How do I describe the last 2 months? I am certainly not a good enough writer to be able to describe all the wonderful little details of our wedding adventure... but for the sake of those that were not able to join us for our wonderful day and so that I may continue to write "Just to Claire-ify" I feel the NEED to catch you up.
So here we go...
The 3 weeks that I had in Canada before the wedding absolutely flew by! I was forever making lists. Sometimes the same list as the day before... just on another piece of paper! One of my sisters teased me about my compulsive list making when she was cleaning... she said, "I've piled all your lists together... I think there's about 17... and they all say the same thing!" It's true they likely did, and there likely were that many! But it's just how I do things!
My lists and I spent the first week and a half with my family and then Joe arrived and the craziness began. We had one week to get as much stuff done as possible before his family arrived. Joe was a trooper... even though he was totally exhausted from his travels he worked so hard and helped me get soooo much done in a very short amount of time.
Things were finally starting to settle (not fall) into place... The seating chart was almost done, the favours were finished, the program and song sheet were complete, my final dress alterations had been made, gifts were almost wrapped, etc, etc, etc...
Of course I was stressing out and crying more often than a person should about the tiniest little things, but things actually went pretty well considering the limited time that Joe and I had in the town we were getting married in. My family was so great too... everybody helped whenever and wherever they could.
People kept asking me if I was getting nervous and I would respond, "About getting married? Absolutely not... but about all the little details that I think I'm forgetting... YES!"
Joe's family arrived and I have to admit we were a little worried that our families wouldn't get along... I know it's sounds crazy, especially if any of you have met either of our families. But our worries were for nothing. They hit it off!
Two nights before the wedding we all had supper together at my parents' house. (My family of 9 plus significant others and children + Joe's family of 8 and the best man) The food was good and we had a great night... and then it got even better...
We had been trying to organize a time for Joe's family to go skating but nothing was working out until that night. In a short amount of time we found enough skates for everyone and headed to the arena. Joe's little sister made her first (and second) snowball! Most of Joe's family ended up with some sort of bruise the next day, but we had sooooo much fun! The evening ended with hot chocolate and laughter.
The day before the wedding seems like an absolute blur. But these are some of the highlights of what we did...
Girls:
Got our nails done
Went for lunch
Picked up wine glasses
Picked up my dress
I packed for our 3 day honeymoon... and I tried to pack for Australia
Guys:
Played Pool
Picked up tuxes (don't even get me started on all the things that went wrong with those!)
Rehearsal Dinner
Wedding Rehearsal
Put out favours at reception site (so many people helped it was great!)
There was also a lot of crying in the midst of it all that day... I'm a big suck.
I eventually went to sleep that night and thought that I would toss and turn all night and wake up with a giant zit and a big cold sore... but I didn't... I also didn't realize as I was falling to sleep that night that the next day was going to be ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.
