Wow, it's amazing to me that 1 year ago at this time I was getting ready to say my vows. Thinking about my anniversary made me reflect on the day and events leading up to the day. I could not have been more stressed out, all my doing of course.
The entire planning process was something I did not enjoy at all. Which is weird, because I thought about my "dream wedding" for many years. In between class at college I used to watch a Wedding Story on TLC religiously and cried along with them and and I had my wedding song planned out since high school (more about that later). When it came down to it, there are just too many details to worry about and I started becoming overwhelmed by all the emails I was getting in my inbox from wedding planner sites, stationary sites, honeymoon sites, ugh it was non stop. Thinking about how much everything cost was another source of stress since everything adds up so quickly.
So basically I did nothing.. for a very long time. My sister in law finally had to drag me out dress shopping and push me towards getting those invitations picked out. I am a huge procrastinator and just figured things would work themselves out, which doesn't happen without a wedding planner or a fairy godmother working behind the scenes. I lucked out and found a dress off the shelf that needed few alterations. The invitations were another thing. Wow I did not realize how much work they are! You have to put one envelope in other, put names on both, address the outer one, all while making sure you have updated addresses for everyone. Oh, and spend a ton of money on stamps! Needless to say I hated this part and got my invites out pretty late. Some people even got them after the RSVP date! And some people I didn't even get invites to because I waited too long and it just seemed rude at that point and I still feel bad about that.
The other source of stress was my birth certificate. I was born in California and remember seeing my yellowed and torn birth cert many years ago when I applied for a passport, but that was back in 2000. I just assumed my parents still had it, because even at age 28 I was used to going to my parents and them solving all my problems. Nik and I went back to WI one weekend with the mission to get our marriage license and my dad looked through his safe but there was no bc. Uh oh. Nik and I went to the courthouse anyway to see if we could charm our way to getting a marriage license but nope, you need a bc. No biggie, I didn't know where it was but I could just apply for a new one. So I sent my check and request to the county in Hayward, CA where I was born with a post it note from me saying "Hi, please expedite this, my wedding is 9/20- thanks!". I'm sure they looked at it and rolled their eyes. Let's just say yes I did get it....around February the next year! As time was getting closer I really didn't think about it, I mean, if I didn't get it Nik and I would still get married it just wouldn't necessarily be legal but we could work out all the logistics when we got back from our honeymoon and I got my birth cert. Just so I didn't completely catch him off guard, I put in a call to our pastor 3 days before our wedding. Just to say "hey we don't have a marriage cert. but the important part is that we will be standing up in front of our friends and family saying these vows". Well, apparently it's illegal for a pastor to perform a wedding without a marriage cert and he could go to jail!? He was NOT happy with me at all. He said he was not supposed to do our wedding. I was on the verge of tears thinking about what I had done (or not done actually). He told me to look again- everywhere for it- because the alternative was most likely cancelling the ceremony.
I proceeded to go through every bin and scap of memorabilia from high school and college that my hoarding self had saved. It was distracting since I found old pics and fun things from back in the day that kept my mind off the reality that was my potential upcoming non nuptials. Well, it was a act of god, but I did find my birth certificate!! It was tucked into an old college planner from freshman year that god only knows why I saved and why I had stuck such an important document in it, but by golly there it was. Happiest moment of my life!
Now we could leave and head to WI to get our marriage cert. and prepare for our big day, but wouldn't you know my cat got a bladder infection. And this is my cat Sophie, the cat that is scared to death of all humans other than me and Nik, that hides under our bed at all times and would try to claw to death any non Glover that would try to pet her or come near her. So my first thought was how in the world am I going to take care of her when I am leaving town? I started researching places in the area where you could drop off a sick pet at someones house and they would take care of it for you...for a hefty fee. I was going to have to do it because there is no way I could leave her un-medicated for a week and half and no one would be able to come over and get her meds either. Luckily, the vet told me they now do shots- 1 shot takes care of the problem- so that was a huge relief!
