Practice Makes Perfect?

Ah, the joys of the wedding week chaos and last minute issues. I would have taken the entire week off, given the opportunity! It was so hard to close up a quarter, pack for 3 weeks and a 50 degree difference in temperature, remember all the wedding requirements (forgot some), and get my butt to Colorado. I get the "local" wedding benefits now, but in the end I wouldn't have changed my location or plan for the world!

This post is primarily discussing the day of the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Let me tell my story!

The day of our rehearsal, my planner and various other brides gave me the advice to "escape" the family for some alone time with Kyle to de-stress. Being that Kyle makes me really happy, I figured this was a great plan. Being that he can also drive me crazy because he is so laid back, this could have also backfired. Luckily, I was proven to be calm in the face of adversity when, after the massage and little fall hike, and a light lunch downtown Vail, I got a phone call.

My officiant was terribly ill, his car had broken down (transmission), and he wasn't going to make it up to Vail for our rehearsal.

Ok, this we can work with. I begged him to rest up so that he could make it up to our actual wedding, which he promised he would! Then I calmly called my planner, and told her it was all her for the actual rehearsal. We were just meeting up in a park, and the real "practice" was the walking order and standing formation. It would have been nice to run through the ceremony and the music, and our vows, but we had a copy of the complete ceremony so we knew what we needed to do. We should have taken the time to practice the first dance flash mob (more on this later) and the toast we planned for the end of the ceremony (which got left out in the actual wedding anyway.) In the end, it all worked out although I was pretty overwhelmed and a bit stressed out with so many people paying attention to me at the park.

Kyle would explain this afternoon a bit differently:

Phone rings.
Erica: "What! Oh! Ok, well, will you make it to the wedding itself?! I guess that is the best we can hope for..."
to Kyle: "Um, omg, we totally don't have an officiant and we have to run the rehearsal ourselves!"
Kyle: "Call Johnna."
Erica: calling her mom "Ok, so we just got news that our officiant is not coming. Hopefully he'll make the wedding tomorrow. If not, at least Brett is ordained."
Kyle: "Call Johnna."

Later that afternoon, arriving at the rehearsal at the park.
Erica: "Why is everyone asking me questions and wanting to talk to me!?"
Kyle: "You're the bride. Where's Johnna?"
Erica: "Can you just make everyone give me some space and leave me alone?"
Kyle: "Johnna, can you get everyone away from Erica so she can stop freaking out?"
Erica: "Kyle, why aren't you taking charge and telling people what to do?!"
Kyle: "Erica, you are the only one who knows anything right now, besides Johnna. Ask the right person!"
Erica: "Let's just get this over with. I can't handle all the attention."
Kyle: "That's a first..."

Lesson in this: Get a planner.

Anyway, in the end our rehearsal dinner at Montauk was a lot of fun! Lots of friends, wine, and gifts for the wedding party. Kyle got his groomsmen cooler bags, grilling spice, koozies, and a meat brand that said "Bite me".

I got my bridesmaids custom necklaces and earrings to match the colors of their dresses, monogrammed tote bags, pashmina shawls to keep warm, and nail polish (which I had sent earlier).

We also presented our parents with gifts of thanks. We got Rob an authentic Buddhist prayer bowl (that rings, hard to explain but it is freaking cool) from India and Peg a strand of Tahitian pearls. We got my dad guitar pick shaped cufflinks that said "Dad, you rock!" and my mom a necklace engraved with my parents' anniversary date and then our anniversary date, adorned with the the stones for each month of the weddings, a pearl and a sapphire.

Enjoy some of my favorite pictures.

With my gift bow bouquet in front of our venue.

Kyle and Jared practicing the first dance.

With the savior Johnna, our planner

Handing me off!

Practicing in the park- with the most beautiful of backdrops!

Speech!

The Davis Kids and spouses! Nick, Shannon, Karen, Casey, Kyle, me, Brett, Anji.

My favorite picture- our Vail Gondola, which we have 3 pictures in now!

With aunt Pat and uncle Jim

Groomsman gift

Parents gifts

Happy flower girl Lotus!

Happy flower girl Rory.

My family- Bryce, Amanda, Cassie, Mom, Dad, Brian, Irina

Kyle's boys all matched for the occasion! Dave, Brian, Nick, Pat

I just love this face!!!

Gifts for my maids of honor

The necklaces were all personalized with their initials and colors.

3 Months of Marriage Bliss!

More like "busy-ness" but happy for the most part!

I think that I finally recovered from the post-wedding shock and have given myself enough distance to not be sad about it all being over, or feel exhausted just thinking about it all again. It is amazing that I survived planning a wedding, working, and all of our other normal life activities, seeing as how the last 2 months have been crazy busy and there was no wedding!

