a lonestar state of southern

Everyone says your wedding day is “the best day of your life.” Honestly, I heard that so much before getting married that I started to worry it wouldn’t be true for me! Surely with all the stress, the countless logistics, “crazy uncles” and unknowns, there’s no way it can really live up to the hype. Right?!

Wrong. I decided to go into my wedding day with zero expectations, fully cognizant that there would be kinks along the way, and fully committed to loving every second regardless. Sure enough, it really did turn out to be the most perfect, beautiful, fun and special day of my entire life!

And, sure enough, there were a few things that definitely didn’t go as planned. Ha! Thankfully, all of the big, important factors (like the health and safety of everyone involved) went off without a hitch. But there were a few things that didn’t.

Looking back, the things that didn’t go quite as planned have turned into memories we laugh about now… and I don’t think I would change that for the world!

So today, I thought it would be fun to share a few things that didn’t go as planned on our wedding day. Now keep in mind… these are shared in an effort to give you more of a look into the day, and to make you laugh! None of this is meant as a complaint. Like I said… these moments truly give us so many funny stories to look back on, and I hope you enjoy them too!

I hope this also serves as a reminder that there’s so much that goes on behind “perfect photos.” Not necessarily in terms of our wedding in and of itself, but in life in general! Sometimes we don’t see the full picture when we’re looking at someone’s life through photos, but it’s often those behind-the-scenes, “imperfect” moments that give life so much more meaning and make it so much more of an adventure.

 

“It’s Getting Hot In Here”

 

The big day had arrived! After a wonderful morning spent drinking coffee with my mom, dad and sister while reliving the gorgeous rehearsal dinner my in-laws had thrown the night before, we headed a few blocks over to the church Andrew and I would get married at.

There is a large parlor underneath the chapel that we had planned on using for me and my bridesmaids to get ready in. Upon walking in, we noticed it felt a little warm. A few minutes later… we were all starting to get quite toasty… not exactly what you want in the middle of a Texas summer!

After a few phone calls, my wedding planner let us know that the maintenance team had turned off the AC the night before, so the room had been gradually heating up all night. Just what you want to hear!

Thankfully, my “fairy godmother” as we like to call her (a dear family friend of ours!) ran to Lowes and picked up a few huge indoor fans. I have the funniest memory of my mom standing directly in front of one with her arms held out in an effort to cool off. In no time at all, the room had cooled off… thank goodness!

 

Getting Wet Feet

 

I had been checking the weather all week, y’all. Our ceremony and reception were indoors, but there was this one beautiful patio area I had designed with our amazing rentals vendor, Perch Event Decor, that I dreamed about guests watching the sunset from.

As of noon, you couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day! I remember walking outside in my dress for the first time, looking up at the sky and feeling so relieved at the sunshine.

Fast forward a few hours, and my father and I were waiting to walk down the aisle, tucked away from everyone in a little room. All of a sudden… I thought I heard rain outside. Turning to my photographer, John, I asked: “Is that what I think it is?!”

To this day, one of my favorite memories from the wedding day is seeing the expression on his face. You could read “Do I tell her the truth and risk her falling apart before walking down the aisle, or pretend it’s not pouring?” all over his face. Finally, he gave me a reluctant nod. And honestly… at that point, I didn’t even care!

In fact, I’ll never forget how beautiful, dark and romantic the chapel felt as I walked down the aisle. There was something about the rain pouring outside that made everything feel especially cozy and, in a sense, other-worldly. During the final prayer, there was a huge clap of thunder that felt magical. It’s one moment Andrew and I still talk about to this day!

 

The Bus Ride from Hell

 

I promised I’d tell this story, but let me start out by saying this. I was lucky enough to have the most incredible team of vendors for our wedding day and I’ve loved sharing and gushing about each of them with you. There was one vendor, however, that truly put a dent in our day. I hate to share anything negative, but this was pretty unbelievable. I’m hoping that this was just a bad day for the driver, and for that reason, won’t be sharing any specific details about our vendor. But I will say, even the way the company handled our complaint afterward was unbelievable. Oh well… I digress!

We hired a transportation company to take the wedding party from the church to the reception in a bus… a simple enough task, right? Well, after wrapping up photos of just Andrew and me, he and I headed through the church to meet the rest of the wedding party on the bus.

The first issue? Getting onto the bus. At this point, it was pouring outside. And for whatever reason, the bus driver refused to get as close as possible to the awning. (And trust me when I say there were more than a few ways he could have made this work.) Cue Andrew grabbing a massive bucket and holding it over me as we ran on board. Not ideal… but looking back, one of the funniest moments of the night. Here’s a photo to prove it!

