The One Where D&J Get Married: The Real End

So y’all thought I was done, eh? Just cuz everyone headed out the door and all the music stopped doesn’t mean that our wedding was over! D and I hung around and said bye to everyone.

I modeled our centerpieces as our guests took them home.

Our family hung around to pose for more random pictures.

We realized that we didn't have any pictures together with the baby, so we took some.

Then, we headed back to the hotel, where our families and some of our guests were waiting for us in our suite…

Everyone and their mothers waited for us in our beautifully decorated hotel suite.

This is how D carried me over the "threshold"-- like a sack of potatoes.

My parents hid money in our brand spankin' new marital bed, so our sisters pounced on it and tore it apart.

We're all about the money.

They made us play games. I don't wanna talk about this game.

This game was when D almost ate my face.

Coco was scrounging for the chocolates that my parents hid in the bed. I know, doesn't this sound like a GREAT idea?!

We hung out and chatted some more with everyone and their mothers.

Then we told everyone that they didn't have to go home, but they had to get the hell outta there, so we could enjoy the chocolate covered strawberries and champagne that my MOH A gifted us. Then, we opened up all our cards and crashed. Yep, we didn't consummate our marriage that night. That wasn't until... later. TMI? Sorry.

Well, everyone. This is the end of my journey. I let this last post drag on for much too long because I hated the idea of leaving this blog behind. It was a wild and such a sweet ride, and I wouldn’t have traded it in for anything in this world. Once I get a new “life blog” up (this is contingent on whether I can find a clever enough title, so I might need some help), I’ll post the link, cuz I know y’all can’t live without me. I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated on our exciting plans (ha) and our future mixed babies. Thanks for listening to me rant and rave, for sharing my laughter and sadness and most of all, just for reading and helping me find my love for writing again.

The One Where D&J Get Married: We Get Down

Hey girl hey!

Gma & her great grandson!

Get down wit yo' bad self, grandma!

My Daddy!

Somehow, my sis and friend ee (yep, her initials are ee– how cool is that??) synchronized their dancing. Probably one of my fav pics of the night!

Lurve it! New friends!

Get down, A!

a JennArik classic dance move.

My favorite series of pictures:

“Hi, Sister… Oh, look, we’re dancing so nicely!”

"Wait, what? You're going to dip me? Oh, no, no."

“Please don’t– my boobs will pop out!”

“AHHHHH!”

I love that D’s friends are watching us, but everyone else seems to not notice me screaming at all. Thanks, guys.

So sweet.

And then we did the conga line! There was nothing forbidden at our wedding!

Our conga line formed a circle around us...

...as we wrapped up the night with one last dance.

 

The One Where D&J Get Married: The Bouquet/Bout Toss

I promise that these recaps will be over soon, and I can get on with the rest of my life. *Huge sigh* Just kidding, I know you enjoy these as much as I do!

We did a bouquet and a bout toss. (I call it a bout because that is the one word that I consistently spell wrong. That, and vacuum. Vaccuum?)

I think Grandma got in on the action too!

Holy moly.

Seriously, I’ve never seen this kind of height in a bouquet toss. Well, unless I’m involved, of course.

My BM S got it!

I wasn’t about to do the whole garter thing in front of everyone. Trust me, I’m no prude, but it just wasn’t for us.

My hubby throws a mean bout!

Get it, boys!

You know what I just realized? Our sister, Les, and her boyfriend Andrew (also a BM) are in the exact same position in these two pictures. And guess what? They just got engaged and are getting married later this year!! Ironically, neither of them caught the bouquet/bout.

With S & T.

The One Where D&J Get Married: Shall We Dance?

I’ll let the photos do the talking!

Our first dance

We had an adorable (and welcome) interruption to our dance.

My first dance with Dad... love our little cousin's expression in the background.

D & his mom joined our dance halfway through.

The One Where D&J Get Married: We Eat Cake!

After the toasts, we walked around to all the individual tables and greeted all of our guests. D was our official time keeper and made sure to hurry me along when I got too chatty. Oh, how the roles changed!

Did I tell you that I got a groom’s cake for D?

Well, I did!

Yep, we love our San Jose Sharks!

Our wedding cake:

This one’s a little scary– can our mouths be any open any bigger?

After cake, D made a speech and thanked everyone for being there. This is one of my mom’s favorite pictures because it looks like D is a big ol’ man and I’m his teeny little woman… HAHAHA… if only that were reality…

The One Where D&J Get Married: MOH & BM Speeches

I’ve known my MOH since we were 12, and D has known his BM since they were about 7. That makes for a lot of humiliating material during a speech, right? Luckily for us, our best buddies made a couple of the best speeches ever and managed to get everyone laughing and/or crying.

