Wedding Recap: Reception

I'm a little bit disappointed because I've been trying to relay my wedding weekend in chronological order and was hoping to have our professional pictures by now. No such luck. 

Since we were short on funds, we decided to hire our friend, Dani to take our formal pictures and ceremony shots and we would trust our friends and family to cover the reception. I mean, we do live in an age of Facebook!

So while this will be a little out of order, allow me to show you our goofy, laid-back, super fun reception at none other than our favorite hotel/pub in Wilmington, The General Denver....

We had about 20 minutes to kill before our DJ announced the bridal party. So we all hung out upstairs for a little while, I called my Grandma who wasn't able to be there and one of my BFFs, Matt, visited me before he had to leave early.

After our DJ, George, announced everyone, we went right into our first dance.

Which then led to an invitation to all the married couples to join us on the floor. 

George picked them off until the longest married couple was left standing.

It was none other than Chuck's parents- married 38 years!

After, I got to have my Father-Daughter dance with my step-dad, Kenny. 

He looks like this big, mean biker dude, but he's the biggest teddy bear you've ever met. 

He cried through the entire dance.

Then Chuck and his Mama shared their moment together.

He's a Mama's boy, through and through :)

 Once we were done with the obligatory dances, we passed on all the reception traditions (i.e. Cake cutting, bouquet toss, garter toss, etc.) and just danced the night away!

My bridesmaids are the hottest.

Hubby was getting hot in his wedding attire and went upstairs to change.

Apparently, he ran into my step-dad and they had some manly bonding time. Cutest guys ever.

My personal favorite shot of the night. 

My sister and I realized we have the exact same face when we dance.

Partway through, we got to see our wedding video, I had some one-on-one time with friends I hadn't seen in awhile and danced all night long. It was totally low-maintenance and fit our style perfectly.

All in all, our reception was awesome! We slept for about an hour when all was said and done and then it was off to Jamaica for a week of honeymooning.

I'll be back on Tuesday with more wedding recapping so come back and visit.

And don't forget to enter for a free blog design! The giveaway ends Sunday, enter HERE.

Wedding Recap: Our Video

Chuck and I have a friend named John.

John is a photographer, videographer and literal Jack-of-all-Trades. The day before our wedding, amongst all the other craziness going on, Chuck's mom asked John for a favor. Since our ceremony was now restricted to the 30 or so family and friends that we could fit into Farmer Jon's garage, would he mind capturing a video so that those who couldn't attend could be there with us?

I made it through the entire day without crying once. Then when they showed John's video halfway through our reception- I completely lost it. Our ceremony was not perfect. We were in a garage, sweating our butts off, flying by the seat of our pants, and yet, I wouldn't change a thing about it. I've never been more happy, more in love, more full of joy than I was on our wedding day.

Enough talking. I'll let John's beautiful masterpiece speak for itself...

Chuck and Kaity's Wedding from Kaity on Vimeo.

Sunday Blessings XXIII

Good morning, and happy Sunday everyone!

This weekend has been exactly what hubby and I needed: restful and productive. We haven't had a weekend in our home together since long before the wedding so we're both feeling incredibly grateful for the opportunity to finally unpack from our honeymoon and organize after our move.

And speaking of being grateful, here are this week's Sunday Blessings...

job

I'll be honest, this week at work was not an easy one. I've been working at the Farm Service Agency for about two and a half months and I still have no idea what I'm doing the majority of the time. I get overwhelmed and frustrated with myself a lot, but when I take a step back and look at the big picture, I'm so grateful for this opportunity. This is the first job I've ever had where I feel legitimately challenged! Hooray!

Fall

I am so excited for the changing seasons! Apple picking, Oktoberfest, Halloween? Sign me up! I've begun stocking up on candy, planning our costume and am going to decorate this afternoon. I love holidays!

wedding

We got our wedding video this week (it's scheduled to go up on Tuesday, so be on the lookout!) and our photographer is sending our pictures tomorrow! She already put a preview up on Facebook and they're beyond beautiful. I cannot wait to share them all with you! EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!

hubby

While I slept in this morning, hubby was putting together the bookcase and shoe rack we got yesterday at Target. Our books have been stowed in boxes since we moved from Ohio over a year ago- a bookcase is long overdue! So thankful for my handyman :)

How have you been blessed this week? Link-up and share!

Wedding Recap: Getting Ready

Where we last left off, I'd covered the Friday before, my Bachelorette Party and Rehearsal Day...and night. When I awoke Sunday morning, the day of my wedding, I glanced over to see my hubby-to-be passed out and looking rough and then immediately ran into the bathroom to toss my cookies. Figures, I was hangover-free after my Bachelorette Party and decided the night before my wedding was a good time to get smashed. There were tears, and there may have even been a desperate plea for attention to my comatose future husband as I sat on the bathroom floor, horrified that I was hungover on my wedding day.

