Well... I think I will wait until tomorrow to update ya'll on the CRAZINESS of this weekend. LOTS of things were so perfect and more than we expected. LOTS of things crashed and burned but with the love and help of our family and friends, my wedding day was by FAR the most wonderful day I could have ever imagined. SO MANY people stepped up to the plate. I am just filled with wonder and awe at how lucky I am.

Our amazing photographer already sent us some teaser photos... enjoy! I'll post the rest as soon as I get them!

LOVE your dress! Congrats Tori

It's all official now! Glad it sounds like everything worked out in the end. That first picture is amazing, great photographer.

You looked so pretty Tori! Love your dress also! And that first pic is amazing!!!

Congrats!!!! You look beautiful!

Congrats! Oh what 2 increadible teaser pics. U both look great. What are u doing on here, go enjoy ur honeymoon time!

That first pic is awesome Tori, looks like you got a great photographer! You look so beautiful and I love your dress Glad it was a wonderful day Can't wait for more pictures!

Thanks everyone!

So... the story... I'll try and make everything brief

-Got a late start on Thursday. No big deal though.
-Tent company didn't finish setting up on Thursday so they had to come back on Friday. This was when we were supposed to set everything up but we were assured first thing in the morning. (We also had problems with them and the lighting and being misled... but that got worked out beforehand).
-Tent company didn't show until 12:30 on Friday. They also set up the tent off center, completely screwing up where we were supposed to have our ceremony. We had to flip everything around.
-Tent company put the dance floor off-center, screwing up the layout of the tent. We had to reorganize everything as well.
-Tent company did not LEAVE until 5:30 on Friday... after I'd been assured it would only be a couple of hours Friday morning. Making us have to set up the tent after the rehearsal dinner instead of just relaxing.
-Lanterns weren't bright enough so we just used the paper part without lights because it was easier (no big, just adds to it)
-Inn said that ice machine would be on and it wasn't. We had to continuously run out to get ice (brother in law and my father took care of this for me)
-Minor family drama ended in a minor meltdown on my part. My sister and MOH noticed immediately, took me out of the situation and brought me to my room to calm down, have a glass of wine, fix my hair (hadn't straightened it yet) and brought me back out. MOH win.
-When trying to put ice in the cooler, a beer bottle exploded in one of the groomsmen's faces. It hit in on the nose, very close to his eye, shot blood EVERYWHERE and scared us all to death. My sister in law said to me, "Don't panic, but I think he made need stitches.." So, I ran to the tent where my best friend's husband was screaming, "NATE! We need a doctor!" He comes running. We meet Andy (said groomsman) upstairs who's face is bleeding PROFUSELY. Get him to take the towel off his face and Nate examines it (it calmed down blood-wise a little) and says, "I think you need a band-aid." All was well-- apparently it was just a bleeder. Cut was small, but seriously PROJECTILE bled EVERYWHERE. We have pictures of the blood-spattered cooler. (this happened a few hours before first look pictures)
-My MIL arranged seats for the rehearsal dinner in a way that I wasn't super stoked about and she was getting pretty headstrong about it... we ALMOST had an argument about it, but I decided it wasn't worth it and backed down. We just got up a lot. Crisis averted.
-Saturday morning (day of wedding) the chef's assistant bailed on us. We had to ask two people from the wedding guests to help cater. They jumped up and volunteered, but it was still awful to have to take people from our guest list to do this.
-Fridge space was taken over by random things. Caterers were worried there wasn't enough room.
-Tent company showed up AGAIN Saturday during our first look pictures.. unannounced. Not only were we trying to take pictures, but we had lights set up in the tent that were technically not allowed. That was stress I could have done without!
-Then... the best part, lol... the power kept blowing during the first two hours of the wedding when we tried to turn on the heaters because although we were assured of the electrical capabilities they were wrong. Seriously... we had about 7 power failures. The guests handled it well though... there were lots of collective "Awwws" and "Yaaays!" when the lights would change. After 2 hours the food service was over though and there were no more issues.

