Perfection

Original Post: March 5, 2009

Jason and I are back to life, back to reality. Before the details begin to blur together I want to document as much of the weekend as I can. I have had people ask me how it was and perfect is the only word I can think of. People that weren't there aren't going to understand the level of perfection, but they'll get a good idea!! This is going to be a long one...

Wednesday - Ja and I both worked on Wednesday, but then were able to get home and clean the house and get competely packed up. I needed to leave a clean house so we could come back and not have to worry about anything. I knew, though, that once we got to Wilmington we'd be able to relax because most of the little stuff was done.

Our poor boys were getting so excited because they thought we were going to take a family trip, but womp womp, we were leaving them. Their Uncle Matt came and stayed with them Wednesday and Thursday night and then they were taken to 'camp' (aka the boarder) for Friday through Monday. Even though I missed them, they were in good hands!

We stopped by his parents on the way out of town and visited and then hit the road. We got down to Wilmington and unloaded everything and spent some time with Mom and Dad and Leslie and Will.

Thursday - Thursday involved some finagling because we had lots of people heading in different directions, but we needed someone to be at the house while Anna took her nap and the flowers were going to be delivered and needed someone to sign for them. Ja got up really early and went to the gym. He came back and we headed downtown. Leslie suited up and headed to The Loop to get her run in (she is training for the Cooper River Bridge 10k in Charleston!). Ja and I went to the Register of Deeds to get our marriage license (small minor detail for the weekend!!). Everything went well there and the weekend had a legal purpose!! We then took my engagement ring to Perry's Emporium to get it cleaned and re-dipped in Rhodium. Good thing the price of everything has gone up so it was ridiculously expensive!! Yay!! Ja's suit pants were the next order of business because we had left them to be hemmed. Once they were hemmed correctly the second time we were off to Flaming Amy's to have lunch with his mom and exchange the hotel baskets so they could be dropped off. We then went back to Mom and Dad's to divide and conquer. I jumped in the car with Mom and Leslie to head to the church and Ja and Deddy took the beer and wine to Angie to be iced down while Will stayed with a sleeping Banana Pants. At the church we hung and steamed my dress and Leslie's dress and worked on the candles that were put on the baptistry. Then we headed to Port City Java to drink a coveted Mocha Shake while we looked at ridiculously precious and way over-priced kids clothes. We headed back to the house in time for Leslie and Will to take Banana Pants to see some of Leslie's college friends that have kids. Deddy then broke out his new grill and Mom, Deddy, Greg, Ja, and I enjoyed steak and sweet potatoes. We also heard about Greg's wonderful day and him getting rowdy about how people suck at life. It was a riot. Then (per Leslie's advice) I decided to give my mom and dad their gifts (instead of leaving them on their pillows so I didn't have to deal with too many emotions) and everyone cried and laughed as Leslie, Will, and BP walked back in. We stayed up talking for a bit, then we all crashed hard - exhausted already.

