Updates, as promised: Part 1

As I alluded to the other day, I owe you, my much beloved audience, some updates. So much has happened over the past few weeks, and you, patient readers, deserve to know :)

So Amar and I got married about 3 weeks ago, August 19 to be exact. All in all, everything went so well. From friends helping out, providing support and extra hands, to family coming into town to attend...everything seemed to fall into place quite nicely. To be honest, I thought it would be crazier than it was. I thought it would be more stressful than it turned out to be. That's a surprise I'll take any day. To give credit where credit is due, we are surrounded by some incredibly amazing friends. You know who you are, and we are so thankful to have you in our lives.

Play-by-play
We had the rehearsal (pretty much) on time, and everyone was in attendance. Things went smoothly, and Amar and I really enjoyed it. The building anticipation was fun, but it was a little surreal. It went by quickly, as Noell got people where they needed to be and informed them of their various responsibilities.

Then we were off to the Clay Pit for the rehearsal dinner. A few more friends joined us and we ate some tasty Indian food. It was a bit overwhelming to hear the various toasts from friends and family. Amar and I had to keep wiping tears from our eyes, but all in all, it was great.

Afterwards, the girls then headed out for the lingerie shower at my house, which was fun. You really can't go wrong with ice cream and cupcakes as snacks, ya know? After some games and gifts, we all headed to bed at a reasonable hour. I didn't have much trouble sleeping, so that was nice.

The wedding day started early, as the girls headed to the bridesmaids brunch. It was great to have a fancy breakfast with everyone, but it still all felt like it wasn't entirely real. After a quick bite to eat, Karen and I headed down to do hair and makeup. Both of the ladies that worked on me did a fabulous job.*

Karen and I were a bit late coming out of the appointment and then we hit traffic on the way to chapel, so I started to stress out a bit. Once we arrived at the church, I wound up injuring myself with the car door, and Julie had to put makeup on my shoulder to cover it up. Nice :)

After a few pictures, a word with the pastor, and a time of prayer, we were ready. I could hear the piano and harp music, so I knew it was time to get on with the show. Everything turned out so wonderfully, and went by so quickly. Amar and I were expecting the ceremony to take 45 minutes, and it wound up taking 20. I guess that's a good thing? People thanked us for it afterwards :)

The families and wedding party stuck around for a few more pictures, and then Amar and I loaded ourselves into Tollie's car to head to the reception. I had a total blood sugar crash on the way out there and thought I might toss the few cookies that I'd eaten that day, but was able to avoid doing so...

We arrived at the reception, took some pictures, had a snack, and then joined our guests and had our first dance. We had been practicing our dance quite a bit before the wedding, but when we stepped on the dance floor, the DJ had a different version of the song than we were used to. No one seemed to notice, though, and we had a great time.

It was a great day, all in all, and we are so thankful for those who were able to be there and celebrate with us. Thanks so much for your love and support!

Coming up next: the honeymoon update :)

*The woman who did my hair was about 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time. I found out that she had her baby 4 days after the wedding. Crazy!