Wedding Day

The day we all have been waiting for...the day you dream about as a little girl...the day you've planned for years and years...! well, some of that is true, but i really didn't want all that pomp and pageantry on my wedding day. big surprise, yeah? one of the reasons we decided to have a destination wedding, other than the obvious fact that a wedding in chicago in the middle of winter is about as un-appealing as i can imagine, was that we wanted a more low-key affair. we're low key. well i am. well, maybe i'm not. but i want to be. ;) so on the day of the wedding, dustin and i gave strict instructions to our guests to NOT say things in cheesy voices such as, "it's the big day...are you nervous?!" or equally as gut-wrenching comments. thankfully they listened. we basically wanted to pretend that this day was really no different than any other, we were just getting all dressed up for it. dustin did throw a tantrum when my family wouldn't let him get ready in our room...and i honestly wouldn't have cared if he did...!

So i started out the day with a light breakfast because i was fearful that my high intake of sodium and alcohol (one word: margarita) was going to impede on my ability to fit into my wedding dress. i then proceeded to sit in the sauna for over an hour and was joined by the most of the girls. i think we had 10 people in about a 8 person sauna. it was fun.

then it was time for hair, makeup, and nails. this took 3.5 hours. i needed a lot of work. i brought all sorts of pictures of how i wanted my hair and in the end i hated it and we had to fix it as best as we could when we got back to the room.

"this doesn't look like the picture..."

my aunt jan, cousin emily, and pseudo mom gail all stayed with me throughout this torturous process. i mean, who wants to sit inside a spa for 3.5 hours when the beach is right outside??? the one thing typical of brides that i did do, was break down into tears for no apparent reason while i was getting my hair done...along with everyone else. it was ridiculous. crying about dogs and healthcare and just nonsense. it was the kind of crying where you're laughing too because you know you're being ridiculous. funny. after that we ordered champagne and it was all better.

"can you zip it?"

'it fits! yessssss!"

Then we hung out in the room for about an hour and dustin got ready with his cousin melissa and her husband allen. they were so cute. allen ironed his shirt for him.

i kept insisting that everyone be sure to stop by and harass him, as i don't think it's fair that the bride has all the attention on her. i was trying to deflect some of that.

my something old was my great grandmother elva's wedding ring, which i liked wearing so much i'm still wearing it now. my something new was my dress, my something borrowed was a pretty handkerchief that is aunt jan's that was grandma elva's that emily wrapped around my bouquet (i loved her a lot and she had a good hand in raising me and afton is even named after her - murphy- so she had a big presence there) and my something blue was my undies.

You can see grandma elva's ring and handkerchief here.

at one point my cousin colton came into the room to take the decorations down to the beach and he was like, 'there's people all lined up out there like the paparazzi!' and i nearly fainted until my aunt jan shooed him out and insisted that he was lying. he wasn't. i met my dad at our decided upon location and met the wedding coordinator and i felt like a celebrity.

it was embarrassing. when we were walking down to the beach people were clapping and cheering and yelling and i'm saying things to my dad under my breath like, 'i'm going to kill all those people...' and we were laughing and there's a great picture where he's saying something funny like that.

look at all those people behind us!

i was nervous. not like nervous to get married, just nervous to have the spotlight on me. i don't like that. and all these hundreds of people were lined up as spectators at our wedding...as if my own family and friends staring at me wasn't enough! but it was great. i didn't see afton the whole day until i walked down the aisle so i waved at him and said hi to him when i walked by. he was with dustin's aunt sheri all day and he looked so handsome in his outfit. the minister was so cute with his accent and the ceremony was sweet. it was just 20 minutes or so and just perfect. everyone was quiet when the ceremony took place and very respectful.

after the ceremony on the beach we took pictures and then had a cocktail reception. at this point i was feeling relieved. whew. after cocktail time we had the reception dinner at a brazilian steakhouse at the resort and we cut the cake.

at this time afton began to get tired. my dad decided to take him up to bed (i think he was tired too) so they left and then we cut the cake and then that was pretty much it for dinner.

"the hand-off"

we went to one of the bars as a group and after awhile we started getting restless. once again, we made the decision to go into downtown playa del carmen to senor frogs. again. it was so much fun to walk through the town and everyone would just stop and clap and it was like we were famous. people wanted to have their pictures taken with us! it was funny! once again we had a great time and danced and danced and danced. then we piled into cabs and went back to the hotel.

there are really no words for this picture.

maybe not what most little girls dream of their wedding days to be...but for me it was just perfect. i wouldn't have changed a thing! thanks for everyone who made the trip with us, we love you! for those of you who didn't make it...i bet you're regretting it aren't you?!?!? ;)