I moved to Charleston on September 19th to begin committing to the wedding full time. Being long distance from Donnie, my family and all our vendors during the whole planning process (while working full time with only 10 vacation days) was absolutely exhausting. When I got to Charleston, it was amazing how much having Donnie around to help with all the DIY projects came in handy and comforted me. Donnie is a machine. He can focus on anything for hours and actually listens when I give instructions and cares to do a good job. Together we buckled down and got all the crazy hustle and bustle under control. I was also fortunate to move to a place where I have an Aunt, Uncle and two cousins who jumped in to help the last month.
Below are the doily petal holders we made to wrap little tags on.
My parents arrived late on October 8th with origami and hot glue guns. If you haven't seen photos of my wedding yet, we had 1,500 origami peace cranes. My Aunt Donna commissioned a man named Jeffrey, who she helps on Death Row, to make the cranes and my mom coordinated the whole stranding process which ended up involving quite a few additional helpers since she is getting her doctorate while working full time as Dean of a Nursing College. Yeaup - busy, busy. The origami became a HUGE collaborative effort to get it prepped and then come up with the install pattern for the day of decor. Luckily, my mom is brilliant and our floral/ decor women were able to make it happen.
Having 1001 peace cranes made for your wedding is supposed to be good luck for the couple because it shows patience. While my Aunt Donna and mom coordinated this, they certainly did take patience and hours upon hours of it from numerous people. Even if the superstition isn't true, it definitely proved to me that I am blessed to have so many patient people surrounding me.
Some of the garlands had to be taken apart and re-done, so Donnie, my Dad, my Uncle J.D., Aunt Chris, mother and myself got to work on them right away when they arrived.
The guys working hard - I love this photo!
Photos from my mom playing around with how many layers. We wanted to do three layers deep behind the ceremony, but had to consider the florists install time and it got cut back to two.
Once we got through Origami and finished the doily holders, it was time for our favors...Grandma Grund's buckeyes. Not only are these peanut butter balls dipped in semi sweet chocolate a sentimental, holiday snack on the Grund side, they also represent Donnie's and my Alma Mater (The Ohio State University BUCKEYES!). We figured it was a perfect, cost efficient and casual favor that would excite any sweet tooth. We started making 4 batches of balls (for about 400 Buckeyes) on Monday and had them all dipped and wrapped in baggies by Wednesday night (with help from my parents, Donnie, my Aunt and Uncle and The Reins). Once they were in the baggies, they were ready for Robbie to arrive on Friday to be wrapped in sweet, vintage hankies she had been shopping around for.
At the risk of going out of chronological order, here are some photos of us finishing up the favors on Friday. The components: Handmade Buckeye Balls wrapped and tied in cellophane bags, ribbon, string, tags and amazing, white vintage hankies.
We set up a production line and got things moving. Ashleigh, Robbie and Grandma Mary (Robbie's mother-in-law) tied up the hankies around the bags with a turquoise ribbon that Fredy (Ashleigh's boyfriend cut), Allie's friend September cut the string for the tags, Allie tied the string onto the tags, I tied the tags around the hankies. Meanwhile, mom worked at the end to sew the trim I purchased in New York on the girls dresses. Elise and Katy came by and took over later in the day when I had to go to our afternoon wedding rehearsal.
Back to earlier in the week:
My mom and I went to Stella Nova for my hair and make up trial. After the first try, my hairdresser and makeup artist nailed my look for the day. I LOVED IT! Super natural but detailed and groomed. It was worth the EXPENSIVE price for me to not have to worry about doing my own hair the morning of. You just never know how it will fall with the humidity down here in the south.
Donnie's parents made it in on Tuesday night with a whole crew in tow and 78 dozen cookies for our sweets station. Donnie's mom is quite a baker and literally never fails to amazing everyone with her tasty sweets. Donnie's parents rented a house 2 blocks from ours which made visiting people a convenience.
