Wedding Reflection

I have a bit more time on my hands lately, so I am going to take this time to do a little bit of a reflection. I am going to apologize in advance for the length....(reflection will go in order)

I am going to start with my work changes. I am not going to publicly go into too many details, but a long story short is I was pushed into making a big change in my career. I was ready to make a change that was better for Brent and I and was basically told I needed to pick between my job and Brent. I can't even begin to express how that made me feel or the amount of stress that created. The wedding alone was going to cost us a lot of money, but beyond that, I was ready to start a new job, but my start date was obliviously after the wedding and honeymoon. Then you add in health insurance....let's be honest, I can't be without insurance. Brent and I weren't married yet, I was about to resign, we were losing my pay check..you get the point. I also wanted to be "fair" to my current company. When things became almost final at the new one, I needed to tell them. I was going to a competitor and wanted to treat both companies with as much respect as possible. This round of events would stress anyone out, but to be happening the month before your wedding (that is happening in Massachusetts and you live in California) adds a different component. I ended up taking a leap of faith and resigned from the current company on Friday the 8th of April....on Monday the 11th, the new contract was final! I am excited about the people I am working with and can't wait to get all my wheels under me.

I had a week of "unemployment" and zero job distractions that allowed me to pull all the final wedding details together. A week out doesn't really allow you to really get anything new done, just following up with everything that was already set/planned....and time to stalk weather.com (not a good idea)!!

Brent and I flew out to Massachusetts on Monday night (red eye), the 18th arriving in Boston on Tuesday morning. As soon as we hit the ground, we were running. We had about 24 hours before we were arriving on the Cape and I really didn't want us running around once we arrived on Cape Cod. The Cape was time to start celebrating. My final dress fitting went well, was going to pick it up on Wednesday morning before we left Boston. I went to get my nails done with my MOH Meaghan and BM Colleen before meeting up with a few GM for dinner and drinks. It was good to start being surrounded by some of our closest friends.

On Wednesday morning, my mom met us at the hotel before going to pick up my dress (Brent's suit was shipped to the hotel, so he was good to go). We rented a Tahoe, but with all our luggage and my dress, we were packed! Fitting a Costco run into that car wasn't possible - hick-up # 1. We went from Boston to the Cape, to my Grandmothers, to drop off all our stuff and my mom. The went to the house in Falmouth while Brent and I drove back up to Avon (hour) to go to Costco. We made it through in about an hour and a half (Brent did a great job of coming up with a shopping list), so we had a game plan for sure. We loaded the Tahoe and headed to the Cape.

We knew we needed to get our marriage License, so we figured we'd do a quick swing by the Falmouth Town Hall as we drove by with all the food- hick-up #2. I guess the state of Massachusetts has a 3 day waiting period for marriage license approval.... it's now Wednesday, wedding is Friday. The lady wasn't very nice to us, that's for sure. She was talking to us as if we had done this before. We were finally able to get out of her that we can apply for a waiver and stand in front of a judge the follwoing day.

Thursday we were up and out of the wedding house by 8 am to head to court. Of course the judge wanted to meet us because he wanted to know who would come from California to get married on Cape Cod. This process really wasn't bad at all, was something we can look back at and laugh. It only took us about an hour and a half to get the waiver and then we headed back to the Town Hall. Starting about noon, all our guests started arriving at the wedding house. The vibe in the house just started getting more and more electric, so little drama and everyone was just at home. We didn't a little rehearsal that night followed by a family style dinner.

At this point, our wedding coordinator Linda Shane (AWESOME!) was in following, our tent from Taylor Rentals was set up (all the tables, chairs, linens, glasses etc) had arrived and both our wedding parties were on the Cape. Our flowers arrived later that night, so we really had everything ready to go.

It was very important to us for all our guests to feel at home, we had an open door policy and really wanted as many people around us as possible. We have gone to so many weddings where we hardly saw the bride/groom. That's not the environment we wanted...family and friends around us at all times. The moments that stand out are the girls helping me to get the bobby-pins out, just sitting and laughing. The patio talks, the times where we could all just visit. Even with ample time, it is still never enough!

Friday morning, just about the entire wedding party and their significant others, pitched in to help set up the tables, chairs and so on (with 15 or so people helping, it took no time at all). We have a big brunch, mimosas and music going on all morning. Our wedding party and their significant others were fantasitc!! Weather is was helping to cut limesor helping to relocate and park cars....it was amazing how everyone just started pitching in to get things done. I was constantly asked how I was doing, I guess I was too relaxed?!? My feeling is everything was done that could be, there wasn't anything to stress over! The only stressful part was at about 3:15pm....my hair wasn't cooperating and I was suppose to walk at 3:30pm. The fortunate thing is we weren't renting a hall, everyone helping us with the wedding was also a guest. We were on our own time! I only ended up being about 15 minutes late. I really don't remember much of the last 30 minutes. I remember jumping in my dress and scurrying out of the room. It all hit when I walked down the stairs to meet my dad. I was shaking. The ceremony was perfect! Our ceremony was preformed by one of my best friends, Justin Burkhardt. (He was one of my biggest supporters growing up and a rock for me during treatment. He actually managed to send me a card every week during treatment...always had a way to make me laugh). He helped to make the ceremony personal and it meant the world to us that he was willing to do it.

After the wedding, we had some rock stars left behind to help us get out of the house. We of course bought too much food and a lot of trash! Needless to say it was all hands on deck to get us out of the house on time. Needless to say, we did such a good job that we receive our entire deposit back!! (Special thanks to Meaghan O, Colleen, Lara, cousin Dave and Jane, Matt and Noor, Jon and Monica and my Mom!!)

From the Cape, Brent and I went up to Boston to spend the night. We were flying out to Jamaica on Monday morning. This was Brent and my first vacation together. Whenever we traveled it is/was always to visit family. We have never taken time for ourselves. So this is something that is going to change, we are going to take a vacation a year :)

When we came home, I had a day before starting the new job. In that time period, I received my official marriage license and managed to get over to the social security office! next stop, DMV!

With work, so far so good! I am learning a lot about their systems. We have a big meeting next week, so I will really get my feet wet then.