Come to think of it, there have been a lot of wedding things still going on in the house. First, there are the loads of thank you cards, which I finally finished today! I know, 3 months, seriously bad etiquette. But I was told by more than 1 person that I had a year and not to worry about it. And technically we didn't have the cards in our possession until 2 months ago! Next, we had to unpack all the gifts (and open them!) and then had to figure out what to get rid of and what to replace. We had a "successful" garage sale two weeks ago (raising $72!) to clear out the clutter, but are still weeding through endless items from our former separate lives. I finally was able to part with the large stack of bridal magazines, the file folders of planning materials from vendors we didn't choose, and have kept only a small stack of wedding souvenirs for a future scrapbook (which I'll probably change to a "scrap box" and then eventually just trash anyway!)  We narrowed down the boxes of extra decorations and found a great website to sell them on (when I get the time), and we brought the wedding bench inside and lacquered it.  Add to the wedding stuff the fact that we have a new baby nephew AND the holiday season just ended, and man, time has FLOWN! I miss you guys!

We came home to a record-breaking speckling! (A game we play on our friends who watch each others' houses)

This was our front room in the aftermath- before we added in the boxes of decorations, too!

One by one... Kyle opened and I recorded the contents.

Scott wrapped his gift in a baby diaper box, just look at Kyle's reaction here...

The mess after opening boxes and boxes! Thank you to all our generous friends for so many gifts!

There is just so much I feel like I could still share about the wedding and the post-wedding fallout! I miss writing, and I hope that some of you will be happy to know that I am back, feeling relaxed this winter break, and prepared to post to my heart's content until I feel like I've said all I need to say!

Honey- we've made it a 1/4 of year already and we haven't killed each other (or even come close!) Congratulations on wearing a ring with pride, and thank you for making me so very happy as a wife.

My Wonderful Shower!

Girl time post #2: My Bridal Shower!

I am not the world's largest fan of showers for many reasons. One, I am burnt out after all the bridal and baby showers I've attended over the past few years (they are countless). Two, I usually feel awkward asking anyone to do anything for me like plan a party. Three, I usually plan the party, so I know it will be exactly what I imagined, thus giving up control makes me a bit uneasy.

But my shower was perfect! It was at The Living Room (my favorite bar and the location of my 30th birthday bash 2 years ago), in Chandler. This martini-themed bar specializes in small plates and fabulous drinks.

30 or so of my female family and friends gathered together to celebrate! I must admit that it is exhausting to socialize with three or four different groups of people at once, making sure they are all having a good time (I know that this precursor to the wedding was good practice). We had a spread of bruschetta, flatbreads, hummus, and classic wedding cookies from Barb's Bakery downtown Phoenix.

My sisters created a few simple games, Kyle and Erica trivia for one, and Bride Bingo (for gift opening, when I got a gift or said something about the gifts they got to mark it off), and then created a mad lib out of my wedding website story. Totally typical English teacher.

My sister-in-law, Karen, also created amazing decorations and my other sister-in-law, Anji, sent out adorable invitations. My third sister-in-law, Shannon, helped put up the decorations and my mother-in-law Peg helped cover the cost!

Thank you all for all you did for me. I never felt more loved and special.

AND of course I got some wonderful gifts, the highlight definitely being my CROCK POT (so I can shut up about it now) and some scandalous goods for the honeymoon, too. :)

And of course, pictures:

My sister-in-law, Karen, created this awesome banner (and another with our wedding date) for decoration!

My sister painted these glasses with chalkboard paint and wrote in names for favors.

The ladies of the Jensen family were all here!

The spread- amazing cookies and flat breads.

Gift time!

My knives!!! :)

Thank you for making me learn to cook!

Thank you, Audra, for the Crock pot!

The new family! Anji, Peg, Shannon, Aunt Pat, Karen. Thank you for all your help!

Something Old, Something New Confession

With marriage comes change, even when two people have been together for nearly seven years, and have already gotten used to cohabitation. I am starting to see the minor changes between my old "single" life and my new married one. For one, I have moved my cell phone from my family plan (that I've been on since 2002) to Kyle's plan. With that change came my first new phone in five years, and it is a smart one! That's right, I finally joined the 21st century, I can finally walk around with my eyes peeled to the screen, and I can finally find my way to a new location when I've forgotten to look it up on Google maps before leaving. (Kyle will appreciate that I no longer call him for directions).

Having a new phone, I can already see the metaphorical changes marriage will bring. For one, like the fingerprints that cover my touch screen, being married isn't going to always be neat and clean. I will have to let go of some of the particularities that currently annoy me, and although I've already had to learn that clothing on the floor does not equal death, I still work daily to focus on the bigger issues and not let the details distract me.

Second, I realize that codependency in marriage is probably ok. I am completely inept at using a smart phone. I will need to rely on Kyle to help me download and install new applications, and navigate the system. I will need to rely on him to help sort through future conflicts that we encounter together, like parenting. I hope that he is just more efficient in those future situations that he currently is now (it took nearly 6 months to decide on which phones to upgrade to).

I also see that having a smart phone may eliminate any excuses to not be informed and not stay in touch. Not that I am against knowledge or communication, I just have a preference for in-person contact and I tend to avoid controversy by staying uniformed (ignorance is bliss) when it comes to anything from gossip to politics. Maybe this phone will actually inspire me to call friends, to read more informative texts, and to embrace the technology, like I will have to embrace all the other changes in my near future.

Goodbye to my loyal Samsung slider and hello to my Droid Razr Max. This change is all Kyle's influence.

Something Old, Something New