It's a bird! It's a plane! IT'S A BAM!

Kids at the wedding: My favorite memory of the night is when two adorable little girls aged 5 and 7 asked their mom to bring them to me so they could say hi to “the pretty princess.” The littlest one looked up at me and with these big, big eyes said solemnly with her sweet little lisp, “You are SO PRETTY.” It completely made my night, and I'll hold onto that memory for a long time. And after having cried because I didn't want to risk having kids at the wedding, this was significant. We had kids at the wedding—one little one on the brink of between toddlerhood and babyhood, and several under, say, twelve. There was not a peep during the ceremony, and during the reception seeing the little guys get DOWWWWWN on the dance floor in the middle of all the adults was another one of my favorite memories of the night. I should not have stressed in the days leading up to the wedding about that. (That said, a month afterward I went to a friend’s wedding and their ringbearer started screaming and crying during her vows. So it’s a gamble, but it was a gamble that was worth it for us.)

More bridesmaids do not necessarily equal more drama: I remember Lori talking about being in the same situation. I had seven bridesmaids (six cousins and my best friend). Including my 12-year-old cousin Shelby who got to walk down the aisle with my 11-year-old brother Matthew, which was SUPER special to me, since DH had asked my three brothers to be groomsmen. So much yay. Anyway, my cousins and I do not always agree about the world and the way it runs, and we’ve had rocky conflicts at times over the years. But at the end of the day, we care deeply for each other, and I know they have my back. Not once did I regret asking those seven women to stand by me. In fact, seeing them all glammed up in all the dresses they chose, all such beautiful expressions of their own personalities, and knowing they were there to stand by my side, was one of the most touching aspects of the wedding to me. And I was so so so so so glad I had them all pick their own dresses—they were beautiful and exactly what I wanted. I should not have stressed.

Dry wedding: Not Mormon, but my wedding was dry for religious reasons and a similar guest situation to Ninjaaa’s (i.e., guests would have been startled and extremely confused to see alcohol). But the dance floor was packed and was so, so much fun, to the point that my (WONDERFUL) DJ approached me at the end of the night to say that pictures of our dancing were going up on his website. I would never advocate skipping out on alcohol just to save a buck, but what I learned through this is you just have to know your crowd. My crowd doesn't drink, so they weren't mad about no alcohol, and they wanted to party regardless. I should not have stressed. (Are we noticing a trend here?)

Oh also, a random note—during our rehearsal, which was the day of the ceremony, men separated from women (so the groom wouldn't see the bride lol) and was AMAZING, when I asked if we could announce that our ceremony would be unplugged, our photographer pulled me aside and quietly told me I had just become one of his all-time favorites. It ended up working fantastically, and I would recommend an unplugged ceremony (but a plugged-in reception) any day.

What went wrong: Remember Bill? The guy who told Zach I was “the last person he'd want to hang out with the week before the wedding?” Yeah, his two middle school sons thought it would be funny to leave poop in both of the stalls in the men’s bathroom at the reception. Classy, right? Thankfully, they did it at the beginning of the reception before anyone really went in there, and Zach saw them coming out of the bathroom and had a suspicion they might have caused trouble. So he found the poop and flushed it away before it bothered anyone. But really. I was so annoyed by that. I realize this is ironic in light of my point above about not stressing about kids at the wedding lol, but honestly I would have considered these boys above the “worry-zone” anyway. Was not counting on the possibility of gross practical jokes from older kids who should know better, I guess?

Also, somehow the list of the bridal party’s names got mixed up so that on the way into the reception, all the bridesmaids’ names were announced correctly but the groomsmen were listed in the opposite order so all their names were announced wrong. Everyone was laughing about that, and then we found out Zach’s brother/BM had been planning to mess up the list of names anyway as a joke, and was delighted that it happened on its own. So I guess even if the list had been correct, they would have ended up walking in to the wrong names announced. It was funny and no one cared.

I think my only regret the actual night of, was that since my bouquet was heavier than I expected, I kept forgetting to hold it as low as I wanted, so I was kinda worried about having Bouquet Boob in my pictures, ha. But I decided I was done worrying about stuff so I decided to forget about it, and when I got the pictures, eh, maybe I could have held it lower, but it doesn’t look like Bouquet Boob to me so who cares.

I had wonderful vendors who worked together beautifully. If anything went wrong behind the scenes, I had no knowledge of it. Any brides in the DFW area who need recommendations, hit. me. up. Let me tell you I got vendors who will make your dreams come true.

Bottom line—I SHOULD NOT HAVE STRESSED SO MUCH ABOUT STUFF. Everything worked out ok. It was all ok. Everything. Was. Ok. (I don’t know, maybe if I repeat it enough times it will reverberate into the past and my former self will chill out a little?)

Also, our caterers boxed us up meals to go, and our baker baked us custom cupcakes to take with us. So that was a delicious midnight snack with my brand new husband. But……not as delicious as *cough*otherstuffthatnight*cough*. It was just a great night. Best night of my life, by far.

OK NOW PICTURES!

*waiting impatiently*

READY !!!

-My amazing mom and dad before the ceremony.

Waiting!!!!!!

HAHAHAH the last line was the best. I totally read all of that. Those 2 boys are a nightmare, I am so glad the other kids were a joy. Congrats on everything. ::now waits for pictures::

Well MEH. I had everything all typed out for three pictures per comment, but even on a computer and IN A LIBRARY THAT I PURPOSELY WENT TO FOR GOOD WIFI FOR MY BAM, it won't let me post any more than one per comment. Sorry, that's what's been taking so long! Ok, back to pictures.

-Zach and his dad (who was also our officiant) before the ceremony

-Zach laughing during the day-of men's rehearsal (BE STILL MY HEART)

OMG YAY!!!!!!

-Putting on the dress

Ahh I can't wait to see more! I don't always read the recaps fully, but I love yours. More pictures, more pictures, more pictures!

LOVELOVELOVE!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep them coming!!!!!!!!!

F5F5F5F5F5!!!

-Putting on the veil

YAYYYY!!!! Moreee! You are so pretty!!!

Great advice. I love your recap. I'll not to stress so much! Waiting on more beautiful pics!!!

-CINDERELLA MOMENT LIFE IS NOW COMPLETE

So pretty!

Your wedding was basically the polar opposite of mine and the fact that it was so amazing just goes to show that there isn't always a standard for the perfect wedding. Everyone's is perfect in their own way. Congrats and I can't wait for pics!