Writing this is actually bringing me back to that day and I am starting to get stressed again! The rest of the week before the wedding was full of last minute scrambling. The worst was I realized I never did my programs. So I typed it out on my computer, bought some pretty paper (not really, but it was the best they had) and put my parents' printer to work. I printed one side then put the paper back in the printer to print the other side. It took some experimentation but I finally got it right. So the day of my wedding I went to Kinkos (20 min each way) to have them cut the programs. Quick process and back home I went. I was just about to leave to head over to the hotel to get my hair done when I went to look at the programs. The front looked great but when I turned it over I realized they had cut off the names on the back so they were ruined! This just about put me over the edge but luckily my Dad said he would go back to Kinkos and take care of it (poor Kinkos guy!) and he did. Tragedy averted!
The rest of the day/night went pretty well. I think the DJ was annoyed with me because I never got him the list of songs I wanted him to play. I also told him my first dance song about 10 minutes before we danced because I changed it a million times. After all these years of thinking of the "perfect song" and having it picked out from Nsync to Celine Dion to Al Green...I panicked and picked a song that meant nothing to me and is pretty generic- True Companion. It was the moment I had dreamed of all these years and I wasted it!
I had fun at my reception, the food was good, the speeches were hilarious and everything looked beautiful. I didn't drink much because I was still a ball of stress and at one point I was feeling smothered by my dress and I had to go outside and loosen it and get some fresh air because I thought I was going to pass out. I barely saw Nik that night, I think he had fun but he was also stressed the whole day and ended up getting sick that night, I think a delayed reaction from his nervousness at the church where everyone said he looked like he was going to faint. The next day we woke up to the sounds of groaning and bed posts banging from the room next door that was so loud we thought it had to be one of the groomsman playing a trick or something. It was gross and was not a groomsman so I'm glad we got out of there shortly after because I had had just about enough of them!
The next day we left for Jamaica which was great and a much needed getaway. Unfortunately, I dropped our camera in the ocean on our first day so we have about 6 pictures to show from it that cost an absolute fortune from the Sandals photographers. But we relaxed, ate a ton, and just enjoyed our time in paradise.
So...a year later I have to say I am glad that day is over! And for my next marriage I am eloping, no doubt!!
The entire planning process was something I did not enjoy at all. Which is weird, because I thought about my "dream wedding" for many years. In between class at college I used to watch a Wedding Story on TLC religiously and cried along with them and and I had my wedding song planned out since high school (more about that later). When it came down to it, there are just too many details to worry about and I started becoming overwhelmed by all the emails I was getting in my inbox from wedding planner sites, stationary sites, honeymoon sites, ugh it was non stop. Thinking about how much everything cost was another source of stress since everything adds up so quickly.
So basically I did nothing.. for a very long time. My sister in law finally had to drag me out dress shopping and push me towards getting those invitations picked out. I am a huge procrastinator and just figured things would work themselves out, which doesn't happen without a wedding planner or a fairy godmother working behind the scenes. I lucked out and found a dress off the shelf that needed few alterations. The invitations were another thing. Wow I did not realize how much work they are! You have to put one envelope in other, put names on both, address the outer one, all while making sure you have updated addresses for everyone. Oh, and spend a ton of money on stamps! Needless to say I hated this part and got my invites out pretty late. Some people even got them after the RSVP date! And some people I didn't even get invites to because I waited too long and it just seemed rude at that point and I still feel bad about that.
