Wedding Part 4: Pomp & Ceremony

Hello friends!  I'll give you 1 guess as to what today's story is about.  If you guessed the ceremony... you are correct.  It looks like someone has been watching some chick flicks!  So, on to the ceremony. 

We arrived via party bus (english translation: hotel shuttle) to at the Bell Tower at about 4:00 pm.  Our fabulous (hired) photographer, Nicole Chatham, was slated to arrive at about 4:30 which left us approximately 30 minutes to kill.  Now, when Modern Family is on, thirty minutes just flies by.  However, that afternoon it felt like an eternity to me... and apparently also to Chelsea as she must have asked 20 times, "Wait, so when do you put your dress on again?" (Love you Chels). 

What is a group of girls to do with 30 free minutes?  Why force Shawna into an impromptu photo shoot.  Duh.  We all enjoyed watching Shawna take amazing pictures of everyone on the vampy couch in the bridal suite, partook in a little 5 hour energy consumption (was that just me?) and tried to check out the reception set up while dodging the boys who kept going to and from the bar.

Oh-la-la

Get it giiiiiiirl.

She came bearing gifts.

Their mothers taught them that it's rude to turn down gifts.

It helped pass the time in pre-school... why not now?

Hottest bridesmaids ever.  Dare you to disagree. 

Would you turn down a program from these ladies?  I think not.

EVERYBODY!  (Please read in your head to the opening of the BSB song)

At some point in this 30 minutes Jen took Ryan the card I wrote him and returned with the card he wrote.  For those of you who know Ryan, or who just read this blog, you may have gathered that he considers "emotions" and "communication" 4 letter words.  I expected him to write a short, sweet, funny card.  I was pleasantly shocked to receive the most heartfelt, tear-jerker of a card I have ever,  or will ever, receive in my life.  Kudos to you Ryan Martin for making me cry all my make up off.

Lumberjack casual is the new white.

My favorite author

So, maybe not all tears.

Watching me cry is funny.

After that it was go-time.  We got that big ol' dress on me with what I hope was a few shades under the level of flashing demonstrated by Britney, Lindsay and Paris. 

What are sisters for if not crocheting one's behind?

Cinderella had birds.  Per my Mom's HS yearbook, she sings like one- so this is pretty much the same.  (Inside joke coming at ya, Dad)

Thanks Tiffy!

Ta-da.

My beautiful Mamacita

Ryan and I chose to do a first look, which in my case would be more aptly named a first bawl.  I cried pretty much the whole time.  I reallllly pushed that make up's staying power to the limit.  After I got myself straightened up, we did a little mini photo shoot.

He cleans up pretty well.

I am so sneaky.

Let's hug it out.

Adding a little personal touch to my bouquet.  In the form of mascara.

So, does this come with some type of warranty or...?

There we are.

Nicole: Look passionate.  Ryan: I have never done that in my life.

I just think he's so handsome.

We are so good at walking.

Next,  we called out our hottie bridal party and continued to share the Olan Mills love with all.  These guys are seriously good looking,  huh?

The whole gang (minus JT).

All the ladies.

Greatest moment of Ryan's life.

Greatest moment of Austin's life? (JK Shawna)

Studs.

THEN it was finally time to get back to our respective suites to get ready for the big show.  All of our beloved parents & grandparents were seated.  The handsome dudes filed in down the aisle.  Hottie ladies walked down the aisle.  Precious Ava ran to Kara down the aisle and then, all of a sudden it was just me and Daddio standing behind huuuuuge wooden doors.  (Oh, and Ramon and Blake- heeeeey boys).   I wish I could fit all of my emotions and thoughts into one succinct sentence but I really can't.  I was 12 parts excited to finally marry the BFF, 5 parts terrified of having 167 sets of eyes on me, 12 parts overwhelmingly humbled by all the love and support I felt behind those sanctuary doors and 1 part questioning whether I needed more coffee.  (I'm not sure how many parts there should be here).

I'd be skeptical of whatever Blake & Dad were telling me too.

Me & Daddio.

After I basically ran down the aisle, we repeated the same meaningful words that millions before us have for centuries... with a few minor exceptions.  At one point while trying to juggle choking back tears (poorly) and reciting the vows, I informed our Pastor Thomasson that there were just a lot of words.  Not long after as the volume of my sobs increased, Ryan told me, and everyone in the first 5 rows, "It's okay- it won't be that bad."  It was short, sweet and perfectly us.  I could not have asked for anything else.

First stop: Altar.

I like the artsyness of this picture.

With this ring, I thee agree to a lifetime of watching House Hunters with you.

Get a room.

Mr. & Mrs. Daddy Long Legs.

And THAT is how I became Mrs. Ryan Martin. (Stay tuned for reception and detail posts... I just may have a picture of you teaching people how to dougie).

