Our BIG DAY... when two became one!

First of all, many thanks to this wonderful lady. Without Santa, this day would have NEVER happened. She is the one that introduced Jay and I and I owe her big time for introducing such a great, handsome, loving and wonderful man into my life.
My sister was my official photographer (and videographer... and maid-of-honor). She wore many hats this day and I am so fortunate to have her in my life!

I put together my own bouquet and the day before got 3 roses from my Dad's garden to include in it. There is a red, yellow and white rose. I remember when I lived with him he used to leave me a freshly made juice and a few roses at my bedroom door. Since he is no longer with us, I wanted to included him some how.

Our wedding was non-traditional. Jay and I drove together. Here we are taking care of all the legal stuff.When I got to the wedding location and was going over the details with the minister, I asked if my Mom could walk me down the aisle. His response "don't you have a dad?" Me: "No, he passed away." Minister: "don't you have a brother?" Me: "My mom WILL be walking me down the aisle!" She was squeezing me so tightly. We laughed about it and she said she was excited. I was so happy that I felt myself tearing up. She was also very happy with the dress I was wearing. You see, we had gone wedding dress shopping together and she hand picked this dress.

The minister asked if we were religious and we didn't know what to say. We think of ourselves as more spiritual and I thought "isn't this something you ask BEFORE the ceremony?" He then saw our looks and said "do you believe in God?" We answered yes and wondered where he was going with this. He then asked if someone in the audience wanted to bless our rings. Naturally, we called up my Mom who is an ordained minister.

I just love this picture! It captures our wedding ceremony... we were having such a good time!

So out of nowhere... the minister asked since we were a small group if people would like to congratulate us. We were like what??? No pressure! He asked if we had a Best Man and if he could say a few words. Jay and I had not planned on having any brides-maids, best men, flower girl, etc until our full blown wedding, but I guess things were about change. One of Jay's best friends was appointed as Best Man and he said some really nice words.

Next the minister asked who my Maid-of-Honor was and without a doubt it was my little sister and best friend Jessica. She to said some special words and the ceremony continued with words about love, marriage and our vows.

And we sealed it with a kiss!!

Tah Dah... the moment has arrived... Mr. & Mrs.

The girls in my family minus my sister in who lives in Colorado. I think the minister was hitting on my Mom though... he said she was a model!

Jay and Archie

My oldest sister, Sharon.

Jessica and I!

My Niece and her boyfriend!

My sister, Jessica and brother-in-law, Rudy

Archie and his wife Rosa

Sharon and the gang

Sister picture!

Mom and I

Santa and in her tummy is little Carlos :) She has less than 7 weeks to go and looks GREAT!

Our wedding reception

We were surrounded my family and close friends at one of our favorite local Cuban Restaurants.

We started off with drinks and Jay and my favorites - chicken empanadas. Then ordered individual meals. I had the chicken fajitas with moros and platanos. Jay had the Arroz con Pollo. The food was amazing! Even though there was only one server, he did an excellent job make sure our drinks we always refilled and checked on us often.

My little sis got us a cake. Jay and I normally split a slice of Ralphs' lemon cake, so she ordered us that same cake for our reception. She even brought sparking cider, toasting glasses and cake cutting knife to complete our reception. I felt SO special!

I am so into my story that I clearly didn't know pictures were being taken.

What a special and intimate reception! I truly feel blessed and honored to not only have supportive family and friends, but to have found a wonderful man to share the rest of my life with.

Cheers to us!

Behind the scenes

There a lot that goes into planning a wedding, even if it's a small scaled one. Jay and I had searched for a place to have our wedding. We had settled on going to Vegas since I work weekends and he works weekdays and Vegas is 24 hours. We found a place in Cali that was cheap and had a beautiful backdrop of Lake Tahoe. For some odd reason I thought Lake Tahoe was a lot closer than it really was...400+ miles ONE way! Their website said CA/NV border and I just assumed it was the state line closes to us. Nope, I was wrong (rare form). On to plan B or was it C at this point? We looked up places in Vegas and they were reasonably priced. We debated when we would go and the drive. Jay still had to go to work the day after our wedding, so the drive was looking very appealing. THEN, I stumbled upon a place less than 10 miles from our house. SCORE! I called to make reservations literally one week before our wedding date. Talk about luck cuz they had an opening.

The weekend before our wonderful wedding I went dress shopping with my Mom. I totally forgot it was Christmas time and the malls were packed. We visited the major department stores and then my favorite store, Windsors. I had a certain dress in mind and couldn't find the right look. Plus, I had gained some weight, so finding a dress was not easy! My Mom kept pointing at a certain dress but it wasn't white or what I was looking for. However, being the loving daughter that I am, I was a good sport and tried it on for her.
This one I really, really like and it was on sale for $29.00. Although it's not the dress I wore for the wedding, I did get it. Heck, for that price I couldn't pass it up.

