James and I were married Sept. 6 at the Salisbury Congregational Church in Salisbury, Conn. The reception was held at the Wake Robin Inn in Lakeville (which is part of Salisbury).

The wedding week really began the Tuesday before, when James’s father and sister arrived from California. James has seen them a grand total of two times in his adult life (his mom left his dad when he was little and his sister was born after that). This probably caused the most pre-wedding stress. It’s just so hard to predict how families are going to get along.

However, this actually turned out to be one of the best parts of the wedding. Richard (Dad) and Rickey (son and James’s brother) reconnected and got along really well. They were both so happy.

My family and friends started showing up around Thursday. Friday ended up being pretty low-key, except for when my credit card company called about all the strange purchases I had made that week (DJ, $150 at the liquor store…) and couldn’t hear me on the phone. I panicked and thought they were going to shut of my card, which I needed still, but James fixed it somehow.

I got my nails done by myself, which was a wonderful, quiet, relaxing time. Sarah, one of my bridesmaids, and I snuck out for lunch together. It was so nice to just spend some one-on-one time. Helped a lot with the stress. Then I gathered up a bunch of stuff and took it over to the Wake Robin, where we had a room for Friday and Saturday nights. I spent about an hour by myself in the room. It was so nice to just get away from the craziness for a while.

Then James called. He was pulled over on the way to pick up his mother from the airport and hit with a hefty fine (all state regulation stuff; he actually wasn’t speeding, for once). Surprisingly, it didn’t phase me. It was just a funny story and we could deal with the fallout later.

He got home and came over to the inn. We had about an hour before the rehearsal, which was good, since we still needed to write our vows.

That hour we spent together was one of the most special moments of the wedding experience. It was a time just for the two of us when we were able to reflect on what we were about to do. I definitely recommend planning an hour like this into the crazy schedule.

The rehearsal went fine, even if the matron of honor and a groomsman were late and the flower girls didn’t show up until we were done and we had to do the whole thing again.

Then we went back to our house for a cookout rehearsal dinner. My wonderful friends and family had the whole thing set up for us, so we just had to relax and mingle. The food was wonderful (and abundant! We totally overbought). The one thing that wasn’t so great was that I forgot that it starts to get dark earlier in September, so after about an hour, we were outside in the dark. No one seemed to mind, but I felt bad for not planning better.

James and I headed back to the inn to sleep (I slept; I think James stayed up drinking with his uncle). Yes, we spent the night before together (once he finally came to bed). My mother was not happy about it, but it was what was right for us.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast at the inn with family and friends. I kicked James out and then my mom, two bridesmaids and I headed out for hair and makeup. We got back to the inn a little before 2 p.m. The ceremony was at 3, so we started getting ready.

I kept meaning to get a deli platter or something for us, but it was one thing that fell through the cracks, so my matron of honor (left, with the cupcake) raided the Patco for junk food.

My mother loaned me the necklace my father (in the background) gave her on her wedding day. At first I was worried it wouldn’t go with everything else I was wearing, but it worked out perfectly.

Corsets are a godsend, but it took three people to get me into my dress.

I forgot to put my shoes on before the two-hoop petticoat.

A group effort.

The flower girls were very patiently waiting for us.

And somehow, we made it to the church. I ended up in the back seat of my aunt’s car, since she had the biggest back seat. It was quite a feat to get all that dress in the car.

When we got to the church, some of James’s family and a co-worker were out on the steps. I yelled at them to get inside, since they weren’t supposed to see me yet, and then we lined up.

The youngest members of the bridal party did a great job and were so well behaved. The girls, 6, were very particular about placing the petals and the ringbearer, 3, did his best not to walk on them.

My dad walked me down the aisle. I originally wanted Mom and Dad to walk my down, but the aisle wasn’t big enough for both of them and my dress, so my brother walked my mom in and then doubled back for his entrance as a groomsman.

My matron of honor was so worried about my veil, which kept threatening to fall off.

I worked closely with our minister with our youth group, so he knows us well. He gave us both a big hug in the middle of the ceremony and later said he felt like he was intruding on us when we were saying our vows. We were really focused on each other, I guess.

Married!

Our flower girls handed bubbles to our guests as they left the church.

James’s mom and dad, who hadn’t seen each other in 20-some-odd years. She had a hysterectamy two weeks before the wedding, so needed a lot of help getting around.

We walked out of the church to a bubble salute. Our bridal party lined everyone up along the sidewalk and they blew bubbles as we made our way to…

Our horse and carriage! We used Loon Meadow Farm in Norfolk, Conn. They were great. This was my big splurge for the wedding ($900!), but I think it was the best money we spent. It gave us about 45 minutes to be alone together before the craziness of the reception began. We bought a bottle of champagne to toast each other with on the ride. It was wonderful.

We arrived at the inn and were able to take a few photos outside before the skies opened up (we got the remnants of a tropical storm that night).

But then it rained:

But we didn’t care because it was time to eat!

Everyone loved our cake topper. I had seen it a million times by the time the wedding rolled around, but none of my guests had. They probably don’t spend as much time on wedding websites as I do.

We cut the cake.

And then we danced! We danced all night. Well, until midnight. We paid for an extra hour with our dj right off the bat, because I never feel there’s enough time for dancing at weddings. He was great (Del from Music in Motion) and really kept the floor packed the whole time. And he was great in tracking down our strange requests, like the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ version of “Teenager in Love” for the anniversary dance.

I made it until midnight. When the DJ quit, so did I. James put me to bed and then went back downstairs to party with his family (who he rarely gets to see).

The next morning we had a casual brunch at the Wake Robin, said goodbye to a lot of people and packed up and went home.

I promptly passed out for four hours, despite the fact that we still had family in the house. I was exhausted.

More when we get back!