After the guys headed out, the girls went outside to finish some decorating. I was obsessively checking the hourly forecast on my phone and trying to gauge what it would be like at 4:30pm. Our "uninvited guest" was definitely going to make a statement appearance - the wind was supposed to be gusting at 25-35 mph. We decorated what we could, knowing that things were probably going to have to change as the day went on.
By 9am, our hair and makeup people had arrived. They set up shop in the living room of the cabin and got to work. My hair and makeup artist, Katie, was awesome! She did my makeup first and I loved it. I am not super confident in my ability to do eye makeup and I thought she hit it out of the park. And luckily, I had already decided to wear my hair up so the wind would not affect that. Michael's sisters made a playlist for us to jam to as we got pampered.
By 10:30am, the guys were back and outside setting up. Our cake arrived and looked awesome. Our photographers arrived and started snapping photos. My personal attendant Michelle and wedding coordinator Laurie were rockstars who did a ton to help out that day - decorating the trellis, finishing details in the tent and with the cake display, setting up chairs, etc.. Seriously, I do not know what I would have done without them.
When all this was going on outside, I was stuck inside. I didn't want Michael to see me so I just looked out the window and watched. I was surprised by the amount of "downtime" I had that day. I thought I would be frantically moving from one thing to the next but I had about an hour to just
At 1pm, I put on my dress and by 1:30, Michael and I had our first look. I was surprised that neither of us cried. I thought I would for sure. Instead, I was so giddy that I practically jumped into his arms. We took our pictures and the wind started to pick up. A LOT. My veil was everywhere so tried to find good shaded places to take photos that were protected from the wind. Luckily, it wasn't that cold - about 70 degrees. By the time we were halfway through pictures, I made the decision to not wear my veil for the ceremony (BEST DECISION EVER!). I should have taken my veil off sooner, as it was in my face a lot.
Our caterer arrived around 1:30 and went to work getting all the food and drink ready. The catering manager, Lisa, was awesome. If you are looking for a caterer in the Twin Cities area, I cannot say enough good things about ours - Design Cuisine by Macy's. They were professional, attentive, kind, and best of all - the food was freaking amazing!!!!!!!!!
We took photos with our wedding party, our families, and then it was inside to wait for an hour. That was a hard hour. Things were not going as planned - our DJ was late and then blew a circuit, there were some people who showed up that we were not expecting, and the wind was really blowing. I could tell some the guests were really uncomfortable with the amount of wind - they did not have good poker faces. I knew there was no way we could do our cocktail hour outside like we planned. I was in the living room watching all this happen and started to freak out a bit. Not in a "I don't want to get married" way but in a "I cannot wait another minute to get married" way. I wanted to ceremony to start, but we still had 30 minutes. Michael and I ended up hiding out in his parents' room to try to calm each other down, which helped. At 4:25, we said "See you soon" and parted ways.
The grandparents went first (to the wrong song -they left before their cue, but whatever), then the theme from Forest Gump started and Michael, his groomsmen, and the officiant went out the side door, and Michael's parents went down the aisle. The bridesmaids walked down the aisle alone to a piano version of the song "Dream" by Priscilla Ahn. People either love or hate when bridesmaids walk alone. I personally love it. I also hated the idea of Michael standing up there alone, waiting for his groomsmen to join him, and the best man arriving last. I wanted those four important people up there with him the whole time.
The song changed one more time (I walked down the aisle to Edelweiss - I got that idea from my friend Becky two years ago) and I started walking out with my parents. I was doing fine until I made eye contact with Michael and the guests stood, then I started to cry. Only one tear made it down my face though!
The ceremony was about a half hour. Michael and I worked with our officiant, Jill, to write the entire thing. We wanted to make it as personal as possible. I could not have been more pleased with how it went. I was continually flattered during the evening as many guests told me how much they loved the ceremony, our vows, and our wine ceremony, or that it was the best ceremony they had ever been to. That meant a lot to us, as we worked really hard on it.
Michael and I wrote our own vows to each other, independently, but they were very similar. We talked about a lot of the same things, which I thought was funny but so true for us. Those moments, those memories, the "what is to come" is so similar for us because we both relish in those things, we talk about them all the time, and they clearly made an impact on both of us. I cannot say it enough - I married my soul mate.
The only other time I cried was when we went to hug our parents, and that was because I saw Michael's dad crying. There was a sweet moment when Michael wiped my tears for me. I wish someone would have got a picture of that.
I am so thankful that we asked one of Michael's friends to tape our ceremony. Much of it was a blur the next day, until I watched the video. Then it all came back to me and it was so wonderful to watch. I have probably watched it 10 times :-)
What struck me as I watched the video the first time was just how INCREDIBLY windy it was. I didn't notice much during the ceremony but when I watch the video, I cannot believe I didn't notice it. The bridesmaids' hair was everywhere (so was Michael's :-)), you can sort of hear it on the microphone, and all the guests, especially the ladies, were shifting a lot, trying to stay warm under their pashminas. THANK YOU to everyone who was there and put up with the wind. I know the weather was not ideal but we appreciate you letting us have our dream ceremony, outside by the lake.
That's it for today. More about the reception and our invited guest next week! And pictures to come! We are waiting for our CD from our photographer, and then I'll be able to blog about some of the details I didn't tell you before.
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