The First Look

***Please forgive the huge gaps in posting, between two jobs and trying to move and such posting has taken a backseat to everything else. I will tell you that my goal is to finish posting my wedding recaps by my anniversary which is in less than one month so I will have to be blogging my butt off to finish.***


We had decided months before the wedding that we were going to do a first look and get some pictures done before the ceremony. We both really enjoyed the idea of having some time together before the ceremony and Mr.Tal always calms me down when I am feeling anxious which I knew I would be feeling that day. The house where we got ready had two floors so my girls and myself put on my finishing touches while the photographers got the guys in place. The groomsmen were shooed out onto the porch and Andy was placed right in front of the stair case with his back to it so he would have to turn around and exactly the right moment. I remember coming down the stairs and my heart beating harder when I saw him, then the photographer had him turn around and they snapped their shots of us.

It was really amazing seeing him for the first time all decked out in his tux. I can't know how he was feeling in that moment but I imagine it was something like amazed, inspired, blessed, happy, scared, excited, all rolled in to one.


Up next: The moments before.

The ladies get pretty, the guys sleep in.

So the morning of the wedding I woke up without the aid of an alarm clock, I was just too pumped up to sleep anymore. I took a shower, blew my hair dry and threw on my white hoodie and some jeans to wear to the salon (it was a large V-neck hoodie which easily fit over my head and hairstyle), meanwhile my sisters also got ready and chatted with me. I remember that I was eerily calm, like it was a regular day, not my wedding day, but there were moments when I had surges of overwhelming happiness and joy. It was a weird feeling to go about my business as usual and have those moments of "Oh my goodness, I am getting married today!" I think it was because my morning routine at the apartment wasn't that different from a typical day for me so it was easy to stay calm and collected. Once all the girls were semi-ready, as in, ready enough to hit the salon we hit the road.

First stop was to Tim Horton's for an assortment of Tim Bits and some coffee (of course) then we had to hit up Meijer for some unknown reason, I really cannot for the life of me remember what we stopped there for but I do know we had to stop there. Sisters A and E what did we stop there for? Do you remember? Anywho, we then finally made it to K.D Alexander's where fabulous hair stylists were waiting for us. We did get there a tad early but it turned out to be a good thing because that made us early to everything else we did that day. I have to say everyone at the salon was so nice and it was such a relaxing time, they were completely fabulous. I don't have any pictures of us at the salon because I told Jackie our photographer to just meet us at the house where we were doing our make-up and getting dressed. I regret that I don't have pictures of all of us getting our hair done but it meant that Jackie could stay later at the reception. My sisters and I went first, since we were the first to arrive, my mom, momma Tal and sis-in-law were all arriving separately since their appointments were a little bit after ours. It seemed like our hair appointments were over in a flash and we were off to PeTEAte Parlour in Pemberville just a block away from the opera house aka our ceremony location.

Once we arrived we got everything laid out and hung up and all the girls started doing make-up and getting dressed.

 

All of our stuff laid out/hung up for us!

Top pic: Me getting the eye shadow on! Bottom: Sis-in-Law prettying herself up

 Sister E smiling for the camera, Sister A getting her make-up done by Mom

Some hair shots!

Mom helping me get ready. It was at this point that I only had a little bit until I got to see Andy and this is when I started to get nervous!

My all time favorite picture of myself from my wedding day! There is just something so peaceful and calming about this picture!

Finally all put together before the first look!

Up next: The Bride and Groom get a sneak peak!

The most boring sleepover ever

Ha, ha, ha! I didn't forget about this blog. I swear. I'm just having a hard time with the recaps and admitting it's all over. Anyway, I left off we had just finished our rehearsal dinner and were headed back to the hall to do some last minute set up. I mentioned in an earlier post that our table runners didn't arrive until that afternoon, after set up had already taken place. So basically we had to run back to the hall to place all the table runners, but it was also the perfect excuse to look over every little detail and make sure it was perfect. It was!

After dancing around a bit and a few "Oh my goodness, this is really happening!" we all decided to call it a night and head to our respective places to spend the night. Mr. Tal and I decided to go with tradition and spend the night apart. In his place my sisters spend the night at our apartment with me so I wouldn't be lonely and I wouldn't freak out. I had a great night planned out, we were going to watch a movie and have some popcorn and chocolate and talk and giggle like when we were little. However, by the time we got back to my apartment and settled it was already around 10 o'clock at night. We had to be up by 7AM to all shower and get dressed to go to our hair appointment. So we chatted a little bit and one sister took her shower that night so it wouldn't be so hectic in the morning. By 10:30 I took a Xanax (hey, don't judge, I needed sleep) and we all crawled into our beds and fell asleep. So much for my grand sleepover plans.

I do remember that I slept surprisingly well that night, which is unusual for me when I am excited/nervous about something.

Next up: The girls get pretty!

Recaps are hard

Recaping the wedding is really hard for me, tho I'm not really sure why. Perhaps because there are hundreds of pictures to go through, or because there are moments that I want to describe but don't have pictures to accompany them, or because I got burned out on wedding stuff and just needed the distance and now I'm so far out after the wedding that it seems silly. Whatever the reason, I am having trouble finding witty ways to share my wedding recaps with you.

