Our Pawfect Wedding: Enjoying Buca

We walked into Buca di Beppo and were bombarded with photos! Woot!

My friendor Laura was there:

I swooned over her creations for forever. I still talk about those cupcakes (today, it was with my mom, discussing the cute M&M's on top.)

We settled into our table... I LOVE this pic.

Smoochies were had...

MIL and her sister

BILS A & S (and A's then GF)

Mr P's BFF and Co-Best Man A and his GF, and our friend H (a former Colts cheerleader!)

THE CAESAR SALAD THAT CHANGED MY LIFE...

Mr P's childhood friend and groomsman Z...

Z's sister Lyd and her boyfriend A... again, two of my FAVE people in this world.

Best Man Dan and L. L recently got married (you can see the wedding deets here) to the other best man (A)'s brother E, who was an usher. (Good luck with that association.)

P (H's boyfriend), bridesmaid H, and bridesmaid A.

Bridesmaid L lovin on the booze.

L and AP

Fit and my sister/MOH R

Sis/MOH M and her boyfriend!

B's cousin T and his girlfriend, C. They're holding T's brother's baby L!

The other cousin-baby, A, with her momma!

A with her parents, momma K and Brian's cousin daddy K! They have two pugs, so we clearly approve of them.

The third brother, P, with wife S and daughter L. LOVE!

My cousin M and my Aunt J!

Love the bokeh in this. The server was pourin' us DRANKS!

K with a very tired A.

Me and my cutie MOMMERS!

My girls drinking some wine!

The whole table... basically these are all "my" guests. And I am so endlessly happy that each and every one of them made it. They made my wedding.

THE BFF4L PIC!

Erin did her stuff and got some great ring pics. Mine and Mr P's together...

Wow... it doesn't look that sparkly right now...

The cake toppers (with plenty of cake residue!)

Ring hats!

Then... dinners arrived. I nearly died. It was perfect. Our food was amazing. MEATBALLS bigger than my pugs...

Manicotti (that we didn't eat since by the time it came we said PLEASE GOD NO we are full!)

And lemon chicken!

Everything was WONDERFUL. Someone came up with the great idea for us to do the Lady & The Tramp spaghetti scene.

Romantic AND tasty!

Up next? TOASTS! They were wonderful and I can't wait to share them!

Our Pawfect Wedding: The Day Before

Ok so I was trying to wait for some pictures from friends, but I have about half and can't wait any longer to start recapping- holy ONE WEEK SINCE I'VE WRITTEN!? Yea it's recap time.

Anywho the day before the wedding was INSANITY. I brought the out of town bags to the hotel first thing in the morning. I regret not getting pictures- they were cute! I bought a pack of assorted black and white bags from Michael's and some lime green tissue paper. I put in the bags some water bottles, mini wine, gum, snack packs, and a note with nearby restaurants and a greeting. I think there may have been one more thing in the bag but either way, they were pretty basic. It was really just a hello and thanks for coming bag.

I then got my nails done! I had a spa gift card to use and will never regret the nearly two hours my mani-pedi took. They used top-notch clear coat (on top of my nail polish) and it really held- well into my honeymoon. Plus the scents and soothing music calmed me down. When I was done, my mom, aunt, and sisters were in town! MOH M had to do some work though, so they stayed at the hotel downtown and got some food. I went home and cleaned and finished last minute projects.

When it was almost time for the rehearsal, my mom drove everyone over- my family, my aunt, my mom's best friend, and my friends. They all got to see my house and meet the pugs! Bridesmaid L checked out my fabulous honeymoon hat:

(Yes, we have a random picture of Honest Abe in our guest room. That came with Mr P when we moved in together... and I've grown to love it.)

Then we loaded into our cars and headed to the church, which is only minutes from our house. We all hung out outside waiting for some "fashionably late" people. (Learn from my mistake and tell those people to be there early!) My minions helped carry in my wedding goodies... here are my sisters, MOH M and MOH R carrying our guestbook!

And here are my aunt, my mom, and mom's best friend! My Aunt is holding our birdcage card box! I ended up just getting the generic one at Jo-Ann's and spray painting it black, remember?

We had lots of fun practicing to do. Here are my girls... Bridesmaids A, L, and MOHs R and M. Bridesmaid H had a delayed flight so she had to wing it the next day! And in case you missed it, BM S wasn't able to make the wedding- but was totally missed :(

Here are the dudes with our church's wedding coordinator arranging them.

And here I am with my boo! Tensions were running high all day so it was nice to have that moment to reflect and prepare for our marriage the next day.

After the rehearsal, we went to Cancun, the Mexican restaurant we go to, oh, weekly. (Remember?) They didn't take reservations, just call ahead. It worked out fine, except one server forgot a whole table. One half of us were eating before the other half ordered! They took a little off the price, but it was just a fluke type thing, to be expected with a place that's as casual as Mexican.

Our guests enjoyed drinks and each others' company!

We had a great time eating and introducing everyone.

