The day

Our wedding was absolutely beautiful. It was everything we imagined and more. I can't even begin to describe my emotions the morning of August 2nd when I woke up and realized it was the day I had been looking forward to for years and the day I was going to finally marry my best friend! I woke up to horrible weather outside my window...I'm talking gray skies with nothing but rain clouds and lightning to boot. But somehow that wasn't enough to put a damper in my day and I maintained my euphoric state. In fact I never once turned into bridezilla or teared up over the fact that we wouldn't be able to take pictures in all the gorgeous outside locations we'd chosen because of the weather. I was too blissed out! Even though I'm not one to let a little rain ruin my day, I must say I was made even more happy when after getting ready in the bridal suite I was about to walk outside with umbrella in hand to get some things from my car and discovered the sky had miraculously cleared and the sun was shining as bright as ever. Things just came together wonderfully and everything right down to the very littlest details turned out perfect!

The preparation

Getting to the venue and getting ready was no easy task. Firstly the check engine light randomly came on in the car my sister and I drove to the wedding site. It was shaking uncontrollably and we were afraid it was going to die before we made the one-hour drive to Asheville. On top of that the rain and moisture was trying to wreak havoc on my hair, my dress was completely wrinkled after being transported in a cramped car with my honeymoon luggage, and some bridesmaids forgot to bring parts of their wedding day attire like the matching jewelry I'd bought them to wear! Someone was looking out for me though. The car made it to the venue (wouldn't start afterwards but DH's parents took it to get serviced and we drove his car to the honeymoon so we were good!), my usually stick-straight hair somehow held up the entire night with the liquid concrete hairspray my stylist used, our wedding venue happened to have a garment steamer to revive my dress, and my cousin who had traveled for our wedding had a pair of pearls in her suitcase that were darn near identical to the ones I had bought the girls. Divine awesomeness at work people :)

The details

It seems like everyone tells you not to stress over the details of your wedding day. Well obviously those people were never brides because if they ever were they would know that not stressing is not an option! Personally I can say that I am glad I spent hours obsessing over the details of our wedding because when the day came everything was exactly as I envisioned. The favor boxes that were hand-cut from cardstock turned out adorable, the centerpieces looked beautiful, our unity candles looked like a professional made them, and the vases we wrapped in vellum had the most gorgeous glow to them with the tealight candles inside. I'm proud of how everything turned out and I'm glad we decided to DIY most everything even though I wondered if I was crazy at times!