no one knew this was bothersome at all, I loathed when people would ask "are you doing ok?" -- or any form of that question. After a mini break down in the bathroom, we all agreed to not ask any form of that question for the rest of the day! I was getting married, yes I was very excited, but also so very nervous!!

The car ride was nothing short of exciting. The road was super windy and we were all getting pumped up. The girls blasted the radio, requested my white girl dancing, and took pictures of their wedding shoes. 

I tried my best to stay calm when we got to the winery, but that was pretty darn difficult.

Put 8 or 9 ladies in a room, full of nerves, and full of crazy...you can bet I was stressed out. 

By the time we arrived we only had about 2.5 hours to finish getting ready. I really wish that the venue would have let us arrive earlier. One makeup artist for 7 women in 2.5 hours + the bride? Not everyone got full attention, I started freaking out because I didn't initially like my makeup, and it quickly became a mess. 

But, I did my best to keep in perspective what was happening that day. I was marrying Seth, and all of the hard work and effort we had put in the past seven months was finally coming to fruition. That thought kept me going. 

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Now, wasn't that a nice emotional roller coaster?

phew. 

I was biting my lip all over again just typing it out. 

Next time I will cover  the ceremony!

This wedding really was a labor of love, and I'm so glad that all of the little details were photographed and the special moments captured.

Until then,