You Want Stories?

There are so many little stories about our wedding week, and I'd like to fill this site up with some of them if I can, just a little bit at a time. Of course, while I'd love for Billy to share some of his own stories on here, the thought of him actually blogging is just ridiculously funny. It ain't gonna happen. So I guess if you want his stories, you'll have to try to pry them out of him with the biggest crowbar you can find, because let's face it. If you know Billy, you know it's not easy getting him to open up, even about the good stuff.

Anyway, I'll let this just be a teaser for now, along with the fact that there are still more photos ready for your viewing pleasure, thanks to Siggi, who sent me her set today! Enjoy!

Erica on Friday night at the beach outside the Villa

Peggy, Caitlin, Siggi, and Erica Friday night at the beach outside the Villa

Linda arrives to the rehearsal at the Sandbar on Saturday afternoon

The bridesmaids wearing their custom-designed t-shirts at the Sandbar rehearsal on Saturday

Coquina Beach - site for Saturday's rehearsal "dinner" barbecue

Jim and Sharon - stepsister and brother-in-law of the bride, who may or may not have their own exciting news...

The Seafood Shack - gathering place for the pre-wedding, for which 90% of the wedding guests also attended!

Wedding Day Photos

Wedding day photos are now up on my Flickr site, thanks entirely to Sonal and Brett who were both kind and efficient enough to take so many great shots, upload them, AND get them to me within one day of getting back to New York. So thank you guys. (Everyone thank Sonal and Brett for the photos.)

The day was really incredibly beautiful and we really believe everyone had a great time, young and old. The day was overcast and rainy all the way up to the ceremony, when the clouds instantly dispersed and left us with clear skies for our "I do's." It really doesn't get any better than that, which is just further proof that there is some otherworldly being out there who is looking over us.

For those who weren't there or weren't in on the secret, right after Billy and I got married, my mom and stepdad, Linda and Rudy, got married themselves. It was a surprise to many of our guests and I was happy to get to be a bride and a matron of honor all in the same day!

My brother Rob and stepbrother Eric did an amazing job playing guitar duets for the ceremony, and I hope hope HOPE that Rob's friend Kristen took video of them playing "Air on the 'G' String" because I missed 97% of it since I was hiding in the office and that was the one song I really wanted to hear. The recessional was a beautiful rendition of "All You Need is Love," and after this wedding, I'm convinced that is totally true.

More photos will be coming in a few weeks when the photographer sends me the proofs. In the meantime stay tuned because there are still tons of stories to tell about the day. It truly couldn't have been any more perfect.

Wedding Week Photos

I'll warn you that there are NO wedding day photos in this set. These are just the ones I took on the week, but it will give you somewhat of an idea of some of the goings on down on Anna Maria Island last week. I swear more details and photos are coming but it will be coming in dribs and drabs, so stay tuned!

We're Ba-ack!

We arrived back to Jackson Heights about 49 minutes ago and are already back into full swing. I've got a paper to write that was due at 8:00 this morning (oops) but we promise we will have proper photos and details about the rest of our week as soon as we can come up for air!

Photos.

A few of my favorite photos from yesterday are over on my Flickr site. I took 71 photos yesterday afternoon and evening alone. I think I'm in love.

2 days to go...

So this is our view from the villa, and I'm sitting out here on our back porch admiring it while Siggi gets ready to go pick up Erica from the airport. The sound of ocean waves is soothing, and it's easy to forget all the little things that really don't need to get done, after all. Later I'll have a martini out here, and that will be nice.

Tonight all the bridal party will have arrived to the villa, and we're planning a Great Cookout of lemon and garlic-grilled salmon, shrimp and zucchini skewers, rice, and caesar salad, plus a champagne toast to the folks that helped us get here. I'm looking forward to another evening in the hot tub with good friends and the moon and stars above us.

