Our Pawfect Wedding: Ceremony, Pug Style

And there we were. At the altar. I couldn't believe it. And how hot it was up there. Seriously... holy lights.

Our church is so beautiful.

Our officiant started off the ceremony and then passed it off to lovely Lyd for our first reading.

She did such a great job!

It was a great way to kick off the ceremony.

I could probably tell you more of what was said, but 1) I'm too lazy to pull out the ceremony schedule and 2) I could barely keep with it during the ceremony myself. My mind was a combination of racing and focusing on Mr Pug.

And whattaya know, time for another reading.

SIL did her reading.

Mr P's dudes listened intently.

Our officiant gave an amazing homily. Not sure if this picture is of it, but we're listening to him, so why not!

Ohhh my church! LOVE! Still sad the church wasn't very full. Wonder if I can photoshop people in?

We were about to do ring stuff so I handed over my flowers to MOH M.

I'm smiling because in those hot hot lights, my ring was like BLING BLING BLING! Serious sparkle.

We prayed, which was very calming and focusing.

And then... HUSBAND AND WIFE Y'ALL!!!!! I basically attacked him.

Our kiss!

God, I love him.

And although it didn't make it on film, I did a Jersey fist pump with my flowers. We were finally MR & MRS!

Everyone walked back down the aisle smiling and laughing. M and A...

R and Best Man Dan...

H and Z...

L and S...

A, A, and J...

My HOT MOMMERS and wonderful Uncle...

Two of the three MIL's...

FIL and the third MIL...

And we were off! ...To the basement! For our everyone-included punch and appetizers "reception" (I still don't know what we should have called it) that everyone was invited to. That we pulled together pretty last minute. That I could NEVER have done without Aunt P. You'll all die when you see the food!

Our Pawfect Wedding: Walking Begins

Our ceremony beginneth! (I know that's not a word.)

Ushers H, R, and E ushed them like pros. First up: Usher H and Mr Pug's maternal grandmother. His paternal grandmother broke her hip and couldn't come. We are very close with her so it was sad not to have her there!

Usher R with my MILs.

Usher E with my step MIL and my FIL following behind.

Father in Law pug looked dashingly sharp!

Then came, in my opinion, the guest of honor... usher R escorted her, my mom!

I love their faces! I adore R and my mom is the hottest, cutest, nicest mom out there. I'm so lucky.

Then came the wedding party! BM A walked with my BILs A and J.

It was a (Mr P's last name) sandwich!

Then came BIL S and BM L.

At this point, seeing it all together, I was SO happy with their outfits. Came together great. PS don't S & L look great together? They were visually well-matched.

Then come the blondes... GM Z and BM H.

Z shaved his mohawk off for the wedding... yippee!

Next up was the hilarious pair of the crew... Best Man Dan and my sister, MOH R.

In every picture Dan looks mischievous and R is laughing.

Mr Pug waiting patiently...

The other "bests..." Best Man A and my sister MOH M.

M's boyfriend has the same name as Best Man A. Weird right?

Oh look! Everyone is waiting for me!

You ready for this, Mr P?

I was still stressed but when those doors opened and my Uncle started to walk me down the aisle, I almost lost it. All I saw was Mr P.

You can tell I'm trying hard to pull it together and smile. And not cry.

I got handed off by my Uncle... who is also my dad's biological brother, and my Godfather. My dad was so missed that day, by so many people.

After that... GAME TIME!

My First Wedding Nightmare... awww

Recently, Mr Pug secured his third and final usher. Usher E happens to be Best Man A's older brother. The three of them lived together for many years, and still "jam" together often. Usher E is a great guy and we are happy that he will be getting married in 2010 as well! He got engaged recently and they will be getting married July 2, 2010.

Saturday night was an engagement party for them, and we went to Best Man A's house for the fun. There were great drinks, food and friends! In fact... I may or may not have tried a MEATBALL! And... LIKED IT! But that's a whole 'nother story.

A lot of our friends there had wedding on the brain... A & E's younger sister is recently married, and our friends who were married in October were there as well. Back from Tahiti... yea, no jealousy there! Ha! There were a lot of questions about how our planning is going. So I guess I had wedding on the brain when I went to sleep that night.

Yep, I had a wedding nightmare! I never have dreams about the wedding so this was a little exciting. I tried to remember as much as possible. I was getting ready for the wedding, but sort of frantic, since our timeline hadn't been finalized yet. Sort of like if we were to get married tomorrow... lots of things weren't done. My mom was practically a DOC, running around and helping- which isn't like her at all, she's a very quiet, humble, easy-going, behind-the-scenes type of person. I was feeling better when I realized I had left my hair fascinator and jewelry at our house (which was like my old house in NJ?) and kept asking people to go get them for me. I would explain where they were (the layout of my old room in NJ was like the layout of our spare bedroom... that's where they were) but no one would acknowledge my request. I started to be ok with it when I realized it was past 4pm and we only had 2 hours til the RECEPTION but hadn't even gone to the church yet!

That's all I have. I think it's pretty evident that I'm nervous about everything coming together. And you better believe I'm putting my jewelry and fascinator in a safe place!

Do you have haunting nightmares about your wedding? How do you handle them?

6 Months!

Yesterday was quite a busy day- and luckily a day of rest. It was also, however the 6 month mark! Yes, today is 6 months minus a day until our wedding. I can't believe how fast time is flying by! Also- thanks to everyone who commented about my DIY necklaces. I'll definitely be doing the rest!

Yesterday, we met with the Reverend from the church we selected- I'll update you all on that soon :) However, some more good news:

Mr Pug had an awesome time in Saint Louis at our friend's bachelor party. He was very responsible with money and took out $240 of his recent bonus in cash to use for the weekend- no more than that. He ended up holding over $700 in the casino! Some more of that got spent that night, and after food and gas on Sunday, he came home with over $500.

(A nice picture of us from two years ago!)

I know it's mostly luck, but it's nice to add to our savings. Also, I am so proud of his money plan for the weekend. It's really great to have a fiance who is so considerate with money.

How was your weekend?

The Checklists Inspire...

I have been checkin' up on my checklists and seem to be in pretty good shape thus far! My big things I am worrying about are my flowers, cake, and makeup. However something that came up on the checklist was officiant.

We are getting married at our venue in a simple ceremony, so we could ask anyone to officiate the wedding. However, I have been leaning towards asking the (retired) reverend from my church in New Jersey.

Of course this brings challenges, since he's retired and he's in NJ. I assume we would offer to pay for his hotel and/or flight. I just think it would be really neat to have someone who knows me so well do the ceremony.

Not only was he the rev, but he was our next-door-neighbor. I would go over there for sugar or eggs if we needed it, and I would take care of their Koi fish while they traveled.

More importantly though, he had a great relationship with my family, especially my dad. (That's my dad below with our first pug, Oli.)

When my dad died, the reverend did the service and spoke so wonderfully about him. He spoke smiling and with joyful memories. While he was talking, the foghorn that the fire department used went off. And he laughed, remembering my dad's potty humor, and said that the horn sounded like Papa Pug responding from heaven.

I guess I am just scared to ask him. Since moving I have barely seen or spoke to him. What would you do? Should I just let go of my pipe dream and find an officiant here?