The other source of stress was my birth certificate. I was born in California and remember seeing my yellowed and torn birth cert many years ago when I applied for a passport, but that was back in 2000. I just assumed my parents still had it, because even at age 28 I was used to going to my parents and them solving all my problems. Nik and I went back to WI one weekend with the mission to get our marriage license and my dad looked through his safe but there was no bc. Uh oh. Nik and I went to the courthouse anyway to see if we could charm our way to getting a marriage license but nope, you need a bc. No biggie, I didn't know where it was but I could just apply for a new one. So I sent my check and request to the county in Hayward, CA where I was born with a post it note from me saying "Hi, please expedite this, my wedding is 9/20- thanks!". I'm sure they looked at it and rolled their eyes. Let's just say yes I did get it....around February the next year! As time was getting closer I really didn't think about it, I mean, if I didn't get it Nik and I would still get married it just wouldn't necessarily be legal but we could work out all the logistics when we got back from our honeymoon and I got my birth cert. Just so I didn't completely catch him off guard, I put in a call to our pastor 3 days before our wedding. Just to say "hey we don't have a marriage cert. but the important part is that we will be standing up in front of our friends and family saying these vows". Well, apparently it's illegal for a pastor to perform a wedding without a marriage cert and he could go to jail!? He was NOT happy with me at all. He said he was not supposed to do our wedding. I was on the verge of tears thinking about what I had done (or not done actually). He told me to look again- everywhere for it- because the alternative was most likely cancelling the ceremony.
I proceeded to go through every bin and scap of memorabilia from high school and college that my hoarding self had saved. It was distracting since I found old pics and fun things from back in the day that kept my mind off the reality that was my potential upcoming non nuptials. Well, it was a act of god, but I did find my birth certificate!! It was tucked into an old college planner from freshman year that god only knows why I saved and why I had stuck such an important document in it, but by golly there it was. Happiest moment of my life!
Now we could leave and head to WI to get our marriage cert. and prepare for our big day, but wouldn't you know my cat got a bladder infection. And this is my cat Sophie, the cat that is scared to death of all humans other than me and Nik, that hides under our bed at all times and would try to claw to death any non Glover that would try to pet her or come near her. So my first thought was how in the world am I going to take care of her when I am leaving town? I started researching places in the area where you could drop off a sick pet at someones house and they would take care of it for you...for a hefty fee. I was going to have to do it because there is no way I could leave her un-medicated for a week and half and no one would be able to come over and get her meds either. Luckily, the vet told me they now do shots- 1 shot takes care of the problem- so that was a huge relief!
Writing this is actually bringing me back to that day and I am starting to get stressed again! The rest of the week before the wedding was full of last minute scrambling. The worst was I realized I never did my programs. So I typed it out on my computer, bought some pretty paper (not really, but it was the best they had) and put my parents' printer to work. I printed one side then put the paper back in the printer to print the other side. It took some experimentation but I finally got it right. So the day of my wedding I went to Kinkos (20 min each way) to have them cut the programs. Quick process and back home I went. I was just about to leave to head over to the hotel to get my hair done when I went to look at the programs. The front looked great but when I turned it over I realized they had cut off the names on the back so they were ruined! This just about put me over the edge but luckily my Dad said he would go back to Kinkos and take care of it (poor Kinkos guy!) and he did. Tragedy averted!
The rest of the day/night went pretty well. I think the DJ was annoyed with me because I never got him the list of songs I wanted him to play. I also told him my first dance song about 10 minutes before we danced because I changed it a million times. After all these years of thinking of the "perfect song" and having it picked out from Nsync to Celine Dion to Al Green...I panicked and picked a song that meant nothing to me and is pretty generic- True Companion. It was the moment I had dreamed of all these years and I wasted it!
I had fun at my reception, the food was good, the speeches were hilarious and everything looked beautiful. I didn't drink much because I was still a ball of stress and at one point I was feeling smothered by my dress and I had to go outside and loosen it and get some fresh air because I thought I was going to pass out. I barely saw Nik that night, I think he had fun but he was also stressed the whole day and ended up getting sick that night, I think a delayed reaction from his nervousness at the church where everyone said he looked like he was going to faint. The next day we woke up to the sounds of groaning and bed posts banging from the room next door that was so loud we thought it had to be one of the groomsman playing a trick or something. It was gross and was not a groomsman so I'm glad we got out of there shortly after because I had had just about enough of them!
The next day we left for Jamaica which was great and a much needed getaway. Unfortunately, I dropped our camera in the ocean on our first day so we have about 6 pictures to show from it that cost an absolute fortune from the Sandals photographers. But we relaxed, ate a ton, and just enjoyed our time in paradise.
So...a year later I have to say I am glad that day is over! And for my next marriage I am eloping, no doubt!!
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