The Week Leading Up to the Wedding

I've been thinking all week about writing a post about this week last year, but I just haven't gotten it down on "paper", so to speak. On some levels, I can't believe how quickly the year has passed, but then sometimes it's easy to think that we've been married for ages.

I spent this week last year at home with my parents. I had decided to take off the week before the wedding, and then two weeks after for our honeymoon. Three weeks away from work was something I'd never done before, but I put away the Blackberry and enjoyed the time off.

Saturday... My mom came down on the Saturday before the wedding to pick me up, as well as our two dresses. I remember us carrying those HEAVY dresses from the shop out to the car, trying to hold them over our heads and as straight as possible. We had folded down the seats in the van and loaded everything up to head west.

Sunday through Wednesday... We spent the week doing all sorts of stuff... trying out hairstyles, running stuff out to the country club, seating arrangements and the like. We went out to lunch (and sometimes dinner too!) and just spent time as a family. I've always been close with my mom and dad, so I loved it.

Thursday... Rob came up on Thursday. He picked up bridesmaid Ashley at the airport and arrived in the late afternoon. I was glad to see both of them! I hadn't seen Ashley in a year or so (she lives in Atlanta), so I was especially happy to catch up with her and learn the plans for her own September wedding in Jamaica.

We headed down to Cumberland to walk Ashley through the club (and to drop off another load of stuff!), and I am SO GLAD we did. The tent company was there... putting up the tent the wrong direction! They already had some of the stakes in the ground and didn't seem to happy about moving it, but they did. What if we hadn't seen it until after they'd gone? No chance we would have gotten them to come back, and we'd been in a world of hurt. Glad we caught 'em when we did!

Friday... Friday was crazy. We started the day with all of the ladies getting our nails done, and then heading to my grandparents' house for a beautiful bridesmaid luncheon. The room, food and company were all perfect, and very much appreciated. I gave my girls their gifts (embroidered tote bags and pearl necklace and earrings to go with their dresses) and we just spent some time together. Honestly, Tessa, Ashley, Kelly and Carrie were a tremendous help during everything!

After lunch, we headed out to the club to start putting some things together. The tables had been mostly set, so we were able to put out the dinner menus and favors. We checked the tent and chairs, put up the shepherd hooks for the flower balls and made sure we were all set for the rehearsal. Home to clean up, quickly change and head back for the 5 p.m. rehearsal...

No problems here. Our minister was fabulous and kept the whole thing moving perfectly. We all understood the where, when and why of what was happening the next day. Afterwards, we headed to the rehearsal dinner at Giuseppe's, and then to my parents' for a yummy dessert party.

Saturday... a remembrance post to come!