Part 2: The Day Before & Rehearsal Day!

I woke up Friday morning around 6:30am to the boys getting ready to go to their tee time. I didn't sleep that well and I knew I wasn't going to go back to sleep, so I figured I would just get up too.

The girls hung out for a bit and then we decided to go get breakfast. I think my nerves were starting to set in, or I was nervous about looking 'fat' on my wedding day, so I literally had 1 egg white and 1/2 piece of wheat toast lol. To ensure I looked perfect on my wedding day I spent some time at the gym to make sure my arms were toned and I my endorphins were high :) My workout wasn't that good, probably due to the fact I was way to antsy and had to much on my mind.

Since it was such a gorgeous day, my Mom, Emily, Morgan, and I spent some time laying beside the pool (I stayed in the shade...didn't want tanlines!) Guests started arriving and my excitement started going through the roof. It seemed so surreal and crazy that I was getting married TOMORROW, and all these people were traveling for us and to share in our happiness!

During the day we met up with Carrie, our fabulous wedding planner, to go over a few details. We also got to see the programs we designed, our cute little maple syrups, our menus, and our doortags, and our welcome bags! Everything turned out AMAZING. Carey Bunker with Lasso'd Moon did such an incredible job with all our printed materials! We also got to see the ballroom in its early set-up...I was soo excited to see my gorgeous gold-chiavari chairs! (one of the main things that I NEEDED to have!) We also stalked the poor guy who had to go to all the assigned guest rooms and place our door-tag on the door and our welcome bag in the rooms!

My Mom, Emily, and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the spa :) My Mom, Em, and Morgan got mani's, and I got my hair done for all the big events that night!

By 3pm all our bridal party had arrived, along with soooo many guests. At 4:30ish the bridal party and direct family headed over to the church for rehearsal. It was soo exciting to see everyone and I was so excited for them to be in VT and be in the place that I fell sooo in love with. With all the talk and the planning, I'm sure they all had visions of the area and the resort, but I was so excited for them to actually see it! I might also add our resort is also a Mercedes test center, so we of course went to the church in style ;)

Rehearsal went really well. Carrie took charge which was amazing and directed everyone where to go, where to sit, etc. She did incredibly well with dealing with a bridal party of 18, parents, grandparents, and some other guests. Doing the practice walk down the aisle was so overwhelming, and I of course got soo emotional. It was so surreal looking around at everyone looking at me, and then looking ahead at Jeff. The.Time.Had.Finally.Come.O.M.G.

When rehearsal was done, it was time to party! We then all headed over to Spruce Camp, footsteps away from our resort for the Welcome/Rehearsal dinner. We decided to call it the "Welcome Dinner" and not so much the "Rehearsal Dinner" because we invited everyone, and we wanted everyone to feel welcomed. We wanted all our guests who traveled to arrive and have a nice meal with us and it was a nice way to kick off the weekend! We had 101 of our guests with us that night.

The Benders did an amazing job arranging everything. The location was perfect, the food was soooo amazing, and the linens and centerpieces were so gorgeous. Jeff's groomscake was also soo adorable! It obviously was an army-inspired cake. Mr. Bender gave such a wonderful, heart-warming speech to welcome everyone. He said such loving things about me and about Jeff & I together, and it just added such a amazing tone to the entire night.

During the dinner Jeff and I wanted to thank some important people and wanted to show our appreciation. We presented the bridal party with their gifts, the parents, and our readers. For the groomsmen Jeff had flasks engraved with their monograms and a bottle of their favorite alcohol. For the bridesmaids I got each of them a single-pearl necklace to wear with their dress, and a spa-robe with their monogram and matching flip-flops to obviously wear in the spa the next day :) (as part of their gift we also took care of their spa appointments) For our readers we got them Godiva chocolates. Our parents were tricky. We wanted to get them something special, but they are both soo hard to shop for! After manyy brainstorming sessions Jeff and I decided we wanted to have paintings made of our family's favorite spot, and where we had many childhood memories. Nantucket for my family...and Long Beach Island for the Benders. With help from my bridesmaid Katelyn, we found a local painter in Waltham who agreed to do the paintings for us. They came out amazinggg and our parents loved them!

I lovedd our Welcome Dinner. It turned out perfectly and it was sooo good to see so many of our guests, many whom I hadn't seen in awhile! When the dinner started to die down, I knew I should probably call it a night, I had a big day in the morning and I should probably attempt to get as much rest as possible. Jeff and I said our good-byes to everyone and we made our way back to the Lodge to have our last moment together before we said "I Do." We found a private spot and we exchanged wedding gifts. For our wedding gifts I had gotten Jeff a new set of golf-clubs and golf bag (which he received that morning so he could use them!) but I had also gotten him something very sentimental, something that means a lot to just him and me :) Jeff gave me the most beautiful pair of Mikimoto diamond and pearl earrings to wear with my dress...my 'something new.' They brought me to tears, and they were beyond gorgeous. I really do not know how he does it, he alwaysss seems to know exactly what I would love and what would be perfect, needless to say they went with my dress PERFECTLY. At that point I was just so overwhelmed and I had just felt so blessed to be marrying him the next morning. How did I get this lucky? What have I done in my life to deserve him. I must've done something right to have God lead me to him. We said our goodnights and then parted ways knowing the next time we would see each other we would be getting married!

So thankfully my bridesmaids all came to hang out with me in my parents suite for awhile. There was noo way I was going to sleep any time soon so it was nice to hang out and have company :) It was soo much fun to just relax, laugh, and tell stories. My Mom also gave me the most sentimental wedding gift ever. I looked up and she came walking out of her room with tears in her eyes, and I was like umm ok? Little did I know what she was about to give me. When I was a junior in highschool we took a trip to Europe. One of our stops was Brugge, Belgium. While we were there she apparently bought a hand-made lace hanky made by Nuns, that she bought to give to me on my wedding day. Well it was that time to give it to me. I was so overwhelmed with emotion (again) because I knew how special it was.

At midnight it not only meant that it was the day of the wedding...but it was Emily's 18th birthday! We all sang happy birthday and I gave her her birthday present. I knew I wanted to get Emily something very special, not only was it her 18 birthday, she also let us share her special day with us. I got her a Tiffany's necklace. It was her very first Tiffany's piece, and it brought her to tears too.

I would like to say that I slept that night...but I don't think I really did..I was soo restless.

Stay tuned for the BIG DAY!