Friday - Friday morning I woke up to Mom working on the bouquets. She single-handedly created all of the bouquets, boutonniere, and 'mussy-tussies'. I jumped in the shower and headed to the airport to pick up Mags and all of her skinny goodness!! We then called Patrick and were able to head to Mayfaire to spend some time with Patrick and his mom. That was a really great hour of just being able to sit and talk and sit still for a bit. Mags and I headed back to the house to grab some lunch and then we jumped in the car with Les to head to the nail place. Michelle met us for her first mani-pedi ever. We had just watched this the night before and it made it that much more hilarious. Michelle was determined that her guy 'HATED HER' because he wouldn't talk back to her. It was a hysterical hour and a half. After heading back to the house we all had an hour to get ready for the rehearsal. We all met at the church at 4:30 and were able to say hey and get our girly screams on and then we got to work. Jason's grandpa, Ed, had had a mild heart attack early Friday morning and so his family was crazily trying to be there for him and be at the wedding stuff. Everyone made it and we were able to have a great rehearsal. Then it was time to head to Hieronymus for an amazing rehearsal dinner. The food was great, the alcohol was thirst-quenching and the toasts were unbelievable. We were able to spend some good time with friends and sit around and enjoy each other, then it was time to get to the slideshow and toasts. My sweet, sweet husband worked for a lot of hours getting that thing together and it was amazing. Baby pics of me, baby pics of him, then pics of us together. Absolutely precious. Then the toasts started. Mike called John out and he went first. It was hilarious. He talked about some great memories of Jason (some embarrassing!) and then memories that I have been lucky enough to be a part of. Patrick was next as he recalled our first meeting and how scared he was of me in the beginning! Then my college girls, Kelly, Katie, and Michelle, read a poem that they wrote that was unbelievable. It was perfect and made me cry! Then the dads went and talked about how lucky we are to have such great families and how their excited to have the other family as part of their extended families. Then it was Ja's turn. Talk about not a dry eye in the house. He went through his family and my family and his friends and my friends and talked about what they meant to him and what they meant to me. He then told all of my people that he would take care of me. There is no way I can explain how amazing it was, so I'm not going to try. Hopefully we'll be able to have video of the weekend and you might be lucky enough to get to see it. After dinner we headed to Noni Bacca, which is a winery in Wilmington. I found it this summer as I was babysitting and I think it is so cool that we have an actual winery in the city limits. We were able to go with some aunts and the wedding party and friends. We got to taste some amazing wine and be in a place we can actually hear each other and it was just us. It was a wonderful night. Then it was time to go home and get some sleep.

