Leinie's Tour and The View

Since we had such an early rehearsal, and a bunch of time in between the actual rehearsal and the dinner, the FH and I decided to make good on our longtime promise to friends who would come to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin...the Leinenkugel's Brewery Tour!

Leinenkugal's has been distributed more widely in the last few years since they signed on to being distributed by a larger national company - but all of the Leinenkugal's beer you have ever enjoyed was made right in Chippewa Falls.

We signed everyone up for the free tour, and everyone that was of age could enjoy some of the free samples ;)

      

   

     

{the hubby and his dad - you wouldn't know it. ha!}
   

After enjoying our freebies, we headed on the tour.
   

After the tour, we headed towards the Rehearsal Dinner location with a small stop over at a local bar on Lake Wissota, The View. And what a view it has.

but in reality...in between the tours and The View, some of the party sneaked away on a secret mission to buy a little gift for my Packers fan of a husband.

and then we had a toast.
    

With the Cheesehead.
  

On to Dinner!

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A little layout change...

I have futzed with the layout a bit to bring you bigger photos for the recaps!

Enjoy.

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Let's Rehearse

And now for the coverage of the most efficient rehearsal ever. Seriously.

Deacon Kinnick, from St. Charles was not playing around. He knew that we had places to be and so did he. (He had about 50 teenagers arriving shortly for Youth Group evening camp.)

To be honest, we felt lucky to have a rehearsal at all. When we had to do the "hey let's move the wedding up a month," the only possible problem was that we wouldn't be able to do a rehearsal, as the church was being taken over by teenagers the night before the wedding. So our rehearsal was at 3:00pm.

Unusual? Yes. End of the world? No.

We found some fun ways to fill the time (read: Brewery Tour).

In any case, upon our prompt arrival (after a costume change) we got started right away! Austin yelled out the orders of our guys and gals, and we all lined up for a quick photo.

My mom and I may or may not have been running in to make the shot. 

Look at all those lovely ladies in their lovely dresses.

As we ladies were lining up, the deacon directed the boys down to the front of the church, where my FH stood waiting to see this whole thing get started.

We made it down the aisle and got started with the whole she-bang. These were probably the most surreal moment of the entire weekend. I was grinning like an idiot and barely paid attention to anything going on. Apparently neither were my maids, since they were able to snap this shot.

Excited girls at the altar!

  
  

Deacon Kinnick showing the FH how to escort me to my seat. 
There I am pretending to pay attention and grinning.

   
  

My parents looking on...
 
 

We're all laughing at something that none of us can remember.
 
 

And then it was done! We had the marriage certificate - signed, sealed and delivered, and we had rehearsed. Our deacon may or may not have taken on the personality of a drill instructor, but we were in and out in around 40 minutes! We even had enough time to grab some photos after the fact before heading to our reservations at Leinenkugels. 

 

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We interrupt

your regularly scheduled blogging to bring you a discovery that has me tickled.

Not only did we love, love, love our engagement photo shoot with Alyssa Alig in Athens, but it seems the feeling was mutual!

We are now the engagement portfolio couple. How fun is that?

Check it out here.

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And I digress...

So soon, you ask?

Why yes! Because, when she saw that I had not photos of the set up process, my new father-in-law's lovely girlfriend sent me some!
  

 

Loading up the vehicles...I believe I am in there 

conferring with my brother about a checklist.

 

 

 Look at my hot husband hanging curtains for me.

  

 

 

Look at how much fun my lovely maids were having! haha. right.

  

   
 

The siblings, helping out. While others were nice enough to not make 

comments along the lines of, "she is insane," these two had no qualms. 

Ah, sibling love.

 

 
 

 "Here dads, let me show you how I want it..." 

I may or may not have walked around apologizing to everyone and 

thanking them profusely throughout this entire process.

  

And with that, a few hours minutes later, we were good to go!

  

Again, thank you so much to everyone who was willing to climb ladders, get ceiling dust in their eyes, tie pretty bows and sting lanterns ad curtains that night. It all came out fabulously.

