First wedding photos

Okay, I'm making a set of photos on flickr, and will be adding to them as friends and family send me more pictures. After I get the photographer's photos back, I will make a list of vendor reviews and an approximate cost breakdown to help anyone else who is planning a wedding in this area.

Some highlights, from an early set of photos generously given to us by our good friend Muawia:

Our mothers and grandmothers before the ceremony (I'm still waiting on good family photos...)

Walking down the aisle after the ceremony


Big group of friends who were able to make it through all the airline delays


Me getting a kiss as I try to sneak some cheese before the reception




Synopsis:

Luckily for me, my mother was there the whole week before to run on countless trips to the craft stores (haven't totaled up the receipts yet) and to practice putting my hair up into a bun using a fake bun form that let me make the most out of my fairly short and fine hair. Due to storms throughout the east coast on thursday, my poor father got stuck at the airport in Denver and then in Laguardia, where he spent the night in an airport cafeteria getting attacked by giant cockroaches!!!! My sisters flight from Boston was canceled as well, and she ended up having to fly in early the next morning and take taxis all over Syracuse so that she could pick up the rental car that the family was going to use that weekend. Since she hasn't driven in a really long time, and since the roads to Ithaca and to our house are not exactly clear or well marked, we owe her big time for this.

All the flowers arrived Wednesday and my mother packed them into buckets of bleach and soda. Dahlias have to be treated differently, she dipped them into boiling water and crushed the stems. Of course, the kitty was very excited about all this greenery, so I set up a "kitty containment system" in the basement using screens, boxes and chairs. She apparently got in anyway since there were some kitty puking episodes throughout the next few days.

Mom and I made up for everybody arriving late by staying up until the wee hours Thursday night finishing up the programs and other paper goods. I'd figured out that the printers here on campus were not going to be able to handle the card stock that I'd purchased for table cards, but after a moment of panic we made our way to Kinkos with a big pdf with all the files on it, and printed everything out for a grand total of $0.73. Yup. Less than a dollar. I spent a good hour trying to force paper through that darned printer and I could have just gone to Kinkos from the beginning and had them do it. Lesson learned. We had plenty to occupy us anyway with the cutting out of all the pieces, the rounding of the corners, threading of silver elastic thread and stamping. Much wine was drank and we announced to eachother that any errors were just "artistic". I'm glad we did it ourselves - I'm a sucker for silvery paper and we got to use a bunch of it.

All this time, and throughout most of Friday, the Pritchards were all cooking up a storm at the house they'd rented. They made SO many pies! And lasagna, and salads. Amazing. They fed around 60 people in a big house they'd rented and everyone had a great time. My day was spent worrying about whether all my family members would make it, and making 6 boutonnières, 5 corsages and 2 bouquets. We started getting short on time at this point. By the time of the rehearsal, we'd gotten most of the reception hall materials over there, but I still had to make my bouquet and we hadn't made the baskets of flowers that would hang on the church walls.

Amy, my brother's girlfriend and craftmaster extraordinaire, stepped in at this point and said that she would put together the baskets while we went to the rehearsal. It was a huge weight off of my shoulders. We came back to pick up my grandparents afterwards and my mom and sister worked on the food we were preparing for the "after wedding party" while I finished up my bouquet. We dropped everything off at the church (the bouquets fit in the fridge there, woohoo!), and took off for the rehearsal dinner, only about 1.5 hours late! Apparently, people were teasing Matt about whether I'd run away or not. I was allowed to munch away on the good food and bask in the presence of my cousins and good friends for a little while before I was hustled off to bed.

I'd chosen to stay with my family at the house they'd rented, since that way we could all go together to the church in the morning and I wouldn't be alone at home. It was great there - I slept for at least 6 hours before waking up at 6am wired, and then everybody got up, helped me do my hair and headed on over to the church.

Julia and I got dressed downstairs and had to stay there for what seemed like an eternity. We had some flower supplies still hanging around, so I started bustling around cleaning up and sweeping. She got annoyed with me since I was going to mess up my dress if I kept it up, so I stopped. They should have video games or internet access or *something* for you to do while you wait to go down the aisle. We were both so nervous. We talked about makeup for a while just to pass the time.

The wedding was less of a blur than I thought it'd be. I was so taken aback by how full the little church looked. When I'd sneak a peek back behind us, I'd almost always meet the eye of a different person that I cared deeply about. That was such a nice feeling. We put my ring on the wrong finger, but other than that, things went well. My brother did such a nice reading - he has a great voice and spoke with just the right hint of humor. I hadn't heard Matt's brother speak very often, and was very impressed with the presence he has on stage. He gave such a cute toast later on, too! We almost forgot to go and sign the papers that actually made us legally married, but finally accomplished that and headed out.

I was very glad that the reception was a good 20 minutes drive away. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the pretty country drive with Matt was just what we needed. Once we showed up at the Inn, things were pretty wildcap busy for a bit. The Inn did such a good job with everything! My aunt had made these beautiful prints from photos that our family and Matt's had sent her of family weddings, all in sepia tones with ornate gold frames. We had a slideshow on my computer screen from work that had shots of us from birth onward, and I think that our families had a great time looking at those.

The little Audubon bird table markers were a big hit, especially with the kids. We'd found little vine nests for them and they looked so cute! Plus, I still have a few of them after family members snagged their favorites. That's good - 8 birds are a lot to store but the number we currently have fits nicely on a shelf in our bookcase.

Hmmm...what else? The cake was really not anything like what we'd asked for. Not a huge surprise - their attitude gave us little confidence that they'd do well. We'd been worried about having an open bar, but people ended up drinking hardly anything so I'm really glad we did it.

We had a big party or open house for everyone that evening and got to use the two punch bowls we'd been given. Lots of house tours, lots of dip and leftovers from the rehearsal dinner, and I only sat down for about ten minutes right near the end. Unfortunately, my family had to take off early the next morning for a trip to Boston, but part of Matt's family came back the next morning and went on a nice hike with us in Tremain park.

Overall - couldn't have had better weather, I loved my dress, I'm glad we did all the things we chose to do ourselves instead of hiring it out, and I wish I'd gotten a grocery cake from Wegmans. I still can't believe that so many people came so far to see us, and I'm really looking forward to traveling to see them again.