Did I Dream All That?

I'm a married woman!! Woooooo Hoooooooo!!!!

Truthfully, it hasn't even hit me yet that Sam and I are married now. It really and truly feels like a dream, like my brain hasn't processed what just happened this weekend. I can recall everything that happened, but it still seems like a foreign concept to me. People keep asking me how it feels to be married, and I answer, "Right now, it feels like me and Sam... only with new rings on our fingers."

I'm not sure I'll go through an entire recap of the past few days, cuz that would be LONG, and I need to go shopping for our honeymoon (Puerto Vallarta, here we come!!), but here are some reflections and things I've learned about weddings:

• Almost nothing went exactly as I planned it. Seriously! We had major problems printing the programs, I didn't end up making lots of things that I wanted to make, the guests all arrived at the reception place an hour early, the dance floor wasn't set up at the reception... But it still all turned out wonderfully! Sure, I noticed these things, and they bothered me a little, but we worked around them, and I doubt my guests cared or noticed a thing. And I'm hoping that I didn't look too bothered by them, because I really wasn't - I just went with the flow and was actually rather amused by it all.
• Choose your maid of honor wisely. For me, the decision was a no-brainer, but boy am I glad Nimalee was my maid of honor! She stayed up nearly all night with me on Friday, when we were trying to finish all the projects that I didn't get to finish during the week. She coordinated the set up of all the decorations at the reception, pinned up my makeshift bustle, watched over the iPod, made announcements, stayed at the reception to coordinate clearing out all the presents and decorations and odds and ends, taxi-ed my friends around all over the place since Thursday night, and still managed to make the whole thing fun somehow. I really don't know what I would have done without her this weekend. She was amazing!
• Speaking of projects, if you have the time in your planning, do as much as you can as far in advance as you can. And if you're planning your wedding in 4-5 months like I did, and don't really have the time or means to do them way in advance, make sure your out of town guests don't bug you during the week before your wedding. My in-laws came into town the Saturday before the wedding, and they wanted to do everything with us. They were frequently hanging out at the apartment, so I couldn't focus on the things I needed to do. Then the rest of the OOT guests started coming on Thursday. And I really wanted to hang out with all of them. So, eat meals with them, cuz you should remember to eat, but leave them to their own devices the rest of the time.
• Personalize your wedding, your ceremony in particular. I feel like sometimes the point of the wedding day - the ceremony - gets forgotten in favor of the more fun reception. But I'm so glad that I actually put thought into the ceremony because I received so many compliments on how beautiful it was, how they all LOVED the Sand Ceremony (great decision!), and that my brother sang beautifully (which he did!). It was wonderful!
• I think how a someone feels at their wedding really depends on the person. The emotional part of it only hit me about 15 minutes before the ceremony started, when I heard my brother singing, and all I had to do was wait for everything to start. I was trying not to cry! But the moment I stepped out to walk with my dad down the aisle, I had a huge smile plastered to my face, and grinned my way throughout the entire ceremony without a single tear. I was so excited and happy! I think I grinned through the entire reception too. Sam nearly cried during his vows. It was so adorable.

Okay, I'll stop there as I have to go shopping (for the honeymoon, yay!), and I have to finish eating my breakfast (leftover wedding cake, yay!). I'll have a fuller recap later, probably after we get back from the honeymoon (Puerto Vallarta, yay!).