WEDDING RECAP // REHEARSAL DINNER

Guess what I got on Fridddayyyy?!?! WEDDING PICTURES!

SO, super brief weekend recap since I took no photos: Friday night M and I went to my high school's football game (which came about as a result of a certain type of coffee I drank). It was at St. Thomas (where we got married :)) and my high school won handily. Per usual. ;-). We went to Davanni's before for a fabulous dinner. I could live solely off their hoagies. It's probably one of the only foods I eat dangerously fast because I honestly can't get enough.

Saturday I cleaned, lounged while M tailgated, and then we dropped an absurd amount of wedding money at Target and essentially redid our entire living room: rug, 2 end tables, 2 lamps, frames to do a gallery wall, new tray, 3 new throw pillows. But- I am now 100% obsessed with the room. With the addition of our third, and FINAL couch, the room is now complete. When I get my act together I'll try to find some before photos (I was too excited to take any Saturday as we were setting stuff up) and show you!

Sunday was actually pretty exciting: Leah asked me to be a bridesmaid! Wee! She's getting married next year at the historic courthouse in Stillwater. I'm pretty pumped about it. The card was adorable and she's got some great ideas for the wedding, so I'm looking forward to be a part of it! We went to the bridal consignment store in town since it was the grand opening. Let's just say I'm glad I never went while I was wedding planning because I would've changed my mind 100 times- they had SO MUCH STUFF. My favorites were the chargers (actually nice plastic chargers for like, $1.50)- all the mason jars, and the wood candle holders. All very rustic! Leah tried on a few dresses (none of which were "the one") and we called it a day!

NOW- onto wedding stuffs:) The rehearsal dinner!

Friday night October 4th M and I picked up my MOH and headed to the chapel to rehearse. 

We were running late, (sadly, per usual) and were the last ones there, and we walked in to the back of the church to cheers and claps, which if we're being totally honest, totally unnerved me. It was the start of a weekend of focus on us, an idea that made me uncomfortable, but it was also really special. 

 We ran through all the Catholic-basics of the stand-sit-repeat-after-me's.

After rehearsal, we drove over to Uptown (in Minneapolis) and had dinner at Amore Victoria. We had a semi-private room tucked near the back of the restaurant, with our own little bar, and it was perfect! We had 5 ridiculously tasty entrees to choose from, and everybody seemed to have a great time. It really helped to kick off the weekend on a good note, and got me super excited for Saturday (as if I wasn't already, haha). We handed out wedding party gifts, and both M's dad and M's mom gave a short speech thanking and welcoming everyone to the weekend.

Mom & pops (blurry, womp):

Outrageous tirimisu: 

My "little" brother:

Grandma and I:

(Lol, when my mom leans back in her chair, the tips of her glasses "catch" and pop up like you see in these photos.) My grandma, aunt, and mom: 

Family, minus brother bear:

I drove home with my MOH and Dana met us at the house for a slumber party. I couldn't sleep a wink Thursday night-Friday, which is So unlike me ... I rarely have trouble sleeping. The good news was it made me EXTRA tired Friday, so I was actually able to sleep from about 11-6 a.m., when I woke up, rolled over, and just couldn't fall back asleep.

Up next: getting ready

WEDDING RECAP // HONEYMOON

{view from our room}

Well, no sign of wedding photos, but I'm going to start some of these anyway. I have a few posts drafted that don't require the professional photos, so I'll space them out a bit and hopefully be able to roll right into the rest of the recaps!

 

Monday morning after the wedding M and I took off to Playa del Carmen, Mexico for 6 days of absolute gluttony and relaxation. We stayed at an all inclusive resort on the beach, a few streets from downtown Playa. 

