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After taking bride and groom pictures while our family and friends were setting up our venue, we headed up the mountain to the venue ourselves.We started out sitting next to each other.
But it was seriously way too hot to cuddle next to his suit jacket for long, so I scooted over and we talked the whole way up; wondering if the venue would be ready, or how far behind the set up was, because the Uhaul with all the decor had gotten stuck in traffic on the way to the venue earlier.
We totally didn't follow the "bride and groom give their cell phones to someone else" rule on our wedding day! Hey, I'm the master contingency plan maker, if something was going to go wrong, I wanted to know about it first!
(We received like 60 photos of us in the limo...but they all pretty much looked like these, so I'll spare you all. You're welcome.)
Our DOC met us at the limo, helped us unload my emergency bag, veil, and garters out of the trunk, and led us inside.
There we were greeted by our family and wedding party, and we showed off our wedding day attire to those who hadn't seen us yet.
(Photo by my mother)
I had a quick look around from the deck, and was so thrilled to see how beautifully set up everything was. I was so amazed to finally see all our hard work the past 15 months pay off--our wedding decor had come together so nicely! After that, I suggested to my sister that we go unbustle my dress for the ceremony, and we discovered that my train was super dirty, and everyone rushed to clean it.While my mom, bridesmaids and I were off cleaning my dress, the guys hung out in the bar area, just inside the lodge.
By now it was about 15 minutes until our ceremony start time. The ceremony location across the meadow was ready and waiting, all the little details in place.
Guests started to arrive and our guitarist started playing background music.
During the set up time my dad had waited patiently in the shade in his wheelchair. And right before the ceremony was to begin, my mom helped him to his seat in the last row with his cane, where I would meet him and he would walk me down the aisle.
With about 5 minutes to spare, my dress was cleaned and dried, and it was time to go line up to walk down the aisle!
Coming up next, the ceremony begins!Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:
- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue
(Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)
A week before our wedding, I added putting together a “dress cleaning emergency bag” to my to do list.
I had already planned on having a bag with the necessities with me, like makeup and a sweater, but after reading a post on one of my daily blog reads, Thoughts of the All Consumed Bride, I decided to add some emergency dress cleaning items to my bag. And it’s a good thing I did, because my dress managed to get pretty dirty during our first look, even though I’d had it bustled before we left the hotel to avoid this very issue!
(it's hard to see in this picture, but there was a label on the top of the bag listing the things that needed to be added at the last minute, so I wouldn't forget anything)
When Mr. Cola and I arrived at our venue, about 40 minutes before the ceremony start time, I suggested to my MOH/sister that we go unbustle my dress, to make sure it didn’t need to be ironed or anything before walking down the aisle. If you remember this photo from my alterations post, I had a hidden bustle that looked sort of like a bubble skirt in the back.
I had decided a few minutes before we rushed out of the hotel after getting ready that I wanted to wear my 2 ½ inch platform flip flops for our first look, saving my feet from extra time in my 4 ½ inch wedding heels. Well, this decision to be 2 inches shorter for our first look, combined with my bustle style that had my train fold up underneath the skirt, meant I was exposing the middle section of my train to the ground. Oops!Our first look was awesome and amazing (and deserves of a post of its own), and I did try hard to not get my dress dirty. But it happened, and when my sister took out my bustle not long before the ceremony was to start, I was super glad I’d packed my emergency bag full of supplies!I was swarmed by all 3 of my bridesmaids and my mom, and everyone had the same mission: to get my dress cleaned!
(Ever the faithful blogger, I was trying to get pictures over my shoulder of them cleaning! All I got was cleavage shots though, so I'll spare you all.)Man, I love these ladies, they were on their hands and knees in their dresses, scrubbing away, and then ironing out the wet spots.
I could do nothing more than stand there, in the incredibly hot bridal suite (more like a closet), trying not to die from the heat, and touch up my makeup while being bumped from behind. Strangely though, it wasn’t a stressful time for me (just really hot), because I immediately came up with another contingency plan; if they couldn’t get it clean, we would just rebustle my dress for the ceremony, no big deal.
(See? Calm and collected, waiting to see if my dress would get cleaned in time.)
The dress did come clean though, and was dried with about 5 minutes to spare. And I was very glad for the chance to show off the long train of my dress at our ceremony!
So now that I shared this little story with you, I thought I’d also share everything that was in my dress-saving emergency bag, which I mostly packed the weekend before our wedding.
The dress cleaning items:
- bottle of club soda
- bottle of water
- lint roller
- washcloth
- paper towels- tissues
- clothes iron with really good steaming power- mini sewing kit and safety pins
- tide pen
- Shout cleaning wipes
- chalk (I actually didn’t have this in my bag, because my dress wasn’t white, but I’m adding it to the list for you because I’ve heard it can work well to cover small spots on white dresses)(and by the way, it was a combo of the club soda and Shout wipes that got my dress cleaned, plus the iron to get it dried)The rest of the items in my bag:
- my purse (with all the things I normally carry in it like my hairbrush, mints, extra lipstick, etc)
- Clean and Clear oil absorbing sheets (I used these on my face throughout the night, they worked really well for not taking off my air brush makeup, but got rid of a lot of the shininess that would show up in pictures.)
- my full makeup bag
- deodorant & perfume
- chapstick
- cardigan sweater
- aerosol sunscreen (SPF 45, which my DOC helped me put on just minutes before our ceremony, holding up a sweater to not get any on my dress)- Band-Aids
- hair scrunchiis and extra bobby pins- flip flops (well, actually when I arrived at our venue, my wedding shoes were in the bag because I was wearing the flip flops)
- our wedding bands (I didn't want to trust anyone else!)- granola bars
- cell phone charger
- portfolio (with all driving directions, vendor contact list and contracts, extra copy of the ceremony and vows, marriage license, etc)- Plus there were a lot of useful things in my bathroom baskets that I could have used if needed, like hairspray, cough drops, nail file, etc.A small battery powered fan would have been useful too, but I didn't think it would be anywhere near as hot as it ended up being. Our photographers just posted this picture on their Facebook page from a recent wedding they shot, and it cracks me up. I would have totally done the same thing if I'd had a fan handy!
I tried to keep a lot of the items in my bag neatly organized into plastic bags (and also just in case any of the liquid items decided to leak all over).
In conclusion, I highly, highly recommend bringing some dress cleaning items with you on your wedding day. You can never be too careful!
Are you planning on having an emergency bag on hand on your wedding day? What other items would you add?(unless otherwise noted, all pictures in this post are personal photos, taken by myself, my family or wedding party)
(We received like 60 photos of us in the limo...but they all pretty much looked like these, so I'll spare you all. You're welcome.)
(Photo by my mother)
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