Always & Forever: Getting Ready, Part Deux

With hair and makeup complete, it was time for the bridal party to start getting dressed.

 

 

 

 

 

With the ladies all set, it was time for me to officially be a bride!

 

But first, the bride and groom gift exchange! My gift to the mister:

 

I got him a nice Italian leather wallet from Nordstrom...

a "lil black book" from my boudoir shoot

 

...and a lovey dovey card!

From the mister to moi:

My first flowers EVER from the mister. Seriously. 

What the girls thought of my reaction to the flowers 

A card from the mister 

And I thought I wrote long ass cards!! 

and the pair of sunglasses I knew he got

for me all along.  Perfect for our honey-

moon in Hawaii!

After all the excitement from opening presents, it was officially time to done the great white dress. Apparently, I wasn't the only one exciting about putting on the white dress. Love my soon-to-be nephew's expression!

 

 

 

 

I totally rocked the Sexy Lil Bride panties 

Gotta make sure the ladies are nice and lifted. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, let's check on the boys since they slept in till 11am! Must be nice not having to worry about hair and makeup that takes a few hours to put on eh?

A quick lil brush and hair is done! 

Quick lil face wash and "makeup" is done. Really? 

 

 

 

 

Fresh breath is a must! 

With the boutonnieres pinned on, the guys were ready to go!

 

Wait, is that Chad being emotional about his buddy's big day?

Psych! 

He's too cool to be emotional. Ha!

Uh oh! Phone pinned to the ear with this facial expression by the groom can't be good...

With friends and family beginning to filter into our suite to offer their love, support, and congratulations, it was time for formal bridal party portraits to warm us up to the camera.

Side note: I totally forgot to remove my wedding dress from the dress bag to let the wrinkles fall out the night before. It wasn't until the photographers asked where my dress was the next day so that they could photograph it did I realize my big crapola mistake. Thank goodness my dress has little rosettes in it to help cover/hide wrinkles if need be!!

*All photos above were taken by Colorband PhotoArtisans

Always & Forever: Getting Ready, Part One

My buddy, Chad, and myself were the first to wake up following a brief 3 hours of sleep. His reasoning - to beat the girls to the shower. Me - pure adrenaline from the slumber party and what the day ahead had in store for me. It's wedding day!

I situated myself into one of the comfy chairs in the conference room and turned on my laptop to write a quick post on my old blogging stomping grounds. You know the classic "this is it! Months of planning and today's the day, sappy sappy, cheesy cheesy, le sigh" post.

Shortly after hitting Publish, BM Amy rung the door bell to our suite (yea, we had a freaking door bell. Told you Catherine was freaking awesome!) and the rest of the girls began to stir. Meanwhile, my makeup artist sent me a text saying she was running a few minutes behind, but was bringing along another artist with her. Did panic set it? Slightly, but knowing we had another artist on the way, I put my big girl pants on and chose to stay cool. It's only the biggest and most important day of my life...

The girls kicked me out of the conference room so that they could discuss their speeches for the reception. I figured this would be the perfect time to write my "I Love You and Can't Wait to Marry You" card to my soon to-be-hubby. Before I knew it, the makeup artist arrived and we wasted no time getting the girls hair curled and styled and makeup put on. It was so much fun watching all my girls get beautified.

Then it was time to make me look like a bride with all the wonderful ladies of my life looking on

 

 

 Meanwhile, there was conversations to be had

Accompanied with plenty of laughter

Rumbling was starting to happen also. Hunger rumbles. Chad and Lay met up with my future hubby and headed out to grab everyone breakfast. Just FYI - Chad and Lay were tremendous helps all day. They were absolutely invaluable to us! An hour later, they returned with over 50 breakfast tacos and french fries/tator tots from Whataburger. We were hungry enough to devour 2 each. Maybe 3, but who's counting!

Before, I knew it, the final touches of my makeup were put on and it was time for everyone to start getting dressed...

Side note: Since we were leaving for our honeymoon a few hours after the reception, I packed my luggage and brought it along with me. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to pack my "getting ready" dress! *facepalm*


*All photos above are courtesy of Colorband PhotoArtisans

Random Mondays

I've been in Canada for work since last Sunday hence the lack of updates and the Random Mondays post on a Tuesday. Bare with me as today's post is totally random and much babbling of thoughts. Feel free to move along to more well thought-out and composed blogs. *cheesy, happy face*

Work in Canada was crazy hectic, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous. High of 75 and lows of 65? Yes, please!

The evening/sunset view from my hotel room in Montreal 

Beautiful flowers in the hotel lobby. Reminds me of my

wedding bouquet. Le sigh.

The view from Canoe, a restaurant in Toronto

on the 54th floor facing Lake Ontario, the CN

Tower, and Porter airport on a drizzly afternoon.

Looks like I brought the beautiful Canadian weather back to Texas with me:

You're welcome! I'm still working on the rain part...

{source}

Labor Day was spent, well, laboring. At the donut shop. Wait, that's not what Labor Day is about? Well, crap! Oddly, I enjoyed my time at the shop because that was 1 extra day I got to spend with the hubster after being gone for a week with no form of contact other than emails. Yay for more quality time, even if it's at work!

We're 6 days into September now, which means we're less than 2 weeks away from our 1 year wedding anniversary! Holy moly!! I need to get a move on finishing our wedding recaps - stat!

How was your Labor Day weekend? Anybody else welcoming the cooler weather?