I'm somewhat sad to report that we didn't really experience much in the way of true Mexican culture... since we only ventured off the resort twice, once so M could get some sunglasses. The experience was an interesting one, to say the least. I knew before going that bartering was something that was common in Mexico, however, I had my doubts. I mean, in America.. the price is the price. (with the exception of cars, and houses, and things of that nature).. but you try walking into Target and telling them, "I'll give you $15 for that $30 dress" and they'd laugh you out the door. SO, when M went to pick up a pair of sunglasses and was told "$15 U.S., $150 pesos" and said he only had a $100 peso note, my first thought was "aw well, we'll have to go back and grab some more money and come back later!".... der. #rookie. M told him, "aw, I only have $100.. sorry." and started to leave.. and just as predicted the man said, "show me the money" (yes, a la Tom Cruise)... M pulled out his $100 and we left with some discounted shades. Score! Another time we walked along the beach and stopped at a bar off the resort for a drink. The rest of the time we were content to wander around the resort, bounce from pool to pool, eat (and drink-fo free) at all hours, and play copious amounts of volleyball. 

I'd break this recap down into multiple posts except, they really wouldn't look very different. Every day pretty much went like this-->

Wake up between 8-9- roll over and look at Matt: "where do you want to eat today!?" ..then we walk to one of the 2 good breakfast spots.

10:00-1:00- Find a pool chair, or a beach chair/cabana, depending on the day, and drink/read. Take 1 hour break for beach volleyball a few of the days around 11:00. Some dang good exercise..I was sore the rest of the trip.

1:00- roll over in the beach chair and look at Matt: "where do you want to eat!?".. then 3 of the 5 days head to the Tapas restaurant because it was that. good. 

2:00-5:00- head back to the beach, or pool, or go take a siesta in our room. Then get ready for dinner. 

5:30- roll over after the nap and look at Matt: "where do you want to eat!?" (notice a pattern?)

As for our evenings? Delightfully uneventful and I wouldn't have changed a thing. One night we popped into the lobby to watch the "show"- which was a "Decades" show.. they performed dances/acrobatics from the 1940s to 2013.. including Grease and Rhianna. It was pretty fun, but I have zero patience, so sitting in the lobby for 45 minutes to secure our spot for the show, and then sitting still for the show, was just a bit much for me. We listened to the tunes through a window the rest of the nights. Another evening M bought a cigar, and we sat out back on the patio by another bar and chatted while he enjoyed that. Our last night there we were in bed by 7, reading, and listening to the show through the window.

And that was our honeymoon! I know someday I want to explore Europe, and more of South America, and really get out and experience the country.. but this week was exactly what we needed to relax and unwind after all the preparation and wedding festivities. 

Now for the fun part, some pictures! I didn't take a ton, since we didn't really DO a lot, alas.

 

 

 

 

WEDDINGS AND ZOMBIES // A WEEKEND RECAP

Monday morning, and an actual recap as promised!

Unfortunately, this will be devoid of much content since Friday and Sunday were spent doing the same thing: having a Walking Dead marathon. I should know M's MO by now- decide he wants to watch a show on Netflix, I resist, something happens where he winds up watching it on the big TV in the basement while I do other things on the computer, and next thing I know I'm telling him to "REWIND IT, what did she just say!?".. closing the computer, and then 7 hours later we're crawling into bed last night after having cashed 75% of season 3. O_O.

BUT Saturday we weren't totally worthless!

Saturday M and I piled in the new whip and drove 3 hours northwest to the tiny town of Perham, MN for a friend of ours' wedding. Shannon actually used to date one of M's friends back in the day, and then when they broke up, we kept her. A few years ago she met a law student from the U of M while he was bartending at Zorbaz in Perham. 2 years later, here we are at their wedding!

I don't think shannon knows I blog, but even if she did- I'd tell her the same thing I'm about to say: usually I'm a wedding snob when it comes to windowless event halls. I understand that's all some people can afford, or have in the area, but they usually need a little something extra to make them shine in that case... and holy cow did this hall SHINE. She had twinkle lights draped all over the ceiling, and over the dance floor the most incredible setup I've ever seen: 

This is without a doubt something I would've done if we were in a different venue.. or heck if I could've afforded it, strung up a few of them from an outdoor tent. I love chandeliers.

