June 8, 2013
The Day I Married My Best Friend
The week of my wedding, I was incredibly calm. I was wondering when the nerves would begin to set in. Three days before? Two? Nope. My bachelorette party was the Thursday before my wedding and was very fun! The day before the wedding came and with the rehearsal came some frustrations on the legistics of the ceremony, but they were quickly worked out and the second run through ran smooth. The rehearsal dinner was fun as well, with both of our families finally meeting. After the dinner, I said goodbye to my groom, telling him I would see him at the end of the aisle. I went to my mom's house for the night before my wedding and I was out like a light at 8:30pm. I woke about an hour and a half later and then couldn't get back to save my life. I finally fell asleep at about one-thirty.
The morning of the wedding, my step-mom threw me a personal shower at a local breakfast place which was very fun and embarassing when my company insist I lift up the nighties so everyone could see. I couldn't have picked a better final present. My final present was from my grandmother and was my "Ashley Book." It was a photo album full of photos of my from birth to grown. Almost everyone was in tears. This isn't when nerves hit, but this is when I realized that I was going though an amazing transition in my life and I was blessed to have the people around my who were supporting me.
The hours before the wedding, nothing much was going on. My wedding was at 6pm and the only thing I had to do after the breakfast was to get my hair done at 2pm. After my hair was done, I went to my grandma's house (the wedding venue) and waited. My matron of honor brought me a sandwich to eat and there wasn't much else to do. I was in a very calm state. I found myself looking at my wedding party and almost bursting into tears at how thankful I was that each of them were there by my side. I think I had a moment with each one of them at different parts during the day. My fun-loving and blessed mother of one of my flower girls, Kelcy, almost started crying at one part of the day and I realized that she drove nine hours in order to stand beside me. My caring and compassionate maid of honor, Carli, was so focused on making sure I was comfortable and that I had everything I needed; Goodness gracious, she was such a blessing that day and every day. My hormonal and loving matron of honor, Monica, who was close to tears quite a few times that day because of my lovely niece she is carrying, was so great that day. Giving an emotional toast that made me cry and decorating my car with oreos, there is no question that my wedding day wouldn't have been the same without her.
Lastly, my wonderful bridesmaid, Emilee, who was added at the last minute as my fourth and final bridesmaid. I knew it was the right decision to make sure she was in my wedding. Em and I went through a pretty deep rough patch in our friendship that last almost two years with no contact. We were best friends and just went through hard times at the same time and didn't know how to handle each other and just fell apart. When we reconnected in February (I think), I was so thankful to have my best friend back. We fell back into our friendship like those times never happened. At the end of April, my matron of honor had some trouble with her dress so I thought, "Well, why not add Emilee?" I knew it was the right decision. I made some bad choices a few years back and almost lost another friendship and didn't have the pleasure of being beside her when she got married and it is one of my greatest regrets in life. So a month before the wedding, I added another bridesmaid.
The nerves finally hit about an hour before the ceremony. I kept inadvertantly hearing things that weren't going as planned, (let's just say one of the groomsmen wasn't there until about five minutes before the wedding), and these things were beginning to stress me out. But when it was finally time for my wedding party to walk, including three flower girls two years old and under, my nerves hit a high. But everything went perfect. Then it was my turn to walk down the aisle. Everyone was standing and everyone's eyes were on me, but my eyes were only fixed on the man I was about to give my life to. Once the ceremony began, it felt like it was over before I could blink five times. The vows were my favorite part. Jacob isn't a man of many words. He has to take time to think about how he wants to say things because he wants to make sure that he says them perfectly, so I knew that these vows would blow me away. I was right. I was in tears early on in his vows. Compared to his, I felt that mine weren't enough, although I don't think that is quite what he thinks.
Before I knew it, we were husband and wife. After bridal party pictures, the reception began. The rain had a different agenda and I was just able to get in my first dance with my husband and my dance with my dad and the rain came. We had a sparkler send off, so my mom prepared that and got us off to our hotel. Everyone got to eat cake and the toasts were given, so as far as I am concerned, the reception was perfect as well. We got to the hotel in the pouring rain and the rest is none of your business ;)
My wedding was perfect. I could not have imagined it on a better day, in a better way. My wedding planner mother was absolutely amazing and did everything perfectly. My flowers were perfect, the cake was perfect, and my girls were perfect. Thank you to all who came and made my day perfectly perfect.
-Mrs. Atchley
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