ITS BEEN AWHILE

its been 8 months since the big day...

wow its been quite some time since ive been on here. oh how ive missed it! well im here to update you on married life, the craziness of the big day and to give you some tips and great vendors to use.
first....married life is great, but dont be fooled to think everything becomes a magical fairytale after you say "I DO". its still going to be something you have to work at from time to time. But I love being married and would do it all over again.
Next, the BIG DAY is anything but calm, nothing seems to go the way you planned it to. and how is it that time seems to fly by on the one day when you want time to stand still? i remember waking up and getting together with my bridesmaids to get our hair and makeup done and before I knew it we were being hustled out the door to get to the church on time. (TIP #1: ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO LEAVE TIME TO GET PICS WITH ALL YOUR BRIDESMAIDS AS A GROUP AND INDIVIDUALLY) this is one thing i did not do and i regret it!!!! I remember waiting in the church for them to give me the cue that it was time to begin, and all i kept thinking was "dear god dont let me pass out." My dad told me to calm down that he had shots of vodka waiting in the car for afterwards...boy did that help.hahaha
the doors opened and it was all so overwhelming (TIP #2: DO NOT TAKE AN ANXIETY PILL THE DAY OF YOUR WEDDING, IT WILL CAUSE YOU TO FORGET ALOT) I can not remember the exact pill I took but all i know is it caused me to not remember much of anything on my wedding day, which as you can guess is depressing. so dont do it. the one thing I do recall was noticing that my husband was wearing slip on Vans instead of dress shoes, i could have killed him!
Everything went perfectly during the ceremony and the vows we wrote were beautiful, everyone said they couldnt help by cry. (TIP #3: write your own vows, it makes the moment so much more special for the two of you, make sure you make a copy so that you can read them back to eachother when you are having a bad day.) we left the church so happy and overwhelmed, we were so ready to start partying with everyone (TIP#4: ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME BETWEEN THE CEREMONY AND RECEPTION TO TAKE LOTS OF PICS with FAMILY AND THE WEDDING PARTY) we lost out on so many pics due to being rushed.
When we walked into the Shifting Sands I was amazed at how beautiful the room had turned out!!!! (TIP #5: USE SHIFTING SANDS at DamNEck Base!!! They have great prices and the staff made my wedding day a breeze...i didnt have to worry about a thing, they catered to my every need!) also if you use shifting sands make sure to look into chair covers it makes a world of difference. we used CLASSYCOVERS!!!! they were AMAZING.
Our cake was beautiful...we used Incredible Edibles located at the Oceanfront in Virginia Beach. They took the picture I printed from a magazine and make the EXACT cake....AMAZING!
I didnt get a chance to eat much of the food due to being pulled in a million different directions..but all my guest were very pleased with the food and the quanity.
(TIP #6: EveRYONE SHOULD HAVE AN OPEN BAR!!! dont make guest pay for their drinks, and dont give them a limit, its a party, A ONCE IN A LIFETIME PARTY, ENJOY IT!)
Lastly, we had a wonderful photographer. Andi Grant, check out her website at andigrantphotography.com. her photography has become ten times better than when she did my wedding, so that means shes VERY GOOD now!
(TIP #7: IT IS VERY TRUE THAT PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE ONE THING THAT IS WORTH SPENDING ALOT ON,IF YOU FIND A GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER. Almost twice a month I still browse through my wedding albums and I have pictures of that day all over my house...so it was worth the payment.)
I hope all of you upcoming brides get a least one piece of advice from all this. I hope you learn to breathe the day of, because by that time there is nothing you can control.Enjoy every moment. if you need to just stare at everything soaking in everything around you...because if you made the right choice in your groom...THIS IS YOUR ONE CHANCE TO HAVE A DAY LIKE THIS!!!!