Wedding Part 4- The Reception

**Sigh of Relief** the hard part was over and now it was time to have some fun!

Wouldn't you know it that the weather had cleared up right AFTER our ceremony. Figures. But at least we got to take our professional pictures outside during our cocktail hour.  The Hyatt did a good job and put a whole cart or food and drinks outside for the wedding party to enjoy while taking pictures.  Thank goodness because we had picked out some BOMB apps for everyone to enjoy....think lobster ravioli. YUM!

Anyway, taking pictures was actually like pulling teeth.  Well not really that bad but I really couldn't wait to get them over with.  Having to stand there with a smile on your face for an hour is tough.  I had thought this was going to be one of my favorite parts of the wedding...you know...take some fun and funky pictures with the wedding party.  Get really creative with it.... Yeah, No.  I was so tired of taking pictures with our families that by the time it came to take our wedding party pics I was pretty much clocked out.  Hopefully they come out nice none the less but it will be my own fault if they don't.  What can I say, this girl wanted to celebrate instead of standing there with a pretty smile.  Can you blame me?

These aren't our professional pics but some that our friends and family took of us during the cocktail hour.

Now that the cocktail hour was over it was time to PaRtAy! Well not just yet actually.  Me and bridesmaids had to go back up to our room and re-touch our hair since the weather outside had COMPLETELY flattened it.  No big deal though, the groomsmen all sat in the lobby and took shots while they waited for us haha.
So we finished getting beautiful again and headed down to the ballroom for our introductions.  It was really funny standing outside of the ballroom watching our bridal party make up dances and practicing their moves.  I would have loved to see what they came up with and how the crowd reacted...I'm sure they got plenty of laughs!
After five or so minutes of our wedding party getting introduced it was me and Jordan's turn.  We heard the  intro to "Shipping off to Boston" by the Drop Kick Murphys and we were ready to go.  We walked in fist pumping to the music....I know how 'Jersey Shore' of us haha...and we made our way to the dance floor while everyone stood up and clapped.  Once we had made it to the dance floor we were expecting our wedding party to be there waiting and dancing for us but that was a no go.  They were all at their seats.  So when the intro music kept playing we kind of stood there and danced awkwardly but at least we got a few good twirls in for pictures :o)

Now it was time for our first dance as a married couple. We chose Tim McGraw and Faith Hills song "It's Your Love" to dance to.  We are both country fans and the first concert we ever saw together was Tim & Faith so it was fitting.  During our dance we kept talking about how surreal everything had been up to this point.  We couldn't believe that we were actually at "our" wedding doing "our" first dance.

Next up was the Father-Daughter dance and the Mother-Son dance.

It was time to sit down and take a load off after all of that excitement.  The weight staff was exceptional and ALWAYS made sure Jordan and I were all set with drinks any anything else we may have needed.  The food was delicious, (a fillet and chicken combo), and I ate just enough to get me through the night. 

During dinner we had the speeches.  Jordan's Best Men, Brock and Adam, two of my best girlfiriends, Aimee and Whitney, and my two Uncles, Barry and Brian all stood up and spoke such kind words for us.  They weren't the tear jerker-type speeches, just all around happy and funny words that made us smile and feel welcomed into each others family.

The cutting of the Wedding Cake was next.  Don't think for a minute that I didn't tell Jordan I would kill him if he smeared cake on my face and ruined my make-up haha.  Even with this strong warning I wasn't so sure....

He got the message loud and clear...no mess to be cleaned up thank god haha!

After cutting the cake all of the "formalities" were through.  It was time to party on the dance floor.  I can honestly say I didn't stop dancing unless it was to go to the bathroom...see below

This picture was too funny to NOT put it in.  Sim was a TROOPER and went with me all night haha.

Or to grab a drink.  Our D.J. was great and played almost everything I had requested from the list I had sent him prior to the wedding.  Here are the highlights I remember.....Oh no...OH YES...I was that bride that had a couple drinks to many and has a hard time remember every small detail.  But what I do remember was dancing all night with my niece who kept telling me a looked like a princess, dance offs, standard wedding dances to get the crowd going (cupid shuffle etc), people drinking out of the center piece "goblets",and getting tossed in the air on the shoulders of Jordans friends.  It was FABULOUS and I had the time of my life. Thanks to everyone who came out and made it one of the best nights of my life!



Wedding Part 3- The Ceremony

The time had finally come.  The wedding coordinator had made herself up my hotel room and it was time to go downstairs and get in line for the processional.

Me, my Mom and Dad and bridesmaids all cramped ourselves into the elevator and descended down to the first floor.  As we got out of the elevator a serious surge of excitement hit.  We had to walk through the lobby of the Hyatt and everyone was staring and smiling at my beautiful bridesmaids and me.  We even had a few random people taking our picture as we glided to the ballroom.

