Just in case you couldn't be there...

Once upon a time, I got married. And although this new wife was typically very wordy, she never got around to writing a full post about the actual wedding day. So, here it is. Sure it's almost three years later but does a woman ever really need an excuse to reminisce about her wedding? I loved mine. It was simple (well, once the planning was finally done), southern and fun. All Jason and I wanted was a ceremony and a really great party afterwards. Mission accomplished...

1) When was your wedding day?
August 5, 2006

2) What day of the week was it?
Saturday

3) Did you get married in a church?
Yes, it was a darling church in Chapel Hill, NC. My home church's sanctuary was being renovated so I picked one of the wonderful country churches that I had often passed on the way out to Jordan Lake. Conveniently enough, it also had the least expensive usage fees and they did not place any restrictions on our choice of pastor or music. And one of my students from that very year attended church there with her grandparents. I'd call that providence, wouldn't you?

4) How many in your wedding party?
Five bridesmaids, four groomsman, one groomswoman (Jason's sister, Angela), two flower girls and one ring bearer



5) Where was your reception?
A very generous family whose daughter I taught offered their home as a reception site. It was perfection. Claire turned her already gorgeous home into a sophisticated yet comfortable place to celebrate our wedding day.

6) How many guests were invited to your wedding?
We probably invited around 200-250 people. Due to so many of those folks being Texans and the wedding being held in NC, we ended up with 130 attendees when all was said and done. Just the right size, in my opinion.

7) How long did you wait to tie the knot after your proposal?
Jason proposed Valentine's weekend (February 10th, to be exact) so six months.

8) Who did you hire as your florist?
Our wedding was a true community effort and my Aunt Melba, a floral arranging genius, generously offered to prepare all of our flowers as a wedding gift. To have my flowers designed by one of my treasured aunts and to have them be so simple and lovely was a dream come true.




9) Did you have a DJ or a band?
Neither. We created an iTunes playlist, borrowed the school's sound system and our friends Stuart & Glenn took care of the rest.

10) Did your father walk you down the aisle?
Yes, he did.
11) What color were the bridesmaid dresses & groomsmen vests?
The bridesmaids wore fuschia dresses from a wonderful dress company, Aria. I asked them to pick they style they preferred because they were all such unique women. Angela, who stood on Jason's side, picked a black dress from Aria as well. The rest of the groomsmen wore light grey vests and ties.

12) What was your first song?
We both loved the way Elton John's "Your Song" was used in the movie Moulin Rouge. We didn't want to use the soundtrack version (it was a wee bit over the top) so we opted for the original for our first dance.

13) How long did it take to plan the wedding?
As long as we gave it- 6 months. I couldn't have done it any longer, I think I would have gone crazy with the stress!

14) What type of limo did you get?
We didn't use a limo but my Uncle Todd and Aunt Betsy loaned us their Jaguar for the wedding day and night. Trust me, Jason found it very hard to give up the next day.

15) Where did you go for your bachelorette/bachelor Party?
Jason opted to not have a bachelor party but he did take his groomsmen,dad and some other buddies to play golf the Friday before the wedding out at the Governor's Club. My sister and bridesmaids threw me a bachelorette party two weeks before the wedding. It took place up and down Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and I even had a giant checklist of things to accomplish. I think my favorite part was the favor that my sister made for all of us- t-shirts a la Animal House with a bridal twist!



16) What type of wedding gown/tux did you two wear?
I don't remember the designer's name but I loved my dress. It was fun and flirty and just perfect for dancing. Jason wore a tux similar to the groomsmen.


17) How was the weather?
Hot. Humid. But delightful. Although in the latter half of all the reception pictures, everyone looks like they bathed in baby oil! God bless the South...

18) Where did you go on your Honeymoon?
Maui, Hawaii. It was like living in a postcard. I highly recommend it.

19) What was your favorite part of your wedding day?
By far, my favorite part of the day was suprising Jason with the song I picked for my walk down the aisle. Unbeknownst to him, I asked my friends and musicians to work out an arrangement of the theme from his favorite movie of all time, Lonesome Dove. I've written about this before and you can read that here. There's also a link in that post to what Jason wrote about it. It's a story I'll never get tired of telling and the pictures and video are priceless to me...

20) How long have you been married?
This August will be three years. Three very full years.

