Wedding Recap: Getting Ready

Last night after receiving a disk of images from our wedding from our photographer in the mail, all I wanted to do was blog, blog, blog about our special day.

I’ve been waiting for the pictures for five weeks (not long by wedding photography standards) and have SO much I’ve been longing to share with you!

I’ve decided to break my wedding recap up into a few posts, so let’s get started with post numero uno… the “Getting Ready” post!

Those of you who were following my blog on our wedding day know that I wasn’t exactly in top form on the day I was to say “I do.” The Thursday before our big day, I was puking non-stop, and then I woke up the day before our wedding with a crusty pink eye.

A visit to an emergency care clinic informed me that I had pink eye, but my bridesmaid Michaela, who is in her final year of optometry school, said that it looked more like a virus that likely traveled to my eye. I didn’t know viruses could do that, but apparently they’re mobile little buggers. 

Equipped with antibiotic eye drops and anti-nausea medication, I was ready to get married!

I woke up at 6:45 a.m. on the morning of our wedding to give myself time to shower, assemble my bridesmaid gifts and pack a bag for the wedding night. My mom, sister and I met my bridesmaids at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club to get ready at 8 a.m.

We had one lady to do all of our hair and one lady to do all of our make up and rotated around until we were all done. I was second to last for both. How beautiful is my sister?

She gets her beauty from our mama. 😀

As I waited for my turn, I was surprised at just how calm I felt.

I wasn’t nervous. I was ready. Ready to walk down the aisle. Ready to see Ryan. Ready to be married.

I think feeling so sick two days before our wedding and praying to simply be healthy enough to walk down the aisle helped put things into perspective and made me realize that flowers, dresses and logistics are not important in the long run.

I told my family and my bridesmaids that all I wanted was to be physically well enough to walk down the aisle and become Ryan’s wife.

While everyone got their hair and makeup done, we had quite a few friends and family stop by, which was wonderful. I loved having our room open to others and spending such an exciting time with not only my immediate family and my bridesmaids, but some of my best friends from college, my aunts and my grandma as well, was amazing. 

I will forever cherish the time I spent on my wedding day simply talking with my bridesmaids. I’ve known four of my bridesmaids since elementary school and they live several hundred miles away, so having them there to support me meant the world.

During the time spent getting ready, Ryan and I also exchanged our wedding gifts to each other. Though we didn’t see each other before we walked down the aisle, we had my dad and one of Ryan’s groomsmen deliver the gifts for us. We both surprised each other with a watch! Apparently we were on the same page. (You may see a close-up of my watch here. Love it.)

Before I knew it, my turn with the hair and make up ladies arrived. I was nervous about how it would go, as I wear minimal makeup and didn’t want to feel like a clown. Plus, Ryan prefers me without makeup, and I didn’t want him thinking Bozo was walking down the aisle to become his wife!

Let’s just say that once my makeup was done, I wasn’t overjoyed with the result. I felt a little flustered and went into the bathroom to “fix it.” My bridesmaids and sister did an amazing job of helping me feel a million times better and assured me that I looked like myself. (Note to future brides: Be 100 percent satisfied with your makeup trial or find someone else. If I could go back I actually would have done my own makeup, though it ended up okay in the end.)

It was at the end of the makeup drama that my dad arrived. He couldn’t have come at a better time.

He made me laugh and told me I looked beautiful. I finally felt beautiful.

My mom, sister, dad and I then shared a private moment in the hall that I’m so grateful our photographer captured. We were telling my mother how amazing she looked.

If I remember how one person looked on the day of my wedding other than Ryan, it will be my mother. When she walked out in her dress, my sister and I started crying. Tears filled our eyes because we couldn’t help but think about how far she’s come in the past two years in her fight against breast cancer. It was such an overwhelming moment and I will always treasure that memory and the intense gratitude I felt for being able to share my wedding day with my mother.

And then it was time for me to slip into my dress. I wore an ivory James Clifford strapless gown with a sweetheart neckline. The dress had a scalloped re-embroidered lace bodice with an Empire waistline, matching scalloped lace hemline and a chapel length train. The dress itself had a mermaid silhouette, but I had the hips taken out a bit to give it an A-line shape.

My “something old” was sewn into my dress. My mom and sister surprised me with a piece of my mother’s wedding dress embroidered with my initials and wedding date in baby blue (my “something blue”). My mother sewed it into my dress on the spot.

My “something borrowed” was my sister’s delicate pearl bracelet.  My mom and sister helped me into my gown and I could feel the excitement rush through my body. I was about to get married!!!

After slipping on my blush pink wedding shoes, fastening my veil and and pulling up my garter, I was ready to walk down the aisle.

To be continued…

(All photos courtesy of the amazing Gina Leigh.)