4th of July: Morning of the big day!

I had a hard time sleeping just like I knew I would. I guess you're never too old to feel that Christmas Eve like level of excitement. My sister and I slept together in my childhood room, and I read some of her book (ironically, it was "Something Borrowed"). I slept for a few hours but kept waking up, so I went downstairs to sleep on the couch at around 7. At around 8, my cousin Mary, the make-up artist, and Julie, the hairdresser showed up. It was time to get started!

I was going to be last to get my hair done, so I went upstairs to wake up the other girls, and I went back into my room and laid down for a little bit longer. I really just laid there and tried to reflect on the meaning of the day ahead and get myself ready for the craziness. After a few minutes, I felt ready, so I went downstairs to grab a mimosa, and went out to finish up my flowers, which I talk about here.

After sitting outside in the gorgeous morning sun, I came inside to have some fruit and breakfast, and my sister gave me the most adorable presents! She had wrapped up 4 separate gifts into "Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue." Even the wrapping paper and bags were coordinated to the themes! She gave me some antique handkerchiefs as something old(Wrapped in red, black and white-inside joke!), an absolutely beautiful cream clutch with a peacock feather beaded on the front as something new, broaches from my cousin for my bouquet as the something borrowed, and sexy blue lingerie as the something blue! She was so amazingly sweet.

Picture taken by my mom

Also, since I am the queen of last minute, I decided that I wanted someone to tape my ceremony( I didn't hire a videographer due to last minute business, and my inability to meet with anyone in Cleveland this close to the wedding). My dad called up my aunt, and they rushed over their video camera, while I called a bunch of my friends to see who would tape. I also realized that I was short one reader, so my amazing friend Jackie and her boyfriend, now fiance Whitey stopped by to pick up the reading and do it for me! So it ended up that we left the camera at home anyways, so I thought that there was no video, until Scott's sent us the video he took on his phone! It actually turned out awesome, and is just what we wanted. You can see us walk in, hear our vows, and walk out. Not intrusive at all, and all we needed. Wow, typing all of this out, I can't believe how much stuff worked itself out for a wedding, and what an amazingly lucky day I had! I would never never recommend that anyone leave so many details up in the air as I did.

Meanwhile, I was watching my bridesmaids getting their hair done, while Mary did my mom's and Scott's mother's make-up. Picture taken by my sister

She also put false eye-lashes on my bridesmaids. Finally it was my turn for make-up! Mary had done my make-up for a friend's wedding the year before, but we had had no other consultation for this day. I trusted her completely. I told her I wanted a very dramatic look, especially for the eye make-up. I was getting false eyelashes, and decided to use golds for my eyes to match the theme of the wedding. I knew it would look intense in real life, but would look amazing in pictures. Here she is studying me before she begins! (Outfit consists of my hubby's boxers, and a Victoria's Secret bridal hoodie gifted from BM Jen).

Picture taken by mom

After she put the eyelashes on, my eyes began to water badly. This had never happened to me before, but required a lot of eyedrops before they felt ok. Halfway through the make-up, Julie was ready for me, so then I had two ladies working on me. I felt like a movie star! For my hair, Julie first pulled the top part up as I had wanted, then added in the extensions she had sewn onto combs for me. My hair was so long, it didn't need any extra length, but I wanted a bit more fullness. Then she curled all the pieces, and added my birdcage veil and flower. During my hair, I gave Scott a call just to make sure everything was moving on the boy's end. When he answered the phone sounding like death, I was a little worried (it was around 11 at this point). I could tell he was very hungover, and their night must have gone on for quite awhile after we left. He assured me he was up and moving, so I got off the phone hoping all was well. The limo was scheduled down to the minute, so nothing could afford to go wrong or run late.

My hair ended up taking much longer then we thought, so I was scrambling around to put on my stick on nubra, and get into my dress. There were all these people in the house at this point, grabbing last minute things to take to the ceremony, that I couldn't find anywhere private to slip on my dress where my photographer, Corey Ann, could still get pictures. Finally we settled on the living room.

I put the dress on and zipped it up, before I realized that we had never actually buttoned the buttons before, and had no hook for them! My bridesmaids came to the rescue, all of them helping to button up the millions of small buttons on the back. One popped off right before, and I suppose I could have freaked out, but I laughed it off and said we needed to get on the limo and get going. I wish I would have gotten one or two posed pictures in front of my house though :(

Off we were to the ceremony, with a bottle of champagne!

Note: Unless otherwise specified, all of my wedding photos were taken by Corey Ann of Corey Ann photography.