So.... even with some pretty major hurdles... we survived. And if anything, it made me realize how blessed we are with the people in our lives. We had SO MANY family and friends step up without even being asked. We gave people jobs and no one complained. The groomsmen saved the electrical outages and my brother practically set up the entire tent. Everyone did things with a smile on their face and were happy to help. My family wouldn't accept any money for the ice they bought continuously for us and seriously... I couldn't have asked for a better day or weekend.

We had NO complaints. In fact, the biggest complaint was that there was TOO much food and that people were too full! Food was great (actually a surprise on my end. Because it was cooked in a different location, I was worried it would taste less than fresh).

And my favorite part?....People RAVED about our ceremony and how beautiful and personal it was!! We got SO many compliments on our vows and the ceremony. And this is from our super Catholic families. So... YAY.

All in all, a perfect day and weekend

Wow Tori, that is a list of issues that im glad to hear so many family members stepped up to help out, that really makes you feel good im sure! i hope you will be writing/calling the tent company with some complaints and maybe a partial refund.... and whats up with the chef's assistant bailing! i hope your being compensated for that as well. i always find it funny that with wedding planning we are to sign contracts and put money up front and then these companies think they can jack around and not hold their end! i mean you dealing with wedding days. blows my mind. i glad you took it all for what it was and just some minor bumps in the road that showed you what a great family's the both of you just entered!

with the tent was it only for the ceremony and did you eat inside? was wondering why the tent people showed up the day of the wedding and not sunday... just odd.

John intends to write a letter to the tent company for sure... he was NOT happy.

They showed up the day of the wedding to exchange a heater that apparently wasn't working. They just decided not to tell us about it.

The chef's assistant "had an excuse"... the chef was our friend and the assistant was his hire. He was probably more upset than we were about it. We took the cash we were going to give him and split it among the two boys from our wedding that stepped up. It was a pretty penny, and they were well worth it.

Wow Tori! What a weekend! Although, now you'll have stories and memories you won't ever forget i'm sure lol

Tori, WOW GIRL, you did have quite a few issues there, but it all worked out. You looked gorgeous, had the support of your family and friends, and had a great time. Now you can look back and laugh.

The blood issue made me laugh though. Not because I'm mean or anything, but at my younger cousins wedding in March (in CT) they had a similar incident, but WORSE. Her husbands family is Jewish so they incorporated the whole crush a glass with your foot thing. Well, apparently they didn't think this threw and when her husband smashed the glass with this foot it went right through his shoe and into this foot. So there is he gushing blood all over the gazebo to then be taken to the emergency room for stitches..lol. Have to laugh now. Well, he missed about an hour of the reception and made it back with bandaged foot and totally limping. Poor guy...he even went through with their first dance though and it was a total production!!!

Glad it turned out in the end! Wow, alot of drama! So happy it turned out wonderfully for you!

Sucks about the MIL thing. See...I had it planned. Future brides take note. Warned everyone that I was gonna be bridezilla so they don't even argue with me. I totally wasn't but...worked like a charm!

As a recent bride, the best part is knowing that it all turned out, the guests had fun and that you're all done and can relax! Enjoy the honeymoon!

See, I think I jinxed myself. Everyone kept telling me how calm I was... and anytime something happened, I said "If this is the worst that happens, I'll feel lucky!" I got through it just fine and pretty much everyone complimented me on my level of calm and sanity.. but you just had to laugh. The beer bottle thing was just ridiculous! I'm so glad he wasn't seriously hurt! It was less than an inch from his eye!

Um, I really hope we don't have those issues at my wedding, but I can really see my brother in law or one of my idiot Navy friends doing something like the beer bottle thing...

Your photographer is awesome! I really love that first picture especially (and so did Aaron), to the point that I want to take it to my photographer and be like "we want that!" We have beach off our reception venue, and I really want the stars over the beach in some of our pictures.

Congratulations Tori! Wow am I amazed at how well you handled everything that didn't quite go according to plan. Yay for having such wonderful friends and family to help out, people can be so great when the need arises. I'm so happy that despite everything it was a success and that you and the guests were more than satisfied. The teaser pics are great! Can't wait to see more!

Finally got some highlights! I'll link to the album when we get more and just put the best photos up after this set!

Tori, those pictures are awesome! We finally confirmed with our photographer, and we fully intend on showing her that first picture you posted and seeing if she can recreate something like that on the beach

Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures with us!