8.01.2011

Wedding Week: One Year Later

We celebrated our first anniversary yesterday! I thought I would kick off the blog celebration with a recap of our wedding weekend.

Friday

The day before the wedding started out with manicures & pedicures with my mom, sister, grandma, aunt and cousin.

Crawford ladies

Then we all met up with my bridesmaids and Adam's female relatives for a luncheon at a cute little restaurant, Humble City Cafe.

Bridesmaids

The men had a bachelor's lunch at a favorite barbecue joint, Spring Creek. Of course, there are no pictures from that event, because they are boys.

After lunch, we dropped off all the decorations at the reception location and headed to the church for a rehearsal.

Wedding Party

Adam's parents threw the rehearsal dinner at Italiano's, a delicious Italian place with a separate party area. We ate, talked and watched a slideshow of cute baby pictures.

Rehearsal dinner

I stayed up way too late that night chatting with my little sister. This was our very last night of sharing a room together after 18 years. I was excited and sad at the same time.

Saturday

We woke up really early on the morning of the wedding. My mom, grandma, sister and I were at the hair salon at seven a.m.

LuAnn, the stylist who had been cutting my hair for as long as I can remember, opened the salon extra early just for us. I showed her the same picture of Reese Witherspoon at the Oscars that she'd used to do my hair for prom.

After we'd done our hair and makeup, we headed home to get dressed. I wore a strapless, cocktail length dress with a lace shrug. The bridesmaids wore green dresses and the groomsmen wore their best suits with coordinating green striped ties.



My sister, Allison, was the maid of honor, of course. The bridesmaids were my good friends Sam and Arli, as well as Adam's sister Katie.



Adam's brother closest to him in age, Alex, was the best man. The groomsmen were his other brothers Jeff and Steve, as well as my little brother Scott.

I asked our immediate family and the bridal party to meet at the church at 9:30. I got there a few minutes before Adam so we wouldn't run into each other.

When we arrived, the florist was there to deliver our altar arrangements, bouquets and boutonnieres - all hot pink roses. Our friends Sam {a bridesmaid} and Ben were there tying on all the pew bows.



The photographer, Amy, was a family friend who my sister babysits for quite frequently. She got a few shots of us separately with our families and the bridal party before the 11:00 ceremony. Then, the bridesmaids and I hid in the brides' room while the groomsmen acted as ushers and handed out programs.



Our ceremony was held at St. Mary's, the church we grew up attending every week. I've had all my sacraments there except for baptism. St. Mary's was a big part of our dating life in high school, because we were on Confirmation Team and taught Sunday School there together.

Saint Mary's

Our old youth minister, Mike, served as the cantor. He was actually at the Archdiocese Youth Conference that weekend, but he drove back just for us. He almost didn't make it in time! A family friend played the piano to accompany him.

Two good friends, Jake and Christina, served as readers. The ceremony was officiated by Deacon Dave. He got married really young too, so he gave us a lot of invaluable advice during the marriage prep process. Since we had a full Mass, Father Daniel also officiated.



The ceremony was so beautiful. We loved every minute of it. Afterward, the photographer grabbed some more family and bridal party shots at the church.





Our reception was held at Redstone Golf Club, a country club about ten minutes away from St. Mary's. The guests mingled and snacked on cheese & crackers while Adam and I got some pictures alone on the club's grounds.



When we walked back inside to join the party at 1:00, everyone took their seats in the dining room. The best man welcomed everyone and Deacon Dave said the blessing.



A buffet-style lunch was served. We chose our all-time favorite meal, fajitas. Chips & queso, empanadas and an awesome salad with tomatilla ranch dressing rounded out the buffet.

Adam and I chowed down quickly at the sweetheart table because we had a mission - thank all of our 120 guests for being there to celebrate with us.



We didn't have dancing at our reception. We don't like to dance and we knew our guests weren't that into it either. So, we had plenty of time to drop by every table.

Chatting

Chatting

As soon as we finished making our rounds, it was time for the maid of honor and father of the bride to give their toasts. They pretty much brought everyone to tears. The rehearsal dinner guests enjoyed the slideshow so much that we decided to show it again at the reception.



Then dessert was served. We love cake as much as the next guy, but we love pie even more. So, we offered guests a choice of lemon meringue, apple or derby pie.



After everyone had enjoyed their dessert, the maid of honor asked the single ladies to meet on the patio for the bouquet toss. The best man asked the rest of the guests to grab a container of bubbles and get ready for our big exit.



My good friend Jessica caught the bouquet. Right around 4:30, Adam and I left the reception surrounded by a crowd of well-wishers.



We spent the night at The Houstonian, a super swanky hotel downtown. We had visited once for a college presentation and always dreamed of coming back as proper guests. We were so glad that we'd had an early wedding because we had plenty of time to enjoy that gorgeous hotel.

Sunday

We couldn't leave for our honeymoon the next day because Adam still had a week left of his summer research program. We knew this when we picked our wedding date, but it was really the only date of the summer that worked for everyone. We weren't about to wait till Christmas or the next summer just so we could leave for our honeymoon right away.

So, we had breakfast at the hotel and then went to our first Sunday Mass as a married couple. We had lunch at Five Guys of all places and headed back to my parents' house to open wedding presents. We were totally blown away by everyone's generosity!

We stayed at Adam's parents' house for a week. Adam went to work everyday while I wrote all our thank you notes and got started packing. The following weekend, our friends Arli {a bridesmaid} and Phil got married. I got to be a bridesmaid in her wedding too.

Honeymoon

Our honeymoon began the day after Arli's wedding. We spent five days at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico. It was paradise!

View from our balcony

Every morning, breakfast was brought to our room and we ate on our balcony overlooking the ocean. Most days were spent at the pristine beach or infinity pool with a swim-up bar, where the strawberry margaritas were watered down just how I like them. One day, we took a snorkeling excursion to a nearby island. Another day, we took a sailing lesson at the resort.

On the catamaran to Isla Mujeres

Every night, we had dinner at one of the resort's specialty restaurants. We tried the steakhouse, the Brazilian place, the Mexican place and the big buffet. We'd end the evening watching the sunset on our balcony with a glass of champagne.

The End

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay in paradise forever. We flew back to Houston, spent a week packing up our belongings, drove a moving truck across the country to Pittsburgh and spent another week unpacking our new apartment before the fall semester started at Pitt. Once we were settled into our first home, we really felt like we were married.

This ended up being a little longer than I anticipated - sorry! I just really wanted to write the story of our wedding before we forget all the details and all the people who made the day so special.

P.S. Wanna see more wedding pics? Check 'em all out on Flickr. Curious where we found something? There's a complete source list right here.

3 comments:

  1. Happy 1st Anniversary - momentous! I love all your pictures from your wedding. You look absolutely radiant and my all time fav, is that one of you and your bridesmaids. The colors are all so vibrant!

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  2. ahhh, the hottest day of my life! haha, also the best day eva!

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  3. Congratulations, and happy anniversary! What a beautiful wedding :)

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You are awesome.