Here are my favorite moments from the wedding day. They are not in any exact order... At first I tried to keep everything in a timeline of how it happened, but the pictures were too scrabbled around so I ended up just adding them to the blog as I found them.
One of my favorite moments from the day was when I was walking towards Cody to do our first look. He was standing with his back turned to me, and I came out and I saw him there. I had a butterfly feeling when I saw him and I almost got teary eyed seeing him for the first time. It was so exciting walking down the path to tap him on the shoulder. I can't wait to see those pictures from Carol. I loved that we did our pictures before the ceremony. We had so much time with each other throughout the day and I never felt rushed during our pictures. Also we got to have some private time and were able to talk more throughout the day. I would absolutely recommend doing a first look to anyone!
I loved that we were able to touch up my curls before the ceremony. After taking pictures and being outside for a few hours my curls were really almost gone. When we first came in we were all asking if anyone had an iron and no one replied. About 10 minutes before the wedding I looked at my hair again and I said "I really wish someone would have thought to bring a curling iron" and my cousin was like "Oh I have one..." And we were all like they didn't you say so before? And she said that she thought I meant an iron before not a curling iron. We all sprang into action and got it going. Sam started to re-curl parts of my hair and I instantly felt so much more confident and it was so relieving to have my hair fixed!
Another favorite part of the day was walking down the aisle. It is so exciting and such a happy feeling. I loved seeing Cody at the end of the aisle.
When we were pronounced husband and wife and were allowed to kiss for the first time. It's kind of odd to say, but I forgot that there were a hundred people watching us as we kissed. To me it felt like it was just us.
After the ceremony we were taking pictures and I loved when everyone in the crowd started to call and wave at Eric all at the same time.
I loved that Cody popped into the bridal room about 15 minutes before the ceremony. I wasn't expecting him and I was pleasantly surprised to see him. I also loved that we got to pratice our first kiss. :)
I loved that Cody and I got our hotel room the night before and that we had a suite for all of the girls to get ready. The space worked perfectly and was very well set up for getting ready. I also loved when my photographer told us that they guys had arrived and they were setting up for our first look. I loved when I walked down and all of my bridesmaids were there to get to see us see each other for the first time. Also I love this picture and how beautiful the blues look, and how perfect the flowers went with the dresses!
I loved our ride in the limo! A-1 Limo was something that we debated on whether or not it was worth the money, but they were FANTASTIC! The limo driver took such good care of us all throughout the day. He held onto my train for me and helped me sit down and stand up every single time we got in or out of the limo. They straightened Cody's tie a few times and they had a good sense of humor. It was a great day in the limo. It was funny how SUPER paranoid that I was that I was going to spill a drink on myself during the limo ride. You can see how I was holding my drink... consequently I think everyone had a lot more drinks than me.
I love this picture... but I can't wait to see our professional pictures. It was such a gorgeous day for our wedding. I think that our wedding day was one of the nicest days of the year. We had so much fun getting our pictures taken by Carol. She is such a sweet lady and our time literally flew by as we took our pictures. I couldn't believe it when an hour had gone by and we were already bringing out the bridal party. Of course they had all been doing some shots and drinking on the limo for an hour so they were all pretty funny coming out. We had one picture where everyone jumped into the air, and it was hilarious how much everyone got into it. Carol kept saying "Wow it's amazing to get that kind of participation in this picture usually groups don't get into it that much." Of course, I couldn't really jump that much but I can't wait to see those pictures.
In the past I have found slow dances to be kind of awkward but I really liked our first dance. We talked about the day and whether or not we were enjoying ourselves. My favorite part of the dance was the first time that Cody spun me around 3 times in a row. I wasn't expecting him to do it and I was kind of giggly afterwards. After that we started planning things to do. He was like "Ok... I'm going to spin you and then you spin me." Then towards the end he said he was going to spin me 3 more times again.
I didn't really get to see what the hall looked like until really after our first dance. But I absolutely loved our up-lighting and the table cloth on the head table. I also liked how our other tables came out too. I think that our blue overlays looked really good on the tables. After all of that planning and worrying it was really exciting to see how it all turned out.