This dress cracked me up! Sure it was white, but SO not me. But my mom liked it and surprisingly a lot of people I showed also liked it. My eyes zoom in on my hips and I clearly see that it's not flattering. So I passed on it!

This dress however had great reviews from everyone! Including my Mom. This is the one that she had spotted and found the hook to get it off the top rack and insisted I try it on. I didn't get it that day, but after a second day of shopping, I went back for it. It was truly "the one."

Christmas day we spent it at my sister's house and she kept my Dad's roses on the side of the house. I asked her if I could take a few for my bouquet and she said of course I could.

The morning of the wedding I stopped by the grocery store and got a dozen roses, got some ribbon from a gift Jay gave me for my bday and my glue gun and got to work.

Tah dah... my bouquet! Only $9.99!! Florist over charge to make these things!!!

And as part of my wedding/Christmas gift my little sis got my toes and nails done. She highly recommend I get the crystal gel on my nails, so I did. I love the gel! It makes my nails feel so smooth and the color looks better then it normally does. I am told that it will stay on for a longer time too.

Our wedding day was also Jay's bday. I had stayed up making him an apple pie the night before. I figured since we were having wedding cake I might as well make a different celebration sessert for him. I blew up some ballons and left them on the table with his gifts and card. We had planned on waking up around 4:30ish to go on a run and then out for breakfast, but I was too sleepy for the run. Mind you, I am not a morning person and had got to bed after 1:00AM. I know, no excuses! Ha! I work up after 5:00AM tho and we went to IHOP for some yummy veggie omelets with turkey bacon. Sooooo good!!! Jay then had some errands to run and I was off to get ready.

Mud mask is a must! I was PMSing and had a nasty pimple on my face, so thought this might help. I am trying to smile in this picture BUT the mask was drying so made it difficult. My sister in Colorado couldn't make it down, so I sent her pictures of me through out the day. This was one of them

I didn't want to stink... so made sure to get clinical strength.

And I was getting nervous. Not a bad nervous, just super excited so needed to calm my ass down!!! I cracked into Jay's bday Jamaican rum! Two shots later and I was feeling good!! Ready to go off to the chapel.

The world does NOT revolve around you

Sometimes people amaze me with there kindness and other times by their self centered actions.

Of course I am venting... I think because I am shocked.

Well let me start from the beginning with GREAT and EXCITING news, Jay and I are getting married. In late November, I got a text from Jay's BF asking about our wedding time frame. I told him that we were planning to get married before the New Year and most likely it would be on Jay's bday. We would have a full blown wedding later on, but wanted to be official. He said that he looked at flights around that time and the price was too expensive and hopefully I would postpone it until later. Was he serious??? I was floored that he would make a request like that and told him that I would text him once we got a date set in stone.

Well Jay is in the police academy and it's not like you can easily request a day off. We learned in early December that Jay's only day off this year would be December 26th. Ironically, it's Jay's bday and we had talked about getting married that day. As Cindy put it, it is "fate!"I sent the bf a text confirming that it would indeed take place on the 26th and he said he won't be able to make it out to Cali for the ceremony but had an idea. He saw on some TV show that hey used Skype to watch the ceremony. All I had to do was 1.) Call around and find someone with a laptop with a camera and 2.) if the wedding place had WiFi. I couldn't find a person with a laptop equipped with a camera locally, but did ask the wedding chapel if they had live feed. They didn't. So I text the bf and his next request is that someone download the app for Skype and hold up their phone. WOW... I was just shocked about how inconsiderate that was. Who would really want to hold up their phone for 30 minutes. That person won't be able to fully enjoy the moment and have to make sure the camera was always facing us. I also thought about how uncomfortable just the act of holding something up for that long. I texted him back stating that I felt uncomfortable asking someone to do that. So you think that would be it, right? Nope, he asked what time the ceremony started because he want to call RIGHT after and informed me that he would be calling my phone. Seriously??? Hello, right after the ceremony we will be taking photos and being greeted by those that attended. I seriously felt like this guy thinks the world revolves around him. Jay told me I should have told me that. I am sure he was kidding about that. I wished he would have said something more along the lines of, "I really wish I could be there and would love to congratulate you two when you have a free moment. Please call me when you can. Maybe on the drive to dinner."


And that is the end of my venting....


I am sure the day will go without a hitch and that this guy isn't thinking. I know he probably just trying to be part of the day.

Thank you!

Got a text from Jay saying "thank you!"

My reply was "Thank u for what?? But whatever it is ur welcome!!"

He replied:
"For EVERYTHING bay! Ur goona be a great wife"
"Thx for taking out and picking up the trash"
"And vaccuming"
"And straigthening up"
"And helping me out!"
"And for... Being u!"