10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Our Wedding

10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Our Wedding

1. I added the lace trim & brooch to my dress. Well, technically, Mine did most of it. I really liked my dress, but I thought some lace would be pretty. I think it was very sweet and love the extra detail. The brooch was a suggestion from lady that altered my dress. As I was picking out jewelry with my mom and sisters, this piece beat out every necklace I tried. (It is actually a piece of an old necklace that I already owned.)
2. We started 45 minutes late. And it wasn't my or Kate's fault for once! One of Katie's brother had to work overnight and was rushing to get to the ceremony site on time. We decided to hold up for him since there was no real rush and we didn't have a large group waiting. Luckily we were able to keep in contact with Katie & her father (who were waiting on the Iowa side of the bridge), so no one was worried there was a cold feet situation going on! We were also lucky to have gorgeous weather and to snag some extra photos like this while we were waiting.
3. I made Katie practice carrying me "over the threshold" before the big day. I was worried she wouldn't be able to do it (comfortably), and I didn't want to discover that too late. I knew I wanted a picture of her carrying me from Iowa to Nebraska, so we practiced at home.
4. Katie did not see my dress before our wedding day. And we parted before midnight the night before, at Katie's insistence (so sweet!) It worked out well because we were up at the barn working on final touches, and I probably would have tried to stay there all night if we didn't have the midnight timing to worry about!
5. We smashed our beautiful cake into each other's face at the end of our reception. We promised long, long ago that we would not smash cake on each other during our cake cutting. However, once the party was over and we were both good and tipsy, we (mutually) decided it'd be fun to do just for giggles. And it was! But I think Kate's mom was a bit horrified. She rushed me to the bathroom right away to make sure I didn't get any frosting on my dress.
6. We did not save/freeze any cake for our 1st anniversary. Neither of us cared much about this tradition - and really didn't want to have to worry about it. We figured we'd just buy fresh cake to celebrate on our anniversary.
7. We served Costco cake to our guests. They loved it.
8. We took a nap between the ceremony and the reception. I was exhausted. (And sunburnt!) Not only had we been preparing for the wedding all week long, but I stayed up until 2:00 am the night before the wedding to finish sewing the lace on my dress. Anyway, our ceremony was at 11:00am and we didn't have to meet for pictures until 6:00, so napping and scarfing down bagels were the obvious answers to how to fill that time. My hair held up quite well, I'd say!
9. We did not hire a florist. My sister created a bouquet for me from flowers she purchased at the Farmer's Market that morning, and I loved how it turned out! I just told her I liked wild flowers and herbs and she worked her magic, wrapping the stems with a handkerchief from my grandmother. Kate ordered herself a boutonniere and corsages/boutonnieres for our parents, and that was it. There were no fresh flowers at the reception - we used fabric ones (that I made) for decoration.
10. We danced to Cee Lo Green for our first dance. I kid you not. We had a really hard time agreeing on a song. (My vote was for "Never Let Me Go" by Florence + the Machine and Katie wanted "Infinite Arms" by Band of Horses.) Instead of one of us having to "cave", we decided to pick a totally different song. So 2 nights before the wedding, we sent our choice of "Old Fashioned" by Cee Lo Green to our DJ. He said that was a first. (If you've never heard it, rest assured that it is not anything like "F*** You". I still think it's a great 1st dance song!)

So, any surprises?! If you're interested, here are some more photos (by the wonderful Jill & Michael McNamara) of the ceremony & reception, as well as a collection of my wedding posts.

Happy Anniversary, Kate!!