The Fennels: Our Wedding!!!!!

Oh, this is going to be a long one............

I sit here with a box of wheat thins, a container of hummus, and a glass of wine (with the bottle sitting next to it for convenient refills) fully prepared to spend the next three hours of my night blogging about this. You should expect to spend at least thirty minutes reading it.

They say the first three months of the marriage are the most difficult. Well, its been almost two -- and its been the best two months of my life. Probably because we've already done the finance thing, living together thing, buying a house thing, and so on. But we were totally relieved once the wedding was over. At one point, I was putting 42% of my paycheck to the the wedding (yes, I just did the math). It was hell. And I almost got to the point of despising my own wedding. But looking back, it was totally worth it.

Would we do it all over again?? Lets just say our vow renewal will be in Vegas.

Looking at the pictures, I can't help but to remember how amazing of a day it truly was. Yes, I had WAY to much wine. Yes, I cried the entire last thirty minutes at end of the reception. And yes, planning it was the most stressful thing I ever went through, but I also married my best friend and the best man I've ever known. And at the end of the day, that's whats important.

Before getting married, I learned that people measure the success of a wedding based off of three things:

1) How did the bride look?
2) How was the food?
3) How was the dancing?

1) Well, I have never felt more beautiful in my life. I don't know what other people thought, but I know my husband loved the way that I looked.

2) I know a couple who purchased a pizza to go, I received several compliments on our food, and ITS LINOS! If you don't like Lino's, you don't like food. And your anorexic. Get - some - help.

*Maybe there was too much food. Maybe dinner took TOO long. But I couldn't speed them up. It came as a bundled thing.

3) I had this horrible fear that people wouldn't dance at the wedding (I've been to several non dancing weddings and how BORING!) In my wine induced coma, I remember yelling at people and telling them to dance. From what I hear, it was a packed dance floor by the end of the night. I even remember doing some kind of wobble......??

Yes, that's it.

So, I'd like to say that our wedding was absolutely amazing --not only for us, but for our guests as well.

Back to the beginning of the day----

Courtney and I stopped at Starbucks before going to Linos to set up the space at the bright and early 8am! I had so many wonderful helpers set up Linos and I'll never be able to thank them enough! The space was SO pretty and I wouldn't of been able to do it alone.

Following Linos, I left to get my hair and makeup done. This picture was solely taken for a makeup check. I look very calm in this picture, but I was really freaking out on the inside.

This pose was stolen completely from Pinterest. And it is most definitely cropped for job purposes. The true picture shows a lot more leg and zaza zing. Its stunning and I'm so happy my maids of honor made me take this one. The blown up version of this will hang beautifully in our master bedroom.

Once we were all ready, we left for the church!

My bridesmaids were completely ready and all I had to go was get into my gown.

My girls are beautiful.

Once we had it on (IT FIT!!!!!!!), my bridesmaids and maids of honor got to see it on me for the first time!

Mom put on the veil and hugged me tight.

Mom on her wedding day.

I made sure my Dad never saw me in the gown or knew anything about my dress. I wanted Dennis, our photographer, to get his first reaction on camera. What he really got was my first reaction of seeing my Dad on the wedding day. I didn't realize how much my emotions would get to me. But boy oh boy, they hit me hard.

Daddy

Mom and Dad

Meanwhile, upstairs.....

My handsome husband to be arrived.

And then, it was time

Let me just stop here and say that I was extremely emotional throughout our wedding ceremony. I remember telling my bridesmaids downstairs that I didn't think I would cry....

But in my defense, there was a very long and very serious point in my life that I truly believed that I would never be happy, in love, or married. I had accepted it and was prepared to be alone my entire life. It wasn't until Matt came along that all my prior beliefs or thoughts on love demolished and he showed me what real love was.

I remember standing downstairs in the surreal state. I found him. No more heartbreak. No more loneliness. I was with my best friend. And he loved me more than I could ever deserve. He was the reason for all of my happiness.... the creamer to my coffee.... the bacon to my cheeseburger. And I was about to marry him. I think it hit me right here......

And of course, I had my Heather there to console me. She is the best at it.

I remember walking up the stairs after the doors had shut. I was about to walk down the aisle and I was gripping my loving father's hands for my dear life. I remember thinking:

Make sure you smile. Don't look at anyone else. Just look at him. Its all about him.

Once the doors opened -- Everything around me went blurry. I couldn't hear anything except my heartbeat and deep breathing. Matt was the only thing in focus. Then -- suddenly.... tears of joy.....

Apparently, after the pastor asked who was giving me away, my dad said, "Her mother and I" then gave my mom a high five. HA! Only my parents....

Here are our favorite's from the ceremony:

As a surprise, we chose to give our beloved parents roses to show our love, respect, and appreciation.

Then it was smooching time!

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Fennel

We did it!!!!!

Making it official!

Ah, now he's stuck with me FOREVER!

Here is the entire ceremony if you'd like to watch to entire 23 minutes.

Here are our favorite formal pictures:

Our handsome Dads

The Smith Family

The Fennel Family

Brother and Sister

Sisters

Our Nephews

Our nieces and nephews

Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids and Matt

Groomsmen

Groomsmen and me!

In between the ceremony and the reception, we drove around in a party bus for an hour with our wedding party and 5 bottles of liquor to get the party started.....