Time to Get to Gettin’

In the words of the famous Miss Niecy Nash, it is time to get to gettin!  What?  It’s recap time!

Today’s post: our arrival at the hotel.  We stayed at the lovely Pearl River Hilton, with all of our out-of-town guests, and it truly was a lovely location.  J. and I arrived on Friday afternoon, but we drove separately because we had so much stuff!  My mother and I had brought the dress the day before, so I had packed up everything else I could into my little Volkswagen Golf (which I swear to you is like a clown car, you can cram a lot into that little guy) and checked myself in!

The Hilton in the snow!

Doesn't it just look utterly bridal?

Now, one of the truly smart decisions I made when I booked the hotel, was to book their super-huge suite.  J. and I decided not to see each other on the wedding day, so he was in a Junior suite with his brother for night one and I got the big suite.  The big suite was incredible- a whole hotel room, plus a second enormous room that had a huge TV, a muphy bed, a kitchen, two closets, another bathroom, and tons of seating.  It became a perfect place for gatherings of people, especially the next day while getting ready.  My friend C. reserved the room adjacent to my suite, which meant we had a really nice amount of space for everyone.

Here I am with my mom and some maids, chilling after check in.

Once checked in, my mother immediately brought up my dress and we set to work laying out the train and the veil so any residual wrinkles could fall out.

Great place to spend the night, no?

And here's "the bride" getting ready for her debut.

Of course, I had also brought a few “extras” including bottles of water I had made for the OOT bags.  I loved these so much but I thought other people might just think I was a super nerd for making them.  Conversation with J. last September:

J:  What are those?

Me:  Oh I found this free template for personalized water bottle labels so I decided to make some.  Aren’t they awesome?

J:  *groan* Um are you serious?  Don’t you think you’re going overboard here?  I’m starting to worry about your mental health.  Maybe you should take a break from all this planning for a while.

Me: Yes, I’m totally serious and no I don’t think this is overboard (but even if it is, who cares).  They were free and we’re putting water in the OOT bags either way, right?  And I love them!!  Besides, nobody will think it is you who is going overboard, remember, these people know me!

J:  I can see you cannot be reasoned with.  I realize now that you are always right- would you like some flowers?

Ok that one last line may have been an invention of my imagination.

Our one-hit wonder water.

0% fear... just how I felt when making these labels!

Fast forward to December 18.  Guess what everyone was LOVING?  My water bottles!  They even ended up with their own nickname!  And even J. had to admit they were a fun touch!

Up next: rehearsal time!