Yesterday I bought myself a new camera to replace the one that broke last year, when we came down to investigate potential wedding spots. This was a bit of an upgrade and I finally bought myself the digital SLR I've been coveting for years. You can expect tons of new photos in the next few days, I'm sure. Be on the lookout.

Florida, Day 2

Right now, Billy, Rutherford, Mikey, and I are sitting on the back verandah playing Uno (well, they're playing Uno and I'm getting my gerk on by posting to our blog). It's been another lovely day.

Started off early(ish) by going for a short run on the beach up to the Sandbar, which is where we are getting married, and back - about two miles. How relaxing. Then breakfast - scrambled eggs, bacon, and an english muffin - on the patio looking over the Gulf. We ran a few errands - paid for our wedding cake, dropped off some goodies for folks arriving from out of town, oh, and I bought a really expensive but really awesome camera. After living a year without a camera of my own and at least five years coveting this or something like it, I am REALLY loving it. Can't wait to upload a few new photos.

Picked up Siggi and Brett from the airport and Rutherford and Mikey arrived this evening via car. We took advantage of the awesome outdoor kitchen and barbecue tonight by having grilled corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and steak. Yum-mo. Went swimming in the Gulf at sunset and spent the rest of the evening in the hot tub.

It's been so nice with so many great things to write about. We've been incredibly busy but the sunshine has made it so relaxing. Sometimes we even forget that we're here to get married. This is the way to do it.

We're in Florida!

We're in Florida!

It's been a long day of running around from place to place but we're settled in for the night in our incredibly amazingly beautiful oceanfront villa. We had to leave a bottle of champagne at the airport this morning since we are apparently horrible at packing. Things got better from there, thankfully. When the woman at the car rental counter found out we were down for our wedding she was ready to upgrade our Chevy Malibu to a Ford Mustang convertible at no charge. Man, if we didn't have so many errands and airport runs to do, we would be SO down with that.

The villa is amazing. We are sharing with the bridal party for the week and the place is about five times the size of our apartment, which is actually quite large as well. We've got a private bar and barbecue poolside (and hot tub side) that overlooks the ocean, and which also has a flat-screen TV and cushioned patio furniture. The bathroom that Billy and I are sharing is the size of our living room and dining room combined.

We enjoyed dinner with Peggy and her parents at the Moose's lodge, thanks to my mom's new Moose status, and now we're ready to sit back and watch a movie on the huge flat-screen TV and surround sound. Tomorrow it's up and at 'em early in the AM for a morning run on the beach and then off to run even more errands.

5 days to go...

We leave bright and early tomorrow morning to head down to Florida! Our flight takes off at 7:10am, which means we need to leave our apartment around 5:15. Yippee!

Today is the day we have been waiting so long for and now that it's here it feels undeniably real. This is where the fun begins, and we are both giddy with excitement! It's like being a kid at Christmas - you count down the days for what feels like eons and then all of a sudden you're not counting down any more. It's here and now!

Next post will be from sunny Florida in our villa on the beach. Can't wait to see everyone in just a few more days!

Unusual Calm.

I can't really speak for Billy on this, but a lot of people have mentioned to me that I seem unusually laid back about our upcoming wedding (in nine days!). There are lots of details yet to be finalized - in fact one of my bridesmaids has yet to purchase a dress for the wedding (last I heard, anyway) - but it seems like Billy and I are calming down the people around us more than anything else.

I dunno. I guess it's a matter of there being plenty of other drama in our lives without having to add a wedding to that, too. Planning a wedding should be fun! And if it isn't, we must be doing something wrong. That's been our philosophy throughout the entire process, from the day my mom called to tell me she'd read in the local paper that all the Sandbar weddings had been canceled after last November to trying to figure out how to have a rehearsal dinner for 20 people with a budget of $300.

Everything's gotten done with what feels like a minimum of effort, and I just KNOW writing that out loud is going to come back and bite me before all is said and done. I guess that just epitomizes our relationship with each other - take it easy and everything will be alright.