MOH A told the story about a note that I wrote her back in the day that included 10 reasons why she was my best friend. My number one reason was: “You’re the friend in best friend, and I’m the best!” (If you know me in real life, you’d understand that I really did write that.)

The only time I really cracked and cried on our wedding day was during A’s speech. She made me sob when she told D that he still had to share me with her because our relationship still has more years than the one between me and D. Both of us just lost it at the end when A said, “J, I may be the friend in ‘best friend’ but you’ll always be the best.”

We might’ve just stood there for a minute and cried and hugged.

Then, it was T’s turn:

T told everyone about the time that D convinced T and their friend, Greg, to chase a girl around the playground until she got tired so that D could corner her and kiss her. (I know, my husband, the pimp.) He gave D a very helpful list of things that he would need to know for a successful marriage. I don’t remember all the reasons, but reason #2 is very clear in my memory: J is always right.

Oh, but the speeches weren’t done… Les and her boyfriend A got up to give a little speech too.

Les told the story of the first time that I was invited to our annual birthday dinner for my MIL. You see, my MIL’s birthday falls on or around Thanksgiving every year, and it’s a family tradition to go out to a really nice dinner on the Friday after Thanksgiving. On the first year that I was invited, D and I had been dating for about 3 years (I’m telling you, it’s really exclusive!) and we were at a fancy schmancy restaurant in San Francisco. I got up during the meal to let our server know that it was my MIL’s birthday. When the dessert with a candle came, everyone was surprised, and I mean everyone. I could see D, Les and their dad looking at each other, silently asking the other if they had ordered it, and if none of them had ordered it, how the restaurant could possibly have known. My MIL stopped off in the restroom before we left, and as the four of us huddled outside waiting for our car, they started asking each other who had told the server it was mom’s birthday. I chuckled and said, “Guys, I told them” and got into the car. I left them standing on the sidewalk with their jaws slightly dropped, but as Les said during her speech, this was the moment she knew I belonged in the family.

The most touching was when she ended her speech and said, “J, you’ve always been a sister to me, so instead of saying, ‘Welcome to the family’, I’ll just say, ‘Hi Sister!’”

The One Where D&J Get Married: We Mingle

We developed a pretty good timeline with our DJ and DOC, but somehow along the way, I totally lost track of it and didn’t care about anything but saying hi to our friends and family and D started to care. I know, the horror, right?! Never before has he cared about details like this, and never before have I turned to him and said, “Screw the timeline!” He was literally chasing me around going, “We have eight minutes before the MOH speech!!” What was I doing? This:

My MOH's dad, whom I refer to as Dad #2.

Bubby's adorable in every picture, but this one's a classic!

Almost all of the cousins on D's side.

The One Where D&J Get Married: We Get To Eat & Toast!

Contrary to many other brides and grooms on their wedding day, we actually got to eat, and we got to sit down and enjoy each other at the sweetheart table. Of course, we had plenty of visitors, but that didn’t stop us from scarfing down our food while smiling for the cameras!

Sharing a special moment with our sister.

After the salad course, the parents all got up to make their speeches.

My parents' speech was a bit long, but the highlight was when my mom called D a "good boy."

Of course, Les was crying.

... and crying!

The One Where D&J Get Married: Our Surprise Dance!

I was trying to hold out on this post until I could get the video of our surprise dance uploaded. Hubby is working late nights for an upcoming event, and the camcorder requires software to be installed on the computer before the videos can be uploaded. I have a Mac, and I’m afraid to touch his computer, because I break something every time. Luckily, I got another version from our friend, Des– you’ll just have to bear with the fact that my aunt walks right into the middle of the shot, and you’ll miss the awkward 50 seconds before the surprise dance where D and I faked everyone out with a pretend first dance. I’m pretty sure that was a run on sentence. Anyway, enjoy! [After I wrote this little blurb, I realized that there's no way to embed a video on this blog anymore! Did I run out of space, or am I just dumb? I guess y'all can just have the link to it on youtube... ]

Surprise Dance

 

The One Where D&J Get Married: Our Entrance

We barely got to mingle during our cocktail hour, so we were totally ready to enter the huge dining hall to see all of our guests. We gave our bridal party free reign to do whatever they wanted during their entrance. Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” blasted!