Wedding Part 3: Glamification

In an attempt to make the morning of July 9th as calm as humanly possible for everyone in the wedding, I arranged for our hair & make up people to come to our hotel to turn us into glamazons.  I rented a suite, bought a little food spread and we got down to the business of beautification. 

We spent the pre-wedding hours of 9-3:30 lounging, trying (and failing) to take pictures of the TV screen when "Martin-Boarman Nuptials" popped up, jamming to some questionable Pandora stations, rehashing Caitlin B's The-Lion-The-Witch-And-The-Wardrobe-meets-Bridezillas dream, posing for "emotional" pictures and waxing philosophic on the latest celeb news. 

It was absolutely the perfect way to  begin the best day of my life.  Thank you to all of you who came and helped me to stay relaxed and excited.  Thank you also to JuJuBee and Mamacita who helped me shop for our little brunch spread.  Lastly, big thanks to Shawna for taking pictures.... and unknowingly letting me hi-jack them for this post.

Nourishment

Shawna & Julie on their way to curl faux hawks.  Very Fall 2011.

TiffyPants

Mom & Jen getting their curl on.

A 5 Hour Energy sponsored event.

Caitlin is thrilled to know there's no laundry shute in the closet.

Not pictured:  Julie fake crying

Going to the chapel and we're gonna get maaaaaarriiiiiied.

Wedding Part 2: Dress Rehearsal

Today's anecdote is of the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Ryan and I's rehearsal was at 3:00 pm on July 8th at our wedding venue and our rehearsal dinner follwed at 6:30 pm at Cadillac Bar. I should take a minute to thank everyone for making it. I know it agitated people's work days, not to mention sweat glands, and we're sincerely appreciative that you all were there.

The rehearsal itself was fairly uneventful. While practicing walking down the aisle Ryan did not practice shooting finger guns into the audience as he threated, which I think we all breathed a sigh of relief about. I am sure something funny happened but I can't remember it. I would say that is probably in everyone's best interest for a rehearsal. Especially given the speech Pastor Thomasson gave us about ensuring that no one was "doped up."

After the rehearsal my Mom, Julie and I ran to the store to grab a few food items for pre-wedding beautification the next day. I also requested a coffee break because I was yawning which apparently doesn't look good when at one's own wedding events. By the time we arrived at Cadillac Bar, a large quadrant of our wedding party had already gotten the party started, evidencing why we love them so dearly.

The rehearsal dinner itself went perfectly and it was so wonderful to have so many important people from different facets of our lives all in one place getting to know eachother. Nothing brings people together like a few beverages, some good fajitas and some bad pictures of little Amy and little Ryan. My darling sister put together an absolutely wonderful slideshow of pictures of us. For those of you wondering, Ryan actually did select Mariah Carey on his own.

I once again proved that even when I think there's no chance I'm going to cry- I am wrong. Ryan and I discussed how he would say his thank you piece and then I would say mine. It went something like this...

Ryan: Thank you to ______ for _______. Joke. Thank you to ______ for _______. More thankfulness. More thankfulness. Joke. More thankfulness. And now I'm going to let Amy say a few words.
Amy: I just want to say thank you all for being here today. I know some of you came a really long w... *unintelligble sobbing*

So, that went well clearly. Overall, it was an absolutely wonderful night- one that I'll never forget. Afterall, it's not often that one of your MOHs, who shall remain nameless, tries to eat cake with a knife. It's also not often you get to see my Aunt Jan demonstrating how to make sure you don't have any lipstick on your teeth. I will not describe this because this is a family site, but ask me next time you see me how that little trick works. Thank you to each and every one of you for making it out and for giving up your Friday night for us. A special thanks to my fantastic in-laws, Mike & Melanie Martin, for hosting the rehearsal dinner for us.  Also, thank you Daddio for taking pictures.  We love you ALL!

Austin, Ryan, Blake & Jonathan.  Note that Blake was in charge of drink tickets.  In hindsight, not perhaps the best judgement call but it definitely ensured a good time for all.

A sampling of the Indiana crew- clockwise from the left: Sydney (sweet babysitter), Taylor (my cousin), Natalie (his pretty girlfriend), Ashleigh (my cousin), Tripp (Kara's precious son) and Kara (my cousin).  Please note that my Dad is a fan of candid shots.  Sorry guys!

My Mom's twin sisters, Aunt Jean (Ashleigh & Taylor's Mom) and Aunt Jan (Kara & Travis' Mom)

Sweet Sydney, Tripp, Kyle (Ashleigh's handsome fiance), Aunt Jean & Brian (Aunt Jean's beau)

Tripp & Paul (Tripp's Dad & Kara's hubby)

On to Ryan's family... Linda, Larry, Grandpa (on his Mom's side) and Meemaw (on his Dad's side), Kylie Pie (our gorgeous niece) & Melanie

Stan (Ryan's Uncle), Mike, Tiffany & Kylie

Ryan's Missouri cousins: Taylor, Jace, Connor & Bryce.  (I told you there was a fondness of candids).