Jenna and her parents arrived to town on Wednesday, I had an early job interview with an opening back in New York (via phone) and ran around like a mad woman running errands and buying last minute presents and finishing all my thank you notes.
Kelly Hudak came in late Wednesday night and Josh woke me up at 4am (on Thursday) when he and Carrie made it in. I was NOT happy! I thought I was going to have a heart attack from the surprise. I wanted to wake him up when I had to wake up the next morning at 8am, but of course, being the sweet sister that I am, I let him get his beauty rest so he wouldn't have circles under his eyes in the wedding photos. :)
Random shopping picture with my mom. She picked up this sign and wanted a picture with the two of us and this quote. OY VEY!
Thursday morning, my mom, Aunt Lynn, Kelly Hudak and Mom Hudak got up and went to get our nails done. I was so happy to knock this out! It was the first time my mom, Aunt Lynn and Mom Hudak received a pedicure so they really enjoyed sitting in the massage chairs and laughing as their feet were scrubbed. SIDE NOTE: Mani-Pedi's in New York were $20 Monday-Wednesday at most places by my apartment, so the $45 mani-pedi and $55 french mani-pedi in Charleston will now become a special occasion thing. Wowzas! People say living in New York is expensive, but it sure does offer you some inexpensive luxuries - it all evens out in the end. At one point during our nail appointment I just leaned over to Kelly to say, "One of the best parts of living in NYC is $20 mani/pedi days" and the lady doing Kelly's nails said, "They don't cut cuticle"...realizing I may have unintentionally offended her by saying this but remaining the New York supremacist that I am, I quietly mouthed to Kelly, "Yes, they do - and they remove ingrown toenails as well."
Thursday night, family all began to arrive and I continued to devote 100% to last minute emailing with vendors to make sure everything was ready to go on Saturday. My mom had over-nighted wishing lanterns earlier in the week when I had brought them up and they arrived in perfect timing for a Thursday night trial. Josh, Donnie, Carrie, my mom and I all ran up to our deck to light one on fire and watch it take off. The warning on the box says "Do not light if winds exceed 5mph." Leave it to my fire-fighter brother and pyro mother to ignore this despite the 15mph winds. Before we knew it, the lantern was lit, swaying out of control and eventually we just had to let go. It blew into 2 separate trees, I chased after it. Luckily it had been raining all week so nothing was quick to catch on fire before the wind blew it out of the trees and into the air. We crossed our fingers for a calm night on Saturday. My dad went out to search for the lantern...for a while. He came back with a photo of the moon and a star, which he claimed was the lantern. Haha.Â
It was Mark Hudak's birthday so we went out to a local bar on the beach and celebrated for a little while before Donnie and I headed home for the rest our bodies were craving and to greet Allie, who arrived late that evening.
Out for Mark's birthday at Windjammer on Isle of Palms.
Ashleigh came in first thing on Friday morning. Robbie followed her arrival by swinging with her trailer in tow and got to work on the favors. Mom was working on the girls dresses, steaming everything that had a wrinkle, sewing the trim and finishing a little garland of cranes for Donnie and me to hold for our photos on Saturday. Elise and Katy came by in the afternoon to help Robbie with the th-hankies and free us up to get ready for the rehearsal. I was sooooooooo excited to see them for the first time in almost a month. It is hard to leave such amazing friends. Katy brought by some ridiculous sweets for us to munch on (Thank goodness, it was all I ate on Friday before the rehearsal).
