Our Wedding Day - June 25 (Part 1)

Our wedding day was absolutely gorgeous! Perfect. The way you dream a day in June should be...sunny, blue sky, not too cold (so the girls don't freeze in their sleeveless dresses), and not too hot (so the guys in their tuxes don't overheat).

Lizzy and I woke up bright and early to begin our day. We got all ready to go, and Lizzy, Elisa, and I headed off to get my hair and make-up done at a salon (hurray for friends that give that as a wedding gift!). All went well (other than the fact it took about an hour longer than it was supposed to), and my hair was just how I wanted it. Half up...curls...sparkly rhinestones...and my veil. My good friend and wonderful "personal assistant," Megan, came to see how my veil was put in. We then zipped off to church where I hopped into my dress. Then I headed upstairs into the sanctuary to see Ryan for the first time that day.

I was excited and a tinsy bit nervous as I walked up the aisle to greet my groom who had his back to the doors. I tapped him on the shoulder, he turned, and we saw each other for the first time that day. :)

We talked for a minute or two, and then we headed outside to pile into the church bus with the rest of the bridal party. Then off to do pictures at a park near the river. We took a whole bunch of pictures...some really nice ones, and some funny, silly ones. I mean how boring would it be to have all "nice" pictures...or maybe I just am around kids too much, "You can do a silly one after you do a nice, serious one." Don't get me wrong, I love the classic, nice pictures; they are priceless and precious. But the funny, silly ones, make for some fun memories, smiles, and laughs. So the moral of the story is...do both! ;) (I will put some of these pictures up later.)

We drove back to church, where we took family pictures. Then everyone got some food and relaxed for a bit before it was time for the wedding to start. It was fun to "bump" into a few people before the actual ceremony began.

The Week Before Our Wedding

So, I'm going to pause from the honeymoon stories (which are almost done), and I'm going to tell you about the wedding itself! :)

I must go back to about the week or so before, when family started arriving from out-of-town. My Grandpa and Grandma drove in a week early so they could be at my parent's surprise 30th Anniversary party (hurray for parents going to CA for my cousin's wedding a week before mine!). We put them to work folding wedding programs and such things.

Then on Tuesday morning, I drove to Chicago to pick up my cousin, Lizzy, from the airport. Then I think it was late that night we all hiked back to the airport to pick up my CA family. Thursday, the rest of the VA cousins arrived. It was great to have everyone there, and nice to spend time with them before the wedding! And it was extremely helpful to have them all there to make food, help me move things, and do other pre-wedding getting ready! We also had some fun too!

One of the funniest, but very helpful things was when my cousin decided which of my Grandmother's handkerchiefs I should use. I'm sure you know how I have such a difficult time deciding things. Well, I had narrowed down my choices for handkerchiefs, and I just could not decide which one to put around my bouquet. In walks my 6-year old cousin, Simon, and I asked him which one I should use. He looked at them, and then picked. And yes, that is the one I went with.

Friday, Lizzy and I got our nails done, and then we went and checked out the almost-completed set-up for the reception. Everything looked so wonderful (thanks to my sister-in-law, Heathre, and all who helped her)! It was also nice to be able to see everything set up before there were a couple hundred people in the room!

Then it was off to the rehearsal...

And then to dinner at Traverso's, a tasty pizza place that we like. Then we all headed to home to get a good night of sleep before our special day...

Our Honeymoon - Wednesday Wanderings

Wednesday, we spent the day in Gaitlinburg, the nice, cute touristy town. (As opposed to Pigeon Forge which was extremely gaudy!) The very first place we went into was a store that sold plaques and pictures with Bible verses, hymns, or good sayings on them. It was very cool! The beams in the store had hymns carved into them. We spent a lot of time there just looking around. We really appreciated the strong emphasis on biblical things in the midst of all the tourist traps, with shirts and whatnot that were not all as wholesome. We decided that we would come back at the end of the day and get one or two things for our new home. :)



What we ended up getting (sorry the picture isn't that great).

We continued wandering about town, and saw lots of fun things...







My husband with his ice cream cone

 

Herbie!!! :)

Then Ryan wanted to go up the mountain on a tram, called the Ober Gatlinburg. It went wayyy up, and then we took a ski lift even higher up the mountain (well, really to the top).



The tram that we took.

 

My opinion of the ski lift.



Me & Ryan on the ski lift (okay, it wasn't too bad, just a little scary).



Pretty view

In between the tram and ski lift, there was this touristy place which we didn't do anything at, but they did have an ice rink. On the way back down the mountain, the Zamboni was out! :) (How come zambonis are so fun?!)


Our wedding rings.

Thursdays adventures will be next...

Our Honeymoon - Smokies Game

"It's a beautiful day for a ballgame, a ballgame today. The fans are out to get a ticket or two, from Walla Walla, Washington to Kalamazoo. It's a beautiful day for a home run, but even a triple's okay! We're gonna cheer and boo, and raise a hullabaloo at the ballgame today!"

We arrived at Smokies Park, and purchased our tickets. We were able to get them buy-one-get-one-free! Woo-hoo! Our seats were nice and close to the field on the first base side behind the Smokies dugout.

We saw several players whose names I recognized thanks to my dear cousin! For my fellow Cubs fans, be listening for some of these names in future.


McNutt

 

Ryan Flaherty

 

Brett Jackson

We also saw a couple other guys (Kyle Smit and Mr. Struck), but those pictures didn't turn out very well. Now this guy was super funny. Well, maybe not the guy himself, but what the fans did was funny. Ever time he came to bat, they would yell, "La-la-la-la-la-lalli!" I wish I had gotten a video, but alas, I did not.


Mr. Lalli

And this guy's name was also just kind of fun, especially since we were sort of in the southern part of the US.


Rebel Ridling



For my Father-in-Law

This was actually a very fun game with lots of runs scored on both sides. There was even a grand slam for the Smokies, which they tried to call back. (That was very silly, because it was obviously a home run.) The final score was 11-10, Smokies. Ryan and I were delighted when they started to play Go Cubs Go after the Smokies won!

All in all, a very fun night, and we even had gorgeous weather for our baseball game!

Our Honeymoon - Tuesday's Happenings

Tuesday, we drove to a place in the Smokey Mountains called Cades Cove. It is a giant driving loop in an area where people used to live at farms, and whatnot. We stopped to see this rushing waterfall/rapids.

We saw a whole bunch of deer (a momma. baby deer, and some daddy deer) and a couple of bears. The valley was beautiful, and there was a lady that was painting a picture of it.

We had supper at a pizza place, and then we headed off to see the Cubs AA affiliate Tennessee Smokies...