Let me start by saying that our wedding from the very beginning was going to be the most cost efficient yet fun wedding of all time! We knew what we wanted and what we had to spend...which ended up being around $2000, and everything started to fall into place. I found my dress at David's Bridal 2 day's after we got engaged. The dress ended up being $230 total. It was the first dress I picked out, the first one I tried on and it fit perfect. I didn't need any alterations whatsoever on it.
I guess the wedding stress really started on the Wednesday before my wedding. I took a half day off work because this was the day I had arranged for my flowers to arrive. I ordered wholesale flowers and decided to attempt to make the bouquets myself. Anyways...I arrived home around 11:30 or so and there were my flowers, lying on my front porch. Needless to say 168 flowers come in a HUGE box. SO I do what most girls do, I dropped my stuff inside the front door and dragged the box into my house. When I opened the box, I could NOT believe my eyes. Inside were probably the most beautiful flowers I'd ever seen in my life. Not only were they gorgeous, but they were still alive! I immediately started panicking...I had not imagined that the flowers would be as big as they were...so now I had nothing to put them in to preserve them. Tim made something to go over our bathtub the night before for me, which would've been perfect and worked for 2 of the boxes of flowers...but I still had 2 huge boxes left. Anyways...my mom came to the rescue with about 8 5 gallon buckets and she helped me trim the flowers and put them in water. I was incredibly worried all night about those stinkin flowers because Tim does not like our thermostat to be below 78 F. Our house that week reached a record 73...great I know!The next night was my "bachelorette party." We (the girls in my party) and mine and Tim's mom met at the Oar House for dinner which is my all time favorite restaurant and enjoyed some miller lites, and fried pickles. After dinner we came back to my house, where I opened some presents full of lengerie and drank some wine. When that was done...we started on our bouquets. We were sooo impressed with how WONDERFUL they turned out! (if you ever need a florist...you can now call me and carrie...we will come to the rescue) haha! But seriously...I LOVED my flowers. We added the ribbon the next day...so ignore the lack of ribbon around the stems.
Friday I took the day off work. I took the girls in my party out and we all got pedicures and a couple of us got our nails done. It was so nice to sit in there and just gossip, laugh, and catch up on each other's lives. I realized after those couple day's that I have got some of the best girlfriends ever. Even if we don't see each other often enough, everytime we get together, it's like no time has passed. Friday Night we headed out to the park for our Rehearsal which ended up being different than we expected because our pavillion was having another wedding so picked a spot down by the water and improved. It turned out great!
After the rehearsal and the wonderful dinner at Triggers restaurant, we went to Carries and worked on Boutonnieres. (sp?) It was fun to sit around a table with some great girls, and laugh as we figured out exactly what they are supposed to look like. We conquered those too!
Saturday, I woke up around 5:30 I think with about a million things running through my head...I'm not sure if I was nervous yet...but definately thinking that I would forget something. When Carrie rolled over and realized I was awake that early, she thought I was crazy...but I just talked her little head off until she woke up and kept me company. :) My mom arrived around 7:00 with Tyler (my brother) and Chasitie (his girlfriend) She was a HUGE help in getting us all ready. She's amazing with makeup and really helped alot in the hair department. 
After Carrie finished up...I seriously thought I would cry...she looked AMAZING. I almost thought for a second we were going to HER wedding. :) 
We left Carrie's around 9:30 or so, and headed to my preacher's house. Which is where the rest of my side of the wedding party met us to finish getting ready. They live approx. 10 minutes from Big Lagoon, and have a huge house, so it worked out great!
Arriving at the site...I started to FINALLY get nervous. Not that it was a bad thing. I've just never had wedding jitters before. To finally feel my heart speed racing was the best feeling ever. When Tyler came to get me at game time...I just started to smile. 
I don't think that smile left my face the whole time. (even when I almost tripped on my dress going up the steps) yes I'm a clutz. When I saw Tim at the other end of the aisle....I knew that God had answered all my prayers.
I just let out the huge sigh of relief...all was done. I knew that this was the moment I had been stressing over the past 9 months...if anything went wrong now, then I wouldn't be able to prevent it. I could finally ENJOY my wedding. When Tyler and I arrived at the alter and he handed me off to my future husband, I started crying. 
To be honest, I'm surprised I didn't start crying that morning. But tears just started falling. My preacher Darren (my friend) is such an amazing person. The words he said to describe mine and Tim's relationship was the best words I've ever heard. He knows us so well, that he could just speak and the right words flowed from him. The way he said that we were built for each other.That we were made for each other in order to help each other grow stronger, to grow more christlike, to raise a family in the church. God knew what he was doing...as he always has and always will. Tim and I decided to write our own vows (which is something our preacher has never let anyone do) when Darren held up our vows for us to read to each other, there was such peace as I read my words to him. 
I knew that what we were saying to each other truly comes from God. We know that we will mess up, that there will be times when we just simply won't get along...but we will look up to God for strength, direction, guidence, and with that, our marriage will prevail. I'm so lucky...(and so is Tim).
Looking back at the wedding and describing to others what the day was like, I tell them:
I really don't remember much...I didn't get to speak to very many people at the wedding...I couldn't tell you who all was there...Heck even my dad and his side of the family left before the reception began. But what I remember is this...I shared a dance with the one person God made for me with all my friends and family members smiling and taking pictures. I shared a day with my best girlfriends that mean more than the world to me. I saw a friend who I hadn't seen in years and when we hugged, I could feel God smiling (he knew I wanted her there.) My DJ was a youth pastor I had when I was younger and just him being there was amazing, but the fact that he DJ'd my wedding for FREE was a blessing in and of itself. My photographer was a friend of a friend who is trying to get into the photography business and needed pictures for his portolio...let me tell you...he was EVERYWHERE taking pictures of everything and everyone (also for FREE.) It was HOT...but the breeze felt great! The day was beautiful without a cloud in the sky.
Even though there were people there to ruin my day (and even tried with their snotty comments), and the food ran out before my wedding party could eat (which is what happens when people don't RSVP), and even though the daquiri machines were low and the alcohol ran out (besides the champagne which was strictly for the wedding party)...I can honestly say that was the best wedding I've been to. Not because it was mine. But because we ...in the process of paying for our wedding, bought a home, had money for a honeymoon, did not take out a loan, and even had money to buy our newest babies when we got back, we did the whole thing ourselves. I handmade the fans/programs, I handmade all the invitations, the flowers were made at my home, our ringbearer carried a conch shell for the rings and our flower girls carried seashell windchimes that I made. I am so incredibly glad that I did all this. It made the experience mean so much to everyone involved.
We can go to bed at night without a doubt in our minds that God was with us on our day.
I'm so blessed.
these are our new puppies...they are 8 week's old as of yesterday and are a HANDFUL! They are both Chocolate labs and are brother and sister. We love them so much already!