My slideshow! I spent soooo much time working on it! When we got there Cody and I were trying to get someone to set it up for us and no one would. Cody knew how important that it was to me so he snuck in to set it up. It was such a good feeling to know that he knew how much it meant to me, and that he made sure that it got set up. My husband taking good care of me! :) I loved watching people watch the slideshow throughout dinner and many people commented to me that they liked it. :)
I usually have to beg Cody to dance with me at weddings and then usually he'll only dance to slow songs or when he is extremely drunk. I was so THRILLED that he danced with me the entire night at our wedding!! We had SO much fun together. I loved dancing and twirling and being silly with him all night.
I couldn't believe what a little show off Cody was being throughout the night. People clinked for us to kiss and he wouldn't kiss until everyone was cheering and clinking. I thought it was hilarious. Then when we were cutting our cake he had to make it look like he was going to slam the cake in my face. I kind of knew that he wasn't because someone told him to do it earlier in the day. Someone said "Yeah if you slam it right into her face it'll go up into her nose and take a week to get out." Cody shook his head and dead seriously had said, "Phew that would be a really long week." And of course I jumped right in and was like "You better bet that would be a long week for you!"
But I won't lie... he had me going... I was a little nervous he was going to do it. The DJ told me that I should put some cake into my hand just encase and I was like absolutely... I had a giant piece of frosting in my hand at the ready. But thankfully in the end it was just a show and he only tapped a little frosting on my nose... the goof.
I loved how excited the kids were throughout the whole day. I loved presenting Kelsie with her wedding jewelry. She was so excited and happy. The kids had fun in the limo too. They were also hilarious at the reception. There was one point when Davey was breaking it down on the dance floor and everyone came out to watch. The DJ said that the ring bearer was throwing down a challenge for anyone else... then Kelsie comes out and starts breaking out all of her dance moves! It was great! Everyone was cheering for her and it was too cute. When the song ended the DJ said that it was official that everyone got schooled by the flower girl and ring bearer.
The most PERFECT part of the reception was Sam catching the bouquet! I have the video of it that I watched... she volleyball jumped into the air and caught it. Sam is 16 and Cody's cousin is 18 and lives in North Ridgeville. I remember at my bridal shower I asked her if she knew him... and she couldn't believe that he was Cody's cousin. Now Sam has a boyfriend, but she was a little giggly about Dane and how cute he is. So of course it was perfect when Dane caught the garter!!! When I watched the video and saw her reaction in the background when he caught it... it was priceless! The DJ turned to me and asked if he should put it on her leg and I nodded my head and said absolutely! I got a chair and patted it for her to sit down on. Dane didn't know what to do so the DJ told him that he had to dance around her... so he does this funny dance in front of her. Then he starts to put the garter on her and Cody runs over and tells him that he has to do the part above her knee with his teeth. Dane was like "Oh really? Alright I'll do it..." Sam must have heard because she pulled the garter all the way up and stood up. Haha! But it was just too perfect! I was praying that Dane would be the one to catch it! Later on Sam said she was sad that they didn't have a slow dance. So Kelsie heard and told Sam to walk over by him. She told Evan that she wanted to dance with him and that Dane shouldn't sit there alone... and oh look... Sam happened to be right there. So Sam and Dane started dancing and then Kelsie told Evan that she didn't really want to dance. It was too funny... what a little match maker.
I loved dancing at the wedding... I knew that the twist was Aunt Dar's song so when I heard it come on I had to find her to dance with her.
Becky arraigned to get a cousin picture taken! I asked where Jacqueline was and someone said she had to leave to check on Maxwell...
But I guess they were wrong because by the end of the reception she was back and Becky was lining us up again. Cody was just getting ready to take off his vest and I was like nope... get it back on babe... geeks get two!
