Miss Turtle: 2010

Sunday, November 14, 2010

So Happy Together: A Hesitant Farewell

As the evening winded down, and the music from our "first and last dance" began to fade away, I remember looking around at the faces of the people who were still there and thinking that it was an absolutely perfect moment in time. Some people were still dancing in the gazebo, some were taking one last turn in the photobooth, and others were wrapped up in conversation with people they hadn't seen in years. I knew that it was time for our "farewell," but I still found myself asking our wedding coordinator if we could just hang out for another hour. She laughed, and pointed out that the candles had all melted down. The vendors were coming to clean up soon and most of the guests had already left. I looked around and although I understood her valid points, I just didn't want the night to end. (Isn't that how every bride should feel at her wedding?)

The remaining guests gathered along the driveway holding the getaway flags. (Which may look like a super cute DIY project, but I have to be honest with you: they were a serendipitous find at T.J. Maxx!)

Everyone cheered as my new husband and I ran through the human tunnel and drove away in my cream colored MINI Cooper. I remember watching our closest family and friends wave and smile out the window until I couldn't see them anymore.

A lot of you have commented about the amazingly beautiful weather we experienced on our wedding day. Well believe it or not, less than thirty minutes after we drove away, the rain began pouring down from the sky. Thunder and lightening and everything! What a perfect ending to a perfect day. :) I also have to add that the next morning, it was bright and sunshiney again! Mr. Turtle and I went back to his grandparents' house (where we'd gotten married), and our family watched us open our presents. Then we ordered pizza and had a glorious feast of pizza and leftover wedding cake in the backyard.... sitting on the Chivari chairs that the rental company still hadn't picked up! How fancy... ;)

Anyway, does it make sense if I say that the feelings of hesitancy, of bittersweetness, that I experienced at the end of our wedding are the same way I'm feeling now as I write this farewell Weddingbee post? I whipped out my recaps pretty fast, as far as recaps go, but every time I sat down to write this post, I ended up procrastinating. Planning this wedding was such a personal journey for me. As cheesy as it sounds, the process of planning a wedding made me a better person. Working on the wedding together also brought me closer to my family, friends, and husband. These 23 months of my life were a rollercoaster. I laughed harder than I'd ever laughed and cried harder than I'd ever cried.

Blogging on Weddingbee during this stage of my life was certainly a time-consuming commitment to take on, but I can honestly say that it served to further enrich the whole experience. I may never meet any of you in person, but this online community is made up of some of the kindest, most genuine women I have ever encountered! I carefully read each and every one of your comments on my posts. Your encouragement and advice definitely helped shape our wedding.

I'm hesitant to leave Weddingbee behind, but I guess it would be weird if I stuck around forever. That's the funny part about life. Just when you get comfortable somewhere, you find yourself moving on to newer, sometimes better, and always more challenging things. Mine and Mr. Turtle's life together has definitely not slowed down or gotten boring since the wedding. We've moved from California to Maryland, and are now living together for the first time. He's started graduate school, and I've started my first post-college job. If you're interested, I invite you to come visit me on my personal blog: www.bricolageblog.com ! I can't promise that you won't see me around Weddingbee every once and a while though. I plan to pop in here and there!

Thanks for reading along while I planned my wedding! I hope you enjoyed the ride. I'll never ever forget you, and I wish you the best not only for your wedding, but for the rest of your lives!

Love always,
Mrs. Turtle

Thursday, October 28, 2010

So Happy Together: Our First and Last Dance

For those of you who are wondering what happened with the garter, Mr. Turtle and my dad got it down from the roof with a broom! And a friend I grew up with at church caught it. Problem solved! As my wedding recaps draw to a close, have you noticed anything missing? Dancing, maybe? Well believe it or not, Mr. Turtle and I chose not to have dancing at our reception. No, we didn't have any deep religious or philosophical reason behind this decision. Mr. Turtle specifically does not like to dance, so naturally, dancing hasn't held any real significance in our relationship. And I figured, why make him do something he doesn't like to do on what's supposed to be the "best day of our lives?" Also, the deeper I got into planning our wedding, the less I envisioned dancing fitting into the our reception vibe. I wanted the evening to feel more elegant dinner party in the garden than crazy dance party. But the closer our wedding day became, the more I started to wonder if I'd regret not having a traditional "first dance." So Mr. Turtle and I made a sort of last minute decision to end the evening with our first dance as husband and wife.

