Sandy Toes and Salty Kisses

And the Honeymoon begins….

We waited a week after the wedding to leave for our honeymoon because the house was rented out Saturday to Saturday and we didn’t want to lose two days.  I am so thankful for this decision….it saved my sanity!!  So we left work on Friday, May 10^th and after a few errands in town, we hit the highway. 

First stop was Fredericksburg, VA where we got a cheap but clean hotel and a nasty dinner for the night.  We were thankful that the trip got a little classier after this night =)  We’re still laughing at our first hotel choice which we quickly flew (drove) away from when we realized the windows were covered with black trash bags and there were people walking out of the woods….I’m not that much of a bargain shopper!!  We got up early the next morning, grabbed some breakfast and hit the road.  The honeymoon week had officially begun. 

We made it to the Outer Banks around noon and ran errands to kill time until our 4pm check in.  My Dad and Lisa rented our beach house (Name: On The Beach) for a week as our wedding gift and we were so excited to see our home away from home.  We had lunch at Barefoot Bernies, went grocery shopping at WalMart and Food Lion and headed to the check-in office.  We finally arrived at our house….the excitement fully kicked in and we got right to unpacking and carrying everything in.  The house was HUGE and perfect!!!

We did our chores and quickly made our way to the pool for a dip….it was still pretty chilly but overall relaxing.  We finally made it next door to the Rundown Café for dinner and called it an early night.

Over the next week, we did a lot of swimming, sun tanning on the beach, souvenir shopping and plain relaxing.  We drove around and saw some of the other towns, hit the Outlets and just enjoyed our break from the world.  We ate way too much….High Cotton BBQ, Pigman’s BBQ (men and their meat smh), Duck Donuts, Kill Devil Custard, Fireflys, I Got Your Crabs, Captain Georges, Front Porch Café, Mexican, NY Bagels and my favorite, Black Pelican. 

The weather was chillier than we anticipated so we spent some time curled up by the fire place and spent a lot of time in the hot tub!!  We managed to get better weather toward the end of the week which we were thankful for.

Some “hoots” of the trip included:

1. My rib dislocating (happens occasionally).  So Keith got to push that puppy back into place and I spent the day in bed and drugged up.
2. Keith took his cell phone for a swim in the pool so we were down to one phone because somebody doesn’t think insurance is necessary “because I’ve never lost or broke a phone.”
3. We had two birds commit suicide in our pool.  The first one we found minutes before the pool girl got there and she assured us that the chlorine content was so high we would be fine.  We found the second one 2 days later.  RIP feathered friends.

Some of my favorite memories:

1. Having a whole week just to enjoy a simple life and celebrate finally being married.
2. We saw dolphins a few times….in all of my years of going to the beach, I have never got to see dolphins that well.
3. Having breakfast on our upper deck every morning.  It was peaceful and gorgeous and my favorite part of the days. 
4. Seeing the look on my husbands face when he saw the damage I can do with crab legs.

Unfortunately, the week came to an end and we got up early Saturday morning to head home.  We made a few stops along the way, but made it home at a decent hour.  Unpacking wasn’t the most fun thing to do, but we survived and feel blessed to have such amazing honeymoon memories. 

Happily Ever After Begins Here....

It has been 39 days since my wedding and on every one of those days, I have thought to myself, write down everything about your wedding so you never forget the things that made it “your day” (I have a lot of conversations with myself).

Anyway, today I’m doing just that…..

Thursday May 2.

I woke up early to do all of my errands and then operation stalk Sams Club floral shipment began.  According to the website, 1 of 6 boxes had shipped…the others were MIA.  I had a fun little convo with the customer service rep who thought I was a crazy bridezilla (I was nice, just frantic), and he promised me I would see them by early afternoon.  Around that time, the doorbell rang and the wedding weekend madness began.  I headed to Kathy’s house with enough flowers to decorate a graveyard and the centerpiece making began.  We made 25 centerpieces, assorted vases, a cake topper and somehow managed to not kill each other along the way.  Me, Jenna, Kathy and Lisa cut, tucked, stuffed, plucked and arranged our little hearts out. 

After that ended, it was off to run a ton of errands and make the first of many deliveries to Ramada.  I fell into bed way too late but managed to get some sleep.

*This is also the day my sister decided to find the broken bone in her foot and get put in a walking cast….attention hog!!!  j/k

Friday May 3

And the madness continues….I started this day out the right way, with caffeine.  After that, it is all a whirlwind.  I was stressing out at first because I thought I had too many people that were willing to help, but my thoughts on that quickly changed.  I had the perfect number of people helping and they’re all God-sent.  I had people decorating, picking up cookies, picking up food – they were basically my brains, my feet and my sanity. 

We took time for pedicures, Happy Meals and manicures around noon and then immediately got back to work.  At the church, we were having major musical malfunctions and I honestly thought my poor guitarist/soloist was going to run away and never come back.  That guy (and his wife) were real troopers and solved the problem. 

Overall, I stayed pretty calm and managed to get showered and back to the church in time for rehearsal so I can’t complain.  My poor wedding planner had been put on bed rest (she had a happy, healthy baby boy!!) so it was interesting to run my own rehearsal with the help of Ms. Jenna.  She and I worked together a while back and she’s just as OCD as I am so she was perfect to step in and take the reigns. 

