The things I don't want to forget...and a final highlight video

It has been quite a journey on this little blog.  For over 2 years I have been sharing my ideas and plans and the little ups and downs of planning and participating in a wedding from the bride's perspective.  It has been a blessed joy. 

I never would have imagined that I would have actual 'followers' who would care to read what I had to share much less provide me insight, feedback, encouragement and support throughout the emotional roller coaster.  Heck, half of my wedding was probably designed or carried out by ripping off ideas from fellow blogger brides! 

This site has been my opportunity to vent and brag and talk unrelentlessly about all things wedding - something my family and friends never would have allowed as all of you have.  And that's only because you are along for the ride as well with your own plans and dreams and big celebrations. 

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you. 
As one of my final three wedding recaps, I wanted to share some last minute reflections and most excitedly the very last closing montage from our wedding video courtesy of Gary Freedline of Video Keepsakes of Bevelry Hills.  It has been so cool to share the actual 'live' events from our wedding day along with the photos and it is all because of Gary.  This last video is a favorite because it recaps our entire day for the bride and groom.  Have fun with it!

I do remember things from our wedding rehearsal and wedding day that I wanted to share so that I don't ever forget them. Here are a few of the sweet moments, funny things and just plain 'weird' things that I recall:

* Mr Fix It's dad (Pops) came up to me and my daughter, Little Miss at one point during the reception and hugged us and said "I am so happy that you two ladies are part of our family now and we love you so much!"

* At the rehearsal, Mr Fix It pulled me away from all the guests onto the deck and practiced 'dipping' me for our dance. We didn't actually do any dipping on the wedding day, but at least we had that moment together.

* At the rehearsal, Mr Fix It pulled me aside and we stared out over the venue and the ceremony where we would stand the next day and he said "Are you happy? Are you getting everything you ever wanted?" I just smiled and told him "Of course!"

*  Just before the walk down the aisle while waiting in the bridal cottage, my dad took my hand and knelt down beside me and said "Just breathe."

*  The dance floor seemed full enough and definitely was not too small. Though a lot of guests didn't dance I don't think.  One of Mr Fix It's good friends was acting all crazy jumping up on the fireplace hearth and shaking his bum at the dance floor. Then he began bouncing his girlfriend off of his knee.  And I of course had a blast dancing with my small group to You Shook Me All Night Long while the youngest kids loved dancing to Miley Cyrus' Party in the USA. 

Share time:  If you have already taken the plunge, what are the things you don't want to forget from your special day?

Wed Recap: The little ones...

One thing we knew for sure was that there would be lots of kids at our wedding.  Out of a guest list of about 190 people in attendance, at least 15 to 20 of those were kids ranging from 6 months to 16 years in age. 

Our 2 little nephew ring bearers hanging out pre-ceremony

By Grant Sharp

Now everyone knows how hard it is to keep kids entertained at a wedding, at least during the ceremony portion.  So I had lots of ideas to keep them busy and active.  And it had to start with our four ring bearers (3 of which were Mr Fix It's nephews and 1 was my nephew) and our flower girl (my little cousin). 

Our Junior Groomsmen (nephew) keeping some of the ring bearers entertained

Besides the favor boxes that were specific to the younger aged children that I blogged about here, and the little kids corner area that we set up with portable DVD players, lollipops, craft kits, coloring books and two paid babysitters, we had a few things that I didn't share previously.  Oh, and that kids corner with the babysitters?   Yeah, there were at least a couple kids in that room the entire night!  So it was definitely a good idea and money well spent!

Of course, the kids had fun with the ribbon wands that we left on the ceremony chairs for all the guests to wave as we walked back down the aisle:

By Kathleen Wolsfeld

And they loved the flashing sunglasses and mouthguards that we gave them for the reception (though the flashing didn't really show up well in these pictures)

By Kathleen Wolsfeld

By Chad Beever

A big hit were the table top bowling pin sets.  And the older ones danced the night away.

You can imagine how many fun shots the younger ones took in the photobooth (there were at least SIXTY photo strips of my flower girl, junior groomsmen and younger cousins alone in the booth!).

They adored the chocolate fountain...Yum!

By Heather Hughes

And these two would not stop bothering our magician...he was so great with them!

My sister said my little 3 year old nephew is still playing with his favor box toys even today four months later!  But probably the best investment I made for the ring bearers was for the ceremony portion of our day.  When they made their way to the end of the aisle as seen here:

A little bribery goes a long way:

I told their mothers that they could just gather them in the front row to sit down so they didn't have to stand on the altar for a good 45 minutes to an hour.  And waiting on their chairs in the front row, I had these little goodies:

Silent and yummy and entertaining!

I got these little mini travel sized magna doodles at Target for like $10 each and they kept the boys busy during the ceremony.  And you can't go wrong with a sucker!  Especially the ones that last for hours.

