30 in 30 Project: Gettin' Hitched
8 Comments posted by Kristi on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 at 7:48 AM
In early July of 2000, after dating for almost 3.5 years, my boyfriend (now husband) proposed on the dock of our favorite B&B on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes, in upstate NY. My sister painted the dock as one of the watercolors she slaved over for the tables at my wedding reception, and you can see it here.
He concocted quite the elaborate plan. We had been visiting this particular B&B for years, as we enjoyed visiting the wineries that surround the lake, and of course sampling our fair share. And on the weekend he proposed, we had a big group of our friends staying at the B&B with us. As soon as we got there, he was anxious for us to take a walk. We strolled out onto the pier, he asked, and I said yes. And immediately after returning to the B&B and celebrating with our friends, I whipped out my calendar and began planning. It's my anal-retentive, every-detail- must-be-PLANNED-OUT side, you see.
By the time we returned home at the end of that weekend, we had a guest list of about 215 people, three possible dates, and our bridal party members selected. I wouldn't say I morphed into Bridezilla, but I knew what I wanted for my wedding, and more importantly, what I didn't want (butt bows on the bridesmaid dresses, a garter dance, a bouquet toss, or the words "man and wife" used ANYWHERE in the ceremony).
I had my wedding planner book in which I logged receipts, appointments, and a timeline for booking each and every vendor. Within one month of our engagement, we had the church, reception hall, and florist booked. We had six friends and relatives standing up for each of us, plus two ring bearers (my twin cousins) and one flower girl (my little sister).
My husband likes to tell people that I planned the whole wedding myself and that all he did was show up, and in a lot of ways that's true, although he did come to all the important appointments with me, including the meetings with the florist, the cake-tasting, and of course, the pre-marital counseling required by the Catholic Church. But by and large, he was happy to surrender the reigns to me, and I was happy to take them. Control and I are very, very good friends.
August 4th, 2001 was a hot day, in the low 80s, and after 13 months of planning, I was very happy to see that everything went off without a hitch. Looking back, 25 seems so very young to be getting married, although I didn't think so at the time. There was a whole lot more I could have experienced out of life as a single person, but luckily, my husband shares my love of travel and adventure, so it's worked out that we've traveled our path together instead of apart.
We'll celebrate five years of marriage together this year, approximately three weeks or so before we'll welcome our first baby. And while we certainly have our differences and our disagreements, I can't imagine being married to anyone else.
The members of the gigantour wedding party, some of whom read this blog. Feel free to out yourselves, if you wish.
He concocted quite the elaborate plan. We had been visiting this particular B&B for years, as we enjoyed visiting the wineries that surround the lake, and of course sampling our fair share. And on the weekend he proposed, we had a big group of our friends staying at the B&B with us. As soon as we got there, he was anxious for us to take a walk. We strolled out onto the pier, he asked, and I said yes. And immediately after returning to the B&B and celebrating with our friends, I whipped out my calendar and began planning. It's my anal-retentive, every-detail- must-be-PLANNED-OUT side, you see.
By the time we returned home at the end of that weekend, we had a guest list of about 215 people, three possible dates, and our bridal party members selected. I wouldn't say I morphed into Bridezilla, but I knew what I wanted for my wedding, and more importantly, what I didn't want (butt bows on the bridesmaid dresses, a garter dance, a bouquet toss, or the words "man and wife" used ANYWHERE in the ceremony).
I had my wedding planner book in which I logged receipts, appointments, and a timeline for booking each and every vendor. Within one month of our engagement, we had the church, reception hall, and florist booked. We had six friends and relatives standing up for each of us, plus two ring bearers (my twin cousins) and one flower girl (my little sister).
My husband likes to tell people that I planned the whole wedding myself and that all he did was show up, and in a lot of ways that's true, although he did come to all the important appointments with me, including the meetings with the florist, the cake-tasting, and of course, the pre-marital counseling required by the Catholic Church. But by and large, he was happy to surrender the reigns to me, and I was happy to take them. Control and I are very, very good friends.
August 4th, 2001 was a hot day, in the low 80s, and after 13 months of planning, I was very happy to see that everything went off without a hitch. Looking back, 25 seems so very young to be getting married, although I didn't think so at the time. There was a whole lot more I could have experienced out of life as a single person, but luckily, my husband shares my love of travel and adventure, so it's worked out that we've traveled our path together instead of apart.
We'll celebrate five years of marriage together this year, approximately three weeks or so before we'll welcome our first baby. And while we certainly have our differences and our disagreements, I can't imagine being married to anyone else.
The members of the gigantour wedding party, some of whom read this blog. Feel free to out yourselves, if you wish.
The reception place, whose decorations I absolutely love. If you look on the website of the reception place, which I linked above, you can see more detail of how it looked, since we worked with the same florist who designed the wedding on the website. Oh, and the woman in the center is my dear grandma.
One of several cookie cakes. MMM.....Italian cookies.
The end of a very long day.
I love your wedding pics Kristi! You were a beautiful bride, and it was a beautiful day. Except for the fact that you were a party-pooper not having butt bows! ;-) Those 5 years went by so quickly!
You were busy busy in your 20s! You'll be busy chasing a little one around in your 30s!!
Hmmmm, I never thought about forcing people to wear butt bows! It's brilliant! *scribbles down on wedding-things-to-do list*
Ahh, memory lane. And I *still* have that silver empire waist dress and unwieldy strapless bra hanging in a closet somewhere, untouched for whaa? 5 years?
Looks like you had a gorgeous wedding. I love the yards and yards of fabric at the reception.
You think you were a young bride at 25. I was only 21 when I got married! I thought I was old too. Looking back now, I realize just how very young I was!
Those are great pictures! I think that is really neat that your sister painted those pictures for the wedding - very unique!
Marie-Aww... thank you!
Shannon-Butt bows are a wonderful thing. Your bridal party will adore you if you make them buy dresses with lovely, lavish bows in the rear.
Karrie-Untouched? Untouched? Why aren't you wearing it to work?
Geekwif-Wow. You have me beat. 21 is young, and so is 25!
Dawn-Thanks! My sister is very talented. :)
I've been very remiss lately with blogging, and am busy today catching up! What a beautiful, fairy-tale wedding you had! You looked absolutely beautiful!
And, even better, that you married the right man, and couldn't imagine being married to anyone else. That is the perfect togetherness.
THANK YOU, Kristi, for sparing us butt bows. Your wedding was beautfiul. You know that was my year where every summer weekend was a wedding, shower, or bachelorette party, but what you planned was special and unique!
Sure I'll "out myself" - Top of the stairs at right end of the row of girls. There's me :)
My dress is still hanging in the closet too...but silver strappy shoes - I've used those several times since!