Things happened pretty quick after we stepped into our places.  Kelsey was the first bridesmaid to go and boy did she look nervous haha.  Sim followed her like a pro since she's been in like 5 weddings in the past 2 years.  Holly was nervous but totally held it together.  Beth was the last one to go and walked down the aisle calm, cool, and collected.

This is the only pic of them I have all together so far...disregard the lack of smiles haha

Now it was Me and my Dad's turn to go.  I wasn't really nervous to walk down the aisle, just really pumped up.  I had an intense amount of adrenaline running through my body.  I'll never forget what one of my friends told me when she got married last summer;  "There is no reason to be nervous.  Just think of it as a HUGE soccer game and get yourself pumped to walk to down the aisle.  It's GAME TIME".  I'm pretty sure that was the best advice I had received throughout the entire wedding process.

So I hear my bridal entrance song, the Celtic version of Cannon in D, and see the big white doors open.  Me and my dad set a good pace from the get go and I see my groom waiting for me at the end of the aisle.  I started to trip a little bit on the front of my dress but quickly recovered and altered my steps so I wouldn't fall down and take my Dad with me haha.  Jordan looked a little nervous but had a smile on his face waiting for me.  I was so happy to see him, the bridal party, and all of our friends and family around us. 

 Me starting to trip on my dress haha

My Dad gave me away when we reached or Justice of the Peace and Jordan at the end of the aisle.  It was so nice to hold Jordan's hands and gage how he was feeling.  I think we both had nervous beaming smiles on our faces. 

Our JP welcomed us and our friends and family and discussed the importance or marriage and supporting one another.  She then called my Aunt Lisa and my Mom in Law Kathy to come up and deliver their readings.  Both of them spoke very clear and confident.  It was so nice having them stand by our sides and read such encouraging words.

After the readings it was time for the big moment....saying our vows.  I was so opposed to writing and saying our own vows in the beginning of this whole process because I thought I would be too nervous speaking in front of all of those people but in the end I'm glad we did it.  It was much more meaningful to hear Jordan speak his own words from his heart rather then him repeating vows after the JP. When it was my turn a got a little teary eyed but I have to say we both held it together pretty well.  My absolute FAVORITE thing about our vows is that we had each hand printed them...on Hyatt hotel and Best Western hotel paper hahaha.  I had a huge smile on my face when Jordy was reading his vows to me not only because they were sweet, but because I had noticed we were on the exact same page.  It was so "us".  We are definitely not 'that' couple that has every little detail planned so it was awesome to see that we had both written our vows on hotel paper.  Clearly we had also both written ours that day haha.

Next we exchanged our rings and completed our sand ceremony.  Of course Jordan put my ring on as smooth as can be...me on the other hand struggled a little bit getting it over those hockey knuckles haha.  I was also cracking up when we did the sand ceremony because the bride and the groom are supposed to slowly mix the sand together and Jordan ended up just dumping his in all at once.  Can't say I didn't know what I was getting into ;o)

Finally we kissed and were announced for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Fox! Wohooo!!

That's pretty much it as far as the ceremony goes.....check back in a few days to hear all about Part 4-The Reception. Trust me...you don't want to miss it!

Wedding Part 2- Getting Ready (the calm before the storm...or in this case the other way around)

If the Rehearsal was a taste of what was to come on the big day we were certainly in for a treat :o)

We began the day by starting on our hair bright and early.  My friend Holly who is in hairdressing school was kind enough to do all of the bridesmaids and my hair for the big day. 1 hairdresser+ 5 heads =start getting ready at the crack of dawn.

Me and my bridesmaids hung out in our hotel room for most of the morning and afternoon I finally decided it would be best to start writing my vows since I had forgotten the originals at work. I'm not going to lie, I had a little help from google but most of what I wrote came from the heart. I have to say the new vows came out even better then the ones I had wrote before.  Rumor has it the groom was on the same page and had some google help as well haha.

About an hour and a half before the ceremony started I went down to the Spa at the Hyatt and had my make up done.  I'm going to give some advice to any of you ladies out there who are looking to get your make up done professionally:

If you are already GOOD at doing your own make up, DO NOT pay the money to get it done professionally. 

I left the place FUMING.  I am no Bridezilla by any means but I was thoroughly pissed when I looked into the mirror after she was finished.  It looked like nothing special was done to my face.  The make up looked OK but what I had envisioned after paying an arm and a leg was nothing like what I saw in the mirror.  I was expecting to see the best make up job that had ever been applied to my face.  I was not happy after I left and I pretty much ended up re-doing it all myself.

Needless to say my mood was pretty sour after that.  I know I shouldn't have let it get to me but I was seriously let down.  With that said, stress levels were at an all time high and it wasn't helping that there were eight women cramped getting ready together in this one small room. So... I had a minor freak out.

Let me back up.  Yes I was pissed about my make-up but that wasn't the only thing that caused my mini meltdown.

