Going to the chapel...

Well the wedding of the year is over!! My cousin, who is more like a sister to me, got married this past weekend. I am the only family member living in Nashville with her, which made the past few months so much fun because I got to lend a helping hand whenever necessary!

The festivities started on Thursday night with a little bachelorette party hosted at my house. Casey's best friend and maid of honor, Marti, arranged to have a limo pick up the 5 of us and we headed out to eat, we hit up some go carts, then finished the evening with some games and festivities back at my house. I was so excited because my sister and niece decided to come in a day earlier and hang out with us for the bachelorette party! We had a great time, but it was a late night and we didn't hit the hay until about 1:00 a.m.




Friday morning's agenda: get our nails did and a tan, then head to the rehearsal by 4:00 P.M. Doesn't seem too complicated, right? WRONG.
It seemed like the entire day got started on the wrong foot. Brent and I woke up to a deep thumping noise, which we assumed was the usual noise coming from the construction behind our apartment. WRONG. I rolled over in bed, looked at the clock and it was 10:50 a.m. - I freaked out because I was supposed to meet all the girls at the nail place by 11:00 a.m.!! AHHH
Then I realized the thumping was still going on..."Brent, it sounds like someone's knocking at our door," He stumbled out to the front door and looked through the peep hole only to see....my sister!! She had gotten up early to run to the store to get a few items for the groom's cake she was making. She had my niece lock the door behind her, but then my niece fell back asleep. I had 18 missed phone calls....on my phone... that was lying on the kitchen counter. The first call was about 30 minutes prior to up waking up. That's right: she had been outside for 30 minutes POUNDING on our front door trying to get us to wake up. I think the saying is, "bless her heart."

So I hurried to take a shower, I called the other girls and they were running late as well (whew). That is, all except Casey - she had been up since 7am!!
The nail place took forever....we took a few minutes to go to Target to let our nails dry before we got spray tanned...spray tan took FOREVER!!! At this point, it's 2:00 p.m. and we were supposed to be at the church by 3:00 p.m. to help get things set up. I'm freaking out because I realize we're not going to make it: 5 girls + 2 boys needing to all get dressed and in a car to drive about 30 minutes away. Not going to happen.
We called Casey to inform her that we wouldn't make the early calling of 3pm, but we would FOR SURE be there by 4pm. (which was the offical start time of the rehearsal)

4:20 p.m. - Casey's bridesmaids, 2 groomsmen and flower girl arrive at rehearsal to a patiently waiting crowd of family and friends. I was mortified. We were so late and got off on the wrong foot with the "wedding planner" as well as my cousin-in-law (Casey's now husband).
All we could do was profusely apologize and get going with the practice. (not to say that any of behaved "appropriately" during rehearsal...come on, it's rehearsal!! You're supposed to have fun with it!)

Things went well, we headed for a little outdoor cookout for dinner afterwards where the weather was PERFECT. I was so afraid it was going to be miserably hot, but it wasn't. It actually felt like a cool fall evening. PERFECT. Casey and Brad gave all their bridal party amazing gifts: each of the girls got monogrammed bags filled with LOTS of goodies - monogrammed towels, bath and body works soaps, gift cards. Each of the guys got a personalized gift - brent got a Chicago Bears mini-helmet autographed by Bradley.

Jennifer, Casey and I at the cookout:



All the bridesmaids headed back to Casey's apartment to have a little sleepover while all the guys stayed at our apartment. I ended up bunking with Casey's good friend, Katie, whom I had been around just a hand ful of times, but we immediately connected and ended up talking until 3:30 A.M.!!

Saturday, 7:00 a.m. - alarm goes off. I'm in pain. Pain from 3 hours of sleep. Ouch.
All the girls got ready and headed to get our hair done at Jon Alan Salon. Everyone looked amazing!! From there we headed to a bridal brunch hosted by a group of family friends at the hotel where everyone was staying. It was beautiful. The hostesses served us food on dishes that Casey had registered for at Pottery Barn - it was a really neat way to present her with her gift, I thought.

Preparation continued, but in a more relaxed mode as we still had a good 2 hours before we had to leave for the church. (and no, I'll never live it down that we were so late...we kept getting hounded about it ALL weekend).
Anyone that's been married knows that your wedding day flies, and I would have to say this day was no different. It seemed like after arriving at the church, time flew and before we knew it we were walking back down the aisle waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Sapp.

It was a great time and was so much fun seeing all my family! Anyone that knows my family knows we have a good time and Casey's wedding was no different. I think we overwhelmed Brad's family with our "southern charm" but hopefully they won't kick Casey out of the family any time soon.



My mom made the cake (of course) and it was beautiful. Sorry the picture is so small, but you get an idea of what it looked like.


Jen did the groom's cake and it was AWESOME as well, but I didn't take my camera and have zero pictures. Hopefully she will share...




Saturday night my entire family and anyone that had come in town for the wedding hung out at the hotel in Nashville - they had an awesome conference room that we pretty much took over. It was perfect. Brent and I left there around 2am to head back to our apartment, but I found out on Sunday that some in the crowd didn't hit the bed until 4am!!

Casey and Brad stayed at an awesome hotel in downtown Nashville on Saturday night, then headed to the airport on Sunday morning to fly to Puerto Rico for a 7 day cruise! My aunt spoke with Casey on Sunday: Casey and Brad were so excited about their honeymoon that they woke up at 2am on Sunday waiting for their limo to arrive at 4am to take them to the airport! I thought that was so cute.

Sunday morning, Brent and I helped Casey's parents get everyone back to the apartment, cleaned up and ready for the Sapps to come home. Casey's mom LOVES things to be neat and organized and it was no different when it came to making sure her only daughter and son-in-law were to arrive back home a week later. After a quick lunch with my parents and aunt and uncle, everyone dispersed back to their homes. Brent and I returned all the tuxedoes then headed home for a well-deserved 2 hour Sunday afternoon nap!

It was a great weekend and a wonderful wedding! (I'll post pictures soon...)


Mi familia:


2 comments:

-brittany- said...

How are you physically able to function after all the sleep deprivation? I can't wait to see the pictures. I bet it was beautiful. I am sad we were unable to make it, but ya know. Your poor sis standing outside the door. I can NOT believe that!!! Oh and did everyone managed to escape Chief Blackfoot?

Congrats Mr and Mrs Sapp!

Amy said...

What a whirlwind of a weekend! The color of the bridesmaid dresses are so pretty!