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HI! It’s Friday and a week after we kicked off our wedding weekend. And what a weekend it was!!! Lots of stress and lots of feels would be a quick summarization. Sharing some deets below honestly for myself because I want to remember both the good and slightly less good of the weekend and the wedding! (spoiler alert – in the end the good MAJORLY outweighed anything else!)
The Week Leading Up
So let’s rewind to a week before the wedding where Scott, the moms (Scott’s + my mom), and I were all obsessively checking the weather report over and over and over from a variety of weather apps. Scott’s mom even managed to chat with a meteorologist! With a backyard wedding ahead of us, we wanted the best possible plan and needed to know what our odds were. The closer we got to the weekend, the worse the weather looked.
To tent or not to tent became the discussion, and we all were holding out hope that we wouldn’t have to rely on a tent to have the wedding. I wasn’t super on board with it because it completely changed where the actual ceremony would be and it wouldn’t allow for us to really utilize the entire backyard, and I think everyone else agreed as well.
A few days before the weekend, Scott’s mom was chatting with a local venue (VisArts) where there was going to be a paint and sip night on Saturday for a few out of town guests. They happened to have availability for our wedding date, and offered it to us, so that option was thrown into the mix. To be totally honest, I was NOT on board. Changing the venue just a few days before sounded insane to me, not to mention it wasn’t anything close to what I originally pictured…or eventually pictured with our change to the backyard wedding.
Thursday arrives and the 4 of us are all chatting and deciding what would be best. Scott and I have a conversation where he says he thinks the tent is the best option – his biggest concern was how I felt, and knew I wasn’t all that excited about moving things to VisArts. Okay fine, let’s do the tent! So we get on the phone with the moms only to find out the tent is gone. Shit.
With us still leaning towards the tent, the moms graciously offered to call around to any place that offered tents and see if we could throw something together. Most places were booked, but they had friends who offered up tents, and a few places where we could piece together some kind of tenting situation, and they kept calling more.
Friday morning arrives and the moms are still waiting to hear back from the best tent option we had found. At this point, everyone but me was fine with a move to VisArts, but I was still going back and forth.
Some time during the morning I realized that even if we got a tent it was still going to be cold and wet, and we wouldn’t be able to really use the backyard because of that. Although I was of course SO thankful they offered us a really solid plan C, I wasn’t super excited about VisArts simply because it was so different than what we originally wanted, but agreed it was the best possible option, and would allow us to relax and not have to worry about the weather so much. Or having to worry about this decision anymore. So on Friday morning, 2 days before our wedding, we changed venues.
Honestly, just making the decision lifted a weight off of our shoulders, which was a point my mom made to me before the decision was actually made. Decision made, let’s move forward with getting it done.
The moms and I spent Friday contacting vendors, the venue, and lots of people in between reworking our original plan, refiguring out the timeline, and getting things all ready to go with this change. There was scrambling until the very last second, even during the wedding itself! But let’s move onto the weekend.
(side note – big shout out to VisArts here. the absolutely saved the day!!! no idea what we would have done without them besides be very cold underneath a few different tents during a record breaking cold weekend in the DMV)
Wedding Weekend – Friday & Saturday
Once the scrambling had died down a little bit, it was time to dive into the weekend festivities! The moms planned a few events, including a trivia night on Friday with a few friends and family members, and a paint + sip night on Saturday for some, with my SIL having the cousins over at her house Saturday night.
First, I headed to my dress try on for next years dress! It fits perfect right now, so I’ll have to keep that in mind over the next year while we’re traveling/eating our way around the country 🙃
Then it was trivia night time! It was so nice to be with friends and family and get the celebrations going a bit. And it was nice to have a drink after the week we had! Scott’s nanny from when he was a kid played a huge role in putting it all together and making us feel special.
Saturday was mani-pedi time! Even Scott got a manicure 😂 but not with the group of ladies because you can imagine how long that took. I went with a simple french manicure for the wedding.
Saturday night was games and tacos at my SIL + her boyfriend’s house. Perfect low key way to spend the night before our wedding!
The Morning Of & The Wedding
Alright…here we are *finally* at our actual wedding!
I headed to Scott’s parents house to get ready with my MOH + SIL, Scott headed to drop things off at the venue and the hotel so he could get ready.
We all did our hair and makeup ourselves, so we put on some music and got to work getting ready! We had a tight timeline, and did a pretty good job sticking to it! I brought a smoothie with me, and am SO glad that I did because I didn’t really have a chance to eat once we got to the venue.
Once I arrived to the venue it felt like a scramble all over again to get the videographer, photographer, and various items we needed into place. It honestly was really overwhelming!
I arrived and the videographer was already there. Scott was supposed to be at the hotel getting ready, but he was chatting with the videographer and had lost track of time. Easy to do with so much going on! I had to tell him to leave from behind a door to hide myself from him! He headed out and I got to work with the videographer, finishing getting ready, and getting things where they needed to be.
