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.