In non-related news, Mr. Tal and I have officially relocated to Columbus and we are now living in a house, we have a new puppy, and I have been at my new job for over a month (umm, what?). You can read all about it over at Tales from the SalTals. I promise to get organized and start talking about the wedding soon.

Tune in again soon.

"The Best Buns in Town"

(I know I know, I said I wouldn't be posting for a while, what can I say? I found some time)

Are at this place right here!

I couldn't agree more! Initially, Mr. Tal and I wanted our rehearsal dinner to be really laid back, we're talking pizza and beer at our apartment complex's community center. Then it occured to Mr. Tal that we could incorporate a little of our hometown into our wedding by holding the rehearsal dinner at Packo's. It ended up being a really great idea because all of our family and friends LOVE Packo's. It is scrumptious. So after our rehearsal we headed to downtown Toledo to Packo's at the Park, this location won over the originally because it offered a better room for our event..

They had the whole room ready for us and our family and friends ordered some drinks and food and we ended up having a good ol' time. I would like to elaborate more but we didn't really do much at dinner. We all hung out and talked. Oh yeah, and we handed out presents.

Our bridesmaids and groomsmen each got their gifts, along with our parents. Each one of my girls got a tote bag with their name on it, printed in their favorite color. Inside the bags were a bunch of goodies, lightweight hoodies to wear while getting ready, handmade pearls with matching earrings to wear the day of the wedding, a bridesmaid survival kit, some snacks, a pashmina, their clutch purses with flowers to carry down the aisle, and last but not least each girl got a necklace from dogeared.com that suited their personality. I know that it seems like a lot and I'll admit I went a little overboard but I did get a really good deal on everything I bought/made for the girls. The groomsmen each got a pair of handmade cufflinks with the Redwings symbol and a pair of Converse sneakers in maroon to wear to the reception. As for our parents, we got Momma Tal a beautiful digital picture frame that we pre-loaded with some pictures of the whole family. My dad got a frame which we had engraved with our invitation wording and my mom got a new purse with a bottle of wine and a necklace from dogeared.com.

Mr. Tal also took this time to speak for both of us, because I probably would have got too emotional, to personally thank everyone for helping us out and let them know that we could have never done it without them.

After dinner was over and the presents unwrapped we had to head back to the hall and finish decorating. But more on that at another time.

Tune in next time for more tales from a DIY bride.

Postings on Pause

I didn't want anyone to think that I was not going to finish my recaps. I am I promise. I just have a lot to do. See, Mr. Tal and I both got new jobs, in a new city, which means we are in the process of relocating. If that wasn't enough of a reason to be light on posting, I start my job next week. Yeah, so I am freaking out just a little bit, we are trying to find a place to live, make sure I have a temporary place to stay, pack up our apartment and do as much as humanly possible before next week. It's crazy and exciting and you'll be able to read all about it over at Tales from the SalTals. It should be fairly interesting and entertaining to say the least. So bear with me through the next couple weeks, I'll try to post the rest of the rehearsal and start on the actual wedding day by next week, but if I don't, you can see I have good reasons.

Stay tuned for more tales from a DIY bride.

The Rehearsal

Ha, it's been long enough but my dear sister has been on my butt lately to blog the last few days of the wedding, so I thought I'd get to it. I don't know why I'm so hesitant to do it, I think if I blog those days it's really over for me, which makes me a little sad.

When I last left off Andy and I were getting ready for our rehearsal at the Pemberville Opera House with dinner following at the famous Tony Packo's (if you are ever in the Toledo area, stop by it is delish). It was kind of nice to have that little bit of time alone in our apartment before the marathon started. We weren't very bright about gettign ready for the rehearsal, we both got dressed up and then realized that the truck needed to be loaded with decor for the site. Ooops. Luckily, there wasn't that much to load so we didn't get too gross in the process.

So we headed down to Pemberville a little early to get some of the set up done. One of our groomsmen was early as well so Andy had some help unloading and I could just start hanging our pew cones. Meanwhile, some of our guests started to arrive. We opened up our rehearsal to my grandparents and my aunt and uncle who had come from out of town, so there weren't many people there but just enough that it was a little crazy. You have to forgive the fact that I have no pictures from the rehearsal, it all got a little insane. I do have some videos that my sisters gave me, so I can load those in at the appropriate spots.

As soon as everyone got there it was like chaos had ensued. We had our pastor, wedding planner, my parents, momma Tal, four groomsmen, three bridesmaids, my grandparents, and a family friend. Everyone was jabber-jawing and I had no idea what to do to get things started. This is where Melissa, our day-of coordinator, started her miracle working. She started speaking over everyone, clapping her hands and lining people up. She was so authorative, it was great. I don't think we would have got started as soon as we did if we didn't have her. So we we walked through our ceremony, did some sound checks, played through the music and in what felt like a snap of the fingers our rehearsal was done. It then hit me, oh my goodnes, we are getting married tomorrow. I kept getting moments like that for the rest of the night and all through the next day. Moments of pure adreneline, where reality hit hard, then just as quick as it came it would subside and I would keep going.

So that was our rehearsal, next up our rehearsal dinner.

Tune in next time for more tales from a DIY bride.