Wedding Album - The Big Day

So last time we had just finished rehearsal dinner and were off to get a good night sleep before the wedding. Kris and I didn't do the traditional bride stays somewhere else the night before since this was both our second go round at this. I did get up early and leave him with his Best Man, Steve, while I went with Steve's wife and daughter (bride's attendant and flower girl) to get our hair done.
This is Miss Emily looking oh so happy to have her hair fixed. She looks much happier later on in the day when she stood and admired herself in the mirror and then found her new best friend, the ring bearer! For those of you that haven't put all the pieces together yet, her mom and dad (Steve and Amy) were the ones that introduced us. She is also my goddaughter.

And this is the aforementioned Tom, who wiped away my tears the day before when I had my meltdown over screwing up my appointment and Kris'. At one point, while doing my hair, he made me promise not to cut it all off again after the wedding. He actually stopped mid-tease and said he wouldn't finish it unless I promised. Little side story on Tom, his wife works with my sister and our aunt and pretty much every female in our family goes to get their hair done at his place. He is the funniest guy. Kris even likes it when he cuts his hair and that's saying something!

Not long after the girls made it to the salon, Kris called lost because he wanted to go have coffee with Steve while we were there and couldn't remember how to get to his "new favorite" place. So here I was, morning of our wedding giving the guys directions to a coffee house. I told Steve that Kris was his problem and he heartily laughed in my face and told me that in a few more hours he would be my problem for the rest of my life. Such a great little brother I have!
Once all the hair was done we headed back to the townhouse to pick up my dress and head to the chapel to get ready and start taking photos. Our photographers arrived right before I did and started taking shots of the guys getting ready. Apparently there was an issue with how the cuff links functioned, but they worked it out.

The funniest part was when the girls left the house, me with my dress in my hand, to get in the minivan and head to the chapel. Somehow, we all got outside and they all piled in the van I was left standing in the front yard with my dress wondering how I was getting there. Thank goodness for our photographer, Jason Hudson (check out his website at www.hudsonphotos.com and use him if you ever need a photographer in NW Arkansas), and his Honda Element. He graciously said he would take my dress and lay it out flat in the back. Once that was done, I realized I still didn't have a seat so he moved some of his equipment and gave me a lift.

While at the chapel office, I saw the flowers for the first time...my bouquet, the ones for the girls, the reception, etc. I didn't like them at all, given the florist had put these big hideous bows on all of the bouquets. We borrowed some scissors from the chapel manager and proceeded to fix them and try not to get wet in the process since they were all sitting in vases full of water. Thanks to all the girls, we got it taken care of in time.

And while I'm on the subject of thanks, we would like to give a big thanks to Karen for taking over our camera and taking lots of great shots the day of the wedding. Hers were the first photos we got to see of our big day. For those who haven't met Karen, she is the girlfriend of Kris' John (yes, I know that sounds silly, but I have a friend named John too and he gets called "my John") who was one of his groomsmen. This is them...aren't they cute! Karen also stood in for Erika during rehearsal the night before.
Kris' Uncle Tom also took photos for us the whole weekend. This is Tom and his beautiful wife Diane with Kris. They flew in from North Carolina to spend the weekend with us. Thank you Tom and Di!

OK, I think that gets us right up to the big event, so the next entry I'll let speak for itself.