With everything in the production line thanks to friends and family, we got ready and left for the rehearsal. We had to do an afternoon rehearsal at 2:30pm because the space was being used that night for an event. It was a little windy at rehearsal, but everything went as I hoped. The Cotton Dock was bare bones, no decor, no tables and no chairs so everyone had to stand while we figured out where we would all enter and stand. Luckily, Tony was a rockstar and got us in and out. I was glad he had brought up where to place musicians and unity table ahead of time because they were the only real set things we had to work around, but definitely needed to be coordinated ahead of time so I didn't have to email vendors for placement after the rehearsal. My friend Jenna was there to help coordinate the bridesmaids and parents walking order and to keep me from crying while I waited in the back with my dad. It was a huge help to have a friend there to not only do the above, but to also keep our little flower girl and ring bearer informed up to the second they walked. One less stress for a bride. Practicing our vows, I choked up and had to start talking in an accent so I didn't cry at the rehearsal. I told everyone to have tissues and hankies available the next day to help with my waterworks production. Donnie and I both are sentimental at weddings and have trouble holding back tears. I could only have imagined what our wedding would mean for the two of us.
After we concluded our second run through of the ceremony and everyone felt comfortable about their jobs, we headed back to our beach house to pass out gifts to our wedding party while we waited for our reservation time at Morgan Creek Grill.
The rehearsal dinner was delicious and easy with way too much food. The Hudaks had prepared 3 different dinner options for everyone and we enjoyed watching the sunset through our window view of the harbor. I made sure to eat everything I could to give me energy for the wedding the next day and our Friday night party after dinner. I loved giving Julianna and Timmy their presents. When Timmy opened his blue slap watch he screamed "I've always wanted one of these!!! How did you know blue was my favorite color?" I've never had anyone respond to a gift with as much excitement as he did. It was amazing. Julianna loved her Lilly Pulitzer coloring book and they both got busy with the walky-talkies in the restaurant, screaming into them as they stood right next to each other to communicate. So funny.
After the rehearsal dinner, we had planned for everyone to come to the Hudaks to hang out the night before the wedding. I did this for two reasons:
1. It meant I could spend more time with all the people who sacrificed so much to be at our wedding. It was so nice to have everyone in one place.
2. It meant I could spend less time talking to people I hadn't yet seen at the wedding and more time on the dance floor. It totally paid off!
It was super easy and casual and I'd say almost everyone showed up. We kept it simple with 3 types of wines and a few types of beers, some killer chip dips with salty crunch and fruits and veggies. I always want to go over the top and prepare a ton of food, but this nights simplicity proved to me how keeping it simple and casual sometimes creates just the right atmosphere to keep your friends and family as the main topic of conversation. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE AND OBSESS over entertaining with food and decor, but this night was so simple and perfect. I'm only bringing it up because I think people (or at least I) sometimes opt out of doing a party because they feel the need to spend tons of time to make a crazy amount of dishes and snacks...when in reality, good company is what really makes your night perfect. If you don't have good company, then by all means, you better make the food something to talk about. :)
I loved seeing all my friends and family in one place. It was the first time Donnie and I got to see our friends who had traveled from all over the country. It was perfect. I just wanted to keep hugging the people who make my world go round and round and round.
I left the party around 10:30 or 11, I can't remember. I would have stayed longer, but wanted to make sure I didn't have huge pillows under my eyes in the morning. When I got home Donnie had placed his letter to me and a present on my pillow. He writes the best letters. He got me a rice picture by a local artist (I think they paint with rice) called "Ain't love great!". We saw it when we were gift shopping downtown for our parents and I loved how the girl was dead weight in her boo's arms while kissing. It is a silhouette image and we have it on a bookshelf now.
I made it to sleep, only woke up once with my heart racing at about 3am. Shortly after a trip to the bathroom to make sure I didn't pee my pants from the random anxious moment, I fell back into my deep sleep until it was time to wake up for my wedding day.
My Friday night sleeping buddy. :)
Our wedding week was perfect. The combination of making progress, the anticipation and spending time with so many people who we loved made me really make sure to savor every passing moment. I'll never forget all the people who helped me get through the week and whose smiles warmed my entire body to the core. Such an incredible pre-wedding week that was produced by both of our families in the most special and beautiful way.
The Grund wedding week beach house retreat.