After a rainy drive to Northwood Club, our reception venue, we faced the second challenge. Getting off of the bus. Again, for whatever reason, the bus driver found no need to pull up under the awning of the club. In fact, he wouldn’t even get close! And none of this would have been that big of an issue except for the fact that it was still raining cats and dogs outside.

We all sat on that bus for probably 10 minutes as my sister tried to convince the driver to pull up even a little closer (we were about a good 30 second, uphill, uncovered walk away from the doors, mind you) and Andrew tried calling the wedding planner for help.

After what felt like forever, the driver inched close enough to the entrance for us to make a run for it. Attendants from the club formed a bridge (YMCA-style) with umbrellas while I took off my shoes, bunched up my dress and veil, and sprinted inside.

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Mac ‘n’ Cheese Please

 

Once we finally made it into the club (whew!) we faced another challenge. Due to the rain and the bus situation, we were about forty-five minutes behind schedule!

Luckily, we had allotted an hour for cocktails, which would serve as a chance for Andrew and me to sit and enjoy a meal in private before greeting all of our guests in the ballroom.

The reality of this intimate dinner for two? Our photographer John feeding us mac ‘n’ cheese and fried okra while my mother and wedding planner bustled my dress! Again, this was one of those moments we look back on and laugh about. It was pure chaos, but there I was with my brand new husband about to walk into a party I had been planning for months. Life really couldn’t get any sweeter!

 

The Great Cake

 

When it came to the reception, everything turned out about 100x more beautifully than I ever could have dreamed! Truly, it took my breath away and I felt wide-eyed looking around the room taking it all in!

The one (and very small, mind you) detail that didn’t translate was my cake. In my mind, it was going to be massive… tall, wide, the whole 9 yards. Turns out, we had made the cake too wide that it didn’t fit on the cake base! So my wedding planner decided to ditch the cake base and set the cake directly on the table. I think no one even noticed except for me… and what it may have lacked in height, it made up for in taste. I steal dream about that strawberries and cream slice of heaven!

If you asked us about our groom’s cake, however, we couldn’t tell you! That’s right. Andrew and I didn’t even try it! Why? When we were cutting the cakes, we decided to eat a chocolate-covered strawberry from on-top instead of the cake itself. Don’t get me wrong… the strawberry was divine, but to this day we’re so sad we didn’t get a bite of that delicious chocolate-mocha cake. We heard it was a hit!

 

Andrew Takes A Tumble

 

If you caught my last Wedding Wednesday post, you may remember this story. A few hours into the reception, when just about everyone was on the dance floor (I attribute that to our amazing band, the Georgia Bridgewater Orchestra), Andrew had a bit of a run-in. With a mic.

He accidentally tripped while his buddies were pushing him onstage, and as fate would have it, a microphone is what broke his fall. It all happened so fast that I didn’t even realize it happened until he told me about it the next day while showing me his bruised eye. We can’t believe John caught this photo of the exact moment! How hilarious is that?!

 

Carpool Buddies

 

At the very end of the night, Andrew and I ran through our friends and family, through lots and lots of metallic streamers, and loaded into the getaway car! Andrew had decided to surprise me with a sleek white convertible with… wait for it… longhorns on the front as a nod to my time at the University of Texas.

Another surprise I was not anticipating? The giant stuffed bear and alligator my father-in-law had set up in the back seat! The drive to our hotel took us down the highway, and all the while that massive bear nearly crushed me as the wind kept knocking it down on top of us.

Then, when we got to our hotel, our driver said our new friends were to stay with us! Y’all, picture this. Me, in my huge white dress, clutching a giant stuffed alligator with Andrew, in his tux, trying to hold this larger-than-life bear, making our way into the lobby of the Mansion hotel. I’m sure we were quite the sight!

(The good news is the front desk let us leave them there… we didn’t have to take them all the way to our room!)

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All in all, I wouldn’t trade any of these little mishaps for a “perfect” day. In hindsight, they’re the very things that gave our wedding day so much flavor and created memories we’ll cherish for a lifetime!

If you’re a bride-to-be, I can’t encourage you enough to try your best to just relax and soak it all in the day of. It’s true… not everything will go as planned, but those might just be the things you end up loving the most about your big day!

And now I’d love to hear from you! Did you have any things happen on your wedding day that didn’t go according to plan? I’d love to hear!

Love from the Sunshine State,

Kate

Photography by John Cain Photography