Reminiscing

I got to be the bride-to-be for over 18 months. Luke and I got engaged in December of 2006, and got married in July of 2008. It was a little weird having all that extra attention for a year-and-a-half. People were constantly asking to see my left hand and asking about my wedding plans. When I went into any sort of bridal shop during those 18 months, and there were a lot of them, I was treated like royalty. Everyone wanted me to buy their dress, reserve their venue, order their service, etc. It was overwhelming, but kinda fun!

The one day where this feeling was the highest, other than the wedding itself, was definitely the day of my bridal shower. And my bridal shower just happened to be a year ago today. So I decided to reminisce a little, and look back on that fun day. Since I hadn't started my blog back then, I'll write about it now so I can remember it :-)

My shower was held in the gym of my church. I know a lot of people have multiple showers, but I just had one big one with everyone. My sister/maid of honor and fellow bridesmaids planned just about everything, with a lot of help from my mom and mother-in-law. They chose a bubble theme, just because they thought it would be cute and weddingy (remember, I make up words). And the colors were pink and brown - also the wedding colors.

This was the cake table

The pink, swirly pattern on the cake actually came from the background on my shower invitations. I thought it was adorable, and just perfect. It tasted as good as it looked, too!
Here I am posing by the table. Those were the long hair days. I chopped 10 inches of my hair off and sent it to Locks of Love the day after we got back from our honeymoon. I couldn't wait to get rid of it! But I'm glad it was long in my wedding photos. I'd wanted long hair on my wedding day since I was a little girl.

And these were the favors: little bottles of shower gel with a tag that said "From Jessica's shower to yours." We found the idea on The Knot and thought it was adorable. (The same swirly, pink design from the invitations and cake is also in the background of the card. My bridesmaids thought of everything!)

We ate a delicious brunch, and then played a few games. My bridesmaids planned awesome games. My favorite one was a "how well do you know the bride and groom game." But instead of just passing out pieces of paper with the questions on them, Julie made a powerpoint slideshow out of the questions, and showed it on the huge projection screen in the gym. Her questions were really creative, too. One example is that she would show a picture of me and one of my bridesmaids when we were really young, and everyone had to guess which bridesmaid it was. It was fun! My sister's so creative!

After the games, it was time for gifts. I still can't believe how blessed Luke and I were. We got almost everything we needed, and lots of gift certificates. It was funny while I was opening my gifts, my bridesmaids worked as a well-oiled machine to pass me the presents, throw the trash away, and write down who got me what. Here's a picture of them in action. I love and appreciate my bridesmaids so much! No drama in this wedding party :-)
I think my sister, Julie, and sister-in-law Diana were getting a little bored at one point, though...this picture cracks me up

Probably my coolest, most unique gift was from my Aunt Viv: check out the sock monkey slippers that Julie is holding! Aren't they the cutest?? I love them, and wear them all the time. And Julie did try to steal them ;-) P. S. Please don't be too creeped out by the huge grin on my face while I'm holding my knife set. I only use them while cooking, I promise!
So blessed, and so thankful for everything. It took me the rest of the evening to get everything put away in our apartment!
And here I am with the girls that helped so much through everything...the bridesmaids! They were there through everything, they laughed with me and cried with me before the big day. they calmed my freak outs, and put up with me through those few bridezilla moments I had (I promise I didn't have many!) They are my best friends in the whole, wide world :-)

And at the end of the day, here are Rachel (cousin) and Julie (sister), my two best, best, BEST friends, being silly. It's what they do:-)And my lovely maid of honor, so full of dignity and grace, posed for one final picture :-PI'll end on that note ;-) And now I'm off to my parents' house to plant some flowers in my window boxes with my mom. And I think there might be pizza involved too!

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A year ago I was having the most exciting time of my life. I just love looking back at the pictures and thinking about all the memories Luke and I and our families and friends made last summer with all the wedding festivities. So I think I'm going to post once a week about wedding stories, memories, and/or pictures. I want to record these memories now while they're still somewhat fresh in my mind. So be looking for Wedding Wednesdays from now until the week of July 12, which is my 1-year anniversary. Feel free to join in, too, if you have some fun wedding memories that you'd like to share. I know I'd be excited to hear about them :-D