Just got back to the apartment after a long drive from CT. Wedding successful! One more party to throw/attend, then Chris and I will head off to our honeymoon. I'll have pictures for you all later, but the photographer's pictures won't be in for a week or two yet.
This last couple weeks was an exercise in stamina. The last week or so, I couldn't sleep more than six hours, sometimes as few as four. Between constantly folding origami and being away from my quiet apartment, my stress level was pretty high. I compensated by taking a couple hours every night to settle down... which meant I was up until 2am sometimes. Combine that with the sun's magical ability to wake me up at sunrise, and the result was very little sleep.
I was pretty faithful in taking my supplements, though, which I have no doubt contributed to my relative level-headedness. Also notable mention: LENS. I have exactly zero doubts that if I hadn't been having that therapy for this long, I would have gotten very depressed from the backlash of being so anxious. I wouldn't describe myself as mellow during this whole process, particularly, but there would have been many more frantic flailings otherwise.
Seems like the wedding decorations turned out pretty well. I'm really glad, because I spent a lot of anxiety and time folding them. Really appreciate the people that helped out with the folding. I was a silly derp and didn't work on arranging the flowers until a couple days before we left, which meant very last minute frantic arrangements. Chris' mother had very definite ideas of how to do things, which was sometimes helpful. We ended up with a mixture of my ideas and hers. I didn't really favor the big sprays of flowers on the candleabras, but once they were wired in, they looked fine. The aisle-runners and centerpieces were more my style. Simple, minimal, and elegant. I did kind of go all out with the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, though. Those were puffy, rather than minimalist.
I've finally found a dress I don't hate. My wedding dress was custom made for me by a friend, and so of course I was able to choose the design, color, etc. And naturally the dress also has positive emotional attachments, since, y'know, wedding dress. But it's also a very pragmatic dress, as dresses go. It's not super-decorated or fanciful. It doesn't restrict shoulder movement or leg movement. I could go for a run wearing it, if I hiked up the lower bit slightly. It covers my legs, making it warmer than most dresses I've had the misfortune to wear. It's got an accessory that didn't get used at the wedding, also: a sort of mini-shirt. So the next time I wear it, it won't look exactly the same as my wedding.
The rehearsal dinner and reception went very well, and were surprisingly low-stress. I don't generally thrive in party environments, but we had a pretty small wedding group (less than 50, including the sound tech, pastor, etc). So there were really only a few people I wasn't super-familiar with. The rest were family and a few friends that lived close by or were able to travel the 800+ miles to the wedding site. I think it probably helped that part of the point of those parties is to introduce the two families to each other, and there are several members of both families that were quite interested in facilitating that.
I'm really grateful to my friends and family, though. They were pretty okay with the small wedding, and made serious efforts to make my and Chris' lives easier in amidst the chaos. Everything from lending me an outfit for the rehearsal dinner (I was not interested in wearing a dress twice in a week!) to frantically running back home for a video camera when it became clear that our first plan to record the wedding wasn't going to work. If I started naming names on this blog for every person that helped, I might be here awhile... but please know from spare pairs of hands, to creative minds, to open lodgings for guests, to financial support, I appreciate all of you. : )
This last couple weeks was an exercise in stamina. The last week or so, I couldn't sleep more than six hours, sometimes as few as four. Between constantly folding origami and being away from my quiet apartment, my stress level was pretty high. I compensated by taking a couple hours every night to settle down... which meant I was up until 2am sometimes. Combine that with the sun's magical ability to wake me up at sunrise, and the result was very little sleep.
I was pretty faithful in taking my supplements, though, which I have no doubt contributed to my relative level-headedness. Also notable mention: LENS. I have exactly zero doubts that if I hadn't been having that therapy for this long, I would have gotten very depressed from the backlash of being so anxious. I wouldn't describe myself as mellow during this whole process, particularly, but there would have been many more frantic flailings otherwise.
Seems like the wedding decorations turned out pretty well. I'm really glad, because I spent a lot of anxiety and time folding them. Really appreciate the people that helped out with the folding. I was a silly derp and didn't work on arranging the flowers until a couple days before we left, which meant very last minute frantic arrangements. Chris' mother had very definite ideas of how to do things, which was sometimes helpful. We ended up with a mixture of my ideas and hers. I didn't really favor the big sprays of flowers on the candleabras, but once they were wired in, they looked fine. The aisle-runners and centerpieces were more my style. Simple, minimal, and elegant. I did kind of go all out with the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, though. Those were puffy, rather than minimalist.
I've finally found a dress I don't hate. My wedding dress was custom made for me by a friend, and so of course I was able to choose the design, color, etc. And naturally the dress also has positive emotional attachments, since, y'know, wedding dress. But it's also a very pragmatic dress, as dresses go. It's not super-decorated or fanciful. It doesn't restrict shoulder movement or leg movement. I could go for a run wearing it, if I hiked up the lower bit slightly. It covers my legs, making it warmer than most dresses I've had the misfortune to wear. It's got an accessory that didn't get used at the wedding, also: a sort of mini-shirt. So the next time I wear it, it won't look exactly the same as my wedding.
The rehearsal dinner and reception went very well, and were surprisingly low-stress. I don't generally thrive in party environments, but we had a pretty small wedding group (less than 50, including the sound tech, pastor, etc). So there were really only a few people I wasn't super-familiar with. The rest were family and a few friends that lived close by or were able to travel the 800+ miles to the wedding site. I think it probably helped that part of the point of those parties is to introduce the two families to each other, and there are several members of both families that were quite interested in facilitating that.
I'm really grateful to my friends and family, though. They were pretty okay with the small wedding, and made serious efforts to make my and Chris' lives easier in amidst the chaos. Everything from lending me an outfit for the rehearsal dinner (I was not interested in wearing a dress twice in a week!) to frantically running back home for a video camera when it became clear that our first plan to record the wedding wasn't going to work. If I started naming names on this blog for every person that helped, I might be here awhile... but please know from spare pairs of hands, to creative minds, to open lodgings for guests, to financial support, I appreciate all of you. : )
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