Rehearsing

The week of the wedding I worked until Thursday. I took the whole day off on Friday and spent the early part of the morning doing a couple last minute things, and at 11 am I met up with my bridesmaids for a little [much needed] mani and pedi.

My cousins Tara and Allie

Look! I'm Edward Paraffin-Hands!

After gettin' our nails did, we headed over to California Pizza Kitchen (my fav!) for lunch.

That is my purse behind my head... I don't actually have antennae.

Something we learned while at the CPK: if you order a half glass of wine, you will get a normal size glass. If your order a full size, you get a small bowl of wine.

Guess which one I got ;)

I would be remiss if I didn't mention is the t-shirt that Connie/her boyfriend Joey made for me.

Connie handled the iron on rhinestones. Then, since she has the handwriting of a serial killer, she made Joey write JEGs in puffy paint.

Yup, I wore a puffy-painted t-shirt. Are you jealous? Thought so.

After lunch we headed back to Falconhead to get ready for the rehearsal. We chatted, changed our clothes, I realized I hadn't even begun to pack for vacation, etc etc. When JEGs got home from work, we headed out to the venue.

My friend Erin came up from Georgia to be one of our readers!

Me and Doodlebug.. and her baby.

Go 'head girl. Work that thang.

Bridal party all lined up

We got this on lock down.

When the rehearsal was finished, my ladies and I quickly moved our dresses and accessories to the hotel room so we wouldn't have to worry about them the next morning. I took one last look at my beautiful white dress and said "See you tomorrow, beautiful".

Momma and Poppa G hosted a dinner at a local pub called P.J. Whelihan's

We had our own private room with a buffet of amazing food. Seriously, their meatballs and wings were so stinkin' good. We may or may not have taken home doggy bags.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing while our friends and family mingled




The best man and his fiance, Lauren, couldn't wait till the next day to give us their gift. It was a framed version of our invitation! Lauren's mother matted it at painted on the matte to compliment the design on the invite. It was so beautiful!

After everyone enjoyed their meals, JEGs and I took a moment to thank everyone for their love, support, and monies. Yes, especially the monies ;)

As people began to clear out, JEGs and I said our good-byes to each other. He slept at our apartment that night, and I stayed the night at my parents house.

When I arrive at my parents house, I immediately changed into my pajamas. My mother and I enjoyed a glass (or two) of wine, and excitedly talked about the next day- wondering will the weather hold out, running through our check lists one last time, and hoping everything would run as planned.

I spent a couple minutes catching up with my brother from LA, and then headed up to bed. I thought I might have trouble sleeping, but I quietly drifted off to sleep and began to dream about my big day...