Not two minutes after I made my way back up to my room with my bad make up job did my Mom start freaking out about the flowers.  The florist had delivered my bouquet and the bridesmaid bouquets to my room but it seemed that we were missing all of the boutonnieres and the mothers/grandmother flowers.  Mom starts freaking which caused me to start freaking out.  Can anyone get a hold of the florist? No. Can anyone get a hold of the wedding coordinator? No.

That went on till about 15 minutes before the ceremony and then the real stressing news hit.  We have to move the ceremony inside, it's about to pour outside.  Not that this ended up being a big deal, but everything that I had envisioned for my ceremony kind of sort of came crashing down.  Not to mention this was 15 minutes before I had to walk down the aisle.

Freak out ensues....I need alone time in the bathroom to breathe and get away from all of the stress and estrogen in the room.  I actually ended up adding a couple other lines to my vows during this mini meltdown  which surprisingly/thankfully calmed me way down.  I realized that all of this stuff was nothing to be making myself crazy over....I had been missing the point.  The point was that this whole day was about me and Jordan sharing our love with friends and family...not about the "show" of things.  Who cares if my make up doesn't look glamorous? Jordan will think I'm beautiful anyway.  Who cares if the guys don't have boutonnieres? It's not like they already don't look nice in their tux's. Who cares if we have to move out ceremony inside? The love we share and the vows we take will be exactly the same.

After getting a grip and remembering what was important about the day I was ready to come out and put my dress on.  I kind of felt bad for the photographer because she had just arrived at my room when I was was having my bridezilla moment , but she was a trooper and I'm sure she has seen much worse.

Here are a couple of pics from getting ready and putting the dress on. 

 This is my pissed face getting my make up done haha

And this is me storming off to my room haha...good picture of my hair though, thanks Holl!

 The beautiful flowers!

The Wedding Dress

And here it is...putting on the dress and getting laced up!



Hope you have enjoyed the pics so far, stay tuned for Part 3-The ceremony!

Wedding Part 1-The Rehearsal

I swear I am alive and well!

Jordan and I JUST finished celebrating our wedding.  Yeah that's right...we had a 2 week long celebration...no big deal...:o)

Anyway, there are so many things to tell you about that I figured it would be best to break it up in parts.  So here goes...

Part 1. The Rehearsal

The day started off pretty nice and relaxing.  I hung out by the pool.  Read a good book.  Had a little cocktail.  Fast Forward three hours and BAM it's go time.

My friend Holly and I began to get ready at her house.  We both picked out cute little sun dresses that were fit for the Newport occasion, and kept up our hair and make up light.  We were all ready to go and as we drove out of her driveway it dawned on me....
 
SHIT. I forgot all of my wedding documentation at work.

No big deal right? I'll just drive there and pick up up, right? WRONG. My work is over a two hour commute from where we were headed and I was already late for picking up my dress.

Here is the conversation that ensued:

Hillary: Guess I'll just have to wing it
Holly: Well what do you really need in there?  Doesn't the wedding coordinator have everything?
Hillary: Yes the wedding coordinator has ALMOST everything.
Holly: What do you mean ALMOST?
Hillary: Well she DEFINITELY DOESN'T HAVE MY VOWS!!

Panic mode and wedding stress start to kick in.

Not going to lie...we cracked the bottle of wine we had in the car faster then you could even imagine haha.  After a few sips I was back in laid back Hillary mode again. 

This wasn't too big of a deal..I definitely had time to write them again.  It wasn't like I had written a novel. But then I realized I forgot a couple other key things....for instance: the ceremony readings.

Drifting back into panic mode.....Into the Hyatt under-prepaired we go!

Luckily my Aunt and Mother in Law are awesome (and know me well enough) and had already printed their own copies of the readings. PHEW! Huge weight lifted off of my shoulders, and now it was time to have fun at the rehearsal.

So we headed out to the lighthouse on this beautiful day and began rehearsing our ceremony.  Here are a couple of pictures from the day:

After the ceremony rehearsal we were all ready to relax and have a few (too many) drinks at the Atlantic Beach Club where our dinner was being held.

Dinner was great and it was so nice to see our friends and family that had traveled down to Newport that day.  At the end of the dinner my Dad surprised us with a slide show of about 2 million pictures of me and Jordan when we were kids which was really sweet.  He put a lot of time and effort into it (so Dad if you are reading, thank you!!) and it came out really nice.  I have to say...the music selection was something else though and we got a kick out of some of the songs.  Lets just say the music ranged from Barbara Streisand to J-LO and Pitbull haha.  Here he is doing his welcome speech and a few other pics from dinner:

After the slide show we made our way outside to the bar area and began our own little celebration by the beach.  We had an awesome time just hanging out with everyone and mingling between friends and family.  Thank GOD we had a day in between the rehearsal and wedding day because we certainly did not go easy.  A few too many washington apple shots/glasses of chardonnay I'd say but it was all in good fun :o)

 
That's all she wrote for the wedding rehearsal, stay tuned for Wedding Part 2!!