Weddingbee Blog

This is it! My recaps are actually beginning! Our wedding day was one of the best days of my life, and I cannot wait to share it with you guys. But before I get to the pro pics, I’d like to tell you about the day before.

It started with manicures for me and MOH Deniz.*

In retrospect, I could’ve gone with an edgy gunmetal gray, but I loved this pale pale pink. (And it matched our wedding colors!)

Then we met up with my mom, my SIL J. Dawg, and my MIL, the Dude’s mom, for brunch. I’d been wanting to try Sandra Bullock’s restaurant, Bess Bistro, and it didn’t disappoint. Gourmet grilled cheese sandwich with blackberry compote? Yes, please.

It was great spending time with all of these women before everyone else got into town for the rehearsal dinner.

Photo by MOH Deniz

Then it was back home for a bit. Here we are chillaxing with the Dude’s mom and grandpa a few hours before the rehearsal.

At this point, the sky was starting to look pretty gloomy, and we weren’t sure whether our backyard barbecue was going to come together. The rental company was scheduled to drop off our tables and chairs at 3PM. As soon the truck arrived and the guy started to unload our tables, the rain started to fall. Yikes! To top it off, my wedding dress was at the alteration’s place, and I wouldn’t be able to try it on until the rehearsal dinner was over. Somehow I neglected to learn that the bodice was about a cup size too big until the week of our wedding! It was a bit stressful, but the beer was helping.

Pretty soon, it was time for the rehearsal! This was the first time we got to see my extended family who had come in from West Texas, Houston, Dallas, Louisiana, San Antonio, Amarillo, and upstate New York. As soon as my flower girls saw me, they ran to my side and didn’t leave it! It was so sweet. Below is my uncle Tommy, who I had asked to emcee our reception. The flower girls are his grandkids.

Photo by MOH Deniz

We ran through the ceremony in our outdoor location (Plan A) first. Look how cute my bridesmaids are! The flower girls were cracking up our officiant, Spike. When we rehearsed the kiss, Grace (the one in the gray shirt) covered her eyes and said it was gross!

Then, our coordinator, Rick, asked us to go ahead and run through the ceremony inside the Artisan Ballroom (Plan B). I don’t have any photos of that, though.

The rehearsal was over quickly—almost too quickly! Then it was time to head to the Dude’s and my house for some delicious barbecue action. At this point, it was drizzling pretty steadily. But not to worry! MOH Deniz had wrangled us a deal on a tent with the rental guy for our backyard dinner. Phew. What would we have done without her? The tent was already up and the barbecue was getting delivered to us ASAP. And my awesome friend (and ceremony reader) Amanda was on her way with my wedding dress!

I don’t have a lot of photos from the rehearsal dinner, but here are a couple good ones.

The Dude gets really excited about barbecue. Little does he know, he won’t be so excited about it two and a half months later when the leftovers are still in our freezer.

While some of the adults enjoyed bottled beers, the little ones enjoyed their Coca Colas.

Photo by MOH Deniz

Before we knew it, the night was coming to an end, and I was forcing all of my family into a big group picture. I’m so glad we got this!

Photo by MOH Deniz

I wish we would have gotten a group shot of the Dude’s family, too, as well as our wedding party. I was way too preoccupied with other things to think about who was taking photos.

Next up: a quick tangent so that I can show you the gifts we got for our wedding party.