We had to be extra careful since we didn’t want to see each other before our first look, so it was a lot of very careful and sneaky running around once Scott came back, with my MOH keeping a lookout. Once we saw each other, it was still a bunch of running around to get ceremony items into place, our ketubah ready to go, our guestbook where it needed to be, the kippahs in an easily accessible location, etc. etc. I never realized just how much really goes into a wedding and how many little things there are to account for! Since we only changed the venue 2 days before and hadn’t been there prior to that day, there were certain things we had to figure out in the moment and just roll with the punches.
While it was stressful, in a way it was kind of nice to be distracted from the weight of the wedding itself. I had no time to feel nervous or anything! Too much to do!
First we both had separate interviews with the videographer asking us questions about each other and the wedding day, then they filmed a few getting ready shots. Next up – first look!
Our first look was on the roof of VisArts, and I was really glad the rain held up for a bit for us to get some outdoor photos. They got Scott all set up and then brought me up. His back was turned to me and once I saw him the weight of the day started to really sink in! It had been so intense all week and all morning, but there he was, and we were going to get married! I got a little teary, but held it together. It was such a relief to actually see him, both because we didn’t have to sneak around anymore, and because I just needed him by my side.
We took some pictures on the roof, then headed to a few other locations to do more pictures. We actually ran into my dad while taking pictures, so we did a quick first look with my dad!
Then it was ketubah signing time. Scott had a quick snack to keep his hanger at bay. We had to run around to get the pens we needed and a few other things, but then got started with our parents and bridal party. Our Cantor lead the brief service, we all signed, and then we were officially married!!!
We all had a quick chat to decide the order of people going down the aisle, where certain people would stand, etc. Then we headed down the hallway to the side of the building where the ceremony was. We realized the boys didn’t have kippahs so someone ran in to grab them. I think a few other scramble-y things happened right before too! Who knows. I lost track!
FINALLY. It was time to actually start the ceremony!!!
Our precessional music started and everyone headed on down the aisle.
It all was so surreal. There was so much that lead up to that moment of finally walking down the aisle and walking towards Scott, it’s honestly all a blur! I’m so glad we got a videographer to capture the day. It was a super last minute decision that I’m SO so so happy we made.
We had a traditional Jewish ceremony starting with us circling around each other, followed by some prayers, drinking wine, exchanging rings, and saying vows in Hebrew. Possibly not in that order, again, all a blur.
The part that’s most clear to me is our vows. I don’t even think I can put into words how meaningful Scott’s vows were to me. He knows now, because I can’t stop talking about how much I loved them and have reread them a bunch since then. I think I have them memorized. He got a bit choked up during them, and if you know him at all, you know how rarely he shows emotion like that (never). I’ll always remember the deep breath he took when he was gathering himself to keep reading. The sweetest moment of the entire day.
Then I read mine, and somehow kept it together. I knew either I would be a sobbing mess or be able to hold it together, no in between. I think the distraction of everything else going on helped me keep my emotions in check. I’m not mad about not sobbing in front of everyone to be honest lol.
Then we continued with the ceremony including blessings, Scott’s grandparents reading the English translation, Scott and I being wrapped up in a Tallis, then Scott breaking the glass!!! Married!
We headed out of the room and into a different room to have 15 minutes to ourselves (a Jewish tradition we were happy to partake in). Funny memory of the day – once we got in the room Scott saying “Siri, set a timer for 15 minutes.” Scott’s a big fan of utilizing Siri for the timer, even on a day as big as our wedding!
Those 15 minutes were so special to me. We got to breath for a moment and take in the day, just the two of us. Also, we got appetizers hand delivered to us, which was very nice since we both hadn’t eaten in a while! Another super sweet moment of the day, and probably my favorite, or tied with Scott reading his vows. Hard to choose, but both will stick with me.
Once time was up, we headed out for a little bit of mingling and a lot of picture taking with family and friends. We had a first dance, then it was time for dinner followed by a bit of dancing! We were lucky enough to have toasts from the moms, my MOH and Scott’s best man, and the dads. They all were wonderful and special in their own unique ways.
Scott’s nanny also surprised us with putting together some cards for guests + special people who couldn’t join us to fill out with favorite memories and marriage advice! The kids that I previously nannied all filled them out and definitely were the crowd favorites.
That was it! Wedding number 1 complete!
To summarize, I’ll share this tidbit that I posted to Instagram…”Hearing Scott’s vows made everything else melt away. It became clear in that moment that while weddings are important and fun, they’re nothing compared to the commitment we made to each other. Getting to spend the rest of my life with my best friend is the greatest gift I could ever get, anything else is just a cherry on top.”
❤️