One of my favorite parts of the night was our father daughter dance. I hadn't cried during the whole wedding ceremony until our dance. Dad and I had been planning this dance for so many years and we were talking about growing up and everything that we've done together. Dad kept saying how happy and proud he was, and I kept having to tell him to not make me cry.
Well that went out the window at the end of the song when he handed me this butterfly key chain. It was so beautiful and I wasn't expecting it at all.
The engraving said kisses forever love Daddy. How special and wonderful can you get? I instantly had tears in my eyes. I showed everyone and I don't think that there was a dry eye in the house. I had to walk away and collect myself to keep from ruining my makeup. I think that I ended up missing all of Cody and Deb's dance.
Towards the end of the night Aunt Dar thought to request Rocky Top Tennessee for Grandma Barb. The whole family got up and danced to it. I thought it was a lot of fun and was nice.
This picture was hilarious! Becky had her phone out and she needed to flip the camera to take a picture of us. Matthew said that he would help... and they both had their hands on the camera. And then we were waiting... and waiting... and then Matthew finally yelled "Take the picture!!!" And Becky was like "Oh I thought you were!" We all cracked up and it was too funny! I like how the picture came out though!
I was impressed with Cody's grandma. She was there all night long and was dancing with us at the last song of the night... which was fittingly "Sweet Caroline."
One of the parts that made me the most proud and happy was at the very end of the night when our vendors started to ask for their payments. I had asked Cody soooo many times for years leading up to our wedding not to get too drunk and he would never agree to it. Towards the end of the night he was on the verge of being too drunk, but he listened to me and stopped drinking about an hour before the reception was over. He switched to water and started eating pizza. I watched him across the hall talking with the DJ and handling writing the check to them and I was so thankful and relieved that he listened to my request to sober up some. Watching him help handle some of that stuff really made the night perfect for me.
Another part that was shockingly wonderful was our drive to our hotel room. Cody was in the back seat and he was talking about some of his favorite moments from the night and I was just quietly listening to him but I loved hearing him reflect on his favorite moments of the night. That is actually what inspired me to write this blog with my favorite moments from the night. I've been begging Cody to write a blog about his favorite moments in his perspective too... and he hasn't said no but he hasn't done it yet. He said he'd do it but he feels a little embarrassed and he doesn't want me to post a link to his post on Facebook... and I told him that I wouldn't. It'll just be in the blog and people will have to figure out how to find it for their self if they want to read it.
As soon as we got to our hotel room I told Cody that I wanted out of my dress RIGHT NOW! Ahhh... I guess the saying is true pain is beauty... I loved how the dress looked but it was pretty tight and got uncomfortable towards the end of the night. On the car ride home I just wanted to be out of the dress already. So we get back int our room and in the picture above you can see how the corset was braided. Cody was like... "Oh my god... how do I do this?" I told him he had to unbustle the dress and then pull the strings that were tucked in out, and then I told him he had to unbraid the dress. He was like "I feel like I'm doing a Survivor challenge." He started undoing it and he had to start at the bottom and you can see how small it was at the bottom. He was like I can hear Jeff Provst saying you gotta move quickly... you have to dig deep!" It was pretty funny. As he got to the top he was like "Ohhh yeah I got it now... look at all that progress...woo I'm doing great." Then he gets to the end and tries to help me out and it was still just as tight as before, and he was like... what the hell!?!? I looked in the mirror and he had only unbraided one of the two strings. And he was like "Oh my god... you mean I have to do all of that again on the other side???" And I was like, "YES! And come ooooon.... " I finally got out of the dress and we were both laughing. Then I had to help him get out of his clip on tie and I couldn't find the clip, and he was like "Are you kidding me??"
Right after that we went through all of our cards together. He would open one and then I would. We were both so dead tired, but it was still fun going through it together.
Overall, I know that it sounds really cliche but it really was the best day of my life. Everything seemed to go so well and we both had so much fun at the wedding. I couldn't pick out just one favorite moment... because I loved so many parts of the day. I loved how long our reception was and I'm glad that we got to spend so much time together throughout the day. I hope you enjoyed my blog reflecting on my favorite moments of the day.