Caitlin B, Melissa & Courtney

Shawna, Jen, Dena & Jenn

My hottie bridal party (less Caitlin P):  clockwise from the bottom- Dena, Tiffany, Jen, Courtney, Caitlin B, Shawna, Jenn, Melissa, Chelsea, Julie & Yo

Wedding Part 1: The Pre-Party

Okay internet world... to save myself from getting carpal tunnel any earlier than fate determines, and to save your eyesight because I'm such a giver, I am going to split all of the wedding adventures into small, manageable (<--- relative term) posts. This will also help inspire me to get this all down. As it turns out, sitting down to write the story of the greatest day of your life is a VERY daunting task.

Gather round, today is the story of the week leading up to the wedding. Author's note... I did not take pictures of any of this stuff. I must have been very distracted. Weird, right? :c)

After enduring many raised eyebrows in response to the following conversation:

Anyone: So how many days are you taking off before your wedding?
Me: I think just the Thursday and Friday before.

I decided that perhaps people knew what they were talking about so I went ahead and took the whole week beforehand off. Hallelujah for all of you naysayers because I think having those extra few days increased my sanity factor (<--- another relative term) by about 100fold.

So, the weekend before the wedding you were all probably eating hotdogs, hamburgers and celebrating the birth of our nation. I, meanwhile, was focusing on doing whatever I could to forget about the fact that hurricane July 9th was dangerously close to making landfall. Ryan and I went up to the lake to spend time with my immediate family, and wonderful Grandpa, the Friday before the wedding. I allowed all of us a weekend of blissful ignorance... then Tuesday the whirlwind started.

Tuesday morning started with a bang. Or rather a phone call. Our wedding coordinator sent me an email asking me to call her... when I did she proceeded to tell me that she would not be in town the coming weekend. Our wedding coordinator. The ONE person at the venue we have talked to... for one year and 3 months. The ONE person that we have informed of all of our vendors. The ONE person that knows what our catering menu is. The ONE person that could hopefully even pick us out of a line up. No big deal. The instant she was telling me this little story I decided that once you get to a point where you can count the number of days pre-wedding on one of your hands... everything is just funny. So we took it in stride and set up a meeting to give our new wedding coordinator a crash course on the Martin nuptials the next day. We also put together our favor/escort bags. The Ford factory has nothing on the assembly line we got going. More on that to come in my wedding "details" post sometime in the future.

Wednesday we went to meet said new wedding coordinator. Who actually rocked. Thank you, Angie! We also set out on a quest to find a wedding Barbie as a gift to Ava, our precious flower girl. (Totally unrelated side note: if you have not been to a Toys 'R Us in a while- Barbie has gotten preeeeeeetty Lady-of-the-Night-esque. Ryan decided if we ever have a daughter she will only be playing with puppets we make out of paper bags.) Then we ran various other odd errands that resulted in me buying some honeymoon garb while Ryan and Grandpa sat patiently waiting for my Mom & I. I do not remember what the initial mission was, but I'm sure we completely accomplished it. :c) Then Ryan and I headed back to K-town from the lake to pack for the honeymoon and to re-arrange the piles and piles of boxes we have in our front 2 rooms. That way at our sweet neighbors who offered to bring in any wedding presents that showed up on our front porch might think we're hoarders, but at least they'd think we were ORGANIZED hoarders.

Thursday is when Ryan's family came in from Missouri and mine came in from Indiana. We decided that there weren't enough hours in the day for us both to get to see everyone. So Ryan was drafted for Team Missouri and I was drafted for Team Indiana. I met my parents at the airport and we caravaned with 12* of the total 16** hoosiers who were kind enough to come celebrate with us. The remainder of the night was spent catching up, drinking beer, learning that Ava can't go in the water when no one is around not because she can't touch the bottom but because "she might get lost," learning what color everyone's panties were and doing lots of laughing. I really do have the best family.

Friday morning started off with a run with JuJuBee, a long walk with Aunt Jan, Ash, Shiloh, Jules and Mom. Then we got ready to go, packed up all the wedding trappings we'd been collecting for the last year and some change and headed into town for the rehearsal. That concludes today's story, dollfaces. Tune in later for the tale of the rehearsal.

* Aunt Jan, Aunt Jean, Brian, Cousin Kara, Ava, Tripp, Almost-Cousin Miranda, Shiloh, Cousin Ashleigh, Self-Proclaimed Cousin Kyle, Natalie & Cousin Taylor

** Above plus Uncle Tom, Cousin Paul, Cousin Travis, Syndney & Grandpa