They had a live band, who apparently is known in the Fargo/Moorhead area, called October Road play. They did a lot of country but some other songs as well and my feet were in PAIN by the end of the night from dancing.  

Funny side note: I packed the above dress (that I wore at my rehearsal dinner) for the wedding and we hit the road. About 40 minutes out of town I'm browsing Instagram and see a friend of mine, who was also a bridesmaid, post a photo from the rehearsal the night before with the bride, Shannon, wearing the EXACT same dress! How ironic, not only that we had the same dress, but both wore it to our same event!

So that's my short weekend recap. Unless you want play by plays of Walking Dead in which case I'd be happy to oblige. I resisted on the theory that.. well.. zombies. Really. But honestly it's not about the zombies so much. It's about this group of people and how they survive the threat posed by the zombies. I will say: it's a good show. It is. But, after watching Breaking Bad, which I believe is one of the most well done shows EVER to exist on TV, everything else pales in comparison.

Still no word of when the wedding photos will be returned... so.. stay tuned. Wah.

CONTENT

So, this week has been a little crazy, and while I do have a honeymoon post AND a rehearsal dinner post drafted (who am I?) I want to hold off to start until next week. Fridays are notoriously slow, and I figured why not keep it in the same calendar week, eh? I'm also sorta kinda hoping we'll get our photos back in the interim. I don't want to start those posts and then have a gap while I wait for photos.

This week has also just been crazy adjusting to the real world. Trying to do laundry, unpacking from Mexico, finding time to sort through the giant tupperware of wedding gifts we opened Sunday, getting new banking information set up.. OH and if all that didn't sound like it'd keep our hands full, we bought a new car Wednesday night.

Behold, (Woooahhhh) Black Betty: 

You can only sort of see her back there but she's a Mazda CX5. Shockingly great gas mileage for a small SUV, better than the other car we have actually (a Malibu). We've said that the car will be 50/50 but M wants me to drive it to work. We'll see. I have a lot of guilt over this since it was kind of his brain child- he researched, he compared, he worked out all the financing. But I guess that's sorta what marriage is about, isn't it?

SO, between all that, I've been a little loopy. I did something with the hashtag of our wedding photos, and I'm excited to share that! I got them printed on prinstagram, and they're en route as we speak!

I was driving home last night and thinking how lucky I have it. M and I are able to buy a brand new car, have a house, and still live a good comfortable lifestyle. Some people own zero cars, let alone a newer used one.. and we were able to do this for ourselves. Don't get me wrong, we're not rolling in it- and this is the first NEW new car for either of us. ever. So it's still a big deal to us. But I just love thinking about how far I, we, have come.

There are times where I wait for the other shoe to drop. My life seems a little TOO good. To me. I don't say this to brag, but to acknowledge that I am so unbelievably content. With the exception of the strenuous job hunt at times, I'm fortunate to be at a great firm right now. They're in transition but the people are good and I've been getting some fantastic opportunities. I'm excited to see where I go from here.

Anyway, that's enough mush for today.
M and I have a wedding tomorrow- our first one as a married couple! I wouldn't trade our day for the entire world but it'll be kind of nice to just be able to sit back, relax, and soak it all in.. as we remember our own day.

Hope you guys have a good weekend! I'll be back Monday with a weekend recap (I hope), and then hope to kick off some wedding recaps. Wee!

DIY // PARENTS GIFTS

While I wait for the professional pictures to get back, I do have some other things to share with you!

I finished these projects up the week of the wedding and since I promptly fell off the face of the planet, I never got around to sharing them. I couldn't think of anything to get our parents that had meaning, and I hadn't quite resigned myself to a monogrammed watch or hand stitched hankie. I understand these are "traditional" type gifts, but, not my jam. 

