Welcome to the Marriage of
Christine and Jason
Friday, May 11, 2001
at 4:00 In the Afternoon
St. James Episcopal Church
Bristol, Pennsylvania
Chapter 1
Our Engagement
Our Engagement took place on the shores of Wildwood beach, NJ. Jason got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife at sunrise. It was an instant YES! I wanted to tell the world that I was going to be married to the love of my life, but Jay had already told everyone LOL. So really I was the only one who had no clue that this was coming :0). So now it was on to planning the biggest day of my life.
Chapter 2
Our Wedding Style
As for Style we knew we were going to have a pretty big wedding on our hands, being both Jay and I have a lot of family and friends. SO here is what we decided.
Wedding Type would be Formal - An Afternoon Wedding followed by a night reception.
Ceremony Location - St. James Episcopal Church, 4:00 (An Old Historic Church, the architecture was remarkable)
Reception Location - Heritage Hall, 6:00 (A wonderful Catering Hall, great food, and a monster dance floor)
Colors - White, Lilac, and Silver, They really blended together beautifully
Chapter 3
Planning for the big day
In the months before the Wedding so many plans went underway. Picking Invitations, making Favors, Picking out Tuxes ... even going as far as to what shoes look right LOL. You really don't realize how many little things there are to do in planning a Wedding its unbelievable. Me and Jay would sit in the Living room and I would give him 5 Different flowers to choose from, and I would get a yes or a no between commercials LOL. Sometimes we got really stressed, but don't get me wrong.. I loved planning and I would take the stress all over again because I had so much fun. Here are a few of our planning details I really enjoyed doing..
Our Reception Song List
Annoucing Bridal Party- "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N Roses
First Dance- "Longer" by Dan Folgerberg
Bridal Party Dance- "Kind and Generous"by Natilie Merchent
Father/Daughter Dance-"Daddys Little Girl" by
Mother/Son Dance- "Through the Years" by Kenny Rodgers
Bouquet Toss - "Feel like a Women" by Shania Twain
Garter - "Mission Impossible"
Cake Cutting Song - "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabrial
Last Dance - "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by Sound Garden
Chapter 4
Everything We picked
Here is a list os everything we picked out for our wedding
Invitations: We decided to go with a dove theme (because Jay told me the sweet story of how doves pick one partner for their entire life) We had very pretty White invitations with dark purple embossing, with doves on the corners.
Wedding attire:My dress I fell in love with, It was the 3rd one I had tried on, Both me and My flower girl purchased our dresses at David's Bridal. Jay and all the men rented their tuxes from Smalls Formal Wear, Black, with silver vests. The Girls Got their dresses from a little Bridal shop close to wear I live (I would never again recommend that place to anyone) The dresses were beautiful but the help there, was horrible. They wore Lilac dresses with Silver shoes (It made it easier instead of everyone having to go out and have shoes dyed.
Flowers: I had a bouquet of white and purple roses with silver leaves, Jays boutonniere was also a white and purple rose. The rest of the bridal party had the same coordinating colors with daisies. Even the men had daisies as boutonnieres and they looked fabulous. Also we Got flowers for the parents, grandparents and readers. We ordered flowers for the alter, and a special bouquet in memory of those who could not be with us on our special day as well.
Pictures: We decided to have both a photographer and a videographer. I am very happy we had both, not only do I love pictures, But I watch our Wedding Video all the time.
Transportation: We weren't to crazy about the limo thing, It just wasn't us. So, a Friend of the family collects antique cars, and offered to let us use it, He even chauffeured. So we drove to the reception in a mint 56 Chevy convertible. That was a fun ride, everyone honked as we drove by, and there was champagne waiting for us in the back.
Registry: We had a blast registering at the stores, Jay went a little crazy with that gun they give you. We registered at Macy's and Homeplace (now out of business, which makes it kinda hard for returns)
Honeymoon: This was a tough decision for us. I wanted Disneyworld, and Jay wanted Bahamas. So we flipped a coin and ended up going to Las Vegas LOL. We stayed at a hotel shaped like a castle, Saw Hoover dam, the Grand Canyon, and did a little, OK a lot of gambling. It was a great trip, We saw a lot of shows, and the food was great. I can say honestly the only problem I had with the trip was the flight (I am a scaredy cat and hate flying) So of course on our way there we had really bad turbulence, like drop out of the air bad. After that one flight, You will not get me back on a plane ever again.
Reception and Ceremony: Ahh save the big one for last. Ok The ceremony, wasn't to bad to plan. We had our talked with Father Tony, we got an organist. I made the Ceremony booklets at home on the computer, and We picked out our readings and readers. Also, We ordered there do it yourself rice roses over the Internet, they came out great and looked so pretty in the baskets, we designated 2 children to give everyone a rose as they went out side the church. On to reception. Our cater was very nice he made things very easy for us. We gave him our menu, and with our package We received flowers and candles on every table, so there was no need to decorate. Of course I did want something special for people to look at as they were coming in, so, I went to AC Moore and bought 3 big lilac poster boards For a month I gathered pictures of Jay growing up and myself growing up. One board was Jay as a baby till now, the next was me from a baby till now, and the last board was all pictures of me and Jay over the years, they came out great and they were a big hit at the wedding. I insisted that everyone at the reception would get a favor, so. First I ordered these really pretty wildflower seed packets off Ebay with our names and wedding date, also a pretty saying along the lines of "plant this in memory of our day". Then I went to Ac Moore (Again, of course I am always in there) And picked up 200 mini flower pots. For months we painted them, lilic and white, and stenciled purple roses on them, All 200 of them. We put the packets in the pots, and ties them with tool, they were adorable, and everyone got one I almost forgot about all the little things you have to take to the reception too, like, the guest book, pen, cake topper (our cake was included) Cake knifes goblets. Phew It was, a very time consuming task.