I only had a short amount of time to get myself together though before our 9 AM hair appointment, so I got dressed and ever-so-slowly made my way into the hotel lobby to meet up with my girls and walk through the rain to the Beauty Bar Salon and Spa. When we arrived a few minutes later, our two hair stylists were ready and waiting with an adorable breakfast spread and Pussycat Dolls radio playing on Pandora. My girls went two-by-two into the salon chairs, donning their adorable rainbow bridesmaid tanks I had made for them and after nibbling on some fruit and sipping down some water, I gradually started kicking my hungover-ness to the curb. Thank goodness!

Laura's Before and After

Kelly, my sister and MOH's Before and After

Bekah showing off her hair
and making use of our awesome breakfast spread!

Dani's Before and After

Joni, my new sis-in-law's Before and After

Whitney's hair and an infamous hangover shot

My adorable Mama bear posing with some of my bridesmaids

Our appointment went by much quicker than we had anticipated, and by them time it was my turn, it wasn't even noon yet! Lorin took me in the back to do my makeup. I'd never had airbrushed foundation before and I loved it- it was so much fun and it made my skin look flawless! She started my hair and finished it in no time, which was good because both mine and my girls' energy was starting to wane.

The finished product

After I was finished, we did our best to clean up our breakfast mess, tipped our stylists and posed for a few last pictures that captured us in all of our rainbow glory.

Although my morning started out less-than-ideal, I was so glad I picked the Beauty Bar to do our hair. My stylist, Lorin, is so sweet and always manages to make my hair look beautiful whenever I pay her a visit. Once our appointment was done, we headed back to the hotel where my Mom-in-Law dropped us off a yummy Italian feast of calzones, antipasto salad and garlic bread. Because our hair appointment went so quickly, we ended up having a lot more down time than I thought we would. Most of my girls spent some time bonding and playing a game of Phase 10 that I had packed for our honeymoon, while I napped. That's right, I think I may go down in history as the first woman to EVER take a nap on her wedding day. When I awoke, it was full-on getting dressed time!

Be sure to check out my next post on Tuesday.

I was going to give you a glimpse at the dresses, but we got our wedding video back and I simply cannot wait to show you our ceremony!

Wedding Recap: Rehearsal Day

So far I've filled you in on the Friday before, and my Bachelorette Party. But trust, there is MUCH more to come. Take for example, Saturday, September 1. Or what I will henceforth refer to as "Rehearsal Day" (yeah, I just used "henceforth").

Before I show you the goods, though, there is some back story you should know. 

1. I am shy. I hate being the center of attention. And I sure as heck was not excited about the fact that I was going to profess my love, faithfulness and commitment to my hubby in front of nearly 100 people I barely knew. I really wanted to have a small, private ceremony with just family and my best friends. As we went over our guest list again and again, however, we just could not find a place to draw a line without hurting some feelings, so we ultimately decided to just suck it up and invite everyone to both the ceremony and reception.

2. Not long after our engagement we knew were we wanted our ceremony and reception to be. Our reception, at our favorite local hotel/pub where Chuck's family and friends always play music. Our ceremony, on our friend's gorgeous farm where we had the conversation about marriage. I had this beautiful, picturesque image in my head of our guests seated on hay bales splayed across the lawn overlooking the pond, where Chuck, our Pastor and I would be standing on the dock with the peach trees swaying gently in the summer breeze. It was perfect. Then about a week before, we encountered a minor issue: 

HURRICANE ISSAC. 

On Tuesday, the week of, Chuck's mom called me to tell me she and our host at the General Denver (reception site) had decided it was probably a better idea to just forego the farm, and arrange to have the ceremony at the hotel. I wasn't oblivious to the fact that it might rain on our wedding day, but my mind was made up. So although I'd been a pushover for much of the planning of my own wedding, my response was something along the lines of...

via



I was having my ceremony on that farm rain or shine. Chuck's mom was a bit hesitant, but she genuinely respected my decision and at the end of our conversation we decided all we could do was just give our wedding day to God and trust in His plan. I spoke with my two wonderful and unofficial wedding coordinators and we decided we'd keep an eye on the weather and I would have to make the call Saturday afternoon as to whether to have the outdoor wedding I had envisioned or move the ceremony into the farm's garage where there would only be room for family and a handful of friends.

Now that you're caught up...this is what Saturday looked like:

My girls and I woke up from my Bachelorette Party late in the morning and promptly had to begin packing up and checking out. Around 11 AM, we hit the road and drove back to Wilmington and checked into the General Denver where we and the majority of our guests were staying for the remainder of the weekend. Upon our arrival, my sister, Whitney and I stopped over to Chuck's parent's house site of all the wedding planning craziness and I made the call: I had looked at the weather report and rain looked imminent. We were moving our large, outdoor wedding into a small, dingy old farm garage. Not to mention, Chuck's mom had to call nearly everyone on the guest list and tell them about the change in plan because we only had the space to accommodate family and our friends who had traveled to come. 