Obviously I'm not wearing my wedding dress in that picture. Maybe I should explain! A few weeks before the wedding, I realized that I didn't want to leave our reception in my wedding dress/wear it walking into our hotel that night. I wasn't sure what to wear, and honestly didn't feel like buying yet another dress, after I'd already purchased outfits for so many other wedding events. Well, as Mr. Turtle's family was in the process of helping his great-grandmother move, they stumbled across Mr. Turtle's grandmother's high school prom dress! Just for fun, I decided to try it on and it fit like a glove! So as soon as it occurred to me that this could be my getaway dress, I felt like the whole thing was just meant to be!

Left: Me trying on the dress for the first time; Right: Me wearing the dress at our wedding with Mr. Turtle's Grammy, the original wearer of the dress back in the 1950's! Soooo special, right? :)

So back to our dance, here's how our little surprise unfolded: After the bouquet and garter toss, I quickly changed into my getaway dress and then rejoined the reception. I grabbed a microphone and stood up on a chair so everyone could see me. (Yes, I stood on a Chivari chair. *gasp*) By this point, many of our guests had left, and the only ones remaining were our very close family and friends, who were all well aware about our decision to not dance. I proceeded to make an announcement that we were so thankful for everyone's attendance and support, and before we called it a night, we had one surprise left: a dance in the gazebo! Right on cue, our DOC started the oldie but goodie song we chose only moments before: Frank Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight."

After about a minute of all eyes on us, we invited anyone who wanted to join us in the gazebo to do so for the rest of the song.

As unplanned as our dance was, I'll treasure these brief few moments in my heart forever. This definitely was not the most traditional way to go about a "first dance," but somehow, for us, it just fit! Perfectly!

Brides-to-be: in what ways are you throwing out tradition, in favor of something that feels more right for you? Married bees: did you have any unplanned moments at your wedding that looking back, you can't imagine the day without?

In case you missed out on any of my earlier recap posts:

Once again, all of the wedding photos in this post were taken by our wonderful photographer, Chloe Murdoch, with Mike Larson Inc.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

So Happy Together: Almost Forgot the Important Part!

Okay, so remember how in my last post, I promised a couple of funny stories? Well, here you are!

After cutting the cake, I started to hurry upstairs to toss my bouquet! (That was the correct order of things... right?) Well, before I made it inside the house, our pastor approached me to remind me that if Mr. Turtle and I truly wanted to be married, we'd left out a very important part. I seriously remember having no idea what he was talking about. I really felt like I'd planned everything so well. Can any of you guys think of what our pastor could have been referring to? Here's a clue:

Ummm... duh??? Following our ceremony, rather than meeting our pastor inside the house to sign the marriage certificate, like we were supposed to, Mr. Turtle and I, along with our wedding party had gotten so caught up in the excitement of everything that we'd immediately taken off for pictures! Thankfully, our pastor had remembered this crucial detail, so he proceeded to gather me, my new husband, and our witnesses at one of our cocktail tables to make this thing official!

Me signing the certificate

Mr. Turtle signing the certificate

MOH Camo (Witness #1) signing the certificate

Best Man R (Witness #2) signing the certificate

I love this picture of Mr. Turtle and his brother shaking hands after they both signed our marriage certificate! Precious grown up brother moment!

Now that we had this "little detail" taken care of, it was time for me to toss my bouquet! I decided to toss it from the upstairs balcony of Mr. Turtle's grandparents' house.

My college friend C caught the toss bouquet! (Okay, C's boyfriend: that means pressure's officially on!) Photo credit: College Friend C

Next was the garter toss. Originally, we didn't plan on doing a garter toss, just because I've always been weirded out by the idea of the groom crawling up the bride's skirt in front of all their friends and family! Not my thing... What we ended up doing was tying a "toss garter" to a Starbucks gift card, in an effort to make catching the garter more desirable to our male guests. We skipped the whole crawling up the skirt thing, and Mr. Turtle just threw it from the same balcony that I tossed the bouquet from!