Above left is one of my step-MIL's... I felt bad catching her at a bad second but she's normally super smiley! However the rest of the pic is too funny not to post.

After we went to one of Mr P's friend's houses to have some drinks and hang out. Bridesmaid J was not so into the dudes' decor...

We kept it an early night and head home (well, me home, them to hotels) while the guys stayed out a bit later. I stayed up until about midnight to wash my hair and blow dry it then, so it would be a little dirty for my hair-do the next day. And then- bed! Lots of excitement the next day...

*All pictures taken by my pugtastic friends.

Progress...

I have been a machine lately! Last night, I finalized our ceremony. I FINALLY picked the ceremony music and readings. The organist approved, I sent out the readings to our readers, and sent the ceremony for approval. Our officiant is on vacation (LUCKY!) so the other Reverend approved them for us. Here is our ceremony schedule:

Prelude

Entrance of Family
Panis Angelicus (C. Franck)

Wedding Party Entrance
Largo, from Serses (G.F. Handel)

Entrance of the Bride
Trumpet Voluntary (J. Clarke)

Welcome & Declaration of Intent

Scripture Reading from Colossians
Lydia *******

Vows

Scripture Reading from Corinthians
Christina ****

Homily
Reverend Doctor Curtis Page

Exchange of Rings

Prayer
Reverend Doctor Curtis ****

Recessional
Prelude from Te Deum (M.A. Charpentier)

I also emailed everyone about the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Go me! And now programs for the ceremony are ready to print.

Since my new job doesn't allow checking of other emails, I perfected the art of lunch-time wedding calls today. Also, we are allowed to get personal emails on our work email, so I emailed with our photographer to set up the day's schedule. We determined we needed to move our Buca dinner back an hour so we'd have enough time after the ceremony to take family pictures but also enjoy our church "cocktail hour."

So I called Buca- we're good to move it to 6:30! And then I called my friendor Laura (making the cake) to decide our schedule, and even remembered to change my hair highlighting appointment (it was right near my old work, and I had planned to go during lunch next week, so I obviously had to move it!)

Mr Pug's aunt P also stopped by my new work to pick up the cookie cutters for our decorating party on Saturday, and we talked details. I felt good at the end of the day.

Oh and I set up the "guestbook" tonight...

Dixie's totally saying, Wut duh hek?! Onlee fawnz? Were iz da Buggz lyke MEE!?!!?"

It's my picture from Doggie Drawings. I put it in a plastic sleeve and taped it in- a little crooked, but it's ok since I will take it out when people are done signing. The plastic sleeve will protect it. I took out the glass so it's ready to sign!

Tonight I had a bachelorette dinner with my Indy girlfriends! It was tons of fun and great to relax. I know that this isn't the best blog post, and I know I'm not visiting blogs at ALL (seriously I haven't looked at my reader since Thursday last week. Send me an email if you post something I need to see! LOL!) But I promise to try and keep you updated in our final week! GAHH!

PS... 10-day forecast for March 20 is up... 40% chance of rain. PRAY!! ANTI-RAIN DANCES PLEASE!

And now... the pugs' fittings!

As you guys may have realized, I have a pug blog too. I love my three little puggeroos and they're basically my life. So of course I asked my pug blog friend Punchy (who blogs about her pugs at Pug Possessed) to make their wedding dresses for the pictures we'll take with them. She was so easy to work with and I CANNOT BELIEVE how great their outfits look!!!

I got the pugs one by one and dressed them, then took pictures on the guest bedroom bed. Which in hindsight was maybe not so smart since they was far too excited to be up there (it's too tall for them to get up on their own.) In any case, they look adorable so it's time to share! First up - Sophie!

Here's a top view of the totally pooftastically cute dress...

Sophie is a sassy little girl!

Next up is Dixie (the bugg, aka Boston x Pug) who can be seen doing a "noseguard" in her first picture.

"Hey mommehh wazzup!?"

This one is MY FAVORITE!!! Look at that hint of tulle... it's white and green tulle layers! Punchy outdid herself!!!

Ever classy, the bugg rolled over for a bugg rub when I tried to take the dress off of her.

Last up was Sir Harles (aka Harley) who was THE most excited to be on the bed. So excited, in fact, that I only got one good shot. And I had to pretend I was getting a treat to get this shot!

The coolest part? Punchy sent a full SET of interchangeable ties!

In case you can't read it, the paper says "'Because of Marty' Shirt Sets (pic of Marty)

Seems the boy dogs never have great fashion! Your dog can be a dog for all seasons! White dress shirt & 9 detachable ties! Set includes: St. Patrick's, Easter, Memorial Day/July 4th, Birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Silk, Christmas, and Valentine's." Punchy also threw in the black and white tie and the green tie to choose from for the wedding.

Looks like our pugs will be well dressed for a while!

Now if only I could find a "pug wrangler" to babysit them/transport them for wedding events... hmm....

PS if you want doggie items or clothing made, visit Punchy's etsy shop, Pugpossessed!