Saturday - THE BIG DAY!!! I woke up Saturday morning with a huge smile on my face. I was going to get to marry Jason!!! I jumped in the shower and we began getting ready for the Bridal Brunch. Mags had stayed at my parents house with us, so we were all showering and getting ready. The guys were heading to breakfast at Golden Corral and then to UNCW to play basketball. The ladies got dressed and began to load the car with the attendants gifts. I had on my new Ann Taylor dress pants that Ja had gotten me for part of a wedding gift and as I bent down to pick up the box of presents...RRRRIIIIIPPPPP!!! Right up the crack. I had a split second where I thought about getting upset, but instead, I started dying laughing. It was hysterical. To make things better, Greg had taken my luggage to Ja, so I had nothing. Luckily I was able to magically fit into Leslie's pants and the problem was solved. Good story, though. Once I had my clothing situation fixed, we headed to Pam Fallis' house while Michelle drove Leslie's van to the hotel to pick up the girls. There we had some amazing mimosa's, muffins, fruit, and breakfast casseroles. It was such a nice breakfast and a good time to spend with my girls. I then gave them their gifts and mom gave me mine. Another bit of a cry fest. I then balled again as I told the girls what Jason had given me for a wedding gift the night before. We got some good pictures, then it was time to go get ready!! Leslie and I headed to Belk in Mayfaire for my makeup appointment. Sadly enough, they didn't have my appointment written down, but luckily they were able to fit me in. I was a little late for my hair with Johnna, but it all worked out. Johnna did a GREAT job on my hair and Leslie got her hair done and then we headed to the church. There we hung out in the bridal room and got ready. Since it was raining we had to be stashed in a stairway for a while, so once we all got ready and got some great pictures, it was time to head down the balcony. We hung out in the stairway for a while and got pictures and talked and laughed. It wasn't until we were walking down to start the ceremony that I got the least bit nervous. I walked into the foyer of the church and saw Deddy and he walked over and told me I was beautiful and gave me a hug. Then I saw Jeffro in all of his handsomeness and he smiled at me and immediately made me feel better. When it was Jeff Whitehead's time to walk he handed Tanner to my dad who held onto him for dear life until it was time for him to walk. Tanner was kicking and sliding around and was playing, but Deddy had the death grip on him. This gave me something to laugh about so I didn't have time to think about what was about to happen. When the last attendant walked they closed the doors so Deddy and I could get ready. The glass in the door is stained glass except for a few pieces that are clear. I took the few seconds to look through because I knew I needed to see Ja before those doors opened if I didn't want to lose it. I peeked and saw him and just had a calm wash over me. I knew I didn't have anything to worry about because I was going to be walking to him. He always makes things better. So I grabbed Deddy's arms and Greg started playing and it was time to go. P.S. Let me take this moment to brag on my Greg who did such an amazing job playing for that wedding. It made my heart smile to know that every note that was played came from him. It made the ceremony that much more intimate and amazing. So back to the walk. I have heard how quickly it goes and how you should take it all in, so when I was walking I caught Ja's eyes and then I tried to look around the best I could to see who was there supporting us. I was overwhelmed with the number of people I saw. I saw Ja (crying), I saw Mom (crying), I saw Leslie (crying), I saw Mags (crying), I saw Carrie (crying). I knew I had to find someone to look at if I didn't want to lose it, so I found Mike Queen who was just standing there with a smile on his face. We turned the corner and walked to our position. Ja said hey and told me how beautiful I looked. We were asked if we take this man/woman to have and to hold... and we both said, 'I will.' I like the twist on the traditional 'I do'. Then we said a prayer and Mike asked my dad who gives me away. He said, 'Her mother and I do,' then he kissed my cheek and took a seat. Then he asked Ja's dad who gives him and he said, 'His mother and I do.' Then we walked up the steps to the top. At that point the lights up front were brightened and the lights for the crowd were dimmed. The candles that were put in the baptistry became so bright there was an audible, 'Oooo!' We said our vows and we exchanged our rings and then Patrick did a reading that was awesome and during the unity candle we had Amber Vaughn sing 'When You Walked Into My Life'. She did an amazing job and it just added to the wonderfulness of thewhole thing. Then it was time for us to kiss and be announced husband and wife!! What a cool feeling that was!!! We walked back down the aisle arm and arm on our first journey of marriage!! God blessed us and stopped the rain for a little bit so that we could run out of the church with a giant pink umberella to get pictures. We then went to a few spots and took more pictures of just the two of us. Everyone thought we snuck off to do it, but I promise you that didn't happen!! Mike Queen even said something to me about that! I told him not yet...then I said, 'Inappropriate!' So yeah, I had a conversation about sex with my pastor standing in the church! We then headed back into the sanctuary for a few formal pictures. After that it was reception time, so we cleaned everything up at the church and everyone gathered their things, and then John, Ja, and I walked to Thalian. We immediately were taken in the Thalian theater and Sally conducted an AMAZING picture of us and all of our attendants seated in the theater. It is going to be unreal. Then we were introduced into the reception and I was blown away at the number of people!! We came into the Alan Parsons Project - Sirius, which is what the Bulls come into. It was great. We immediately blessed the food and got to eating. Ja and I started the line and the food was GREAT!! Angie did an awesome job! We headed to our table and tried to shove something in between talking to people. We then divided and conquered as we made our way around the room to talk to people. After that it was champagne toast and cake cutting and dances. We had a generations dance and Dinah and John Reece were the longest married couple with 43 years! Then it was time to get rowdy!! I got to spend a little bit of time talking to people and enjoying some beverages, but then it was time to rock out!! We had a dance party for the entire rest of the time! We did take time out to throw the bouquet, directly to Megan Davis!, and the garter, directly to Rick Parlow! We did the Cha Cha Slide, Electric Slide, and Cupid Shuffle amongst other bouts of ridiculousness. The night truly was the party we had hoped for. We had our last dance to Don't Stop Believin' by Journey and Friends in Low Places by Garth. Our exit was planned out with sparklers and we ran through the sparklers and it was so pretty. Then Ja realized everyone had about 2 minutes left so we proceeded to 'leave' about 5 times. The highlight of the night, however, happened when I decided it was a good idea to ride piggy back for our final exit. First jump, no luck. So Patrick yelled out, 'Hike that thing up.' I got as much dress as I could and jumped with all I had. In that process I jumped onto Ja's lower back causing him to stand straight up and then my foot swung and kicked his knee out from under him. Yep, we fell on our ass!! Will got a great picture of Ja's legs STRAIGHT up in the air. Mom got a good one of my face because I saw laughing so hard I couldn't breath. Once we got up and brushed ourselves off, we ran through for the final time (I think Jeffro won the sparkler game with the longest lasting sparkler) and I gave my dad a hug and he shook his head and said, 'Only you!'. We got in the car and drove to the Hilton. Everyone else was heading to Level 5 and we didn't want to miss any of that, so we pulled up and jumped out with all of our stuff and headed to the room. Ja had gotten flower petals and laid them all around the room and on the bed. It was absolutely gorgeous. He laid down on the bed for a second and I didn't know whether or not we were going to roll around now or later and so I said, 'So what are we doing?' to which he replied, 'If I take my pants off, we're not leaving.' I told him he better buckle that belt because we're going drankin'!! Rolling around can wait!! So we walked to Level 5 and met with everyone and proceeded to party until about 1:30 am. Everyone was amazing that a) I wore my dress to the bar and b) we were still up and partying at 1am. We were having such a great time and we'd never have everyone in the same place again, so we wanted to take advantage of it. We had a lot of drunken monologues of love that were priceless. We had a lot of dance parties and a lot of drinks! We stayed as long as we could, but we were exhausted and said our goodbyes and made the walk back (only after stopping at I Heart New York Pizza for a couple of slices). We got to the room and immediately took a shower. By the time I had brushed my teeth and gotten ready for bed, I came out and Ja was asleep. I took a picture because it was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen. His left hand was above the pillow and his ring was shining while he was passed out from exhaustion.

