Wedding!

Words can't describe the amazing weekend we had!  But I will try my best.  It all started on Friday night when my parents, Leigh, her boyfriend Brad, my great friend and bridesmaid, Karney, and Corey and I went out to dinner in downtown Knoxville.  Leigh had me all dressed up in bachelorette attire (complete with a blow up male part, you get the idea) and we all ate dinner and had a great time.  Then Leigh, Karney and I went to this classy little bar and spent 2 hours or so just having some girl time and hanging out.  It was nice and low key, just like I wanted it to be!  The next day, Leigh and I went to the tanning bed in the morning, and came home to find a house full of Corey's friends (the groomsmen) all in my room trying on their tuxes.  I had not beene expecting them until much later, so I'm sure I had underwear strewn all over the floor and countless other embarrassing girly things lying around!  Oh well, they didn't seem to mind.  Then, Becky arrived and a few of us went out to lunch and then met up with the rest of the bridesmaids at the nail place where we all got our nails done and drank a glass of wine!  It was so great to see everyone- all of my best girlfriends in one place!  Then, it was finally time for the rehearsal, so we ran home to change and ran over to the church.  Nothing too eventful there, but it was awesome to see everyone and have them meet one another.  They all hit it off right away, and this lasted throughout the whole weekend.  Everyone got along so well, there were a few crushes that developed ;) and we had a blast.  The rehearsal dinner was wonderful.  All of my family was there, including my uncle and his girlfriend, and my cousin from Chicago.  And my aunt and cousin also came from Michigan.  I saw both of my grandmothers of course, and many other people that are important in my life.  We ate a great meal, told stories, and our friends gave some toasts.  I am very thankful to Corey's parents for putting on such a wonderful rehearsal dinner.

After that, everyone in the wedding party came back to our house and watched Michael Phelp's win his 8th gold medal, and then we did some swimming of our own :)  This included the groomsmen having belly flop contests of course.  It was hilarious.  I already started to realize at that point that the weekend was really flying by!

Finally, Sunday arrived.  The bridal party plus Corey's mom, her friend, and my mom all went over to our family friend's house for a homemade brunch. We had the most amazing french toast and cinnamon rolls- it was a great way to start the day.  We headed over to the church soon after that to start getting ready.  We all had our hair done and Leigh did my makeup (a wonderful job!)  This all took 2.5 hours by the time all was said and done.  The most memorable moment I'll have is when I had to pee in my dress right before the ceremony.  Let's just say it took at least 2 girls to help me hold the dress, and poor Leigh had most of the responsibility of holding it up for me.  I never really believed women when they say that it's almost impossible to pee in a bridal gown, and now I know exactly what they're talking about!

The ceremony was beautiful.  Everything went so smoothly, the words were unique and touching, no one tripped, my dad sang beautifully, my mom played perfectly, and the music as a whole was wonderful.  Communion went very well.  Everyone looked so great, and I soaked in every second.  And I didn't mess up my vows this time!  The flowers were beautiful, too!  We will have some amazing pictures from the entire night, starting from when we were getting ready.  We all took pictures before the ceremony, so Corey saw me in my dress before it.  When he first walked in the sanctuary to see me, he came down to aisle and had to stop and tie his shoe!  Our photographer got a picture of that, too- I can't wait to see them!  So after the ceremony, Corey and I ran out to bubbles being blown on us and got into the Hummer limo along with the rest of the wedding party to go to the hotel for the reception.  We blasted the music and just enjoyed the ride.

I did have one "bridezilla moment" when we got to the hotel- I realized that Corey and I had not taken any pictures in front of the church, and I was really disappointed about this.  So we actually stuffed me into Corey's car and grabbed Karney and we went back to the church where we took some quick pictures.  The one posted here is from that escapade!  It was well worth it!

The reception was by far the best event of the weekend.  The centerpieces I put together with clear vases, blue rocks and marbles, and floating candles in water looked perfect.  Our cakes were awesome- Corey's groom's cake had a UK (University of KY) on it!  And we had our slideshow going with over 300 pictures, all from various parts of our lives.  Everyone really got a kick out of seeing some of our baby pictures.  The lighting was perfect- people kept going over to look out the windows since we were on the top floor of the hotel with windows overlooking the TN river below, and a nice view of the city and the mountains.  The sun was starting to set, and I think everyone really enjoyed the view.  I know I did.  Later on that night, we walked over to the window and saw the almost full orange moon in the sky with the light shining on the water.  It was the perfect night.  There was also a moment during the reception where my mom and I took my grandmother (dad's mom) over to the window so she could look out.  We all stood there, the 3 of us, and took in the view.  My grandmother is quickly fading and has had a lot of health problems lately.  She is so frail and I worry so much about her.  The moment was one of the most memorable that I have because I just wonder how much time she has left.  It really meant a lot to me that she could be there and participate and so that we could share this time together.

Another great thing was that one of my friends from high school was DJing the reception, and it was great to see him, and he did a fantastic job.  We had the traditional toasts, our first dance, father/daughter dance, mother/son dance, wedding party dance, cake cutting, and the bouquet and garter toss.  My other grandmother (mom's mom) actually came out for the bouquet toss- she didn't catch it, but it was hysterical.  In fact, she was hilarious all night long.  She got up and danced and really got into it!  I don't think I'll ever forget her little arms flinging around and her laughing.  It was great!

Overall, the reception was a blast- everyone danced and had a good time, we partied for about 4 hours, I got to sing a song to Corey on karaoke, and my uncle got up and sang "Wooly Bully" after me.  It was the typical crazy uncle at the wedding story, and it was one of the funniest moments of the night by far.  The funniest had to be when Leigh and I were dancing around to "Baby Got Back" just like we used to back in the day when it first came and we would go crazy dancing to it in the living room.  I even managed a kartwheel over a chair...long story!  Haha...

I didn't want the weekend to end.  We ate breakfast with some of the wedding party this morning and had to say goodbye.  Corey and I loaded the car down with gifts and headed back to Terre Haute.  It was really hard to leave, not knowing when I would see some of these people again.  I miss so many of them!  And it was such an amazing weekend.  I am so thankful for my friends and family that made it happen.  It was so meaningful, beautiful, and uplifting to Corey and I, and we could not have asked for a better wedding weekend.  Weekends like this are reminders of what life is all about.

So it's back to reality for now...but we still have our honeymoon to Alaska coming up, and hopefully many other exciting things to come.  Thanks again to everyone who came and supported us.  It means more to us than you will ever know!

Check facebook for pictures :)