Some guys gather for the big toss

Mr. Turtle tosses the garter... Going.... going... wait? Where'd it go? My new husband accidentally threw it in the wrong direction, sending the garter and gift card right onto the roof! (Okay, pause a moment and appreciate that that really happened. HAHAHAHA. Okay, I'll try to compose myself now!)

So what happened next? Did anyone ever end up with the garter? You'll just have to wait, and find out next post! (Oh, the drama!) ;)

Great picture of Mr. Turtle's brother/best man staring up toward the roof, wondering where the garter went. (Or maybe I just like the photo because it shows off how cool our tent looked at night? And how the groomsmen stuck their placecards in their boutonnieres?)

In case you missed out on any of my earlier recap posts:

Once again, all of the photos in this post, unless noted, were taken by our wonderful photographer, Chloe Murdoch, with Mike Larson Inc.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

So Happy Together: Cutting the Cake

I remember being super excited when it was finally time for dessert! Our favorite baker ever, Jeremy at Eclair Bakery in Arroyo Grande, made our cake and cupcakes, so their deliciousness was pretty much guaranteed.

We did have a little mixup though. Remember how my mom found the vintage pink cake stands I wanted on eBay? And how we were going to have a little 6" cake on the top tier, and cupcakes on the bottom two? Well, when the cake arrived, the cardboard circle that the 6" cake came on was too big to fit on the top tier, so it ended up going on the middle tier. So our cake tower ended up being a variety of cake stands scattered around the cake table. And seriously, I could care less! That's the fun part of your wedding day. You realize that even if all the little things you were afraid of going wrong actually go wrong, it really doesn't matter!

And remember the vintage cake topper that I made over to resemble Mr. Turtle and I? Well literally minutes before the ceremony, I happened to ask my mom how it looked on the cake. She went outside to check on it and realized that no one had ever removed it from the little Juicy Couture bag I'd stored it in inside the bedroom closet! Oops! Of course our wedding coordinator had already noticed the empty cake and made it look pretty with some pink garden roses from our florist! Talk about being on top of things!

As cute as the flowers look in the picture on the left though, I'm so glad I remembered the cake topper, since I'd worked so hard on it!

Our baker made four flavors of cupcakes for our guests to choose from: lemon (not pictured),

Chocolate Dipped (Chocolate cupcake with whipped cream on top, dipped in chocolate... yum!)

Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting

and of course my personal favorite: Reeses Peanut Butter Cup!

When it came time for us to cut the cake, I couldn't stop laughing at how awkward it was. Even though I love baking cakes, I suck at cutting them! Mr. Turtle helped hold the cake topper steady as I proceeded to cut out a pile of chocolate cake crumbs!

Finally, I managed to get the pile of crumbs onto a plate!

Mr. Turtle gently fed me my bite...

And as everyone cheered him on to rub the cake in my face, I gave him a look that said, "Seriously? You think I'm the type of girl who wants cake smashed on her face? I know you know better!" So of course he didn't dare.

After feeding Mr. Turtle his bite, I took the plate of cake crumbs and claimed it as all mine!

Lucky me! (Go get your own cake, Mr. Turtle!)

I hope you're ready for some laughs, because my next recap post will cover a couple of funny stories from our wedding day!

In case you missed out on any of my earlier recap posts:

Once again, all of the photos in this post were taken by our wonderful photographer, Chloe Murdoch, with Mike Larson Inc.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

So Happy Together: Toasts

After dinner, we transitioned straight into the toasts! Up until this moment, I honestly hadn't given much thought to the toasts, (probably since I didn't have to give one), but listening to these ended up being among the most beautiful, memorable moments of the night!

My dad went first. I have to admit, I was a little nervous for him, (sorry to embarrass you, Dad!) But he's admittedly not a public speaker... He did such a wonderful job though, and gave the most classic, touching father-of-the-bride toast ever! Everyone loved it! :)

My mom listening to my dad's toast

Next up was my Maid of Honor, "Camo." Maybe I'm just partial, but I thought she gave the hands down best toast I've ever heard at a wedding.

