Wedding Day Perfection!

After a 2 month hiatus, I'm back!

The week leading up to the wedding was cold, windy & rainy here in Northern, NY. My ever-so-calm nerves gave way to a few (or a lot) of bride-zilla moments. I'm glad that I am only getting married once-boy was I a crab! Special thanks goes out to my new hubbz who took the brunt of my crabbiness and took it in a stride.

I woke up the morning of the wedding, loaded up the pups and took them to the kennel. As I dropped them off and pulled away, I cried like a baby!...I blame it on lack of sleep. I quickly recovered as I realized that this is my wedding day and the weather was beautiful! Sunny and about 65 degrees!

I made it up to Mom and Dads by 10 am and with the help of my mom and sisters, began taking all the goods out to the reception tent. Hunter was such a great help, he loaded up the trailer on his little 4 wheeler many times and was driving back and forth bringing all the supplies.

The lovely and talented Natalie Hickey came to the house and did all of our hair. I have seriously never seen more beautiful wedding hair on anyone-she is amazing! As Nat was doing our hair, Chris from Static Moments was taking lots of great pics! Once we were all set and ready to go...we began taking the photos ( we decided to take the pics before the wedding, a decision that turned out to be a great plan). We did some shots at Mom & Dad's and then traveled to the 3rd bridge to do the rest. Once that was done, we headed to the ceremony.

I began walked down the aisle, and I LOST IT! It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was FINE all day, not a hint of wedding tears, and I even kissed Double J right before he walked up to the alter. It was very overwhelming (in a good way) to have everyone that loves and supports us all in one place to witness me marrying the man I love. I proceeded to cry and laugh, and laugh and cry throughout the ceremony. It was a hoot to say the least.

Off to the reception we went, and since we took the photos before the ceremony, there was no lag time between the events. Everything "they" say about your wedding day is true- it goes by super quick, and you don't get to eat! We danced the night away, and couldn't have imagined a better wedding reception. The tent was beautiful, and I felt blessed all night long. Thank you to everyone who made our day so special!

no more steps...just details

so...I have a big family...

My Dad is one of 5 kids.

That makes me one of 15 Hancock cousins...and many of them have children of their own.

On my Mom's side, she is one of 3 kids.

There are 10 Mundy cousins...and again...many of them have children.

My family- there are 5 of us...and everyone but me has kids too!


JJ's family is not nearly as big since his mom is an only child and his dad just has 2 sisters.


I bring this up to merely point out the fact that I have a huge family.

I also consider myself very fortunate that I have many many close friends.

When deciding who to have in the wedding on my side, it was a not simple decision.

How could I choose between all of my best friends...How would I pick between, Kimmer, Nanner, Treesh, Toni, Pica, Erin, Sarah Ann, Janner, Dunbar, Rossi, Jacy & Zuba. NO WAY!

So...I'll admit it...I took the easy way out- I have 2 sisters, one married, one single...perfect...I'll have a maid and matron of honor! The other bridesmaid is JJ's sister Melinda.

It was very important to me to have all of my close friends at the wedding as well as everyone from this huge family of mine that I love so much. JJ and I had spoke about what we would do if we had to cut the list due to out budget constraints. The only thing we could figure out is that we wouldn't cut a single person that we wanted to share our day with.

I had the idea of having a dessert reception.

At first JJ was not into it at all, but after I told him how wonderful it would be to not have to cut anyone from the list, and we could eat sweets all night-he seemed more agreeable!

So...a dessert reception it is...
Cake, Chocolate Fondue Fountain, Cookies, Cheese, Fruit...and anything else I can think of.

---and as luck would have it, I was reading Martha Stewarts Wedding Magazine (I heart her, don't hate me), and dessert receptions are the new "it" idea!

Step #5- The Reception Venue

I have had the great pleasure of being an attendant in many many weddings over the years.
(I'm not kidding..think 27 dresses here!)

In addition to being in many weddings, I have also had the great experience of working behind the scenes for the past five years at The Farmhouse Kitchen- a fantastic catering company in Sackets Harbor, NY.

I have seen everything from the quaint little backyard wedding, to the full out-put a second mortgage on the river house, hire a crazy wedding planner, I don't care how much it costs-weddings.

I consider my self very fortunate to live in the wonderful place we call Northern NY. We are 1/2 hour from Canada, 1/2 hour from Lake Ontario, 1/2 hour from the St. Lawrence River and 1/2 hour from the beautiful Adirondack Mountains. While the winters up here tend to last a while, I believe, the spring, summer and fall more than make up for it.

JJ and I have decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather (and pray that it doesn't snow) and we have opted for an "under the big tent" wedding reception at the home of my parents. This option excited me to no end-I am the eternal planner and with this blank canvas, I can do whatever I want within the limits of what my folks will let me!

There is a party rental place in Watertown. Oddly enough, it's called Party Rentals. They have the big tent that we are going to rent. They bring it days before and won't pick it up till a few days after, which gives plenty of time for a lower-stress set up. We are also getting our tables, chairs, linens, and dance floor from them. (We will also get some heaters, should mother nature decide to challenge us!)

Martha Stewarts (I heart her..don't hate me) website has a great program where you can put in the size of the tent, and then it creates a graph paper sort of chart where you can place tables, and guests and the DJ...it's quite wonderful.

A big thanks to my folks who have been awesome in going with the flow with my wedding planning, they have been on-board with everything I want to do, and I even think my dad is getting excited-he's not much for emotion!