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Impromptu Welcome Lunch

While a few of my lovely bridesmaids arrived on Wednesday {and then we got to hang out and get manicures and pedicures and set up the wedding reception decor [read: my friends and family love me enough to be slave labor...thanks guys!] - no photos though, sad day!} the majority of the wedding party and family arrived on late Wednesday night, or early Thursday morning, so we will start recaps there.

{Are you impressed by the length on that last sentence? I am.}

As everyone rolled in to my parents' house, my mom and I were running errands early - picking up some flowers for the house, picking up linens and tables, all sorts of last minute details.

We headed back to the house, and some of the people had arrived to stay! I immediately went into chill mood and was ready to have some fun. My fiance, on the other hand, went into "let's get things done" mode, which made me laugh. But, he assigned duties to everyone hanging out and they hopped to! He and I ran to drop off linens at Lake Wissota and check in with Karen, our event manager, to make sure everything was good to go!

We were so excited and giddy the whole way there and back, and we were ready to roll when it came time to meet everyone up at Noodles & Co. for a quick bite to eat!

Don't you just love when those big, loud, annoying groups steal

all the tables in the restaurant to create a large one? Ha!

We were just so excited to see everyone all in one place! This is the moment where I looked around me and said "it's here!" And then, just like that we all had to run and change to make the 3:00 rehearsal on time!

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Recap Outline

As I tackle these wedding recaps, and since I am an English major at heart, I figured that the best bet would be to first outline these thoughts - chronologically. I briefly considered just writing a novella, but thought if I break it up it would be easier for everyone to stomach.

Recaps will occur as follows:

1. Rehearsal Day
1. Lunch
2. Rehearsal
3. Leinenkugel's Tour and The View
   
4. Rehearsal Dinner
5. Bachelorette Festivities! {thankfully no pictures of the Bachelor activities exist}
2. Wedding Day
1. Salon and Getting Ready
2. First Look
3. Wedding Party shots
4. Getting to the church
5. Ceremony
6. Family Shots
7. First Dance and Dinner
8. The Sunset
9. Toasts
   
10. The Cake Story
11. Dancing
12. Bouquet/Garter Toss
13. We're on a boat!
3. The Day After
1. Brunch
2. The Mall of America

Ok, so this is what you can all hold me to! It will be quite some time to get through all of this, but I will, I swear, and hopefully our video will get here soon so I can interject some of those clips as well as photos.

Here we go!

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Photos are in!

We have received all of our professional wedding photos! Thank you Jeff!!

I will be starting recaps just as soon as possible, until then here are is a sampling of a few of my favorites {which are all over the place, but otherwise I would just have to post them all!}:

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Still Waiting...

for our photos to arrive, but in celebration of a month of marriage here is another one to whet your appetite.

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Back to reality!

The last two weeks have been a complete and utter blur of a crazy beginning to married life!

We have had so much fun taking care of so many things: moving cross county twice, possibly buying a house (!), and trying to get settled before the Husband deploys!

I heard from our photographer this morning that he will very shortly be sending us our photos, which can then lead to tons and tons of recaps and fun stories {including the story of the cake that never was and photos of one of the most gorgeous sunsets ever}. So, get ready for an awesome ride, but until then here is a little teaser:

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Licensed to Wed

The FH and I had a laundry list of tasks to accomplish today, but the first thing on the list was to head down to the County Clerk's office at the Chippewa Falls Courthouse to get our marriage license! Woo!

I was actually really dreading this task, having heard so many nightmarish stories before. But - our experience was wonderful.

We headed into the office and there was - no wait. Seriously, we walked right up to the counter and the deputy clerk just started typing our information right in.

The license was printed and they handed us a commemorative pen to sign our license! It says,

"Congratulations! From the Chippewa County Clerk"
Cute Right?

Here we are...licensed to wed.

{Picture in the car, because it was raining...booo.

p.s. the rain is creeping up on the wedding date - everyone throw a thought out to whoever you throw thoughts out to. kthanks.}

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Watching the Weather

I had probably more apprehension about hitting the ten day mark from our wedding than most people would think. Why? Why 10 days and not 7?