A lot of it was just plain funny. She shared a good dose of embarrassing stories and funny memories, involving not only me and Mr. Turtle, but also some classic blasts from the past from our friendship. Everyone laughed when she told the story of when she knew that Mr. Turtle was the one for me: I'd invited Mr. Turtle as a guest to our church youth group's summer camp not long after we'd started dating. MOH Camo remembered me approaching her one day at camp, saying, "Mr. Turtle signed me up to go with him on an overnight backpacking trip/hike in the mountains. We have to sleep out under the stars and make our own food and stuff." Then I handed her my crystal necklace I wear every day and asked her to guard it while I was gone, so I didn't lose it on our little trip. She said that any guy who could convince me to rough it overnight in the wilderness, leaving all of my trappings of girly life behind, must really be someone special.

Another highlight was when she threatened Mr. Turtle to always treat me right, or he would have to answer to her, and she knows how to "kill a man with her thumb." This may sound a little strange, but anyone who knows MOH Camo knows that she is in the Air Force, so this threat is no joke. She's legit. (And it's pretty hysterical, considering she loves Mr. Turtle!)

Then, one of my bridesmaids, J-me, surprised me by joining in on Camo's toast. (You should understand, all of my bridesmaids are my absolute irreplaceable best friends, but Camo, J-me, and I are a little threesome. We're more like, I don't know... sisters? Soulmates? Or as Alan from The Hangover would put it, "the three best friends that anyone could have!" You get the idea... So, in the moment, it was a surprise, but looking back, I can't imagine their joint toast any other way!)

Camo and J-me also balanced the humor with some serious moments. They talked about how much we've been through together over the years, and the strength of our friendship after sticking together through the good and the bad. (In the last year and a half, Camo and J-me both lost their brothers, so most of our guests understood the depth of these references.)

Of course there were more laughs. J-me made some jokes about all the boyfriends, breakups, and crushes her and Camo have gone through while I've been steadily with Mr. Turtle through it all. She closed with the chorus lyrics of the country song, "Love Like Crazy."

"Be a best friend, tell the truth, and overuse 'I love you.'

Go to work, do your best, don't outsmart your common sense.

Never let your praying knees get lazy,

And love like crazy."

The whole time I sat there listening to their toast, I just wanted to get up and give both of them a big hug! But this would have to wait... because the toasts were only halfway through!

Next up was Mr. Turtle's brother and Best Man, R!

He is a great public speaker, so of course he gave a great toast! He talked about how he couldn't come up with too many embarrassing stories about Mr. Turtle, because Mr. Turtle was always the "good brother." R was the one making the mischief. Apparently his main memories of Mr. Turtle growing up were that he was obsessed with Star Wars. And eating salami. He also shared some really sweet observations he'd made about the special relationship that Mr. Turtle and I have. I really enjoyed listening to everything he had to say!

To us! :)

And finally, Mr. Turtle and I gave our toast! I planned on saying something, but I ended up just letting him talk, because he did such a good job. (And I'm usually the one doing all the talking!) He thanked everyone who'd supported our relationship since the beginning, those who helped us put together our wedding, and all our guests for coming and blessing us with their presence and love!

(Apparently, by the looks of my facial expression in this picture, he said something funny too.)

To everyone!!

And then, finally, it was time for the group hug I'd been waiting for! Yaaay! Thank God for best friends! (And Chloe, thank you for capturing these moments. These pictures are so special to me!)

I apologize for the longest post ever. And about toasts, of all things! I just love these pictures, and couldn't bear to cut any of them out! If you stayed with me through the whole thing, congrats! And as far as these Turtle recaps go, we're nearing the end! Can you believe it? Next up: we cut the cake and toss the garter and bouquet!

Whose toast are you most looking forward to hearing at your wedding? (Or if your wedding has passed, whose toast did you most enjoy, and why?)

In case you missed out on any of my earlier recap posts:

So Happy Together: The Rehearsal

So Happy Together: The Rehearsal Dinner

So Happy Together: The Wedding Morning & Bridal Details

So Happy Together: The Girls Get Ready

So Happy Together: The BFF Shots

So Happy Together: Bridesmaid Portraits

So Happy Together: Groomsman Portraits

So Happy Together: And Here Comes the Bride!

So Happy Together: N ow Pronounced Husband and Wife

So Happy Together: Cocktail Hour & Family Pictures