Then I got the idea to do something using the first dance songs for both our parents- my dad, and his mom. I bought 2 frames and used my calligraphy pen that I addressed envelopes with, and wrote out sections of the lyrics from the first dances. The frames are blank because we're going to give them a print from the first dance or wedding in general, once we get them.

"A Mother's Song" was M's mom's choice: 

"The Way You Look Tonight" by Frank Sinatra was my dad's: 

Once again, I struggled with M's dad, but after seeing it hundreds of time on Pinterest, I decided to try out the glass etching glue-paste-stuff.  It's highly toxic, so make sure you have gloves. It's also highly expensive, and cost more than the damn vase, but I didn't use much so I still have it for future projects. I will say, it didn't seem to "stick" as well as I thought it would, but it could've been the curve of the glass, or that I didn't glop enough on. It still worked! Just took a bit longer than I expected.

I used some vinyl stickers to put the words "live, laugh, love" on the jar, with our wedding date.

So those were some affordable parent gifts we came up with! And by we, I mean I. Lets get serious. haha.

I thought I was going to have to brace for another intermission in blogging, since I was supposed to fly out Saturday morning for a trial I was second chairing in Peoria, Illinois all of next week. We got called into an impromptu phone conference today with the judge and knew where it was headed: the case is venued in federal district court, which is still up and running. However, take a wild guess what one "non-essential" function that will not be funded is? Juries. So, since they couldn't fund a jury, and even if the shutdown ends tomorrow, our case is not a super high priority in the court's eyes, the case is being continued- likely until early next year. SO I'm off the hook (for now), and can attend our FIRST WEDDING as a married couple, with M this weekend! I'm jazzed.

MRS.

Mic check... one..two...testing.

HOLA, I'm back! and I'm married! (WAHH!!!)

I had every intention of posting again before last Saturday, but clearly that never happened. I'm here now though, and while I want to wait to start the official wedding recaps until I get our professional photos back (I always used to find this so annoying..when others did it... but let's be honest. I paid the nice lady a lot of money for pretty pictures, so I'm waiting for the pretty pictures. :) ).

In the meantime, I've come to provide you a sneak peak, and a short list of things I learned in the last week. Ready? Here we go:

1.) If you invite a sloth to your wedding, he WILL delay your first dances and inevitably steal the show. Especially when his name is Stefano.

 

2.) I will never be able to thank these 3 enough. I walked into the reception space and could not have imagined it any more perfectly. They went above and beyond and that aspect of the wedding was just flawless. 

3.) The "zipper merge" does NOT exist in Mexico. In fact, driving on the shoulder to avoid merging at all, is apparently totally acceptable. Also, terrifying.

4.) I'm way more of a drinker than previously thought..especially when the drinks are blended, free, and available at any time of the day. 

5.) That no matter how generous you are.. (uhh free meal, free beer/wine all night), people will find something to whine about. I.e. "my table is at the very end" and/or "the couple didn't talk to everyone, or come around to the tables".... yes, these things were actually told to me, through my dad. Srsly.

6.) That when wearing a wedding dress, using the restroom will be a group effort..and you'll get more acquainted with your sister-in-law, and MOH, than you ever previously expected. 

6a.) That it will still be a perfect night even if (and this may be TMI) "aunt flo" shows up, unexpectedly, right before dinner... which requires you to get even further acquainted with your sister-in-law... who will have to run to the car and drive to target for tampons and underwear and still make it back before dinner. #holla

They always tell you that your wedding day will go by SO fast, and I nodded my head and swore I'd remember every second. But it's true, it goes by so fast. It was both the longest (as I was experiencing it..soaking it all in), and the fastest, day of my life. I want to really be as detailed as possible with my recaps, because this is the only place I have to remember all the things that photos haven't captured.

So, be patient with me, it may be long and detailed and drawn out.. but I don't want to forget a second of the day.

Some bonus photos:

{first dance}

{reading my card from Matt}