On Sunday, December 13th we finally said, "I Do!"
Our wedding weekend actually started on Friday. My mom came into town on Thursday night and the rest of our friends and family started descending in to Pleasanton. We planned to head over on Friday and that's exactly what we did. We loaded up the cars with everything that we would need until Monday and then hit the road. We were lucky enough to have a suite in the hotel so our room was the central hang out place for my bridesmaids. By Friday night all of my bridesmaids besides one had made it into town.
On Saturday morning, we had our rehearsal at the venue, Casa Real. This was our chance to practice how we would line up, walk into the ceremony room, practice some of our traditional vows and introduce some of the bridal party to each other that hadn't got to meet before hand. My bridesmaids also got to practice walking in their shoes (which did not go well). This was also the first time our parents and wedding party got to see the venue. We were the only ones who had seen it in person leading up to the wedding. They were decorated for a corporate event so we knew it was going to look completely different for our reception.
Once the rehearsal ended we headed back to the hotel and then out to grab some lunch. I went with some of my bridesmaids and my mom to get pizza at a local Pleasanton place. We were able to hang out and relax before the rehearsal dinner. At this point, I was feeling a lot of anxiety. I felt nervous and was still hoping that everything would turn out perfect. I also hadn't slept a wink the night before. Once we got back to the hotel, it was time to get ready for our dinner. Our rehearsal dinner was held in downtown Pleasanton at Strizzis.
Strizzi's is an Italian restaurant. Since we had about 30 guests for our dinner we had a special menu created for our event. This was actually our first time eating at the restaurant so we were pleased to find out the food was great! I had posted this photo on my instagram that night and got tons of compliments on my outfit. My skirt is actually a dress and I bought it at Macys. I had debated on this dress and another one and went with this one because the blue color matched one of our colors we were using in the wedding. Plus it was extremely comfortable not to mention cute.
with my MOH
My bridesmaid Cara who you can find over on
Craft Dictator and her husband
my bridesmaid Kristin and my mom
groomsmen and family
our Chaplin
family
groomsmen
the gang
Once the rehersal dinner was over, we all headed back to the hotel. Once we got to the hotel the party didn't stop. We were in the lobby/hotel bar area for hours. Our friends and family all got to know each other more and hang out. My mother and I excused ourselves around 10:00 p.m. because I needed to get some sleep. Unfortunately, I was so nervous I didn't sleep a wink. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep the whole night. When I got up though, I was surprisingly calm. I wasn't worried about the set up at the venue. I didn't flinch when our videographer went to the wrong hotel. I wasn't upset that there was 40 mph wind and rain pouring down. I remained calm.
Tomorrow... wedding day!