21) What was the worst part of your wedding day?
Jason's wedding band almost didn't make it. My sister explained it best,

"My sister came around the corner in tears, face all red, hysterically talking about Jason's ring. They had gotten the shipping dates messed up and the ring was not going to get there by noon! It wasn't going to get there at all actually. Rita's husband, Dave, was already on the phone with UPS trying to find out just where, in transit, the ring was. We ushered Leslie away and asked her to keep getting ready as we would surely solve this problem. I got on the phone with the ring company, but they had no way of helping us find out where the ring was with UPS. Meanwhile, Dave talks to the cops about getting in the shipping warehouse who say they can't do anything unless the alarm goes off, to which Dave says that they should meet him there.

The ring company agrees to pay for a back-up ring if we cannot get the real ring. Sure, 6 hours before the wedding is a great time to go buy a wedding ring. We hop in the car to go to her hair appointment and manage to stop in a jewelry shop on Franklin Street who we have called ahead to explain the situation. We walk in the door where my sister is immediately recognized as the frazzled bride and shown bands to choose from. He even offered to engrave it for her, and so "Oops! 8-5-06" is on the wedding band.

We all got ready and took photos before the wedding, and then Dave calls. He got into the warehouse, convinced a few workers there to help him find the ring, and found it after searching through, I think, 900 boxes! He brought it to the church just in time before the ceremony."

Dave Davis was my knight in shining armor that day!

22) Did you see your husband before the ceremony?
No, I went for tradition on that one. Although, in hindsight, I wish I had and that we had done more pictures before the ceremony. The pictures afterwards took an hour and many of our guests had left the reception before Jason and I ever got there. Bummer.

23) What kind of flowers were in your bouquet?
I can't recall the particular names although I do know that it contained peonies from bushes that my grandmother had planted. She was a master gardener herself and though she wasn't there in person (she passed away three years before) I was beside myself that I could carry her flowers.

24) What were your "something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue"?
You know, I didn't really pay attention to that whole thing. I didn't think of it until I was five minutes from walking down the aisle. We quickly surmised that my something old was carrying flowers from my grandmother's peony bushes; something new was my dress; something borrowed were my shoes which had been Anna's wedding shoes and my veil which had been Audrey's; and I didn't have anything blue. Turns out, it didn't really make that much of a difference!

25) Did you light a unity candle?
No, not really our style.

26) Did you cry during your wedding?
Surprisingly, no! And we all know how truly amazing that is.

27) What was your reception like?
One word-dancing. Lots and lots of dancing. Including a choreographed performance by my sister, cousins, Aunt Betsy and Angela set to Shania Twain's "Any Man of Mine". It's a Cruise family tradition that the groom is sung to in some form or fashion.










28) What flavor was your wedding cake?
We had cupcakes instead of a wedding cake and they were red velvet with cream cheese icing, a favorite for both of us.


28) Did you smash cake in each other's face or were you "nice"?
Neither. Since we had cupcakes there wasn't really a cake cutting (again, not all that important to either one of us) except for the groom's cake. Turns out the waitstaff forgot to cut and serve it so my mom ended up taking this massive cake (supposed to be Texas, turned out to be Texas plus Louisiana and Arkansas) back to the hotel with her.


29) Did you freeze the top layer of your cake and eat it on your first wedding anniversary?
No, but we did take several cupcakes with us to Hawaii and I can assure you they were just as delicious a week later as on our wedding day.

30) When did you open your wedding gifts?
Rita and Dave kept the gifts at their house (I lived there for the summer) while we were gone and we opened them when we returned from Hawaii.

31) Did you have a bridal shower?
My bridesmaids threw me a darling shower complete with well laid crackers (thanks, Debo!) and a CD mix as a party favor. Trinity gave a joint shower for me and Deidre, another teacher who married that summer. Jason's Young Life crew in Lufkin, TX threw us a pretty fantastic outdoor shower as well. We were well showered and quite ready to set up house by the time all was said and done.

32) The night before your wedding, did you sleep much?
Kind of. I slept but the whole time I could feel my entire body just churning with anticipation of the next day.

33) Did your bridal party deck out the get away car?
Jason very sternly instructed the guys not to out of worry that they would damage Todd's very expensive car. Behind our back, Todd gave them permission and so they did get to have a little bit of fun. If you've seen A Few Good Men, you'll understand the reference on one of the posters in the back seat...





35) Words of wisdom for future brides?
Make your wedding what you and your betrothed want it to be. Remember that it is only a day. A beautiful day and one that you will think of often, but still just a day. Make sure you spend the majority of your engagement preparing for marriage and not just your wedding day. And brides, hand your cell phone to one of your bridesmaids on the big day and let them handle everything from that point on. Trust me, you won't regret it.