Because 10 days is the first glance at the forecast people!

I was relieved when I pulled it up and it showed this:

 

Wooo! 75 and Sunny! (Well partly cloudy is good in my book - better for photos than full on sunlight).

I did a happy jump around dance and then quickly knocked on some wood so that the weather gods don't think that I am being presumptuous and decide to teach me a lesson.

See, here is the thing: I have been trying to convince my friends for years that it is g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s in the Midwest in the summer time, that it does not snow year round, etc. So the fact that we set a record low yesterday for June 6th (unbroken since 1938) was not making me feel very good.

But, the weatherpeople are saying that this weekend is a freak cold snap and should start warmingback up on Monday evening (whew.)

Here is hoping the weatherpeople are right for maybe the first time ever. 

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DIY Makeup Trial

I meant to do my Makeup Trial yesterday with my hair, but ran out of time as my mother and I ran errands to our hearts content...including picking up the best gift for my groom ever. More to come on that.

In any case, back to makeup. I originally considered having my makeup done, but then I realized that I am pretty darn good at it. Seriously - I have had a LOT of practice. Bridesmaid S and I were college roommates and she regularly would come plop down in my room for me to do her eyes for going out. Most of the weddings that I have been in I have done the makeup of the bride and some other bridesmaids. Besides, if I did it myself that meant that I could go crazy with my most favorite brand of makeup - Smashbox.

I was originally introduced to Smashbox cosmetics in a sorority philanthropy fashion show as a sophomore in college. They donated their service to make up the models, and then - best surprise of all - gave all of the volunteer models the makeup they had used. Yay!

Since then I have never been without my very favorite eye shadow - Eyelights in Beam.

Through undergrad and graduate school though - money was always a little less than flowing, so I always had to restrain from purchasing the rest of the makeup I had been handed at the fashion show.

BUT - this is our wedding. So, I decided to "jump on that hand grenade" and pony up the dough. (Tee hee hee) I had the best time at Sephora. I am so glad I decided to DIY. I am going for natural, but pretty and polished.

So anywho - long story short, I tried out my makeup today. Oh? You want a photo? Here ya go.

{Check out those relaxed curls - that my friends is what comes from sleeping in your wedding hairdo. Brunch attendees, expect to see this same hair style then.}

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6 days and counting!

Well - I picked up the fiance last night, and have been going nutso with projects in my blogging absence.

But, I had my hair trial yesterday at the Garage Salon and Spa and was so happy with the results! Of course, being a trial my stylist was quick to start out that it would not be as secure or as finely tuned as it would be on the big day, but she wanted to make sure we were on the same page...and yet I was pretty happy with it!

So happy in fact that I am going to share some photos :)
   

{Oh yeah - and I got highlights, but they aren't nearly as blonde as they look in the bright sunshine here!}

  

   

{See? Still red...no worries.}

   

   

  

   

   

Anywho - Yay! Things are getting exciting around here!

   

As I type this I am copying our readings for our readers (whoops, prolly should have done that a while ago) and the FH is upstairs folding and cutting programs, as my mom scurries to make her house as loving and warm (read: sparklingly clean and well scented, via Yankee Candle) as humanly possible for out wedding party guests and the brunch following the wedding.

   

6 days - wow.

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More Photos!

Hooray for a FSIL who loves me enough to take her valuable time to get together all the photo edits on our high school engagement picture shoot! I got them in the mail today (along with 8 million other wedding related items - it was like Christmas) and thought I would share a bunch, while I decide which ones to include in our Blurb guestbook.

Enjoy!

 

 

  

 

  

 {cheese. i know.}

 

  

  

 

  

  

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

  

  

 

  

  

 

  

  

 

  

  

 

  

 {taking him to the principal's office. uh oh.}

  

 

  

  

 

  

{the cafeteria... our relationship had defining moments here, lol}

 

  

  

 

  

  

 

 

  

 

{the auditorium, where our relationship really started}

Hope you enjoyed the glance!

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