By Grant Sharp

But for some reason, my sister's in-laws felt the need to also have a bag of Reese's Pieces waiting for my little nephew.  That was something we had not planned on and right at the beginning of the ceremony he dropped the bag and the little candies spilled everywhere in the front and into the aisle.   Now I did not see them as they tried to quickly pick them up but apparently several of the wedding party and family members at the front of the altar saw all this go down and started laughing thinking it was just hilarious.  Good thing I had the sucker there for him so that he wasn't in tears about losing all of his candies!

And for added convenience for the guests with the youngest kids...these precious babies:

I even had our rental company swap out 4 of the chivari chairs for highchairs....which my family profusely thanked us for!  And as a special treat for these super young ones who can't really play with toys, we gifted them these fun little personalized bibs:

By Heather Hughes

By Chad Beever

Share time:  Did you do anything different or special for the younger guests you invited or included in your wedding?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  Read the above information.  I think it speaks for itself.  Be sure to have little things throughout your day available for little ones to be entertained and kept busy so they don't get bored - or loud!

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
All raw video footage provided courtesty Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: Why teenagers are annoying!

I have mentioned many times how I have a 15 year old daughter from a previous relationship.  Well, today, she is taking her driver's permit test!  Pray for me! 

She and Mr Fix It have been a part of each other's lives since she was 9 years old.  It's kind of crazy...but they love each other and get along great.  Too great...in fact, they sometimes annoy me.  And since Mr Fix It is truly still a big kid himself, the two of them together usually causes me grief.

That said, we definitely wanted to include Little Miss in our wedding ceremony and our vows. 

As you may remember in this post, Mr Fix It made a vow to be a patient and caring step-father to Little Miss.  Well, we wanted her to take some responsibility in our newly formed family as well. 

And so we created a special little part of the ceremony in which she stepped forward and the pastor asked her a brief question about whether she will love and support the two of us in our marriage.  She then was to respond with "I will" after which, Mr Fix It was to place a ring on her finger as well...sort of a little promise ring uniting our entire family. 

Of course, we didn't run through this at the rehearsal and so no one knew what the heck was going on. It's kind of silly and we laughed our way through most of it.  Little Miss wasn't sure where to stand or how to walk around me to join us.  In addition, as you'll see, she totally held true to herself as me and Mr Fix It did with her little 'unplanned' response.  Check it:

I could have killed her!  Little twerp.  Teenagers are so cocky and annoying...they just can't hold to traditions and rules of any type.  Oh well...everyone laughed, and I did, too at the time, but afterwards I told her she was a pain! 

Share time:  Do you have any children or other family members that you incorporated into your ceremony or vows?  Did you have (or do you suspect) that someone in your wedding party may go 'off script' with their role during the ceremony?

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: You may now claim your bride with a kiss!

This ceremony recap speaks for itself.  There's not much I need to write to go along with these photos and video other than to tell you that like with everything else surrounding our wedding, I did not want the traditional verbage used to end our ceremony. 

As our pastor made everyone aware in this post, I wrote out our ceremony script for him with key bible verses, vows, and ideas to share during his message.  Near the end of the wedding planning process, I told him that he didn't need to stick to the script verbatim...except for where I highlighted certain words and portions of the script that were absolutely imperative to have Pastor Lyle say exactly as I wrote them out.  One of those few things that I insisted be performed exactly as I wanted was the final comment of the ceremony where the officiant typically says "You may now kiss your bride!" 

I wanted this to be a bit untraditional, so as you'll see in the video, I came up with a bit of a unique way for Pastor L to direct Mr Fix It for the kiss:

And ladies, let me tell you yet again why I absolutely implore you to have some type of video at your wedding....the day after the wedding, I could not remember one thing about our first kiss!!!  Nothing!  I didn't even really remember kissing my groom at all at the end of the ceremony.  But thankfully there was video to prove we did in fact kiss.   And though the photos are great, they just can't seem to convey the length, type and memory of the kiss the way the video can.  :)

Here's a few more pics I love of our first kiss as husband and wife:

Share time:  Was there anything that may have seemed insignificant or normal during your ceremony or reception that you wanted to slightly tweak to make it different from a traditional wedding event?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  Be sure to practice the recessional during your rehearsal as well as the processional.  We didn't really practice this at our rehearsal like we should have and so the wedding party didn't realize that they were supposed to wait until me and my groom got to the very end of the aisle before they started walking down.  Then each of the couples immediately started following each other back down the aisle rather quickly which didn't allow the photographer a chance to get a good shot of each couple walking down.  It's better to have a mark (the middle of the aisle, end of the aisle, etc) that you direct each couple to start their walk at once the couple in front of them hits that mark.

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: Oh, let me just do that for you!