We rehearsed a few times, made some tweaks and moved on to the more important part of the evening – Rehearsal Dinner.  My Aunt Kathy and Stepmother, Lisa had gone to the ranch before us and had everything ready to go.  The food, the decorations, the weather and even the darn ducks, were perfect.   Keith’s parents hosted the dinner and I think everyone enjoyed the laid back evening.

My MOHs both surprised me with sweet gifts…Heidi got me a ring pillow Pandora charm and April got me a bracelet with our favorite quote on it.  I would have cried if I had the energy to do so.  It was also fun to give our families and bridal party members their gifts. 

After dinner clean-up, I got my last single girl kiss, ran more errands, went to Ramada Inn (again!) and finally went home to crawl into bed.  Wedding prep is just plain exhausting.

Saturday May 4

THE day had finally arrived.  I’d dreamed about my wedding for 25+ years and even on that morning it still had not sunk in that it was my turn…in some ways it felt like another day as a bridesmaid. 

Heidi and I went to Starbucks and Panera to get coffee and bagels and then we met the crew at 3Cs Salon.  Lisa and Melissa wrestled 8 heads of hair into side knots for the girls and a pile of curls for me. 

We went straight to the church and they finally let me sneak off to Ramada to get a quick sneak peek!!  Everything looked amazing (those wedding planners at Ramada can run a reception lol) so I calmed down and went back to the church.  My flowers were arriving as I got there and they were more beautiful than I ever imagined.  Zia Floral is a newer company in town and I am SO glad I went with them….such amazingly sweet people and beautiful, high quality work!!  April paid the balance on my flowers, because her heart is far bigger than I could ever deserve…and around that time I found a few minutes to let some tears pop out. 

Suddenly it was time to get ready (not sure how that snuck up on me), but I was put in the make-up chair and the madness began.  Halfway through getting my face applied, Keith had my wedding gift and wedding letter delivered….insert more tears.  Melissa (M Salon) went back to fixing my face and before long I was stepping into my dress with cameras, video cameras and all eyes on me.  Still doesn’t seem real. 

At some point my flower girl was MIA and the story later is told that my wedding cake took a nosedive in transit and her poor mother was trying to save the cake that her and her husband so lovingly got us as our gift.  All I know was it was the best tasting wedding cake I have ever have and no one would ever know that it was originally a little taller and bigger and pretty much ruined a poor SUV. 

Things really start hoping at this point.  My Daddio gets his first peek (cry some more) and I showed the girls my “something old and something blue” (cry some more).  Lisa and Rhonda Allen made me a patch that said “Mommy” out of my Mom’s old blue pajamas and it was sewn into my dress near the bottom.  After that I remember getting my veil and comb put on, grabbing some flowers and away we went.  I don’t remember feeling nervous, just thirsty and rushed. 

I walked down the aisle, and married the man I love….simple as that. 

Well sorta, the beginning went something like this, “Dearly beloved we are gathered here today in the presence of God and these witnesses to unite Keith and Heidi in holy matrimony.”  (Insert gasp from the crowd)  “Ummm I mean Holly.”  Yup, my sister was offered to my husband. 

Keith also later shared the special fact that Perry had a bathroom issue that resulted in him having a little bit of kid pee on his hands during the whole ceremony (I still insist he could have made time for an emergency hand wash even if the preacher had already started walking out!!)….isn’t that special?!?!?  I held those hands for at least a good 15 minutes lol

My Pastor then went on to forget my hand blessing ceremony completely, but at the end, we were married, and my singer found a way to make my music happen, and it was perfect.  I can’t wait to see the video and see all the little things I missed.  I hear the flower girl threw her petals t-ball style and who knows what else happened, but it is still perfect in my mind. 

For once, it was mine.  I didn’t have to fix anyone’s dress, or hold anyone’s flowers, or do anything but be the bride (don’t get me wrong, I love being part of my friend’s weddings!!)  It was a total 27 Dresses kinda moment lol

We did pictures at Dorsey’s Knob (almost had to beat up a cranky groomsman) and then headed to the reception.  We were introduced and then put at the head table for dinner.  I was so overwhelmed at that point that I couldn’t even eat (that never happens to me haha), but by the time dinner was over, I was feeling better. 

I remember telling people as we danced, that I felt like a princess.  For the first time in 31 years, I felt beautiful (I’m really not conceited).  God, I hope I never forget how magical that felt.  I loved my dress and my veil and be married to the handsome guy beside me.  I wish time could have stood still.  But the night progressed and we didn’t have enough time to say hello to everyone, but we danced and chatted and enjoyed our night. 

Perry and I had a cute moment….someone asked for a Riggle family photo and he looked at me and asked “You’re my family now??”…..I told him “Yes” and asked if that was ok with him and with a shoulder shrug, I was told, “Sure.”

Around 8:30, we were playing in the photo booth and I was chugging water by the pitcher.  I think I grabbed a few cookies from the awesome cookie buffet that our friends and family had created, but after that I just remember being tired. 

We finally made our way to our honeymoon suite that the girls had decorated.  I managed to bust a votive holder on the floor so we got to call housekeeping to borrow a broom.  Even on my wedding day, I wasn’t any less clumsy.   And that was the end of our wedding day. 

The next installment will be Honeymoon 101….