The Big "I Do"

The photographer showed up around 1 to start taking pictures of us finishing up as we got ready. After my make-up was done (I was the last to go), I hurried into my dress. We all then helped Christy get into her dress as the photographer snapped away.

Some pictures outside with her bridesmaids and family, and then the limo showed up. Christy was relatively calm throughout the whole process. And didn't even try to make a break for it. After arriving to the church, we were secluded away in the downstairs for about 30 minutes. Christy used this opportunity to take her first bathroom break. Which, I do have to say, went much better than I had anticipated.

Finally, the coordinator came down to tell us that it was go time.

The boys walked down the aisle first, and then the girls. As Richie said later, I "ran the stop sign" aka I forgot to bow at the end of the aisle. Whoopsies, hopefully Jesus didn't take offense.

The only time during the ceremony that I teared up/cried was watching Christy walk down the aisle. To be more specific, she was walking down the aisle and I turned to look at Richie watch her. They both looked so happy and it brought me so much happiness that my two best friends were going to be together for life. So logically, that made me cry.

The ceremony went off without a hitch. Christy's dress didn't get wet, no one fell (although Father Don tried to) and everyone behaved themselves.

After the ceremony, time for family pictures. And then into the limo (where we, obviously, had a mini-photo shoot). 

The reception was at Medowlark Gardens, and it was absolutely gorgeous. We took outside pictures with the bridal party and then were released to the cocktail hour.

At this point, I was getting SUPER nervous. Christy had asked me to do a speech as the Maid of Honor. I was attempting to not hurl, and couldn't eat anything at the cocktail hour, although it looked amazing.

We had our bridal party entrance, with a little hitch, and the groomsmen all had a special high five they did as they entered. Richie and Christy came in, and Richie did the baby powder thing that LeBron James does. (Which I had to be told later, because I had no idea). The couple had their first dance to "This Magic Moment" and it was so cute to see them doing the steps they had learned in dance class.

After the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances (which happened at the same time), Richie's dad welcomed everybody before we dug into the salad. It looked really good, I however was trying not to hyperventilate by this point, so I didn't eat any.

Next up were the toasts. I went first. I had written something down on Thursday morning (and got Richie's dad to read it) and had been practicing it in my head since then. I said mostly what I wanted to say, was about 3/4 of the way through it and started to choke up. I could feel the ugly cry coming on, so I ended it with "I love you both" and threw the microphone at Jeremy (who was up next). After Jay's speech, Kenny went next...ending his with a "let's make a toast."

Once the speeches were over, I could enjoy dinner. Which the chicken and mashed potatoes were AMAZING. And then, it was dance time. And we all know how much I love dance time.

The reception was a blast. With just the bridal party and a few friends being there at the end. It was an awesome night for an awesome couple!

Photo collage of the day/evening's events. From the Limo to the ceremony to the get-away car.

Congratulations Richie and Christy! It was a beautiful wedding and an awesome time at the reception. Love you guys!