Mr Fix It and I are control freaks.  Shocking, I know, right?  I mean what would ever make you think that I think I can do it all?  As my sister, MOH J so brilliantly put it in her toast at our reception, neither Mr Fix It nor I are perfect...and that *is* in fact hard for both of us to hear.

We are both perfectionists and though I am a little more humble in realizing that I don't 'know it all,' Mr Fix It believes he is a contractor, electrician, plumber, lawyer, doctor, mechanic, teacher, gardener, etc.  Now granted, he does in fact know a lot about a lot of those things, but he definitely can't do it all.  Though he'd like to think he could.

Anyway, our personalities once again flared up during our ceremony when it came time to partake in the Unity Cross.  I wanted to incorporate something that we could keep as a memorable item to display in our home from our ceremony.  A lot of people will participate in the lighting of a unity candle or in a sand pouring ceremony and then keep the vase in their home.  I wasn't super excited about either of those ideas.  So I was super thrilled when I found the Unity Cross on the GetMarried.com web site. 

It's not cheap at $99 but my small group of girls that I lead in a bible study asked if there was anything special they could all pitch in to get me for my shower and I instantly thought of this cross.  So it not only was a great keepsake from our ceremony, but it also was a special gift from some very important friends in my life.

Basically, the cross is put together by the bride and groom during the ceremony to represent the uniting of the two different beings (man and woman) on the foundation of our faith. 

I loved the symbolism of this.  Although I wish the pastor would have spent a little more time and thought on how he explained this to our guests as part of the ceremony.  It comes with a great little story about how the man's cross is strong and sturdy and yet somewhat empty inside.  And the woman's cross is intricate, beautiful and perfectly suited to fill the man's cross.  But instead he described the woman's cross as 'curvy'.  Really?  Whatever, Pastor Lyle is awesome at rolling with it and I love how he made everyone laugh with his comment about me breaking a nail.  It was still a cool idea.  However, when it came time to put together the cross, well, let's just say that I commented to Mr Fix It that we probably should have practiced putting it together before the actual ceremony which we in fact, did *NOT* do as you'll see in the clip:

Did you listen carefully to how Mr Fix It and I make a perverted comment about 'finding the hole?'  Yeah, not one of my finer moments...I was obviously nervous.  :)

Starts off great working together.

Mr Fix It is having some problems.

And I try to take over...unsuccessfully.

Share time:  Did you have any little mishaps that occurred during your wedding?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  While it's not necessary to practice every single thing that you will be doing at your ceremony or reception, it is a good idea to at least talk about how you'll do certain things.  We should have definitely practiced putting together the cross before the ceremony.  And though you can't do that with a sand pouring, you can at least remind each other that you want to pour the sand slowly so it mixes together well.  My sister and her hubby didn't do this and she poured her sand into the vase super fast while her groom took his time.  It didn't merge quite as well as they wanted though it was a funny story.  Remember to try on your rings before the big day to make sure they fit okay. 

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: The planner and the wing-it guy

I'm still following up with ceremony recaps - but there's only a few more to go.  However, today is again, one that is sort of a favorite...because it is the only time during our ceremony that I actually got choked up (though briefly). 

In my post last week about our pastor talking about both me and Mr Fix It and why he 'likes us,' he mentioned that I am a planner and that Mr Fix It is a surfer.  Well, in today's post, I am sharing with you our personally written messages to each other. 

And as you'll see in the video, Mr Fix It just 'wings it' and didn't have anything specific prepared or written down.  This is exactly why I didn't involve him in the writing of the traditional vows I shared last week, because he really just waits until he is in the moment to make decisions and share thoughts.  :)

The funny thing is, me being the planner, I knew one day Mr Fix It and I would get married.  And so early on in our six year relationship, I started keeping a journal that every once in a very great while, I would write a note or reminder about something he did or said or something I thought about him.  Basically, as soon as we got engaged, I went back through those old journal entries to gain inspiration and then wrote out this letter to Mr Fix It.  It was written probably a good 9 to 12 months before our wedding and I didn't look at it again until it was time to print it out when we were going over the ceremony with our pastor.  So yes, it was well planned in advance - at least mine was.

So here it is, the video of our messages to each other.

I just absolutely love how our pastor knew how to put us at ease and lighten a mood with a simple statement like when he tells Mr Fix It 'he's not going to top' my message. :)

Share Time:  Did/Will you include a personally written note or message to each other in addition to the vows you recite?  Or will you maybe write your vows as the written notes to one another?  How much time did you put into writing them out?  Did you wait until the last minute or have them prepared very early on?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  If you are reciting traditional vows, consider whether or not you'd like to incorporate a personal message to one another before you actually recite your vows. 

Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills
Unless otherwise indicated, photos by Robert Mullins