married life, day 3

soooooo, we got married on saturday :)

it's day 3 of married life and so far so good.  mostly it feels the same except once in a while when you realize it really is forever.  this gives me butterflies throughout the day.

it's weird seeing a ring on eric's hand, and it's weird when people call me mrs. patterson.  we haven't introduced each other as "husband" or "wife" yet, but i think that will also take some getting used to.

here are some thoughts on the actual wedding day, which i assume any bride can relate to.  i wanted to write it down while it's still fresh.  before i start my list though, let me say it was so much better than i could have imagined.  like everyone says "it was perfect".  it was the perfect day and it ended with a husband.

feelings throughout the day:

• 9am (wakeup time) to midnight felt like less than an hour
• spent most of the day in some weird state of shock maybe? couldn't make any decisions/remember where i put anything, basically it felt like an out of body experience that you were floating around while everyone else was doing stuff for a good 7 hours
• around 3pm (wedding was at 5:30) started to feel a little pukey - this is the exact  same feeling i get when i'm about to go on stage and perform a difficult solo, except it lasted way longer
• as soon as i stepped out of the car and started for the aisle, this pukey feeling disappeared and the "show" began, just like a performance, we were "on", and what a high it was!
• the rest of the night was a total blast - i didn't drink anything and was just on cloud nine for hours, it was awesome

things eric and i both experienced:

• we missed all of the details: no idea how the ceremony site, dessert table, flowers, food, etc, looked, tasted, or anything else - that's what pictures are for??
• we forgot to eat or drink, but thankfully people kept shoving food in our faces
• we experienced a great level of exhaustion for the next two days
• little things went wrong, but we had no idea (didn't matter anyway) and are still learning of little things

favorite things :

• at one point i was in a room with all my best friends and family (all from different stages of life) and it's like "wow, my favorite people in the entire world all in one place!"
• having the girls (dogs) in the wedding was really cool - they both went to sleep, and at one point belle decided to eat a stick (which happend to be when eric was about to lose it crying, so her comedic timing was perfect)
• family members came in a good mood with hearts full of love and talked to other family members they hadn't seen or talked to in years (on both sides of the family!)  it was more than a reunion.
• we frequently feel incredibly blessed and lucky and the wedding was just that.  the weather, the vendors, the people, no one could have been better.

unsolicited recommendations for others:

• get your hair and makeup done.  it's not that you can't do it beautifully yourself, but in the moment, you probably won't want to.
• hire a day of coordinator.  don't know what we would have done without one.  family was still running around doing stuff, but she just knew what to do when and where and solved lots of issues without even having to think about it.
• tell people what you want.  this was hard for me.  i like everyone to enjoy themselves and be happy, including vendors.  but people don't know what you want unless you tell them, and if you don't, you can't be disappointed when they don't do it (i'm talking to myself).  on your wedding day, not a single person is going to tell the girl in the white dress 'no', so enjoy the power!  :)
• let go of control, let go of worry.  this was also very hard for me.  when you're a little ocd in general, letting others take care of things can be difficult because if something isn't done exactly like you have it in your head, you don't think it's correct.  this is the day to decide there are many "correct" ways to do things, and that you must let others worry.  you'll be anxious enough without worrying about details (that you won't get to see anyway!)

our brothers really got us with their toasts (got us all crying, that is).

as eric's brother said in his "it [wasn't] the happiest day of our life, it [was] the first day of our happiest life".

p.s. thanks to our friend john for the pic :)