The Last Hours... Before the Ceremony (Del)

Saturday was a crazy day all together - I had a semi schedule that I was trying to stick to, but knew that things would probably go awry and things might not actually go by the times I had planned.

Thankfully I didn't stress about it because it was just beyond busy!

We started out going to get our hair done at the Paul Mitchell School because I was on a budget - and they normally cut/color my hair and I have loved what they have done. Also went two weeks before and got a 'preview' done - SO glad I did that. Really made me realize how I wanted my hair... but I digress.

KC - had these cute little pin curls.
We couldn't figure out what they were doing with her hair.



Julie



Dru



Me



The final product - I absolutely loved it!

Because we were late, we quickly drove over to the house where my folks, Dru and KC, and other friends/relatives were staying to get a quick bite to eat and get our makeup done by my good, and long time standing, friend Beth. (We were college roommates my first year!). She's fantastic, and we all looked so beautiful. Thanks Bethy!

My good friend Beth doing my makeup.

Then when the others were getting their makeup done, my mom and I went to the church to set up the pew flowers/alter centerpiece and got me into my dress!

Talk, talk, talk.

That whole trip over was hectic - ended up forgetting my purse in the car that took us over - which had the rings in it. Somehow lost the church programs (found them again) and only had one very short panic attack. And then I was ready!

Mom putting my necklace one.

Dru had bought this for me probably over 5 years ago and was very special to me. My earring were my pearls I got in Hawaii in high school during a family trip.

Cute shoes. They're Uggs.



Mom ironing.

Everyone was super paranoid about my dress - I just wanted the wrinkles out. I had practiced weeks before the wedding on how to get it nice and non-wrinkled. Found that the iron on medium heat worked best - with nothing in between the fabric and the iron. It made everyone nervous and nobody would do it until I took the iron and showed them it wouldn't ruin the fabric.

It was a tough dress.

I was hot. And maybe a little nervous.



Margie and I.



My button.
Something old, something borrowed, and something blue.

Margie gave me this button awhile ago. It was (and will be) passed on to some woman special in your life that was not a daughter or relative. I remember one time (before I got engaged) I asked her about it (she has a list of previous people who have had it) and she got all excited that I was engaged.... :)

Girls getting ready!



More so.



Hurray! So corny. What can I say, we played sports.



KC and I. Love this picture.

Melissa and Julie. Love this one also.

We were all ready and it was time to go. Yikes. Had a quick stop (thanks Anupama and Kucku), and headed out the door to the actual church!

Parade of maroon.



Happy (and nervous) Del



Del and Dad

And that's it. Don't you just love my flowers.

Rehearsal Dinner - Paddy Murphys

Darin and I decided to try to play into the whole St. Patrick's Day concept for the rehearsal dinner - I mean, who doesn't like green beer? Also, one of our most visited restaurants in Baldwin Park was Paddy Murphys. We put two and two together, and got everything we wanted!

Green beer + beads + Shepherds pie + wedding festivities = a GOOD time had by all

We decided to invite all of our out of town guests along for the celebration - all sixty of them. It was a great evening filled with semi-chilly weather, strong wind gusts, loud laughter, and incredible memories.

I have lots of pictures - enjoy! (They're in no particular order...)

Scott and Becky



Uncle Jinx and Maggie - favorite picture!



Kerry (with beer, of course) and Edith
They won the "who came the farthest" contest



KC and Dru



Kay and Joanie (looking s.l.i.c.k)



Mom, Auntie Pat, and Del
(Comparing hands - they have the same hands...
which I guess make sense because they're sisters)



G
(the photographer)



Dan, Angela, and Del



Melissa and Kyle



Big Bob (being silly, as always)



Windy Carrie, LaShan, and Cassie



Reverend Bryan
(can we say blackmail)



Brad and Diana



Bobby



Auntie Pat, Darin, Linda, and Mom



Kyle, Justin, and Julie



Del and Darin



And last but not least, Jake
(He had to meet the out of towners...)

Rewind - Back to the Beginning: Rehearsal

Let's see, where was I. Oh yeah - I decided it would be easier from here on out to go in normal order. I didn't want to show the 'good' pictures without working up to them!

The rehearsal day was a good day - that morning was a little stressful because we did the flowers all of ourselves. I had ordered 200 roses, 80 spray roses, and greens online because it was way cheaper, and I like to think I know creative people.

Well I do.

Thank you everyone who helped - you know who you were. I can't believe the flowers came out the way they did - we should become professional florists! While we were busy doing that (there were like ten people at least helping), the boys went golfing. It was really very funny because there were two Bills and three Bobs.

I don't currently have any pictures of us making the flowers. I'm going to have to ask around and get some - then I will post. Just take my word for it, they were gorgeous!

After that, Dru, KC, Melissa, Julie, and I went to get our feet and hands done. Snazzy. I got bright red for my cute toes. (I like to think I have cute toes, don't you know.) Dru had set this up and got all of my favorite foods and drinks... thanks! It turned out to be relaxing - wasn't sure I'd be able to relax on such a crazy day.

Julie and Del

And then we all met up at the church.

To practice...

Dru and KC - love this picture!



Now, who was in charge?



Peggy Duck. :)
We love Peggie to pieces - she always wears fantastic hats.

We were busy getting people set in place, while others were goofing around...

How cute was this?



Ahh. My bouquet of bows!

The whole rehearsal was very simple. We were so grateful to have Peggie help us - she's the wedding coordinator at our church and has grown into being a very good friend. One of the many reason we were married at FCC and became members.

Now, off to the Pub!

The First Get Together

The Thursday night before the wedding, we had our first Wedding Outing.

It was crazy.

People were coming from every direction - from Disney, College Park, East Orlando, Downtown.

And we decided (stupid stupid idea) to try to meet by Lake Eola - at Tijuana Flats. Where there was no parking whatsoever and in the middle of downtown Orlando. Oh well.

Thankfully, beer was plentiful and people found there way. How can some things work out so well!

The peeps.

Tijuana Flats was a fun place to meet - you can order this great Mexican food and there was beer on special. Perfect. We just sat around and stared at each other. And people talked to new friends and old. It was a great way to start off a busy early weekend!

Margie



Keay and Carol



Kay with a beer. I found this greatly amusing.



Dru and Melissa



Del and Darin

Linda and Ron

Once again, thanks to everyone who made it out that day!

Oh April Fools

Darin got it good yesterday. Good job Mike.

From Darin:

So around 4:20 I started getting these "wrong number" phone calls asking about the swing for sale.

After the fifth, all of whom asked about the "For Sale" swing, I became suspicious. When the 6th person called I asked where this listing was posted. "Why on Craigslist, of course", he said. So I looked for it...see attachment.

Craigslist Ad:

Please do not call after 6 pm! I am offering for free a recreational swing. This swing is great but I need some room for the new baby crib. The sex swing was a gift from my bachelor party and works great.

First Come First Serve

Darin 407-xxx-xxxx

The sex swing.

Hahaha.

***

My evil sister and mother got me. Not nearly as bad as Darin.

Because of the April Fools virus, I had called the night before to make sure my parents computer was safe and sound - for Christmas this past year, Darin fixed it up for them, adding new memory and making sure their updates were all set. I thought they would be fine, but I wanted to make sure everything was okay.

So I called my sister yesterday and she was like, " I just talked to mom and they have a bad computer virus. You need to call them and help them figure it out." Oh damn, I thought and called them right away.

My mom is like, oh Word isn't working and there is this weird screen saver and we can't get anything to work. I was ALL worried. And then she April Fooled me.

Man oh man.

Next year people. Next year.