It was not ideal.

So while we put into action our slightly disheartening Plan B, there was a LOT going on. Some time in the afternoon, my family started arriving at the hotel and I started getting really nervous. Like couldn't breathe, thought I was going to throw up, having a panic attack kind of nervous. I also hadn't had an appetite in days and couldn't eat. It wasn't so much that I was scared about the ceremony, but having to host all my incoming family and friends for some reason just stressed me out to the max. Before we left to go to our rehearsal, my sister had me in my room doing calming yoga breaths to try and settle myself down. I wish we had gotten a picture because it was slightly ridiculous.

 We headed to the farm where we rehearsed how our ceremony would go in our new ceremony quarters. Once we had rehearsed with our bridal party, our Pastor took Chuck and I aside to go over our vows in greater detail. The conversation ended with our Pastor giving us some amazing counsel. And that was all it took. Both Chuck and my anxiety was through the roof when we got to the farm, but after talking about our marriage and what our ceremony was all about, we were simply filled with peace. The Holy Spirit calmed our hearts and eased our minds and we walked back to the group hand-in-hand, more certain than ever about what was going to transpire the following day.

Rehearsing our ceremony...in a garage.
Photo credit: Annen Stuckert

Notice the stand-in bouquet: A bottle of Yuengling.
I was pretty stressed at this point! Haha
Photo credit: Annen Stuckert

Our guests nommed on a delicious Vietnamese spread that Farmer Jon's girl friend had prepared for everyone and soon after, we made our way back to the General Denver so that Chuck and his siblings could play some music and we could all party the night away. I had every intention of going to bed at a decent hour that night to get my beauty sleep, but my cousin Chris who I hadn't seen in probably two-ish years, as well as my college friend, Kim who I hadn't seen in more than two years were ready to spend the night celebrating. I was so excited to spend some time with them both that I partied a little harder than I should have and didn't go to sleep until around 3:00 AM. 

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Old Man Stuckert's Family Band

The handsome man drumming in the background is my hubby!

That's our Pastor on the guitar.

Bringing down the house!

Shots in honor of Chuck's last night of single-dom.

Two of my bridesmaids and former college roomies!

Chuck's sister was in there...
Poor girl grew up with four brothers....

Luckily, she can totally hold her own.

Cousin love!

I'll be honest-
 this was the first time my cousin and I had ever been under the influence together.
And I was really excited about it.

My dear friend, Kim and her amazingly sweet beau.

My lucky, lucky hubby ;)



Ending the night with Irish Car Bombs ( I did NOT partake in this).



Needless to say, it was a crazy, fun night hanging out with all my long-lost friends and family members. And as rough as I felt the next morning, I would do it all over again in a heart beat.

Be sure to lookout for my "Getting Ready" pictures coming up on Friday!

Wedding Recap: Bachelorette Party

As you may recall, I wrote about the Friday before our wedding, leading up to my pin-up themed Bachelorette Party here.

After I picked Whitney up from the airport, we made our way to the Doubletree Hotel in Columbus, OH where my bridesmaids and I had a suite for the night. My mom and sister had gotten there earlier in the day to decorate and every detail looked amazing! 

The party favors that my Mommy and sister made had little hangover treats like Vitamin Water and face wipes, as well as little compact mirrors with pin-up girls on them. The best part was the gift bags had a picture of me in my pin-up Halloween costume from a few years ago on the front. They decorated the counter with vintage-y Coca Cola glasses and had cookies with vintage pin-up girls on them.

Once Whitney and I got there, we immediately started getting dolled up for our dinner reservation at the Park Street Cantina. 

All my girls were such good sports and definitely rose to the occasion in their pin-up inspired outfits. Afterward, I gave my ladies the gift bags I had made for them the previous evening.

After they opened their presents, I opened mine!

My sister made reservations at this fun Mexican restaurant/bar several blocks from our hotel. When we got there, they had no record of our reservation and were super annoying about getting us a table. But when we finally got things straightened away, we ordered our food and I was given a complimentary 60 oz margarita. Yumm!

After we finished our dinner, one of my friends who lives in Columbus showed us to our next stop: Union Cafe. A place where the men are well-groomed and there's no line for the ladies room. AKA: The best gay bar I've been to.

We had some drinks.

Took numerous pictures.

Danced to amazing 90's hits.

Admired some good looking [gay] men.

And had an altogether amazing time.

At the last minute we decided to "bar hop" as we had intended to do before stumbling upon the Union Cafe and landed at an unknown bar we affectionately called the "Hetero Bar" about 15 minutes before closing time.

As the bar closed down, we obnoxiously belted out "Closing Time" and slowly but surely made our way back to the hotel for one last picture (but not before making more friends and running through some sprinklers!)

Not only was it an amazing night with my best friends in the world- who were all meeting for the first time, but the best part was- NO HANGOVER IN THE MORNING!!!

Be sure to be on the lookout for Rehearsal Day coming up next!