Sunday and Monday - The rest of the weekend was awesome. We went to Wild Wing Cafe for lunch and Elijah's for dinner on Sunday. We were able to meet up with Greg and Michelle to retrieve Ja's phone and it was fun to rehash the weekend since Ja and I just kept talking and talking about how perfect everything was. We were able to relax and stay in bed and just be. It was an amazing way to recap the perfect weekend. Monday we loaded the car and headed to Mom and Deddy's to get the rest of our stuff. Mom had organized everything so we loaded our pile and took some of the food (including the banging cake we had!). We then stopped by Holly Tree to give Mom a hug and say thank you one more time before we headed out. Once we got home we spent some time with the boys and then tackled the gifts. We had a lot of gift cards and a lot of really great stuff. That night we headed to Target with a few of our returns and gift cards and loaded up on stuff we needed. It was awesome to get all of that stuff and only spend $1.04 out of pocket!! We came home and CRASHED. Didn't even take the time to unpack.

Tuesday - Monday night while we were at Target we came out and there was snow on the car. We looked at each other and said if this weekend is capped off with a delay or cancelled school...this is seriously going to be the most perfect weekend ever. We got a few calls at 5:30 to let us know we had a 3 hour delay. HALLELUJAH!!!! Going back to work was the LAST thing we wanted to do, so it was nice to have a few extra minutes of sleep to soften the blow. Tuesday night when we got home we headed to Bed, Bath, & Beyond for our second trip with returns and gift cards. We spent another good chunk and took it all home. I then decided at 10p it would be a good idea to clean out the old stuff and make room for the new. The kitchen looked like a disaster area. Everything was handwashed, the towels were washed and dried and things were starting to take shape. Still didn't unpack.

Wednesday - The one big thing we didn't have that I desperately needed was a vacuum cleaner. With two big dogs and cheap ass nylon carpet, vacuums fall victim at our house. Our old vacuum had to have a broom handle jammed down it twice for every room to unclog it. Awful. So Ja did some research and yesterday we went to Sam's (with yet another stack of gift cards) and got a DYSON!!!!!!! I am so stoked. I finished washing all of our dishes while Ja put the sucker together. I have never been more attracted to him then when he turned that bitch on and it sucked everthing up! I even used my fingers to see if I could rake up some carpet and dog hair like I normally can and NOTHING CAME UP!! I was so excited!! So now we have a stocked and cleaned out kitchen and a brand new vacuum and we finally unpacked!!

Our wedding weekend was absolutely perfect. We had a blast and are happier than ever. I just want to say another huge thank you to EVERYONE who made that weekend what it was.

Through it all I have learned three things:

1. I am madly and passionately in love with my husband and I have never been happier. I am very proud and honored to know that I get to spend my life beside him.

2. I had no idea how sexy Jason would be to me with that wedding ring on his finger!

3. DYSON'S KICK ASS!!!