Chapter 5
Pre-Wedding Parties
Wedding Shower Talk about being surprised! I have never had a surprise party in my life, but I assumed I would no when it was, when the time came. Wrong! I was totally clueless. Everyone kept throwing me off. My Mom told me it was in a restaurant, My mother-in-law told me it was going to close to the wedding and every time we went out my Matron of honor keep telling me to be prepared. Heres how they fooled me. a couple months before our wedding, I had gotten an invitation to an Anniversary party. I was even told to bring food. Well, the day of the party I walked thru the front door and realized that the party was actually for me. I even brought a gift. Jay was even yelling at me because we were running late. It was the best surprise. We received beautiful gifts. The favors the girls made were little magnet picture frames with a picture of me and Jay and our names and dates. Also, they made little bride and groom chocolate lollipops. The party was held at my Mother-In-Laws. It was an amazing day!
Bachelorette Party I actually took part in planning this and I am so glad I did. Since I found out Jay was going to be gone for a whole Weekend, We decided to do a 2 Night Bachelorette party. The first night Started off with a Video Scavenger hunt. This was hysterical! I had 8 girls sleeping over so we broke into 2 teams of 4, and headed out with our list of crazy things we had to video tape us doing and we had exactly 2 hours to do it, if you ran over time you were deducted points. Things on the list were so funny...You can find them here at Party 411. I think the toughest one on the list was to find a guy named Bob, Haha We were driving down the road asking all these guys if their name was Bob. If anyone tries doing this hunt in the future try to stay out of trouble. All of us girls got thrown out of K-Mart. You get 20 extra points for catching the other team on tape, we realized we were both in K-Mart at the same time and were running around in there like school girls trying to catch the other members on tape. Haha, I think we accidentally knocked down a whole Pepsi display. The videos were great when we came back and watched them. We were really surprised how many people cooperated with us and didn't mind being on film. The winning group was given a gift certificate for dinner the next night. After that we made lots of alcoholic beverages and played some more games, X-rated bingo, Pin the member on the male, Pass the fake member around (kinda like hot potato but you have to pass it with your knees.. too funny) We had tons of X-rated prizes, also did some X-rated mad lib's and X-rated drinking trivia game. It was a wonderful girls night. Everyone sleep over (This was the safe way to go, so no one is driving home intoxicated) The next night we went to dinner, and then out clubbing. It was a great weekend!
Bachelor Party Jay knew he was going away for the weekend but he had no idea where. All the guys pitched in and rented this cabin for the weekend in the Poconos. He was really surprised. It had a pool table and game room. They went into town and hit the bars, and did some go-cart racing. All the guys played cards, drank beer, and acted crazy all weekend. I heard there was a lot of practical jokes being pulled that weekend. (I don't care to elaborate haha.)
Chapter 5
Wedding Day
Well, I remember getting up really early. The first thing I had to do was go to the church and put the bows on the pews. Then I came home and took a nice long bubble bath, and by the time I got out Nikki was already setting up to do my hair. Jay had stayed at his parents house the night before, and all of the men would be getting dressed there. My hair looked great, my makeup was on and it was time to get dressed. All the girls started showing up at this time. So they got dressed and helped me get dressed. Everyone looked so great! The photographer came and did so getting ready pictures, and the Videographer was filming. The flowers were delivered to the house, I remember thinking that that came out more gorgeous then I had expected. Well, on to the church. Me and Jaime, and Jackie drove in the 57' Chevy to the church, by this time my stomach was in knots and I was getting anxious. The videographer had me say some words before I went in, and Jay did the same. I'll tell you the best feeling in the world is when you walk down that Aisle. My father walked me down, and gave me away. I think both of us were getting teary eyed. Jay looked amazing. Everything was going on schedule and planned. The children handed out the wedding Programs, and the readers read their parts. Then we finally got to say our vows. I was so nervous I was going to studder, Not to mention I was trying not to cry. But, when we were reciting them, we kept eye contact the whole time like we were the only people in the room. That's what it felt like. Like we were the only people in the world. Finally the priest pronounced us man and wife. I was so excited when we walked down that isle together. Even, standing in the back of the church greeting everyone as they exited, I felt like doing cart wheels. Coming out we were beamed with birdseed. We got into our car and had champagne all the way to the reception. The top was down and everyone was beeping at us. When we got to the reception, they had set up a little room, just for family and bridal party. As we were waiting to be announced, everyone was getting siked to have their names called out. (plus no one knew what song we had picked for the entrance, So when welcome to the jungle started playing, we all started cheering and yelling. Let me tell you it is so awesome to here.. "And for the first time in public as man and wife Chrissy and Jason W...) I think I was cheering all the way down to the dance floor. We did our first dance, and then the bridal party dance, Which ended up turning in the train, and then a group hug. Everyone was having a blast. We had the speeches from the Best Man, and Matron of Honor, then dinner. Everyone was having a blast. Me and Jay smashed cake in each others faces and I did the Limbo. The only bad part of the night was that half way thru the reception the air conditioner died, It was very hot. But over all, Everything was beautiful and It was the best day of my life. A word of wisdom, for all brides.. Make sure your veil is secure, mine got on my nerves all night because it kept coming off. During the night, I took 20 min. to myself and sat back in the corner and just watched, I watched friends and family celebrate and everyone have fun. After all the planning, and preparations, It all goes by so fast. After the reception ended. We went home and got into something more comfortable, and went to a local diner with some of our friends. We rented rooms at the holiday inn, Everyone was so tired. It was a very exhausting day. So after it was all over we went to our hotel room, and That's all you need to no haha.
Chapter 6
Honeymoon
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